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SELECT NOTICES OF FOREIGN LITERATURE,
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Account of M . de C ^ brcq , a Dutch Improvisatore . ( Translated from the Musee des Varidtes Litteralres , for April 1823 , pp . 152 , 153 . ) Amsterdam , February , 1823 .
A most extraordinary phenomenon is to be found at this place , —a Dutch Improvisatore . Between him and the Italian Improvisatori we can institute no comparison ; for M . de Clercq , who is distinguished in the commercial world , applies himself with zealous
industry to his caHing , and in his leisure hours alone , having arrived but at the age of seven and twenty , he has acquired a profound knowledge of history , modern feis ^ ory especially j of the Greek , Latia , Spanish , Italian , French , English a& 4 German literature , and of the literature of his own
country . Of this knowledge he gave a brilliant proof in his essay on the subject proposed by the second class of the Institute : An Examination of the Influence of Spanish , Italian * French and German Literature on
the Literature of Holland ; an essay which obtained for him the golden prize , in Jhe sitting of 1832 . With an impartiality as unswerving as his acquaintance wjtbt those writers is extensive , he admiringly quotes the verses of Calderoa aj * 4 of T ?* sso , of
Voltaire , of By ror *> and of Schiller . To his large acquirements M . de Clercq adds t ) ie inspiration of the poet . Hitherto his pen has preserve ^ but few of his v-erses $ frequently , however , in a circLe of friends , when a subject is pointed o \ % % he rise * , and after revolving it in his raind for one
or two minutes , pours forth a horrent of ideas and images in the noblest strains of poetry . At $ n entertainment of a political nature , given at the end of the year l « g () , or the beginning of 18 & J a £ eut Jem an requested him to sing tf \ e Jotfm < w pf the King
° f Naples to L&ybacfo Rising immediately , iQ ljpea full ^ f poetic fire he sketched t « he Me ^ utiftti tfuifitry pjf Italy , dwellipg on its mo $ t tovely part—the Paradise of Nuple * & traced rt& political ^ eyoJutipps ^ wbith * re iujt leas areadf ^ V tfeaa tfce Q ^ tiu r ^ i revpluUoro
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that undermine its capital ; depicted the Romans ^ Vhe Goths , tlie Greeks of the lower empire , the Saracens , the Normans , and the Hungarian , Angevin , Arragonese , and French princes ,
who ha , ve by turns been its invaders ; pointed out the efforts made by the unhappy country , eternally subjected to the caprice of foreign usurpers , to obtain the freedom which eludes its
grasp ; and > lastly , narrated the events of the ye ^ 1820 , and the dangers which again threaten the independence of that classic ground , which appears for ever devoted to slavery . On another occasion , the ladies in a numerous assembly were desired to
propose a subject to the poet : One ' s Native Countryy and The Death of Socrates , were the two themes most strongly recommended y M . de Clercq united them in one effusion . Nothing , perhaps , excites our admiration so much as that flexibility of talent which
enables him to seize with equal strength of genius objects the most dissimilar . In one of those evenings devoted lo his intimate friends , The Chase had been the subject of his
extemporaneous verses ; a few minutes afterwards he was entreated to celebrate the poet Schiller ; his enthusiasm was instantly kindled , and with the hand of a master he traced
the characteristics of this most distinguished of the tragic bards of O ^ rmauy , translating at the moment some of Schiller ' 3 most brilliant passages into Dutch verse . One of those effusions , most calculated to impress the memory , was that entitled Melpomene , which he gave at a meeting of the lumbers of the Institute , at the
houae oi M . Wis&ius . Opi that occasion the JVofessor Kinder , of JUeg ^ one of the tnoBt celebrated Pujtch poets , who had not hitherto been convinced that the enthusiastic , praises bestowed © a JML de Clercq acmld be
merited , had the opportunity ot appreciating" bin wonderful povfer ^ . Tfcp Impraahsaiore began wxtfa ' tfye jfe # M £ infancy of the dramatic art , tjaeji portrayed its vigorous youth in the genius of iEschyius , Sophocles and tfcuripides ; givitig in Jjxillwit tpuefces , ir ^ taxitly xecugnized by the best Greejt
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i 299 y
Select Notices Of Foreign Literature,
SELECT NOTICES OF FOREIGN LITERATURE ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1823, page 299, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1784/page/43/
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