Lyrical gems in every variety of metre are to be found in the Vondelian dramas, alike in his youthful efforts and in those of extreme old age.  Of the dramas, the finest and the most famous is the Lucifer, 1654, which treats of the expulsion of Lucifer and his rebel host of angels from Heaven.  We are here in the presence of a magnificent effort to deal grandiosely with a stupendous theme.  The conception of the personality of Lucifer is of heroic proportions; and a comparison of dates renders it at least probable that this Dutch drama passed into John Milton’s hands, and that distinct traces of the impression it made upon him are to be found in certain passages of the Paradise Lost.  Vondel also produced hundreds of occasional pieces, besides several lengthy religious and didactic poems.  He even essayed an epic poem on Constantine the Great, but it was never completed.  Of the occasional poems the finest are perhaps the triumph songs over the victories of Frederick Henry, and of the great admirals Tromp and De Ruyter.

Jacob Cats (1577-1660) lived, like Vondel, to a great age, but in very different circumstances.  He was a native of Dordrecht and became pensionary of that town, and, though not distinguished as a statesman or politician, he was so much respected for his prudence and moderation that for twenty-two years he filled the important office of Council-Pensionary of Holland and was twice sent as an Envoy Extraordinary to England.  He was a prolific writer and was undoubtedly the most popular and widely-read of the poets of his time.  His works were to be found in every Dutch homestead, and he was familiarly known as “Father Cats.”  His gifts were, however, of a very different order from those of Vondel.  His long poems dealt chiefly with the events of domestic, every-day existence; and the language, simple, unpretentious and at times commonplace, was nevertheless not devoid of a certain restful charm.  There are no high flights of imagination or of passion, but there are many passages as rich in quaint fancy as in wise maxims.  With Constantine Huyghens (1596-1687) the writing of verse was but one of the many ways in which one of the most cultured, versatile, and busy men of his time found pleasant recreation in his leisure hours.  The trusted secretary, friend and counsellor of three successive Princes of Orange, Huyghens in these capacities was enabled for many years to render great service to Frederick Henry, William II and William III, more especially perhaps to the last-named during the difficult and troubled period of his minority.  Nevertheless all these cares and labours of the diplomatist, administrator, courtier and man of the world did not prevent him from following his natural bent for intellectual pursuits.  He was a man of brilliant parts and of refined and artistic tastes.  Acquainted with many languages and literatures, an accomplished musician and musical composer, a generous patron of letters and of art, his poetical efforts are eminently characteristic of the personality of the man.  His volumes of short poems—­Hofwijck, Cluijswerck, Voorhout and Zeestraet—­contain exquisite and witty pictures of life at the Hague—­“the village of villages”—­and are at once fastidious in form and pithy in expression.