The Diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr Copyright: Rudolf M. Dekker ISBN/EAN: 978-90-820779-7-1 Uitgave: Panchaud Amsterdam www.panchaud.nl Vormgeving: Karin Kuiper (www.muskunst.nl) The Diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr Secretary to Stadholder-King William of Orange Cover: A. de Courtin, Nieuwe verhandeling van de hoofsche welgemaniertheyt Bijzondere Collecties, Universiteit van Amsterdam. Selected and Translated by Rudolf Dekker Panchaud Amsterdam 2015 Other books by Rudolf Dekker Contents Family, Culture and Society in the Diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr, Secretary to Stadholder-King William of Orange (Brill 2013). Introduction Controlling Time and Shaping the Self. Developments in Autobiographical 1 Constantijn Huygens Jr and his Diary 7 Writing since the Sixteenth Century (Brill 2011). Co-editor with Arianne Baggerman and Michel Mascuch. 2 The Court and Court Memoirs 20 Child of the Enlightenment, Revolutionary Europe reflected in a Boyhood The Diary 49 Diary (Brill 2009). With Arianne Baggerman. Index of Names 241 Index of Places 263 Egodocuments and History. Autobiographical Writing in its Social Context since the Middle Ages (Verloren 2002). Editor. Humour in Dutch Culture of the Golden Age (Palgrave 2001). Childhood, Memory and Autobiography in Holland from the Golden Age to Romanticism (Macmillan 1999). The Tradition of Female Transvestism in Early Modern Europe (Macmillan 1989). With Lotte van de Pol. Introduction 1. Constantijn Huygens Jr and his Diary The more than two thousand pages of lively anecdotes, personal observations and intimate details written by Constantijn Huygens Jr in his diary between 1649 and 1696, offer a unique insight into life in Holland and England in the seventeenth century, especially during the reign of King William of Orange and Queen Mary Stuart. In many respects Huygens’s diary resembles that kept by his English contemporary Samuel Pepys between 1660 and 1669. Both diaries were discovered, transcribed and published in the nineteenth century, but whereas Pepys’s diary is much read and studied, Huygens’s diary has been undeservedly neglected by historians. The diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr surfaced at an auction in Amsterdam in 1823. It was one of a number of manuscripts belonging to the Huygens family. The collection was bought by the Dutch Academy of Sciences and given on loan to the Royal Library in The Hague. The publication of the diary was undertaken by the Dutch Historical Society, but the first volume appeared more than fifty years later. In the introduction the editors surmised that the diary had been kept intentionally hidden because of the many scandalous details it contained about ‘well-known persons and families’. They nevertheless decided to go ahead with its publication as a service, ‘albeit a less agreeable one’, to Dutch historians. The first volume was presented with two passages omitted because of their obscene nature. The text was published without annotation, and the anonymous introduction was signed ‘The Editors’, who were obviously reluctant to reveal their names. The frankness displayed two centuries earlier by the diarist, not least in sexual matters, was indeed regarded as shocking. The second vol- 6 7 ume was subjected to more rigorous censorship. Historians often described of each child’s physical and mental development, which is why we know the diary as ‘infamous’. It was not until 1980 that signs of appreciation for so much about how his eldest son, the future diarist, grew up.2 He record- the writer and his diary began to appear. The censored passages were finally ed many details of his children’s development, such as how their speech 1 published and passages written in cipher were decoded. developed. When Constantijn Jr was four months old, he started to make Constantijn Huygens Jr has often been compared to his father, and ‘regular sounds of unformed words, as children usually do’ At the age of fif- was often judged ‘small and narrow minded’ in comparison. Constantijn teen months, he started to utter syllables, and half a year later he could pro- Huygens Sr was secretary to Frederik Hendrik, prince of Orange, stadhold- nounce many words quite clearly. ‘He speaks better than most other chil- er of the Dutch Republic. He also served as a diplomat, and had a great dren,’ wrote the proud father. When Constantijn Jr turned four, his father command of languages. His knowledge of art enabled him to act as an ar- started to teach him the alphabet. Huygens Sr devised a complete teaching tistic adviser. He knew all the painters of consequence personally, including program, compiled exercise books, and had the boy write letters and do Rembrandt van Rijn, and was himself an able draughtsman. Though known sums. Later on he hired a private tutor for his son, who was also taught primarily as a great poet, he was a gifted lute player as well as a prolific skills, such as dancing and fencing, which were considered essential for a composer. He designed both his town house in The Hague and his nearby future courtier. country house, which he named Hofwijk, meaning both ‘garden place’ and Meanwhile it had become clear that Constantijn’s younger brother ‘refuge from the court’. He corresponded with the greatest minds in Europe Christiaan had an exceptional gift for mathematics.3 He also had a ‘ten- and was a friend of Descartes and Spinoza. He was charming and witty, and, dency to make objections and always wanted something other than what as if this were not enough, always dressed according to the latest fashion. was offered to him’. Christiaan built his own lathe and constructed a min- Moreover, he bought the feudal estate of Zuilichem, a village in the prov- iature mill. Instead of forcing his second son to continue his law studies at ince of Gelderland. The estate included a medieval castle, and the right to the University of Leiden, Huygens Sr gave Christiaan free rein to develop administer justice and levy taxes, but the main advantage was the privilege his scientific talents. Around this time, Huygens Sr concluded that he had of being addressed as Lord of Zuilichem. Later Prince Frederik Hendrik given his children ‘all the money they needed for their voyage’, by which he gave him comparable rights to the village of Zeelhem. But this does not meant, alluding to Aristotle, that he had provided them with a good educa- mean that Huygens Sr had been elevated to the nobility, however much he tion. In 1646 he stopped keeping notes on his son Constantijn Jr after ob- aspired to that state. taining a position for him as assistant-secretary to Prince Frederik Hendrik In 1627 Huygens Sr married his niece Susanna van Baerle. Marrying a niece or nephew was not unusual in the Huygens family. Their first child, of Orange: ‘Constantijn has been brought from the shadow into the light. I will now cease to report his life history and leave that to him.’ born one year later, was named Constantijn after his father. A year later Constantijn Sr’s acquisition of feudal titles and the fact that he had re- his brother Christiaan was born and three more children followed. Even ceived a knighthood from James I of England during a diplomatic visit in the art of pedagogy, Huygens Sr proved to be a master. He kept a record are signs of the noble ambitions of the Huygens family. The family did not 8 9 wield sword and rapier, however, but pen and paper. Three generations of Huygenses served as secretaries to the princes of Orange. The art of writing was the foundation of the family fortune. As secretaries they wrote a stream of letters and reports, and issued passports, patents, charters and other official documents. Their profuse letter-writing kept them in touch with a large network of family, friends, artists and scholars all over Europe. Some 72,000 letters have survived from the hand of Constantijn Sr alone. Several members of the family wrote poetry and plays, some of which appeared in print. The family also had its own, more private writing traditions. Around 1590 Constantijn Sr’s father had kept notes on his children’s upbringing.4 Constantijn Sr probably kept a diary, and also made regular notes in almanacs, of which an extract has survived.5 He also kept travel journals, and wrote two autobiographies, the first at the age of thirty, the second fifty years later.6 For a while his wife also kept a daily journal, and his brother Maurits wrote a memoir about his youth.7 The next generation carried on this tradition of private writing. Huygens Sr had expressly urged his sons to keep diaries. He wrote an instruction to his youngest son Lodewijk, who in 1651 went on a voyage to England, and in this ‘Instruction d’un père à son fils’ in wich he urged him to keep a journal ‘of everything he saw and learned’.8 He added that his journal should be more thorough than the one his brother Constantijn had kept during his Grand Tour, and who had written too much about external matters instead of state affairs and other more important questions. His eldest son had probably also received such instructions, and Constantijn Jr had indeed kept a journal during his voyage to France and Italy in 1649 and Constantijn Huygens Sr with his children, engraving after a painting by A. Hanneman, from De vita propria (1817) 10 11 1650. This extensive travel journal has survived as have his diaries from later years, over longer periods from 1673 to 1683, and from 1688 to 1697.9 Christiaan Huygens also kept a diary, but soon had to confess that his notes were not as elaborate as his father would wish.10 Only a few fragments have survived, mainly written during his travels. For one period the diaries of the two brothers run parallel.11 Two travel journals written by the youngest brother, Lodewijk, have survived.12 In the circles in which the Huygens family moved, keeping a diary was not unusual. For example, there is an extensive diary kept by Pieter Teding van Berkhout, who was married to a sister-in-law of Lodewijk Huygens.13 The future looked bright for Constantijn Huygens Jr. He had a gift for languages and became a highly respected author of Latin verse. He was a competent draughtsman, and developed into a reputable connoisseur of the arts. The library he built up contained more than 5,000 books, mainly literature, law, philosophy and science.14 He had studied law at the University of Leiden, and accompanied his father on diplomatic missions, in order to learn the trade. In 1645 he became assistant-secretary to Stadholder Frederik Hendrik and his successor Willam II. When this young stadholder died suddenly in 1650 and no new stadholder was appointed the Huygens family had to wait for better times. Meanwhile Constantijn Jr was living a life of leisure, while his brother Christiaan pursued his scientific interests. Occasionally the elder brother assisted the younger one, especially with his astronomical observations, and together they built telescopes. The time had come for the eldest son to marry and start a family, to carry on the dynasty. In 1667 Constantijn Jr courted Isabella Dedel, and they had a child, but the planned marriage did not take place. He nevertheless acknowleged the child, a daughter baptised Justina Huygens. A year later he married Susanna Rijckaert. The couple lived in The Hague in Constantijn Sr’s father’s spacious house. Six years later a son was born, named Constantinus, 12 Constantijn Huygens Jr, Self-portrait, drawing ( 1685) 13 often shortened to Tien. The Huygens family’s luck changed again in 1672, than clerk’. Some letters were so confidential that Huygens Jr had to write when a new stadholder was appointed: Prince William III of Orange. The them personally, an example being an order issued on 20 February 1691 to backdrop to these events was the war with France and England that had arrest a spy in Hamburg. broken out the same year. A series of riots had destabilised the Dutch gov- The fees paid for passports and other official documents were Huygens’s ernment, and brought to power the son of the previous stadholder. The new main source of income. He charged 80 guilders, for instance, for writing an stadholder immediately appointed Constantijn Jr as his secretary. official certificate of appointment in the army. This was a substantial sum, The life of Constantijn Huygens Jr suddenly became much more dy- and when army officers complained to the stadholder in 1681, he had to cut namic. The Dutch Republic was at war with both England and France. his rates by two-thirds. Meanwhile his clerks had set up their own shops, Peace was concluded with England in 1674, but the war with France lasted and were also issuing passports for a fee. They even claimed publicly that four more years. Each summer Huygens Jr had to follow Prince William on their earnings equalled those of their director. The diary provides much his military campaigns in the Southern Netherlands. His tasks as secretary insight into the working of an early modern bureaucracy. On 26 February included summarising incoming letters and editing outgoing mail. William 1693 Huygens Jr was visited in London by the Dutch scholar Hadrianus often dictated his letters hastily and his secretary had to draft a decent epis- van Beverland, who was living there in exile. He had been banished from tle from memory. The letters and memorandums that passed his desk were Holland in 1676, but was granted a pardon. Van Beverland needed the written not only in Dutch but also in French, English, Spanish, Italian and pardon in writing, and complained to Huygens Jr that his clerk De Wilde Latin. Sometimes Huygens Jr made use of a cipher or had to decode an had asked no less than sixty guilders as his fee. Huygens Jr was reluctant to incoming letter. With such papers Huygens returned to William, often in get involved. In his diary he called Van Beverland’s protest ‘shameless’ and the evening, to have them signed. Then he had to take care of mailing them wrote: ‘I told him quite simply that I never bargain in such matters.’ Later on to their addressees. He was also responsible for archiving the papers that De Wilde told Huygens that Van Beverland had asked him to send the bill passed through his hands. In addition to this paper work, a lot of business to the University of Leiden (1 March 1693). The outcome is not clear, and was conducted verbally. Huygens Jr often acted as an intermediary for peo- Van Beverland stayed in London until his death many years later. ple who tried to approach the stadholder. By this time the Glorious Revolution of 1688 had brought Huygens Jr to At his office Huygens was assisted by a number of clerks, of whom Pieter England with William of Orange, who succeeded King James II. From now de Wilde and the brothers Samuel and Carel van Huls were the most impor- on Huygens had to spend part of every year in London, a change which tant. They had not been appointed by him, though, and the difficulty he had initially entailed a great deal of work. Eventually the secretarial bureau was in keeping them under control is a recurring theme of his diary. On 9 June reorganised. English and Scottish secretaries were appointed for domes- 1694, for instance, someone told him that Samuel van Huls had presented tic affairs. The English secretary, William Blathwaite, received more and himself as ‘under-secretary’. Huygens immediately called him to account, more attention from the king, and Huygens was relieved of several of his but Van Huls denied it, saying ‘that he never claimed any capacity other responsibilities. He was disappointed, and hoped for a while to find another 14 15 position in Holland. In 1696 William of Orange decided to give his ageing secretary a pension, which at that time was an exceptional favour. Huygens’s secretarial bureau was characterised by a chaotic informality common at that time. It had no fixed location, no well-defined competences, and no fixed working hours. Nevertheless, the system usually functioned smoothly. Occasionally something went wrong, however, such as when Huygens wrote in his diary about letters he had forgotten to send (20 November 1691 and 30 April 1693). These little slips barely disturbed the secretarial routine; in fact, the bureau was surprisingly efficient. Improvisation was an art, and the secretary’s life even became quite adventurous when he had to accompany the king on a new series of military campaigns during the Nine Years’ War, which broke out in 1689. Winters at the royal court in London, springs and autumns in the Dutch Republic, and an exciting journey abroad every summer provide the colourful settings of the diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr. Huygens’s diary is modern in its strictly private nature. We find all sorts of information that the author kept hidden even from his wife. Huygens wrote about his own feelings and what he thought of the people he met and what he knew of their sexual escapades and any other gossip he heard. The diary is varied in content. Huygens wrote about the political developments and the military battles he witnessed, such as the Battle of the Boyne. But he also recorded his problems in bringing up his son, an unruly student at the University of Leiden. Central to the diary are the observations Huygens made at the court of William of Orange. As a court diary it fits in with a new autobiographical genre, as courtiers all over Europe began to keep written records as a means of grasping the complex world of early Jean Puget de la Serre, Secretaris d’ à le mode (1652) 16 17 modern court life. Huygens also allows us glimpses of the cultural life in Holland and England. He had an immense library, of which the catalogue has survived. He was also a great connoisseur of the arts, who gave advice to William about his collections and the designs for his palaces in Holland and England. Huygens’s diary breathes life into the people he mentions, and the wealth of detail paints a clear and colourful portrait of the diarist himself. He wrote with enthusiasm about things he enjoyed, such as attending a musical performance or meeting an interesting person. Another modern aspect is the immediacy of this diary, in which Huygens recorded events just after their occurrence. His diary reflects the development of a modern awareness of linear time, in contrast to the traditional concept of time as cyclical, marked by recurring patterns of day and night or the four seasons. Huygens’s diary reflects the fresh insights of his brother Christiaan Huygens and other scientists, such as Isaac Newton. The regularity of the pendulum clock constructed by Christiaan Huygens has much in common with the regularity of his brother’s diary. Constantijn assisted Christiaan with his astronomical research, and he learned to grind lenses and build telescopes, one of which, bearing his signature, is still in the collection of the Royal Society of London. Just as Christiaan Huygens charted the cosmos, discovering, for example, Saturn’s ring, Constantijn Huygens Jr charted his social world, analysing in his diary how his fellow courtiers orbited around the king. Constantijn, too, made some remarkable discoveries, as he studied the rising and falling stars at the royal court. The diary describes the complexity of life at court, which was a maelstrom of politics and power plays. It offers insight into the role of court ceremony and reveals the importance of gossip. Huygens Jr knew the ropes at court, and this was essential to survival Christiaan Huygens and his clock, engraving by G. Edelinck (1686). 18 19 2. The Court and Court Memoirs diplomats and envoys. This nucleus was surrounded by people of all kinds, vying for jobs and seeking favours from the king. At the bottom of the lad- Constantijn Huygens Jr took a great interest in astronomy. His library con- der were the servants, tradespeople, caterers, musicians and the occasional tained all the important books in this field, including the ‘letters on astron- spy. At the top of the hierarchy was the king and his immediate entourage omy’ by Tycho Brahe, De l’infinito universo by Giordano Bruno, Galileo of high nobles, who served in such capacities as Master of the Horse and Galilei’s Delle machine solari, and several works by Johannes Kepler. In Master of the Robe. Such dignitaries had the power to make hundreds of addition, he owned the Dutch handbook Nederduystche astronomie by appointments, thus creating their own following. The importance of an of- Rembrandt van Nierop, with whom Christiaan Huygens had exchanged fice at court was measured in terms of the influence its holder could exert. 15 ideas and observations. Huygens was also directly involved in astronom- This microcosm was divided among patrons with their own clans and fac- ical research. He often assisted his brother in astronomical observations. tions, although the times when courtiers had fought each other with swords While the regularity of his diary reflected his brother’s contribution to were past, and clans no longer engaged in bloody feuds. Power was now time-keeping, Christiaan Huygens’s astronomical research has a parallel centred in the king, whose main task was to keep order. Apart from the in the way Constantijn Huygens Jr documented life at the court of King occasional duel, this system worked well. Many noblemen exchanged mili- William. A royal court can be compared to the solar system as described tary posts for civilian offices. In seventeenth-century armies, too, a number by Galileo. Courtiers orbited around the king like planets around the sun. of senior positions had more of an administrative character. Alternatively, Hundreds of such luminaries were present at William’s court at varying dis- those who held civil offices could be elevated to the nobility, an honour con- tances to the radiant centre, the king himself. Louis XIV was called the Sun ferred by the king to loyal civil servants. These developments had changed King, not only because he had once danced a ballet in a costume repre- the atmosphere at court, where courtiers were now expected to behave with senting the sun. The French king’s court was the example for all royal and both courtesy and civility. princely courts in Europe. While Christiaan Huygens measured the rota- The ceremonial rites and formalities adhered to at the courts of Europe tion of the planets around the sun, Constantijn Jr measured the orbits of the were elaborate. The French court at Versailles was the great example, but courtiers revolving around King William. In this respect, too, his diary can the English court also had its own traditions. Little details were immensely be compared to that of his English contemporary, Samuel Pepys. Pepys not important. Who was allowed to sit near the king? Who had precedence over only shared Huygens’s interest in time-keeping, but also studied astronomy. whom? Who was allowed to kiss the hand of the king? Who was admitted In 1666 Samuel Pepys bought a telescope and made observations of celestial to the king’s bedchamber? These rules and rituals had expanded greatly in bodies and indulged occasionally, as he confessed in his diary, in ‘gazing at number and detail, but at least they created order in a labyrinthine micro- a great many very fine women’. 16 cosm. If courtiers obeyed the rules, conflicts could be kept to a minimum. Since the Middle Ages, courts had developed into centres of govern- In theory, court ceremonial was strict and rigid, but in practice it was ment with hundreds of noble courtiers and even larger numbers of officials, flexible and subject to change over time. After their coronation, William and 20 21 Mary reformed English court ceremonial. They abolished the rules recently proclaimed by the dethroned James II and they reverted to the rules of the last legitimate king, Charles II. In some cases they even reintroduced rules from earlier periods. Their goal was purely political. Reviving old English court ceremonial strengthened the legitimacy of the Dutch king. Over time the court of William and Mary developed its own character. English noblemen complained about its lack of frivolity and longed for the exuberance of the last Stuart courts. Pomp and splendour were essential to the status of a royal court, yet William was not very fond of grand festivities. This emerges from Huygens’s diary, which mentions only once or twice that the king had drunk rather a lot, whereas there are far more reports of his withdrawing early from feasts and celebrations. The rules of court ceremonial had become so complicated that they had to be recorded in manuals. Advice books on courteous behaviour had been appearing since the sixteenth century, first in Italy and France, and later in the northern countries. Huygens had studied the subject thoroughly. His library contained several books of courtesy, including an early Italian guide by Stephano Guazzo, La civil conversazione, dating from 1575.17 Other works in his possession were Les arts de l’homme de l’espée ou le dictionaire du gentilhomme, as well as Antoine de Courtin’s, Nouveau traité de la civilité française and Suite de la civilité française.18 He also owned German translations of two other classics, Eustache de Refuge’s Traité de la cour ou instruction des courtesans and René Bary’s L’Esprit de court.19 Surprisingly, Huygens did not have a copy of the classic book of courtesy, Il cortegiano (The book of the courtier) by Castiglione, though he could borrow this book from his brother Christiaan, who had it in his equally impressive library.20 A. de Courtin, Nieuwe verhandeling van de hoofsche welgemaniertheyt (1732) 22 23 His brother had an even wider range of such books, including a French European courts, which were popular with readers across the continent. translation, L’homme de cour, of Baltasar Gracian’s Oraculo manual y arte Huygens owned many such books, including Histoire nouvelle de la cour 21 de prudencia (The oracle, a manual of the art of discretion). This popular d’Espagne by Marie d’Aulnoy, Intrigues amoureuses de la cour de France book offered advice about courtly behaviour in general, rather than giving and Intrigues galants de la reine Christine de Suède by Christian Gottfried precise instructions on etiquette. The two brothers and their father all had Franckenstein.26 In his diary he mentions buying from a peddler Les amours copies of the works of Machiavelli, which constituted a fundamental study de mareschal de Boufers (13 August 1696). Huygens was of course interested 22 of political life of its time. Il principe (The prince) had been written more in the private life of Louis François de Bouflers, since this French comman- than a century earlier, but it was still highly influential. Essential for courtly der was at that time only a few miles from the place where Huygens was en- behaviour in this period was the art of dissimulation, practised to hide one’s camped with the Dutch army, and he is mentioned several times in the diary. feelings, emotions and intentions. However, a counter movement had set This book does not appear in the sale catalogue of Huygens’s library; perhaps in, which emphasised the need to be sincere. This idea became dominant in it had been lost or lent out.27 Huygens had lent another book in this genre to the eighteenth century, and coloured later views of court life in Huygens’s his friend Dijkveld. A few days later he wrote in his diary: ‘Dijkveld spoke a lot time. 23 about the French court and the intrigues that had taken place while he was an Other advice books were restricted to specific fields, such as how to envoy there, but what he said was largely taken from a book which I had lent speak in a courteous manner. On this subject, Huygens could consult his him some days ago, titled Les galanteries des rois de France (19 July 1694).28 copy of Traitté de l’actions de l’orateur ou de la prononciation et geste of which Dijkveld probably never returned the book, as it is also not mentioned in the he owned two editions. The author, Valentin Conrart, was secretary to the catalogue of Huygens’s library. French king and had helped his brother Christiaan to move in court circles Christiaan Huygens owned dozens of similar books. The library of the during his stay in Paris. As court ceremonial evolved along with changes in father of the Huygens brothers, Constantijn Sr, contained fewer manuals fashion, Huygens could pick up new phrases from his Mots à la mode et de of courtesy and hardly any of the gossipy books about court life that were nouvelles façons parler (Fashionable words and the new modes of speech) so abundant in his sons’ libraries. This is no surprise, as their popularity 24 by François de Callières, another successful author in this field. Huygens’s was a recent development in the book trade. The most telling title in the library contained many advice books, since this genre, which addressed all new genre to be found in Huygens’s library was Espion dans les courts des aspects of human life and activity, had become popular in his day. Huygens princes chretiens (Spy at the courts of Christian princes).29 In his own way, owned, for example, a book offering ‘the best directions for hunting’, and Constantijn Huygens Jr was a spy at court, who recorded his observations also The Anglers Vademecum, and, as a logical sequel to these, a book about in his very secret diary. He must also have been aware, however, that in turn carving up meat and fish at table, De cierlijke voorsnijder aller tafelgeregte his name could also appear in the diaries and memoirs of other courtiers. 25 (The elegant carver of all dishes at table). Another new genre comprised behind-the-scenes descriptions of life at 24 Among the most famous memoirs of this period are those of Philibert duc de Gramont about the ‘amorous intrigues of the court of England in the 25 reign of King Charles II’, published in French in 1713, after which English he provided the king with advice, memoirs and extracts in such matters’ (8 and Dutch translations followed. His memoirs were edited by his brother- November 1689). Roosenboom had tried to sell his knowledge of courtly in-law Antoine Hamilton, who is mentioned in Huygens’s diary. 30 affairs to other people as well, as Huygens heard from his friend Dijkveld: The solar system of King William was closely observed by Huygens, ‘The day before, Dijkveld had told me that some years ago Roosenboom who charted the positions and constellations of other courtiers, especially had offered him exact information about court intrigues and how everyone those whose favour he sought. Moreover, he was always reflecting on his was regarded by His Highness, but that he had declined the offer’ (17 April own position at court. One indication of closeness to the centre of power 1689). The Dutch expression used by Roosenboom was how every person was the length of time spent in conversation with the king. Huygens often was ‘booked’ by the king, a reference to book-keeping or diary-keeping. recorded this information. On 8 November 1689 he noted ‘I went early in Roosenboom, a lawyer, who presented himself as a specialist in court mat- the evening to Holland House, where the king arrived at half past eight. ters, was someone who often broke the rules of courtesy and was therefore He bid me enter, after he had undressed, and talked for more than half an called a ‘mischievous rogue’ (15 May 1689). hour with Bentinck and me.’ Willem Bentinck, Huygens’s chief protector at One reason for Huygens to keep a continuous and detailed diary af- court, held the high offices of Groom of the Stole and Keeper of the Privy ter the start of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 may have been a desire to Purse. Another protector of Huygens was Everard, Lord of Dijkveld. On 14 get a grip on the increasingly complex world of the court, especially after April 1689 Huygens wrote: ‘Dijkveld came to me and told me that he had William’s accession to the English throne. The stadholder’s court had al- 31 been with the king for more than two hours’. Spending much time with a ways been relatively small. Now, however, Huygens was confronted with monarch was a privilege, and a good indication of a person’s standing. the more intricate English court system and ceremonial. To make things The court was a hornet’s nest, where no one could really be trusted. even more confusing, the English court was reorganised by the new king, Huygens once received a letter from his wife, warning him to be more William of Orange, who dismissed the courtiers who had remained loyal to careful (19 April 1689). It was difficult to judge a person’s status at court. James II and gave the top posts, such as that of Lord Steward, to noblemen Sometimes Huygens observed contradictory signs. On one occasion he was who had supported him during the Glorious Revolution. The high offices puzzled to hear that the diplomat Gabriel Sylvius, just back from a mission at court, which also brought with them political power, were reserved for to Denmark, had been allowed to kiss the king’s hand, but had spoken to English Lords. William appointed only a few Dutchmen to offices at the him only briefly (18 August 1689). Courtiers were constantly analysing the English court, mostly to positions of little influence. The four Dutch noble- microcosm in which they lived. One of Huygens’s acquaintances, Frederik men appointed to high offices in England wisely stayed away from domestic Roosenboom, boasted of his knowledge and insight: ‘He bragged a lot politics. about his intrigues and familiarity with the prince of Waldeck, the king, the In his diary Huygens wrote nearly every day about the activities and prince of Friesland etcetera, and said that he knew a way to discover all the moods of the king, often recording how long or how often he had been in secrets of the affairs and intrigues etcetera, of all sorts of people, and that his presence. Indeed, Huygens had reason enough to be watchful. While 26 27 the Dutch Orangist revolution of 1672 had landed him the office of secre- 1694). It was generally known that Berkhout had financial problems, but tary, the Glorious Revolution appeared to have undermined his position. he was expected to hide them. When Huygens’s old acquaintance Johan The very word ‘revolution’ was a political term borrowed from astronomy, de Gruyter paid him a visit, it was immediately clear that he was not doing signifying the rotating movement of celestial bodies. After 1688 Huygens well: ‘He came on a borrowed horse and was badly dressed’ (26 May 1693). was gradually given less important secretarial work to do. To strengthen his Even worse was Huygens’s judgement of count Schellaert, who wore ‘an old position, he asked for assistance from his patrons Bentinck and Dijkveld, threadbare coat with a big patch of a different cloth on one sleeve’ (2 May who mentioned his worries to the king. While the king sympathised with 1692). Huygens, he continued to employ him only for minor errands. Huygens Judging people in this way had its dangers. Fine clothes and polished reconciled himself to the fact that the distance between the king and him manners could hide something less pretty. Courtiers were therefore trained had widened. to see through a person’s clothes. Faces were scrutinised in the same way. Another problem was that Willem Bentinck, Huygens’s friend and pro- The idea that a face could reveal someone’s mind had a basis in physiogno- tector, was gradually losing influence at court even as the star of the cour- my, a science developed in studies on the art of painting. The French court tier Arnold Joost Keppel was rising. Keppel, a nobleman from Gelderland, painter Charles le Brun had written a book on the subject. Huygens often had been a page, and was later made a general of the cavalry. At the English tried to see through the masks of his fellow courtiers, and he made every at- court William gave Keppel the office of Gentleman of the Bedchamber. tempt to hide his own feelings and weaknesses, just as they did. The fashion Later William conferred on his favourite the noble title of Earl of Albemarle. of wearing periwigs aided such concealment, and it is for the same reasons Keppel’s career had been furthered more by his good looks and courteous that portraits painted in this period are often characterised by a certain manners than by his military talents. Huygens once noted that Keppel had stiffness. fallen from his horse during a hunt, and that William had come to Huygens Huygens’s diary reveals his great interest in the physical appearance of to tell him this personally. Huygens wrote: ‘I told the king that I was sor- the people he met. This was especially true of women. On 6 April 1689 he ry, and he said: “He is such a good boy, and he has suffered terribly”’ (12 saw in London a remarkable woman, picnicking with a small company on January 1691). In later years Keppel became a manager, who tried to keep the Green in the open air. He heard that she was Lady Ann Kockeys, whom order in the growing bureaucracy, which further diminished Huygens’s ac- he described as ‘a young maid of twenty or twenty-one years, with a white cess to the king. skin with many mouches on her face’. Small dark mouches, made from Outward appearances were all-important in courtly life. Courts, af- leather or cloth, were in fashion at the time. On 1 December 1689 he met a ter all, were made up of façades. Accordingly Huygens judged courtiers French woman ‘whose face had much of a negro’. On 30 June 1689 he saw by their attire. Clothes revealed a great deal about a person’s status and a young woman who had ‘mouse skins instead of eyebrows’. Huygens often wealth. Huygens was once struck by the shabby appearance of Jan Teding commented on the beauty of girls and women, whereas he was more critical van Berkhout: ‘He had on a pair of shoes with cobbled soles’ (13 February of men. Physical shortcomings were openly ridiculed at court (11 January 28 29 1689). Yet Huygens was aware that mere looks do not reveal everything without anybody noticing it from my walking’ (12 March 1690). Hiding his about a person’s character. On 26 March 1695 the art dealer Cox introduced gout became an obsession: ‘Since embarking for England, I’ve had some him to a certain Austin, the scion of a noble English family: ‘He had a face gout in my right foot, where I have a corn, not so bad, however, that it can with many wrinkles, although Cox told me that he was a good fellow.’ be noticed from the way I walk’ (20 March 1692); ‘I suffered from gout as I The health of fellow courtiers was also carefully scrutinised. This is ap- had yesterday, but nobody saw it’ (17 April 1692); ‘I was still suffering from parent from a note of 23 January 1690: ‘This morning Golsteyn was with me gout, but no one noticed it’ (18 April 1692). Similar remarks were recorded and had lunch, looking rather hollow-eyed and pale, more so than could later that year and in subsequent years as well. Huygens’s ailments were have been caused by a sprained ankle or a bit of gout.’ Huygens, of course, known only to a small circle of friends who gave him advice and suggested suspected venereal disease. Gout was in such cases the usual excuse, being remedies. At one point, when he could not even bear to wear shoes, his an ailment typical of the higher echelons of society. Both Constantijn Jr and clerk De Wilde brought a medicine ‘of which he was always boasting, a sort Christiaan Huygens suffered bouts of it now and then: ‘I visited my brother of cataplasm. It was put on my leg, wrapped in a linen and then in a woollen Christiaan, who had recovered from his attack of gout’ (13 March 1691). cloth, which was so inconvenient that I could not sleep at night, and could Huygens had a keen eye for other people’s physical ailments, which were hardly piss’ (16 February 1693). widely discussed at court in the greatest of detail. On 11 April 1692, for in- Huygens’s diary is full of gossip, especially about the sex life at court. stance, Huygens wrote that he had heard ‘that Mrs Howard has bad breath His notes about the highest ranking courtiers, however, are rather discrete. from her mouth’. Huygens tried, for instance, to find out the truth about the rumours about Not surprisingly, Huygens tried to hide his own ailments. His gout the close relationships of William of Orange with some male courtiers. In sometimes made walking difficult. On 14 February 1689 he wrote that he an entry on 27 October 1682, Huygens recorded a conversation with the had hidden his gout successfully: ‘Yesterday evening I began to feel gout in Prince’s valet Johan van Baarsenburgh. Huygens had asked him ‘what Van my left foot, but I could still walk without others noticing it.’ For a few days Dorp was doing during such long and private visits, which, as I had seen, had he stayed in his room as much as possible: ‘I am still suffering from gout in been going on for some time, he staying inside sometimes for half an hour’. my left foot, so I had lunch in my room.’ And the next day he wrote: ‘My Baarsenburgh replied that he did not know, ‘but that he had good reason to left foot was again a little better, and I could walk in my room’ (16 February ask me not to talk about it with anyone’. Huygens went on to report: ‘When 1689). His gout returned again: ‘My gout continued somewhat, just like the I laughed, he said that I might think it was for something (he pretended cough and cold’ (6 March 1690). Gout could be painful: ‘The gout was in to dissimulate), but that it wasn’t that’. Ten days later, Huygens returned the ball of my right foot, burning nearly as much as a corn; that morning to the subject and asked Baarsenburgh: ‘What does it mean that I saw Van my gout was worse than before and my leg was slightly swollen above the Dorp enter the room of His Highness some time ago and stay there such ankle, but after dinner it was better’ (14 and 15 March 1690). It was impor- a long time?’ At first Baarsenburgh pretended not to have heard the ques- tant to keep one’s ailments hidden: ‘I had gout as I had had the day before, tion, ‘but I said that there must be something, and laughingly, he said, “You 30 31 may suggest something, but no, it is not that”.’ Finally Baarsenburgh said: ‘If you want to be wise, please do not ask anybody else about this but me, and do not talk about it.’ Johan van Dorp was a page, and later had a career in the army as Captain of Horse. In later years it was thought that William had a close relationship with another page, Arnold Joost van Keppel, who became a favourite. Despite all rumours, however, Keppel was certainly interested in women, as Huygens wrote on 5 April 1696: ‘This afternoon Mrs Cretzmer was with us. She told us that Keppel gave 300 pounds a year to his mistress.’ Johan van Dorp also had a mistress in London, Huygens was told. Huygens was equally reticent in writing about Elizabeth Villiers, lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary and reputed mistress of William of Orange. Betty, as Huygens called her, was befriended with his niece Suzanna Becker, who lived in London, and who was one of his main sources of gossip. Betty Villiers is sometimes in the diary indicated only by her initials B.V. or simply called the squinter, which was her nickname at court. Huygens was not the only courtier who kept a diary as an aide-mémoire and as a means of grasping the complexities of court life. The most famous example is the Mémoires of the French count Louis de Saint-Simon (16751755). This military officer and courtier edited his notes at the end of his life, and after his death they formed the basis for a publication that appeared in 1788.32 His memoirs are one of the most important sources of information about French court life in those times. Like Huygens, SaintSimon feared for his position at court. He also kept a close watch on the court hierarchy, especially on the rise of his adversaries. Another diary written at the French court was that of the marquis de Dangeau (16381720), whose entries usually start with a remark about the king’s mood and Mémoires de la famille et la vie de Madame ... (1710) 32 33 activities that day.33 The kings and princes who were at the centre of these microcosms also began to keep diaries and write their memoirs. This had, for instance, developed into a tradition among the counts and countesses of the German county of Hessen-Darmstadt since 1624. In this case, keeping a diary had even become a ceremonial obligation.34 In the Dutch Republic, Prince Willem Frederik of Nassau, stadholder of the province of Friesland, kept an extensive diary in the mid-seventeenth century.35 King William’s father, the short-lived stadholder William II, also kept a diary for a while.36 In the eighteenth century, court diaries were kept by count Sigismund van Heiden Reinestein and the squire Gijsbert Jan van Hardenbroek, both courtiers of Stadholder William V.37 There are no indications that King William kept a diary, but it is possible that Queen Mary did. Huygens was asked to buy almanacs for her, which she may have used to make diary notes. Some of her autobiographical memoirs and letters have survived.38 The publication of the memoirs of Saint-Simon in 1788 was no exception. In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many memoirs, especially about military life and about courts were published.39 Many of these memoirs were published by Dutch booksellers, such as Adriaan Moetjens and Henry van Bulderen, whose bookshop in the Hague was frequented by the Huygens brothers. Adriaan Moetjens had for instance in 1681 published the Mémoires de Madame de la Guette, escrits par elle-mesme. Catherine de la Guette was a French widow living in Holland with her son, who was an officier in the Dutch army and whose death in 1676 was mentioned by Huygens in his diary (4 August 1676). Memoirs about the court of William and Mary were published by Johanna Dorothea Lindenaer, whom Huygens had met and mentioned in his diary. This Dutch woman, born around 1672, François de Bassompierre, Mémoires (1665) 34 35 had married a military officer, Zeger van Zoutelande, who is also mentioned by Huygens. In 1710 she published her Mémoires de la famille et de la vie de Madame *** (Memoirs of the family and the life of Madam ***).40 The book was written during her imprisonment, after her arrest for spying, and published anonymously in The Hague, again by Van Bulderen. A book about English court life of an earlier era was published by Marie Cathérine Le Jumel de Barneville d’Aulnoy. Her Mémoires de la cour d’Angleterre tell of the reign of Charles II. More books followed, recounting in particular her stay at the court of the Spanish king. This productive author had even more success in another new genre, the fairy tale. In fact, her courtly memoirs were often compared with her fairy tales, as both were rather fanciful. Her books, which were very popular in Europe, also appeared in Dutch translation. Huygens’s library contained her books about the Spanish court.41 Did Huygens think of publishing a book himself, either a serious memoir or a more frivolous account of courtly life? His own diary could have been his main source. An example of court memoirs based on a diary are those by the French courtier François de Bassompierre, published in 1665, and often reprinted, in 1692 by the Amsterdam publisher André van Hoogenhuysen. In his introduction the author tells his readers that in his youth he was advised to keep a ‘papier journal de ma vie’, which was now his usefull ‘mémoire artificielle’. If Huygens had done so, would it have been more introspective than his diary? Would he have followed the example of Michel Montaigne, whose Essays were in his library?42 Some of his acquaintances did so, such as Johanna Dorothea Lindenaer and Coenraat Droste, both mentioned in his diary. The military officer Coenraat Droste had his memoirs, Verversing van geheugchenis (Refreshing of memory), Coenraat Droste, Overblyfsels van geheugchenis (1728) 36 37 printed under his own name in 1723. The book was so successful that a reprint followed within a few years. Droste mentions his presence at the marriage of Constantijn Jr and Susanna: ‘When I was in The Hague in 1676, where Zuilichem (Huygens) married Santje Rijckaert, there was a merry company, of which I was part.’43 Huygens’s life as a courtier came to an end in the summer of 1696. William decided to give his old secretary a pension, an exceptional gesture and a token of his appreciation. Huygens realised that the military campaign of that summer would be his last. He was sixty-eight years old, and the news probably came as a relief. On the way home he visited his nephew, Charles Balthazar Hoefnagel, who was governor of the fortress of Brussels. Huygens wrote in his diary that he and Hoefnagel ‘exchanged horses for paintings’ (28 August 1696). Huygens returned home with his new acquisitions. ‘I surprised my wife, who did not know of my homecoming,’ he wrote on 1 September 1696. Thereafter Huygens made only one more entry, a short note about an afternoon visit, after which the diary stops. Huygens died a year later and was buried in The Hague on 2 November 1697. His death was reported in the monthly journal Europeesche Mercurius.44 Perhaps Huygens discontinued his diary because there were other tasks waiting for him, one of which was fulfilling his promise to his brother Christiaan to get his last manuscript published. The Dutch title of Christiaan Huygens’s book was De wereldbeschouwer (Observer of the world). It contained ‘hypotheses about celestial bodies’, and appeared in print in 1698 and 1699 in both Latin, English and Dutch editions. The book was written in the form of a letter to his ‘highly esteemed brother’ Constantijn. It opens with a fond recollection of their co-operation: ‘I still remember how, looking Christiaaan Huygens, De wereldbeschouwer (1703) 38 39 at the celestial bodies through very long telescopes, we often talked about Hora Siccama, Aanteekeningen en verbeteringen op het in 1906 door het Historisch Genootschap such subjects, which, owing to your work and nearly continuous absence, uitgegeven Register op de journalen van Constantijn Huygens den zoon (Amsterdam: Johannes 45 had to be discontinued for many years.’ Editing this work at the end of Müller, 1915). Quotations in the text are referred to by date. The published diary appears in an his life seemed appropriate, because Constantijn, like his brother, had also electronic version on the website Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren. The illustra- been an observer of the world, and had reported his findings in his diary. tions are from the University Library Amsterdam, Bijzondere Collecties, and taken from Family, The observations Constantijn Huygens Jr made of his world and recorded Culture and Society in the Diary of Constantijn Huygens Jr., p. 13 Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam; in his diary have survived as a testimonial both to his life and to an era of p. 19 Huygensmuseum Hofwijck, Voorburg; p. 51 and 239 National Library, The Hague; p. 171 political, cultural and scientific revolutions. Ecole Normale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris; p. 119 Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; p. 141 Reproduced by permission of Lord Egremont. Photography from Photographic Survey, The Courteauld Institute of Art, London. Notes 2. Rudolf Dekker, Childhood, Memory and Autobiography in Holland from the Golden Age to Romanticism (London: Macmillan, 1999), pp. 23-31. 1. This introduction is based on Family, Culture and Society in the Diary of Constantijn Huygens 3. On Christiaan Huygens, see Wiep van Bunge et al. (eds.), The Dictionary of Seventeenth- and Jr, Secretary to Stadholder-King William of Orange (Leiden: Brill, 2013). The diaries count about Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers 2 vols. (Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 2003). 584.000 words, in this selection about ten percent is selected and translated. Between 1688 and 4. Christiaan Sr’s diary: J.F. Heijbroek, D.J. Roorda, M. Schapelhouman and E. de Wilde, Met 1696 the language is mainly Dutch, in this translation Huygens’s own sentences in French, English Huygens op reis. Tekeningen en dagboeknotities van Constantijn Huygens jr. (1628-1697), secretaris and Latin are in italics. From longer entries fragments are selected. The manuscript is kept in the van stadhouder-koning Willem III (Zutphen: Terra, 1983), pp. 79-165. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague. Text edition: Journaal van Constantijn Huygens, den zoon, van 21 october 1688 tot 2 sept. 1696 2 vols. (Utrecht: Kemink en zoon, 1876-1877); Journaal van 5. An excerpt made by a grandchild has survived: J.C.G. Boot (ed.), ‘Korte biographische aan- Constantijn Huygens, den zoon, gedurende de veldtochten der jaren 1673, 1675, 1676, 1677 en teekingen van Constantijn Huygens’, in Verslagen en Mededeelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van 1678 (Utrecht: Kemink en zoon, 1881); Journalen van Constantijn Huygens, den zoon. Derde Deel Wetenschappen Afdeeling Letterkunde 2e R III (1873), pp. 344-356. Cf. J.H.W. Unger, ‘Dagboek van (Utrecht: Kemink en zoon, 1888), includes ‘Voyage de Cell, 1680’; ‘Journaal 1682’; ‘Reisjournaal Constantijn Huygens. Voor de eerste maal naar het afschrift van diens kleinzoon uitgegeven’, in van 1649 en 1650’. The omitted passages are published in J.F. Heijbroek, ‘Het geheimschrift van Oud-Holland 3 (1885), pp. 1-87. Huygens ontcijferd’, in Arthur Eyffinger (ed.), Huygens herdacht. Catalogus bij de tentoonstelling 6. Dutch editions of the Latin texts: C.L. Heesakkers (ed.), Mijn jeugd (Amsterdam: Querido, 1987); in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek ter gelegenheid van de 300ste sterfdag van Constantijn Huygens (The Frans R.E. Blom (ed.), Mijn leven verteld aan mijn kinderen, 2 vols. (Amsterdam: Prometheus, Hague: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1987), pp. 167-172; F. Boersma, ‘Het ongelukkige lot van een 2003). dagboekschrijver’, in Groniek no. 101 (1988), pp. 29-51. An index to the journal: Register op de journalen van Constantijn Huygens jr. (Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, 1906). A commentary: J.H. 40 7. Edited in T. Jorissen, Constantijn Huygens studiën, 2 vols. (Amsterdam: D.A. Thieme, 1871). 41 8. Christiaan Huygens, Oeuvres complètes, vol. 22 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1950), pp. 446- ters, from a to z and from aa to cc. References to Huygens’s books in footnotes mention format and 449. A.G.H. Bachrach and R.G. Collmer, ed. and tr., Lodewijk Huygens, The English Journal, 1651- number. There is also a sale catalogue of Christiaan Huygens’s library, auctioned in 1695: Catalogus 1652 Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1982). (...) librorum (...) Christiani Hugenii (The Hague: Adriaan Moetjens, 1695), reprinted in Christiaan Huygens, Oeuvres, vol. 22. The library of Constantijn Huygens Sr was auctioned in 1688: Catalogus 9. Eyffinger (ed.), Met Huygens op reis, p. 37. H.E. van Gelder, Ikonografie van Constantijn Huygens (...) librorum, bibliothecae (...) Constantini Hugenii (The Hague: Abraham Troyel, 1688), reprint en de zijnen (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1957), pp. 41-42. W.P. van Stockum (ed.), Catalogus der bibliotheek van Constantyn Huygens verkocht op de Groote 10. Eyffinger (ed.), Met Huygens op reis, p. 21, letter written by Christiaan Huygens (24 January Zaal van het Hof te ‘s-Gravenhage 1688 (The Hague: Van Stockum, 1903). 1650) in Christiaan Huygens, Oeuvres complètes de Christiaan Huygens publiées par la Société 15. Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Quarto 694: ‘Tychonis Brahe, Epistolae Astronomicae, Ceran. 1610’; Hollandaise des Sciènces, 22 vols. (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1888-1950), vol. 22, no. XXX. Octavo 589 Giordano Bruno de l’Infinito Universo et Modi in Ven. 1585’; Quarto 603 ‘Gal. Galilei 11. Christiaan Huygens, Oeuvres, vol. 22, pp. 742-750. delle Machie solari in Roma 1613’; Quarto 604: ‘Opere di Galileo Galilei in Bol. 1656. 2 voll.’; Folio 547: ‘Jo. Keppler, Astronomia, Norib. 1609’ and several other works; Quarto 702: ‘Nederduytsche 12. Bachrach and Collmer (eds.), Lodewijck Huygens, The English Journal 1651-1652; Maurits astronomie door Rembrandt van Nierop, Amst. 1658’. Ebben, (ed.), Lodewijck Huygens’ Spaans journaal. Reis naar het hof van de koning van Spanje, 1660-1661 (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2005). 16. Stuart Sherman, Telling time. Clocks, Diaries and English diurnal Form, 1660-1785 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). David Wright, ‘The Astronomy in Pepys’ Diary’, in Astronomy 13. Lodewijk and Susanna Huygens married into the families Teding van Berkhout and Doublet, and Geophysics 41 (2000), pp. 423-427. each with a tradition of diary-writing that continued into the nineteenth century. See George Rataller Doubleth (1600-1655), Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden, Ltk 858, ‘Journael van de Mechelse 17. Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Duodecimo 823: ‘La civil Conversatione di Steff. Guazzo, Ven. 1575’. reyse, dec. 1653’. Cf. Robert Fruin (ed.), ‘Een Hollander op de kermis te Antwerpen in 1654’, in On this subject, see Herman Roodenburg, The Eloquence of the Body. Perspectives on Gesture in the Bijdragen voor Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde, Second Series 6 (1868), pp. 314-335; Dutch Republic (Zwolle: Waanders, 2004). R. Fruin, Verspreide geschriften, 10 vols. (The Hague: Nijhoff 1901) vol. IV, pp. 195-244; Pieter Teding van Berkhout (1643-1713), Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague Hs 129 D 16, ‘Journal con- 18. Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Duodecimo 416: ‘Les Arts de l’Homme d’Espee ou le Dictionaire du tenant mes occupations depuis le 1. de janvier 1669 jusqu’au 15.ièsme du moijs de juijllet 1669’, on Gentilhomme, la Haye 1680’ [George Guillet de Saint-George, Les arts de l’homme de l’espée ou le this diary, see Jeroen Blaak, Literacy in Everyday Life. Reading and Writing in Early Modern Dutch dictionaire du gentilhomme (The Hague: A. Moetjens, 1680)]; Duodecimo 1066: ‘Nouveau Traité de Diaries (Leiden: Brill, 2009). la Civilité Françoise, Paris 1640’ [Antoine de Courtin, Nouveau traité de la civilité qui se pratique en France parmi les honnestes gens], Huygens also owned a Dutch translation: Duodecimo 515: 14. The sale catalogue of the library of Constantijn Huygens Jr is titled Bibliotheca magna & ‘Hoofse Welgemaniertheyt, Amst.’ [Antoine de Courtin, Nieuwe verhandeling van de hoofsche welelegantissima Zuylichemiana rarissimorum exquisitissimorumque librorum (...) Constantini Huygens levendheit en loffelyke welgemaniertheit (Amsterdam: J. Blaeu, 1672, another edition: Amsterdam: (...) ad diem 26 septembris 1701 (Leiden: P. en B. van der Aa, 1701). In the catalogue, books in folio, Jan Claesz. ten Hoorn, 1675)]; Duodecimo 471 ‘Suitte de la Civilite Francoise, ou Traitte du Point quarto, octavo and duodecomi are numbered separately. The ‘libri prohibiti’ are indicated with letd’Honneur 1680’ [Suite de la civilité françoise ou Traité du point-d’honneur [...] et des règles pour 42 43 converser & se conduire sagement avec les incivils & les fâcheux (Paris: Helie Josset, c. 1680)]. best directions for Hunting, Ibid. [= Lond.] 1687)’; Octavo 648: ‘The Anglers vade mecum, Ibid. [= Lond.] 1689’; Octavo 1123: ‘De Cierlijke Voorsnijder aller Tafel-geregte, Amst. 1664’. 19. Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Duodecimo 567: ‘Du Refuge kluger Hofmann, Frankf. 1667’, 26. Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Duodecimo 894: ‘Histoire nouvelle de la Cour d’Espagne’ [Marie Duodecimo 565: ‘Barii Hoff. Geist., Frankfurt 1668’. Christiaan Huygens owned the French origiCathérine Le Jumel de Barneville d’Aulnoy, Histoire nouvelle de la cour d’Espagne (The Hague: J. nals, see Catalogus Christiani Hugeni, p. 58 no. 610 and no. 615. Alberts, 1692); Dutch tr. Reyse door Spaignien, neffens memorien van des selfs hofs (Utrecht: W. 20. Catalogus Christiani Hugenii, p. 53, no. 199: ‘Il cortegiano del Conte Baldesar Castiglione’. Cf. Broedelet, 1695)] and English tr. Mémoires de la cour d’Espagne (The Hague, 1691), tr. The ingen- Peter Burke, The Fortunes of the Courtier. The European Reception of Castiglione’s “Cortegiano” ious and diverting letters of the Lady --. Travels into Spain (London : Samuel Crouch, 1691), see (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995). also Duodecimo 667 ‘Memoire d’Espagne par d’Annoy [=d’Aulnoy], Hage 1691’; Duodecimo 1082: ‘Intrigues Amoureuses de la Cour de France 1685’; Octavo 1140: ‘Varillas des Intrigues Galant & de 21. Catalogus Christiani Hugenii, p. 54, no. 315 ‘L’Homme de Cour’ [L’homme de cour (The Hague: la Reine Christine de Suede, Amst. 1697’ [Christian Gottfried Franckenstein, Histoire des intrigues A. Troyel, 1685)]. Cf. p. 58, nr. 610 ‘L’Esprit de Cour par Barry’. The section of books in duodecimo galantes de la reine Christine de Suède (Amsterdam: J. Henri, 1697), English tr. The History of the includes more examples of civility books. Intrigues and Galantries of Christina, Queen of Sweden (London: Richard Baldwin, 1697). 22. Bibliotheca Zuylechemiana, Quarto 1188: ‘Opere di Nic. Macchiavelli 1650’; Catalogus Christiani 27. Histoire des amours du maréchal de Boufers, ou ses intrigues galantes avant son marriage avec Mlle Hugenii, p. 24, no. 334 ‘N. Machiavelli, Works, London 1675’; p. 51, no. 21 ‘Nic. Machiavelli de Grammont (Paris [=Holland] 1696). English tr. The History of the Amours of the Marshal de BoufPrinceps’; Catalogus der bibliotheek van Constantijn Huygens, p. 42, no. 599. flers (London: Edward Mory, 1697). 23. Jon R. Snyder, Dissimulation and the Culture of Secrecy in Early Modern Europe (Berkeley: 28. Vanel, Les galanteries des rois de France (Bruxelles, 1694) 2 vols., reprint of Claude Vanel, Intrigues University of California Press, 2009). Eveline Koolhaas-Grosfeld, ‘Behind the Mask of Civility. galantes de la cour de France (Cologne: Pierre Marteau, 1694) and Amours des rois de France. [Claude Physiognomy and Unmasking in the Early Eighteenth-Century Dutch Republic’, in Arianne Vanel?, Galanteries de la cour de France sous le regne de Louis le Grand (s.l.: s.n. 1695 ?)]. Baggerman, Rudolf Dekker and Michel Mascuch, (eds.), Controlling Time and Shaping the Self. Developments in Autobiographical Writing since the Sixteenth Century, (Leiden: Brill, 2011), pp. 29. Bibliotheca Ziulichtheca Zuylichemiana, Octavo 1437: ‘Espion dans les Cours des Princes 247-269. Dror Wahrman, The Making of the Modern Self: Identity and Culture in Eighteenth- Chretiens, Cologne 1696. 2 voll.’. Century England (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004). 30. Mémoires du maréchal de Grammont (Cologne [=Netherlands]: s.n., 1713); tr. Memoirs of the 24. Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Duodecimo 672: ‘Conrard, Traitte de l’Actions de l’Orateur, ou Life of Count de Grammont, containing, in particular, the Amorous Intrigues of the Court of England de la prononciation et du geste, Par. 1686’, cf. Duodecimo 458: ‘Traitté de l’action de l’orateur’; in the Reign of King Charles II (London: J. Round et al., 1714). Duodecimo. 678: ‘Mots à la Mode et de Nouvelles façons Parler, Haye 1697’ [François de Callières, 31. Olaf Mörke, ‘William III’s Stadholderly Court in the Dutch Republic’, in Esther Mijers and Des mots à la mode et des nouvelles façons parler (The Hague: A. Troyel, 1693, 3th ed.]. David Onnekink (eds.), Redefining William III. The Impact of the King-Stadholder in International 25. Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Octavo 647: ‘The Gentleman’s Recreation, or a Treatise giving the 44 Context (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), pp. 227-241 and Andrew Barclay, ‘William’s Court as King’, in 45 Idem, pp. 241-263. Changuion, 1734) became a bestseller, an English translation was published in 1738. 32. Mémoires de Monsieur le Duc de S. Simon, ou l’observateur véridique sur le règne de Louis XIV 40. Mémoires de la famille et de la vie de Madame *** (The Hague: Henry van Bulderen, 1710 ). (...) (London, 1788, possibly printed in Paris). Many editions followed. The diary was the basis of Lindeman, Repertorium, no. 128. J.H. Hora Siccama, ‘Mevrouw van Zoutelande en hare gedenk- the study by Norbert Elias, The Court Society (Dublin: University College Press, 2014, first German schriften’, in Bijdragen voor Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde 4th Series 4 (1905), pp. edition 1969). See also Emmanuel le Roy Ladurie, Saint-Simon ou le système de la Coeur (Paris: 123-221. Huygens mentions meeting ‘mevr. Soutelande’ on 13 August 1689, but he may have been Fayard, 1997), tr. Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, referring here to the wife of the younger brother, Willem van Zoutelande. 2001), and Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992). 41. Madame D... (Marie Cathérine Le Jumel de Barneville d’Aulnoy), Mémoires de la cour d’Angle33. Philippe de Courcillon Marquis de Dangeau, Journal de la Cour du Roi Soleil, 13 vols. (Clermon- terre (The Hague: M. Uytwerf, 1695, 2nd ed.). English translation: Memoirs of the court of England 2 Ferrant: Paleo, 2004-2007). vols. (London: B. Bragg, 1707). 34. Helga Meise, Das archivierte Ich. Schreibkalender und höfische Repräsentation in Hessen- 42. Mémoires du maréchal François de Bassompierre, contenant l’histoire de sa vie et de ce qui s’est Darmstadt 1624-1790 (Darmstadt: Hessische Historische Kommission Darmstadt, 2002). fait de plus remarquable à la Coeur de France pendant quelques années (Amsterdam: André de Hoogenhuysen, 1692); Bibliotheca Zuylichemiana, Folio 901: ‘Essais de Mich. de Montaigne, Par. 35. Gloria parendi. Dagboeken van Willem Frederik, stadhouder van Friesland, Groningen en Drenthe, 1657’. Samuel Pepys owned the English translation, see Catalogue of the Pepys Library at Magdalen 1643-1649, 1651-1654, J. Visser (ed.) (The Hague: Nederlands Historisch Genootschap, 1995). Luuc College Cambridge, 8 vols. (Cambridge : Brewer, 1978-1994), p. 124: Essays (London, 1693). Kooijman based his book Liefde in opdracht. Het hofleven van Willem Frederik van Nassau on this diary (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2000). 43. Coenraet Droste, Verversching van geheugchenis (The Hague: Willem Blyvenburg, 1723), reprint Overblijfsels van geheughenis (The Hague: Robertus Viejou, 1728), new eidtion Robert Fruin, 36. F.J.L. Krämer (ed.), ‘Journalen van stadhouder Willem II uit de jaren 1641-1650’, in Bijdragen en ed., Overblijfsels van geheughenis 2 vols (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1879), vol. 1, p. 27, line 830. Mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap 27 (1960), pp. 413-535. 44. Europeesche Mercurius (1697), p. 367. 37. De dagboeken van S.P.A. van Heiden Reinestein, kamerheer en drost 1777-1785, Jan K.H. van der Meer (ed.) (Zwolle: Van Gorcum, 2007), especially the introduction by Lotte C. van de Pol, pp. 45. Cosmotheoros sive de terris coelestibus, earumque ornatu, conjecturae ad Constantinum Hugenium XL-XLVIII; Gedenkschriften van Gijsbert Jan van Hardenbroek, 1747-1787 F.J.L. Krämer (ed.), 6 vols. (The Hague: Adraan Moetjens, 1699), Dutch tr. De wereldbeschouwer of gissingen over de hemelsche (Amsterdam: Müller, 1901-1908). aardkloten (Rotterdam: B. Bos, 1699) and English tr. The Celestial Worlds discover’d or Conjectures Concerning the Inhabitants, Plants and Productions of the World in the Planets, written in Latin by 38. M. Bentinck (ed.), Lettres et mémoires de Marie, reine d’Angleterre (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1880), R. Christiaan Huygens and inscrib’d to Constantine Huygens (London: Childe, 1698). The English pubDoebner, Memoirs of Mary Queen of England (Leipzig: Veit, 1886). lisher added the following introduction: ‘This book was just finished and designed for the press, 39. Lotte C. van de Pol, ‘Inleiding’, in De dagboeken van S.P.A. van Heiden Reinestein, pp. XL-XLVII. when the author, to the great loss of the learned world, was seized by a disease that brought him The Mémoires of Freiherr von Pöllnitz, a courtier of the king of Prussia (Amsterdam: François to his death. However he took care in his last will of its publication, desiring his brother to whom 46 47 it was writ, to take that trouble upon him. But he was so taken up with business and removals (as A glorious revolution: 21 October 1688 - 22 April 1689 being secretary in Holland to the King of Great Britain) that he could find no time for it till a year after the death of the author. When it so fell out, that the printers being somewhat tardy, and this 21 October 1688 gentleman dying, the book was left without father or guardian. Yet it now ventures into the publick The wind and rain continue, the wind from the north-west. The baggage in the same method that it was writ by the author, and with the same inscription to his brother tho’ was brought aboard and Isac let me know that I will be sailing on His High- dead’. However, Huygens’s own dedication to his brother was left out in the English translation. ness’s ship. Yesterday the Prince of Waldeck asked me to send him a report now and then. He said, ‘We are about to embark on a great and glorious enterprise, but there are many hurdles to take before we succeed.’ 22 October 1688 The same weather as yesterday, with the storm continuing. Dr Stanley told me that in London everyone says whatever he likes, because they do not dare to repress dissent. He also said that fewer than seventeen ships of King James’s fleet were manned. 26 October 1688 This morning I walked back and forth constantly to see His Highness, leaving in a very melancholy mood from thoughts about the strange voyage on which we shall embark this winter, and the consequences it might have. I sailed in a hired barge to Rotterdam. I went to the inn called ‘Het Schild van Frankrijk’ and met my brother Lodewijk and his wife. We took a walk and I saw more horses embarking at ‘De Boompjes’. 27 October 1688 I returned at ten to Hellevoetsluis, where part of the fleet was docked for repairs. Yesterday, when I left The Hague, Bentinck sent me two seals, one large and one small, with the coat of arms of England. 48 49