HEINSIUS, Nicolas, son of the preceding, was born at Leyden on the 29th of July 1620, and there received, under the auspices of his father, the most careful education. The same studies in which his parent had distinguished himself became in some measure the passion of his life. He visited England in 1642; but not finding the English very communicative of their literary treasures, he made only a short stay in their country, where, however, he collated some manuscripts of Ovid, a poet whose works he had already undertaken to illustrate. In 1644 he repaired to Spa for the benefit of the waters, from which he derived great advantage, and on his return traversed Belgium, where he formed useful connections, and acquired new riches for his Ovid. The following year he revisited Spa, and towards autumn proceeded to Paris, where his merit and his name procured him the friendship of the most eminent men, and opened all the libraries to his researches, and where also he published a collection of Latin poems, which met with the most flattering success. Next year he visited Rome, where, through the good offices of Holstenius, he obtained access to the inedited Greek work of John Lydus on the Roman magistracies, and was otherwise well received. From Rome he proceeded to Naples, but the troubles which broke out in that city in the summer of 1647 obliged him to return to Leghorn, whence he proceeded first to Venice and next to Padua, where, under the title of Italica, he published two books of elegies in 1648. After an absence of three years he returned to Leyden; but his stay there was short, for, having yielded to the solicitations of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had invited him to join her literary court, he set out for Stockholm, where he established himself in 1650. The queen undertook to purchase books and manuscripts for his library; but Heinsius, unwilling to take immediate advantage of the generosity of Christina, made advances of which he after-
wards found great difficulty in obtaining the reimbursement. At Stockholm he met the ardent enemy of his father, Salmasius, who, in concert with Michon Bourdelot, endeavoured to overwhelm him with every species of annoyance, and to drive him from the court in disgust. But the muse of Heinsius avenged him on his implacable adversary; and nothing but the obstinate malevolence of Salmasius can excuse a piece so virulent as the Season in Alastorem, which we find in his poems. During the following years Heinsius traversed Italy in all directions, to make interesting acquisitions for Christina, whether in books and manuscripts, or in medals and antiquities. Salmasius had not ceased to intrigue against him during his absence; but the credit of Bochart counterbalanced this hateful influence, and Salmasius died in 1653, whilst proceeding to take the benefit of the waters of Spa. Next year Heinsius returned to Stockholm, but it was only to demand of Christina, whose tastes began to take another direction, permission to retire, and the reimbursement of the sums which he had expended. Her letter, which is in the form of a placet, and exceedingly remarkable, may be found in the Sylloge Epistolarum of Peter Burmann (tom. v. p. 766, et seqq.). The Queen of Sweden attempted to dissuade Heinsius from carrying his resolution into effect; and, on the 7th of October 1654, the states of Holland appointed him their resident at Stockholm, which induced him to remain some time longer in the Swedish capital. But in the month of February 1655, having lost his father, he resolved to return to his native country. Like Grotius, he was at the point of death on the road; but, more fortunate than that illustrious man, he escaped from a malady which detained him thirty-six days at Dantzic. On his arrival at the Hague, the states, in order to testify their satisfaction with his conduct in Sweden, offered him his choice of the Prussian or Danish legations; but the state of his health prevented his accepting either of those appointments; and, in 1656, he established himself at Amsterdam, where he was appointed secretary. The repose of his latter days was disturbed by a process brought against him by a courtesan, called Margaret Wullen, whom he had known at Stockholm, and who pretended to have rights over him which he refused to recognise. In 1658 he resigned his secretaryship, and then went to establish himself at the Hague, where Virgil, Valerius Flaccus, the Latin muse, and literary correspondence, occupied all the leisure which the process in question left at his disposal. It appears that he also meditated continuing the Annals of Grotius after 1609, but the design was not carried into execution. Being again appointed resident at the court of Sweden, he set out for that country, and on the road met his debtor Christina, who was on her way to Denmark; she received him kindly, and lavished on him the most flattering distinctions, but forgot to pay her debt, which would have been much more acceptable to Heinsius. About this time, also, Louis XIV. included him in the number of the foreign men of letters to whom he granted pensions; but the post which he occupied at the court of Sweden prevented his enjoying this favour. He never neglected his favourite studies; and it was therefore with regret that, in the year 1667, he found himself charged with a mission to the czar of Muscovy. In 1671 he once more returned to the Hague, but with his health much impaired; and next year the public calamities forced him to withdraw to East Frisland, then to Bremen, Minden, Paderborn, Mayence, Worms, Spire, and Heidelberg. Upon his return to the Hague he occupied himself principally with Valerius Flaccus and Petronius; but being entangled in new processes, he withdrew to Maarssen, in the province of Utrecht, where he established himself about the month of December 1674. This retreat, however, did not shelter him from the annoyances to which he was exposed, and
at length he sought repose in the small town of Viane, where his friend Gravius took pleasure in visiting him. Family affairs having recalled him to the Hague, he died there, on the 7th of October 1681, at the age of sixty-one, having expired in the arms of Gravius, whom he charged with his last instructions. Nicolas Heinsius published or wrote, 1. Claudian, with notes, Leyden, 1650, in 12mo, and Amsterdam, 1665, in 8vo; 2. Ovid, with notes, ibid. 1652, 1661, 1668, in three vols. 12mo; 3. Virgil, without notes, Amsterdam, 1676, and Utrecht, 1704, in 12mo; 4. Valerius Flaccus, without notes, Amsterdam, 1680, in 12mo; 5. Remarks on Silius Italicus, Petronius, and Phædrus; 6. A great number of Letters, which may be found in the Sylloge Epistolarum of Burmann, in 5 vols. 4to; 7. Poemata, the best edition of which is that of Elzevir, Amsterdam, 1666, in 8vo, dedicated by the author to the Duke of Montausier. Peter Burmann the younger also published Nic. Heinsii Adversariorum libri v. followed by the notes of Heinsius on Catullus and Propertius; and the same author also cites inedited notes of Heinsius on Tacitus, in the dialogue De Claris Oratoribus, and on the Catalecta veterum Poetarum. (A.)