VALCKENAER, LEWIS CASPAR, one of the ablest scholars of the eighteenth century, was born at Leeuwarden in Friesland, in the year 1715. He prosecuted his academic studies at Franeker and Leyden, and at an early age distinguished himself by his uncommon skill in ancient literature. The first appointment which his learning procured him was that of corrector of the gymnasium of Campen; and in 1741, after he had recommended himself by some very erudite publications, he succeeded Hemsterhuis in the Greek chair at Franeker. With this, in 1755, was united the professorship of Greek antiquities. In 1766 he was called to the university of Leyden; where, with the chair of the Greek language and Greek antiquities, he also held that of the history of his native country. In this honorable station he continued for nearly twenty years, in the enjoyment of a very high and well-earned reputation. He formed many excellent scholars, and eminently contri-
had to maintain the credit which the university had acquired as the first seminary of Greek literature. He died on the 15th of March 1785, in the seventieth year of his age.
Valckenaer possessed a masterly acquaintance with the entire compass of the Greek language and literature. He was an acute and sagacious critic, and he displayed no mean talents as a Latin orator. We subjoin a list of his principal works. De Ritibus in Jurando a veteribus Hebrais maxime ac Graecis observatis. Franequere, 1735, 4to. Specimina Academica. Fran. 1737, 4to. Ammonium de adfinium Vocabulorum Differentia. Accedunt Opuscula nondum edita, &c. Lugd. Bat. 1739, 4to. Euripidis Phoenissae. Interpretationem addidit H. Grotii; Graeca castigavit e Mstis, atque adnotationibus instruxit; scholia, partim nunc primum evulgata, subjecit. Fran. 1755, 4to. Euripidis Hippolytus, &c. Accedit Diatribe in Euripidis perditionum Dramatum Reliquias. Lugd. Bat. 1768, 4to. The Diatribe, which is very able and elaborate, was published separately in 1767. Theocriti, Bionis, et Moschi Catina Bucolica, Graece et Latine. Emendavit variisque lectionibus instruxit. Lugd. Bat. 1779, 8vo. He had published ten idylls of Theocritus in 1773. Ti. Hemsterhusii Orationes, quarum prima est de Paulo Apostolo. L. C. Valckenari tres Orationes, quibus subjectum est Schediasma, Specimen exhibens Adnotationum Criticarum in Loca quedam Librorum Sacrorum Novi Foederis. Praefiguntur duae Orationes Joannis Chrysostomi in Laudem Pauli Apostoli, cum veteri versione Latina Aniani, ex. cod. MS. hic illic emendata. Lugd. Bat. 1784, 8vo. Schedius was the editor of his Observations Academicae, quibus via munitur ad Græcas investigandas, Lexicorumque Defectus rescribendos. Traj. ad Rhen. 1790, 8vo. These observations accompanied with the prelections of Van Lennep De analogia Linguae Graecae. The following posthumous works of Valckenari were published by his son-in-law Luzac: Callinachi Elegiarum Fragmenta, cum Elegia Catulli Callimachea. Lugd. Bat. 1799, 8vo. J. A. H. Tittmann published Davidis Ruhnenii, L. C. Valckenarii, et aliorum, ad Joh. Aug. Ernesti Epistolæ. Accedunt D. Ruhnenii Observations in Callimachum, et L. C. Valckenarii Adnotationes ad Thomam Magistrum. Lipsiae, 1802, 2 tom. 8vo. Dialbe de Aristobulo Judæo, Philosopho Peripatetico Alexandrino. Lugd. Bat. 1806, 4to. Opuscula Philologica, Critica, et Oratoria, nunc primum conjunctim edita. Lipsiae, 1809, 2 tom. 8vo.
His son John Valckenari, successively professor of law at Eneker, Utrecht, and Leyden, was likewise known as an author. He was a strenuous adherent of the popular party in opposition to the house of Orange; and he acted a conspicuous part in the public affairs of the eventful era to which he belonged. He became a member of the legislative body of the new republic; and the Batavian directory sent him on a diplomatic mission to Spain. When Bonapart had divulged his intention of incorporating the kingdom of Holland with the French empire, Valckenari was despatched to Paris in order to remonstrate against such a measure. His eloquence was however ineffectual; and, on his return, relinquishing all connection with politics, he betook himself to a delightful retreat in the vicinity of Haarlem, where he died on the 19th of January 1820, at the age of sixty-two.