Jan, a voluminous Dutch author, was born at Amsterdam in 1738, and renounced commerce to devote himself to literature. An epic poem, entitled William I., the Founder of the Freedom of the Netherlands, brought him into notice in 1779. Stimulated by his success, his active brain continued to produce numerous works on different subjects. He wrote satires, poetical epistles, historical sketches, newspaper articles, and translations from the French. He also composed or translated more than forty plays, which acquired great popularity on the stage of his native city. Yet all these successful efforts did not prevent him from falling into misfortune; losing his self-respect, and bringing his life to a calamitous close. He died in an hospital in 1803.