RHIJNVIS

FEITH (1753-1824)  , Dutch poet, was born of an aristocratic family at Zwolle, the capital of the province Overijssel, on the 7th of February 1753 . He was educated at Harderwijk and at the university of Leiden, where he took his degree in 1770 . In 1772 he settled at his birthplace, and married . In 178o, in his twenty-seventh year, he became burgomaster of Zwolle . He built a luxurious villa, which he named Boschwijk, in the out-skirts of the town, and there he lived in the greatest comfort . His first important production was Julia, in 1783, a novel written in emulation of Werther, and steeped in Weltschmerz and despair . This was followed by the tragedy of Thirsa (1784); Ferdinand and Constantia (1785), another Werther novel; and The Patriots (1784), a tragedy . Bilderdijk and other writers attacked his morbid melancholy, and Johannes Kinker (1764-1845) parodied his novels, but his vogue continued . In 1791 he published a tragedy of Lady Jane Grey; in 1792 a didactic poem, The Grave, in four cantos; in 1793 Inez de Castro; in 1796 to 1814 five volumes of Odes and Miscellaneous Poems; and in 1802 Old Age, in six cantos . He died at Zwolle on the 8th of February 1824 . His works were collected (Rotterdam, II vols.) in 1824, with a biographical notice by N . G. van Kampen .