Having mother at an early age, he passed under the guardianship of his uncle, who sent him to school at Zierikzee. Hence lost his

he went to Leyden, and next to Orleans, in France, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Law. On his return to his native country he was offered and declined the Law chair at Leyden, having been appointed Pensionary of Middelburg. He held this high office two years, and was then unexpectedly elected Pensionary of Dordrecht. In 1627, he was sent Ambassador with Mr. Joachimi to England, and in 1036 was appointed Grand Pensionary of Holland. He became Keeper of the Great Seal in 164.5, and in 1651 was again sent to England as one of the Ambassadors to negotiate a peace. On his return home, he resigned his public offices and retired to his seat near the Hague, where he devoted the remainder of his valuable life to elegant literature and the Muses. He departed this life on the 12th September, 1660, aged nearly 83 years. Cats occupies , one of the first positions among those who have restored, or rather created, Dutch poetry, and is not inappropriately called the La Fontaine of Holland. Several Editions of his Works have appeared in Dutch, and most of his Poems have been translated into other European languages His portrait will be found prefixed to the Edition of his Works, printed at Amsterdam in 1828, which also contains a brief sketch of his life, whence these particulars are borrowed. A statue was erected to his memory in his natise town in 1823, -- Ed