Abraham Alewijn (16 October 1664,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

– 4 October 1721,

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residency ...

) was a

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and in his time a well-respected poet, who distinguished himself above his contemporary poets, as evidenced from his ''Zede- en Harpzangen'', which had its third printing in

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

in 1713. But he made himself especially valuable as a writer of comedies. His play poetry exists of: *''Amarillis'', play with a happy ending, Amsterdam, 1693. *''Hardersspel''. Amsterdam, 1699. *''Hardersspel'' honouring Corn. Pruimer. Amsterdam, 1702. *, comedy. Amsterdam, 1702. *. Amsterdam, 1703, illustrated. *, comedy. Amsterdam, 1707. *, comedy. Amsterdam, 1715. *, comedy. Amsterdam, 1720. *, comedy. Amsterdam, 1721. *, musical play. Amsterdam. illustrated. The style in all these plays is natural, loose and flowing, but some of the expressions are a bit rude, which caused them to no longer being played. He also knew, when needed by the subject, to express himself forcefully. Furthermore, he has left us a work in manuscript form which was, together with the drawings for the illustrations, completely ready for publishing; it was found in the rich collection of books by Lower Dutch poets owned by C.P.E. Robidé van der Aa, and is titled: ''A. Alewyns Simmebeelden, bestaande in 22 prenten, door den schrijver uitgevonden, wijders door denselven met vaarzen en zedekundige redeneeringen op yder prent toepasselijk verrijkt, en verders gestoffeerd met veele aanmerkelijke en gedenkwaardige aloude geschiedenissen en zinspreuken, uit aanzienlijke geloofwaardige schrijvers en zedeleeraars getrokken, zijnde de prenten in koper gesneden door Pieter van Bergen.'' (''A. Alewyns Simmebeelden, with 22 illustrations, invented by the author, further enriched with verse and decency reasonings on every illustration, and further filled with many remarkable and memorable ancient histories and sayings, culled from famous trustworthy writers and preachers, with the illustrations engraved in copper by Pieter van Bergen.'') The last sentence seems to indicate that only the death of Alewijn prevented the publication, as he had even already hired an engraver. The prose in this work shows the writer's great knowledge of literature, fun and ingeniosity, while the verses beneath each illustration, each time figuring monkeys as the protagonists, are not unworthy witnesses of his poetic capabilities. Furthermore, with J. Collé he adapted ''Tesóuro dos Vocábulos das dúas Linguas, Portuguéza e Flamenga. Woordenschat der twee Taalen, Portug. et Nederd''. Amsterdam 1718. 8o. (''Dictionary of the two languages, Portuguese and Dutch'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alewijn, Abraham 1664 births 1721 deaths 17th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights 17th-century Dutch poets 18th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights 18th-century Dutch poets Dutch male poets Writers from Amsterdam Utrecht University alumni Dutch male dramatists and playwrights 17th-century Dutch East Indies people 18th-century Dutch East Indies people