He seems to have been a literary Ostade or Teniers, with less of
ingenuousness and good-nature in the portraiture.
In the mean time the French language continues to gain ground every
day. In Brussels, native authors seek in vain to oppose the
encroachments of the "Fransquillon," as Godin first styles them; but,
save the feeble productions of Van der Borcht, the Jesuit Poirtiers,
and the Dominican Vloers, we find but translations and imitations.
Moons versifies some hundreds of fables. A half-sentimental, sickly
style, consisting only of praises, of self-abnegation, of pious
ejaculations, prevails. It is the worst of reactions;--the country,
after its first outburst, had sunk into quietude, the lethargy of
inaction.
Holland, on the other hand, is active and doing. Its poets and
historians are at work, the precursors of Bilderdyk and Tollens, the
poet of the people. Bruges, in the eighteenth century, produces two
writers of merit,--Smidts and Labare. In French Flanders, De Swaen
adapts from Corneille, and publishes original dramas. Many songs are
composed both in the northern and southern provinces, mostly of a
religious character. Philologers seek to revive the neglected idiom
with little success. But the century is blank of great names. The
Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres, established at Brussels by
Maria Theresa, was composed of members totally unacquainted with the
Flemish. It took no notice of the language beyond publishing a few
prize-memoirs in its annals.
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