David van, Royen, 1783

Thijsse, G., Mabberley, D. J. & Baas, P., 2023, Exploring the Leiden ‘ Van Royen herbarium’: History and scientific significance of the herbarium specimens of Adriaan (1704 - 1779) and David van Royen (1727 - 1799), Blumea 68 (2), pp. 85-138 : 126-128

Adriaan van Royen as a poet

From an early age, Adriaan van Royen took pleasure in writing verses in Latin. For occasions such as weddings and graduation ceremonies of fellow students he also wrote his congratulations in the form of Latin verses ( A. van Royen 1733 ). He was genuinely sorry that the burden of all his duties and occupations prevented him from writing a verse to mark Linnaeus’s wedding. 76

The speech Adriaan van Royen gave about the history of dis- ease as the basis of medical therapy when he set out his role as Rector Magnificus for the first time in 1743, was in prose ( A. van Royen 1743 ). The subjects of his second and third rectoral ad- dresses, in 1759 and 1771 were both in Latin verse (Suringar 1866: 291). In 1759 he wrote about the control of body and mind ( A. van Royen 1759 ) and, in 1771, and about the illnesses of different age-groups ( A. van Royen 1771 ). When Adriaan demitted office as professor of botany and retired as director of the Leiden botanical garden in 1754 his farewell-address, entitled ‘When a botanist resigns his profession’, was also in Latin verse ( A. van Royen 1754 , Molhuysen et al. 1937, Vol. 10: 846).

In 1766, on the day that Willem V (1748–1806) visited Leiden, Adriaan van Royen recited in the Academy building of the university a Latin poem in which he congratulated Willem on his inauguration as stadholder ( A. van Royen 1766 ). In 1775 he read another Latin poem in the presence of Willem V, this time on the occasion of the second centenary of the University of Leiden ( A. van Royen 1775 ). Before Adriaan spoke, Gaubius gave a more than two-hour lecture in the candle-lit church (Pieterskerk), followed by a speech by Wouter van Doeveren (1730–1783). In his poem, Van Royen expounded on the many medical celebrities in the history of the university, but only a few people in the audience would have been able to understand anything that was said. The unfamiliarity with speaking in such a large building, the advanced age of the speakers, and especially the excessive number of people that completely filled the church made this impossible. In addition, those who had not been able to find a seat wandered around the corridors of the church, while the women in the choir held lively conversations to ward off boredom. This caused such a noise throughout the church that many, even those seated near the pulpit, heard little and understood much less (Anonymous 1775: 79–81, Schotel 1875: 206).

The following year Adriaan van Royen recited in the Academy building a poem on the occasion of his own retirement ( A. van Royen 1776 ). It was inspired by his stay on the Duynsigt estate in Oegstgeest near Leiden, property that his wife had inherited in 1745 after the death of her father. Willem V came to Leiden especially for this occasion (Schotel 1875: 292, Molhuysen et al. 1937, Vol. 10: 847).

From his unpublished verses and prose he had written in 1773, it is evident that Adriaan van Royen was a fierce opponent of smallpox inoculation. These manuscripts were found in the

76 Letter A. van Royen (10 November 1739) to Linnaeus (Linnaean correspondence L0310).

family archive of Willem Pieter Sautijn Kluit (1838–1894), whose grandmother was Adriaan van Royen’s granddaughter. In some he attacked Van Doeveren , who was a great advocate of this procedure (Van den Bosch 1791: 109, Daniëls 1875: 95–107). It is not known where these items are now.

Adriaan van Royen was an extra-ordinary member of merit of the prestigious poetry society, ‘Kunstliefde spaart geen vlijt’ (‘The love of art spares no efforts’), in The Hague (Höweler 1937: 153). In December 1777 he became a member of the Leiden literary society ‘Kunst wordt door arbeid verkregen’ (‘Art is obtained by labour’) (Thobokholt 1983: 176) ( Fig. 46 ). In 1772 this society had purchased the ‘Panpoëticon Batavûm’, a collection of portraits of all Dutch poets. It was started around 1700 by the wealthy Amsterdam amateur painter and poet Arnoud van Halen (1673–1732). He painted the portraits of Dutch poets (male and female), which he placed in a dedicated cabinet and was described by contemporaries as the ‘treasure chest’ of the Dutch literary canon (Thobokholt 1983: 17, Moerman 1993: 14, Van Deinsen 2016: 11). It was placed in the house of the chairman, the bookseller and poët Cornelis van Hoogeveen (1740–1792). In 1778 Adriaan’s portrait was added ( Van Hoogeveen 1778: 312) ( Fig. 47 ). 77 Otterspeer (2002), in his history of Leiden University, is less flattering about Adriaan’s poetry and speaks of his ‘calcified poetry veins’.About his fall in February 1778 Adriaan van Royen wrote his final verse ( A. van Royen 1778 a). He died a year later but not before he had col- lated his poetry and had it printed at his own expense ( A. van Royen 1778b , Brender à Brandis 1786: 12).

77 The cabinet was last recorded in 1849 and has since disappeared without a trace (Thobokholt 1983: 45, note 20, Moerman 1993: 14). Of the more than 300 portraits in this cabinet, 80 have been preserved, including that of A. van Royen (Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam) .

APPENDIX 2 – Biographical notes on David van Royen

David van Royen was born in Leiden on 26 December 1727. He was the second child of Catharina van den Bergh (1700–1779), the daughter of Leiden burgomaster J. van den Berg(h) (1664– 1755) and David van Royen (1699–1764), the elder brother of Adriaan van Royen and secretary of the board of curators of Leiden University. David studied medicine in Leiden and obtained his medical degree in 1752 ( D. van Royen 1752 ). To finish his studies David van Royen made a study tour to Paris and London in 1752/1753 .78 In Paris he followed the courses of the famous surgeon and obsterician André Levret (1703–1780). He spent much time with his fellow student in Leiden, Wouter van Doeveren , who had arrived in Paris from The Netherlands in August 1752, and with one Büttner, who had come to Paris from England (Van Heiningen 2014: 7, 18–26). This was the German botanist David Sigismund August Büttner (1724–1768), who had matriculated at Leiden University in 1750 (Du Rieu 1875: 1750). In 1754 David succeeded his uncle as professor of botany and director of the Leiden botanical garden. In his inaugural address he spoke about public gardens as the best tools for the study of plants ( D. van Royen 1754 ).

After his inauguration, David van Royen moved to the official residence for the professor of botany (Anonymous 1761: 58). In 1759, he was elected fellow of the the Royal Society in London (https://royalsociety.org/). That same year David married his niece Barbara van den Burch (1724–1768). She was the daughter of Jan Franksz. van der Burch (1696–1739), the secretary of the orphanage in Delft, and Maria van Royen (1696–1757). After nine years of a marriage that was childless, Barbara died in 1768 at the age of 35 (Molhuysen et al. 1937, Vol. 10: 848). In 1763/1764 David van Royen held the position of Rector Magnificus. When he demitted office, he gave a valedictory (but unpublished) lecture ‘De hodierna rei Herbariae excolendae ratione, ad certitudinem et evidentiam in ea consequendam egregie comparata (excellent suitability of the contemporary method of practising botany to obtain certainty and reliability in this)’. David retired on 1 June 1786 and against his will he was succeeded by Brugmans; he had wanted to be followed by Thunberg (P. Smith 1832: 156). On 29 April 1799 David van Royen died.

To honour David van Royen, Linnaeus named Codon royenii L. after him, but, sadly, the name has to be attributed to Van Royen himself (see scientific significance). A separate engraving of Agave americana L. ( Asparagaceae ) that had flowered in the garden of J. Schuurmans Stekhoven was published in dedication of David in 1757. The engraving was made by the Leiden artist Abraham Delfos (1731–1820) after a drawing made by Haarlem painter Jacobus Luberti Augustini (1748–1822), who distributed this print ( Fig. 48 ).

Figures

Fig. 46 Meeting room of the society ‘Kunst wordt door arbeid verkregen’ (Art is obtained by labour), in the house of the chairman, the bookseller and litera- tor Cornelis van Hoogeveen (1740–1792), Lange Pieterskerk Choorsteeg (now nr. 20) in Leiden. The wooden cabinet at the end of the room houses the ‘Panpoëticon Batavûm’, comprising 327 painted miniature portraits of famous Dutch poets. Oil painting by Paul Constantijn la Fargue, 1774 (Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, S 900).

Fig. 47 Adriaan van Royen at the age of 71. Miniature painting, oil on cop- per (1775), by Nicolaas Reyers (1719–1784), made for the ‘Panpoëticon Batavûm’,a cabinet with all Dutch poets (Fig. 46) (Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam, Inv. SK-A-4617).

Fig. 48 Engraving of Agave americana L. (Asparagaceae) that was flower- ing in the garden of Jacob Schuurmans Stekhoven in 1757. It was made by Abraham Delfos after a drawing by Jacobus Luberti Augustini.