Foulon, William

, a Dutch Latin poet, styled by himself, in allusion to his real name, Gulieluius Gnaphaus, was born in 14-S3, at the Hague, and became master of a school in that place. He wrote several comedies in Latin, which sometimes have been sought by foreign collectors, rather as rare than for their intrinsic merit; yet the “AcoJastus” is common and cheap in this country. We know of three of these comedies: 1. “Martyrium Johannis Pistorii,” Leyden. 2. “Hvpocrisis,” a tragi-comedy, 1554-. 3. “Acolastus, de filio prodigo,” a comedy all in 8vo. He died at Horden in FriezeJand, where he had arrived to the rank of a burgomaster, in 1558. Many critics would say that nothing very lively could be expected in the comedies of a Dutch burgomaster. His “Acolastus” was reprinted at Paris, in 1554, with elaborate notes by Gabriel Prateolus; and is said, in the title, to be formed so diligently of sentences from Plautus and Terence, that to interpret it might serve as an extensive comment on both those authors. ³

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