Murray's Dutch Mirror

In the Netherlands, the second decade of the nineteenth century not only saw the end of the socalled 'French period', but also the publication of a Dutch version of Lindley Murray's English Grammar. Is there any relation between the two ? One might argue that there was. In 1795, when Murray's English grammar was published in York, the federalist Republic of the Seven United Provinces was transformed into the so called Batavian Republic, a close ally of France. Later on, this republic became the Kingdom of Holland, which became an official part of France in 1810. In 1813, the Kingdom of the Netherlands came into existence when the country was liberated from French occupation. Due to the prolonged French influence many political and cultural changes had taken place, leading to administrative and educational reforms which had a long lasting effect. These reforms included a government regulation concerning the written Dutch language, something which had never existed before. Commissioned by the government, the Rotterdam clergyman, Pieter Weiland (1754-1842), wrote the Nederduitsche Spraakkunst ('Dutch Grammar'), published in 1805, and the Leiden professor of Dutch Language, Matthijs Siegenbeek (1774-1854), devised a spelling system in 1804. In the wake of the government efforts to reform the entire system of (primary) education (cf. Wilhelm 1993:68-71)