Mark Prager Lindo was a Dutch

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 prose writer of English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

-Jewish descent. He was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Early life

He went to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 aged nineteen, became established there as a private teacher of the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, he soon made up his mind to remain. In 1842 he passed his examination at Arnhem

Arnhem

Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...

, qualifying him as a professor of English in the Netherlands, subsequently becoming a teacher of the English language and literature at the gymnasium in that town. In 1853 he was appointed in a similar capacity at the Royal Military Academy in Breda

Breda

Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...

. Meanwhile, Lindo had obtained a thorough grasp of the Dutch language

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

, partly during his student years at Utrecht University

Utrecht University

Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....

, where in 1854 he gained the degree of doctor of literature for his annotations on William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's Macbeth

Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

. His proficiency in the two languages led him to translate into Dutch several of the works of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

, William Makepeace Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...

 and others, and afterwards also of Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....

, Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, and A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy; but he also published many sermons, wrote memoirs, and was involved in local politics...

 and Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

.

Literary career

His name is much more likely to endure as the writer of humorous original sketches

Sketch story

A sketch story, or sketch, is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a short story, and contains very little, if any, plot. The term was most popularly-used in the late nineteenth century. As a literary work, it is also often referred to simply as the sketch.-Style:A sketch is mainly...

 and novelette

Novelette

A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...

s in Dutch, which he published under the pseudonym of De oude heer Smits (Old Mr. Smits). Among the most popular are Brieven en Ontboezemingen (Letters and Confessions, with three Continuations), 1853; Familie van Ons (Family of Ours), 1855; Bekentenissen eener Jonge Dame (Confessions of a Young Lady), 1858; Uittreksels uit het Dagboek van Wijlen den Heer Janus Snor (Extracts from the Diary of the late Mr. Janus Snor), i865; Typen (Types), 1871; and, particularly, Afdrukken van Indrukken (Impressions from Impressions), 1854, reprinted many times. The last-named was written in collaboration with Lodewyk Mulder, who contributed some of its drollest whimsicalities of Dutch life and character, which, for that reason, are almost untranslatable. Mulder and Lindo also founded together, and carried on, for a considerable time alone, the Nederlandsche Spectator (The Dutch Spectator), a literary weekly, still published at The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

, which bears little resemblance to its English prototype, and which perhaps reached its greatest popularity and influence when Carel Vosmaer

Carel Vosmaer

Carel Vosmaer was a Dutch poet and art-critic, born at The Hague. He wrote under the pseudonym Flanor.-Life:...

 contributed to it a weekly letter under the title of Vlugmaren (Swifts). Lindo's serious original Dutch writings he published under his own name, the principal one being De Opkomst en Ontwikkeling van het Engelsche Volk (The Rise and Development of the British People, 2 vols. 1868-1874). Lodewyk Mulder published in 1877-1879 a collected edition of Lindo's writings in five volumes, and there has since been a popular reissue. Lindo was appointed an inspector of primary schools in the province of South-Holland in 1865, a post he held until his death at The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

on 9 March 1879.

Works

• Jacoba, Hertogin van Gulik, Kleef en Berg, geboren Markgravin van Baden : (Fragment uit de geschledenis van Gulik, Kleef en Berg.). - 1847. Digital Edition