HELMERS, Jan Frederik (1767-1813), Dutch poet, was born at Amsterdam, March 7, 1767. His early poems Night (1788) and Socrates (1790) were tame and sentimental, but he woke up after 1805 to the melancholy condition of the Fatherland, and determined, in company with his friend Cornelis Loots, to rouse national feeling by a burst of patriotic poetry. His poems, published in 1809 and 1810, but especially hi3 great work The Dutch Nation (1812), created great enthusiasm and enjoyed immense success. Helmers died at Amsterdam, February 26, 1813. He was a fiery, somewhat turgid writer, by no means devoid of force, but owing his success mainly to the integrity of his patriotism and the opportune moment at which he sounded his counterblast to the French oppression. His posthumous poems were collected in 1815.