Mandeville, Bernard | M. M. Goldsmith (essay date 1992)
M. M. Goldsmith (essay date 1992)
SOURCE: Goldsmith, M. M. “Bernard Mandeville and the Virtues of the Dutch.” Dutch Crossing 48 (autumn 1992): 20-38.
[In the following essay, Goldsmith discusses the impact that Mandeville's Dutch heritage may have had on his viewpoints, literary style, and subject matter.]
Little is known about the life of Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733), author of The Fable of the Bees: or Private Vices, Publick Benefits. Until recently all that was available concerning that part of his life which he spent in his native Holland was a few bald facts about his family background and his education. He was baptized in Rotterdam on 20 November 1670.1 His background, Dutch on both sides, was from well-established medical and professional families.2 After attending the Erasmian School in Rotterdam until 1685, he studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Leiden. Those studies left...
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