Hollandsche Spectator

[1] It was founded by Justus van Effen, who was inspired by the British Spectator of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele.

[1][2][3] Justus van Effen was a government official, author and translator, and had previous experience as a publisher of several French-language magazines (Le Misanthrope (1711-1712) - a widely read journal referred to as "the first moralist periodical on the continent",[4][5] Le Bagatelle (1718-1719), and Le Spectateur Français (1725)).

[8] It was one of the most notable papers inspired by The Spectator, in which the spectator, literally "observer", is the mask behind which the author hides his views; often the anonymous authors claimed that he is not a person but a group.

[citation needed] The topics of the Hollandsche Spectator consisted of everything that would interest a coffeehouse audience: politics, religion and morality, fashion, and humor.

Socially conservative, written in a pleasing tone and style, it raised important questions, such as the reasons behind the Dutch Republic's waning position on the international scene, and served as literary and moral guide for the emerging Dutch bourgeoisie.