He studied jurisprudence in Leiden, earning his doctorate of law in 1763. From 1767 he served as a professor of rhetoric and Greek at the University of Harderwijk. Beginning in 1784 he was a private tutor to the children of Stadtholder William V. In 1809 he was appointed professor of statistics and diplomacy at Leiden, where he later worked as a professor of Greek and Latin languages.[1]