Young years
Dousa Jr., the eldest son and the first of ten children of Janus Dousa (Johan van der Does, Dousa Sr.), was born at Noordwijk but in 1573 his family moved to Leiden, where his father was in command during the second siege by the Spanish army (26 May–3 October 1574). He was taught the classics by his father and at a young age excelled in languages. He was then, for instance, already well versed in writing Neo-Latin poetry. Johannes Meursius called Junior "verum Gratiarum pullum" (a true chick of the Charites). Janus Dousa Jr. concluded his studies at Leiden University in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Roman law, mathematics and astronomy, with professors Peter Tiara (Petreius Tiara, Pieter Tjeerts, Greek language), Bonaventura Vulcanius, Justus Lipsius, and Petrus Bertius in 1583. He assisted his father in literary studies and library activities. In 1594 he tutored Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange for a short time, when the prince was a student at Leiden University.
In the summer of 1585, Dousa Sr. led an informal Dutch embassy to England to investigate a possible Anglo-Dutch union, later leading to the failed military mission of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester and his nephew the poet Philip Sidney to the Netherlands. A small group of Leiden Neo-Latin poets, including Dousa Jr., his friend Dominicus Baudius and Georgius Benedicti Wertelos, visited London in the summer and autumn of 1585 and met with fellow English poets.
Reputation
Notwithstanding his young age, Junior was considered a significant scholar, so that his portrait graces the frieze of the Bodleian Library at Oxford. In 1612, Leiden library curators commissioned five portraits of scholars considered outstanding, with Junior alongside his father Janus Dousa Sr., Justus Lipsius, Johannes Heurnius and Henricus Junius.
Leiden University's leading professor Joseph Justus Scaliger mourned the untimely death of his student: « Jamais je n’ai pleuré de mort que lui, mais je l’ai pleuré à bon escient. Il mourait tout en parlant ; il ne sentait point de mal. Le pauvre Janus était si bon et si simple ! Je pleuray huit jours durant comme une vieille, lorsqu'il fut mort.» (Translation from the French: I have never cried for anyone's death but his, but I cried for him with good reason. He died while talking; he felt no pain. Poor Janus was so kind and simple! I cried for eight days like an old woman when he died.)
During his absence and after his decease, Petrus Bertius stood in for Janus Dousa Junior as the university librarian.
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