Hugo Grotius

“ On hearing of Grotius's death, he writes to Salmasius in these terms [716] : "Hugo Grotius was certainly a great man in name and in fact: he was the star of our age. How great a loss has learning sustained! Whilst books and sciences are held in honour his name will flourish. For my part, whilst I live I shall glory in my intimacy with him. You now reign singly (he concludes, addressing himself to Salmasius) I pray God you may reign long." He calls him elsewhere [717] the Coryphæus of learning sacred and prophane. ”

“ Grotius then asked for a clergyman. John Quistorpius was brought, who, in a letter to Calovius, gives us the particulars of Grotius's last moments. We cannot do better than copy it.
"You are desirous of hearing from me how that Phoenix of Literature, Hugo Grotius, behaved in his last moments, and I am going to tell you. He embarked at Stockholm for Lubeck; and after having been tossed for three days by a violent tempest, he was shipwrecked and got to shore on the coast of Pomerania, from whence he came to our town of Rostock, distant above sixty miles, in an open waggon, through wind and rain. ”

“ It is acknowledged that the letters of Grotius, are written in the finest latinity, and contain much valuable information; but the point, the sprightliness, the genius, the vivid descriptions of men and things, which are so profusely scattered over the letters of Erasmus, are seldom discoverable in those of Grotius. A man of learning would have been gratified beyond measure, by the profound conversations of Grotius and Father Petau: but what a treat must it have been, to have assisted with one, two, or three good listeners, at the conversations between Erasmus and Sir Thomas More! ”

“ Soon after the escape of Grotius from prison, he repaired to Paris: in this, he followed the advice of Du Maurier, the French ambassador at the Hague. His works had made him known in every part of Europe, in which learning was cultivated: but persons properly qualified to appreciate their merit, existed no where in such abundance as at Paris: he was personally esteemed and regarded by the monarch ”

“ To Daniel Heinsius he writes, April 13, 1613, "I am very well; and cannot say enough of my felicity in enjoying the friendship of such a great man as Grotius. O that incomparable man! I knew him before: but fully to comprehend the excellency of his divine genius, one must see him, and hear him converse. His countenance speaks probity, and his discourse discovers the deepest learning and the most sincere piety. Think not that I only am his admirer; all learned and good men entertain the same sentiments for him, particularly the King." ”

“ Upon their marriage, Diederic stipulated that Cornet should adopt the surname of Groote: it signifies Great, and is said to have been given to Diederic for some signal service, which he had rendered to his sovereign. All the males and females mentioned in the genealogy of Grotius were of noble extraction.
Learning appears to have been hereditary in the family: John, the father of Hugo, the subject of our biography, was both a lawyer in great practice, and a general scholar. ”

“ If this were merely an objection of taste, I should be willing to allow, that Grotius has indeed poured forth his learning with a profusion, that sometimes rather encumbers than adorns his work, and which is not always necessary to the illustration of his subject. Yet, even in making, that concession, I should rather yield to the tastes of others, than speak from my own feelings. I own that such richness and splendour of literature have a powerful charm for me. ”

“ XXV. If Grotius's merit stirred up envy, and if his projects of reconciliation procured him hatred, the more irreconcilable as it was founded on a religious pretext, he had also a great number of friends and judicious persons for him, who did justice to his virtue and his talents. We shall not enter into a detail of all the testimonies in his favour, they would fill a large volume: we shall confine ourselves to the Elogiums of those whose suffrages deserve most attention. We have already seen, that even when a boy he was highly extolled by the greatest men of his age. ”

“ But besides, when the point to be decided is priority in learning, poetry is set aside by consent of all good judges. Vossius excels Grotius in every thing. This is not only my opinion, but that of all the learned in Italy, Germany, Poland, and Holland, as I have had an opportunity to know by their letters, their writings, and their conversation. If we compare their writings, which of Grotius's works can we prefer to those of Vossius? Is it his Notes on Martianus Capella, written when he was but a boy? Is it his Aratus? ”

“ The author was an African, and his style, like that of most authors of his nation, obscure and barbarous; which makes it not easy to be understood. Before this there was no good edition of his works. John Grotius had put into his son's hands a manuscript of Capella: Hugo shewed it to Scaliger; and this learned man, whose counsels were commands to the young Grotius, engaged him to study that author, and publish a new edition of him. ”

“ Henry Dupuis, a learned man settled at Louvain, being informed that Grotius was at Antwerp, sent him a very handsome letter, to signify to him the share he took in the general joy of all good men, and offered him his house, and all that a true friend could give [117] : but Grotius chose rather to come to France, agreeable to the advice of Du Maurier and the President Jeannin; the latter assuring him he might depend on the King's protection, the esteem of men of the greatest consideration, and his friendship. ”

“ It may appear surprising that Prince Frederick of Orange should pertinaciously exclude Grotius from his native country. But ambition listens to nothing that conflicts with its own views. Prince Frederick inherited from his father and brother the wish of becoming the sovereign of the United Provinces. To this, he knew he should always find a zealous and able opponent in Grotius: hence, notwithstanding his great personal regard for Grotius, he always kept him a banished man. ”

“ He has all the common claims to charity; he is poor and infirm in a great degree. He has likewise another claim, to which no scholar can refuse attention: he is, by several descents, the nephew of Hugo Grotius; of him, of whom every man of learning has perhaps learned something. Let it not be said, that, in any lettered country, the nephew of Grotius, ever asked a charity, and was refused."
The reader must be pleased, to be informed, that the application,-it was for some situation, in the charter-house,-was successful. Dr. Vyse informed Dr. Johnson of it, by letter. In his answer,
"Dr. ”

“ Isaac Vossius, son of the famous Gerard, who inherited his father's sentiments for Grotius, making him an offer of his service for his literary commissions, Grotius thanked him most affectionately, in a letter of the 12th of November, 1644 [468] , in which he says a great deal about his Anthologia. "I cannot sufficiently thank you for the kind offer of your good services in relation to the printing of my works. No body can be of more use to me than you: for who has more friendship for me, or better understands those matters? ”

“ Grotius says that the differences between them were as slight as those between the Greek and Coptic churches.
For some time, Grotius flattered himself that he should succeed in his project of pacification. In one of his letters to his brother, he mentions distinguished Protestants, who approved and encouraged them
"I perceive," he says, "that by conversing with men of the most learning among the reformed, and explaining my sentiments to them, they are of my opinion; and that their number will increase, if my treatises are dispersed. ”

“ As soon as Grotius's wife ascertained that he was in perfect safety, she informed the guards of his escape: these communicated the intelligence to the governor. He put her into close confinement; but in a few days, an order of the States General set her at liberty, and permitted her to carry with her every thing at Louvestein, which belonged to her. It is impossible to think without pleasure of the meeting of Grotius and his heroic wife. ”

“ His published letters are an invaluable treasure: they abound with wise maxims of sound policy, and curious discussions on points arising on Roman or Belgic jurisprudence. Many points of sacred and profane learning, and particularly of the civil and canon law, are treated in them with equal learning and taste. For the perfect understanding of them, the letters of the correspondents of Grotius should be perused: they are principally to be found, in the Præstantium et Eruditorum Virorum Epistolæ Ecclesiasticæ et Theologicæ, published at Amsterdam in 1684. ”

“ Grotius sent him memoirs [31] for his History, and hints relating to the lives and deaths of illustrious men in the United Provinces.
It was a thing infinitely pleasing, and at the same time extremely honorable to a youth between seventeen and eighteen, to be most intimately connected with one of the greatest men of his time, already advanced in years, who filled a post of much eminence, and whom all Europe beheld with admiration. The friendship and esteem of such a personage is the highest encomium. ”

“ If my son dislikes the activity of a military life, Grotius writes to his brother, he may find ease, and acquire honour in General Bannier's houshold, or by exercising his profession of Engineer. I shall always give him my assistance, and I hope I have as many friends elsewhere, as I have enemies in Holland. If my son disgraces himself so far, as to ask favours from the Dutch, he is unworthy to call me father. If he chuses rather to be an Ensign with you, than a Captain among others, he is mean-spirited, and forgetful of what he has been. ”

“ The first presents us with the brightest genius ever recorded, of a Youth, in the history of the republic of letters. The second contains all that is worth being known of the disputes between the Gomarists and Arminians; the part Grotius took in them; his disgrace, and the manner of his escape out of prison. The third relates his transactions at Paris, and his retreat to Hamburg, where he continued till the great Chancellor Oxensteirn sent for him, to employ him in the important and honourable post of Ambassador from Sweden to the Court of France. ”

“ He ought to have determined himself long before. Convinced at last that he must lay aside all thoughts of returning into Holland, he yielded to the pressing instances of the High Chancellor of Sweden, who wanted to employ him in affairs of importance. Grotius gave the preference more readily to this Minister, the greatest man perhaps of his age, because he followed Gustavus's plan, for whom Grotius had a singular veneration: in January, 1628 [198] , he speaks of him as a Prince whose greatness of soul and knowledge in civil and military matters placed him above every other. ”

“ He was great in everything: a very great Divine, Lawyer, Orator, Poet, Philosopher; his genius, far from being confined within the limits of the bar, was scarce bounded by those of nature."
Guy Patin writes [722] , February 24, 1662, "They have finished in Holland, in nine volumes in folio, an edition of all the works of Grotius, whom I formerly knew: he was the finest genius of his time; a man of surprising knowledge, and perfect master of polite and useful learning." "He and Salmasius were the greatest scholars or their time," he writes in another letter [723] . ”

“ Christian Habsoeker and Philip Limborch speak of him with raptures in the Preface to the Letters of illustrious men: "At the name of the incomparable Grotius, who is above all praise, and even all envy, we are in a sort of transport. How shall we sufficiently praise the virtues of that most illustrious hero, whom all true scholars regard as the most learned of the Learned: we shall only relate the prophecy concerning him in 1614 by Daniel Heinsius in some verses which ought to be put under his picture."
Those lines are in fact the most complete Elogium that can be made of a man. ”

“ More a lawyer than a theologian, more a polite scholar than a philosopher, he throws the doctrine of the immortality of the soul into obscurity. He endeavours to weaken and steal from the church, her most powerful proofs of the divinity of the Son of God, and strives to darken the prophecies, which announce the arrival of the Messiah."
Bossuet proceeds to particularize some of the principal errors of Grotius: Le Clerc replied to the prelate's criticism, by his Sentimens de quelques Theologiens de la Hollande.-Grotius had also an able advocate in Father Simôn. ”

“ The Ministers of Charenton persisting in their refusal to receive him into their communion unless he would renounce his opinions, he resolved to have prayers read at home to his family.
IV. Notwithstanding the inveterate enmity of the Dutch, which pursued him even to the French court, Grotius still preserved a sincere love to his Country. He wrote to his father and brother-in-law that he was continually soliciting all his friends in its favour; that no injuries should ever make him cease to love it ”

“ It is evident that the mind of Grotius is continually struggling to establish a science upon this positive basis, and it is this which gives a distinctive character to his effort. The great writers of all ages are cited with a superfluous lavishness, not so much to support his claims by an aggregation of individual opinions—still less to display his erudition, as his critics have sometimes complained—as to give a historic catholicity to his doctrine by showing that the laws he is endeavoring to formulate have, in fact, been accepted in all times and by all men. ”