therefore be equally relied upon. The prolixity, with which he is now
reproached, was not felt at the time in which he wrote; every event,
however small, was then thought to be important, and multitudes were
personally interested in it. But the charm of his work is, that every
page of it shews a true lover of his country, an impartial judgment, and
an honourable mind. The memoirs, which he has left us of his own life,
recently translated into English by Mr. Collinson, are interesting and
entertaining. He collected a very large library, both of printed books
and manuscripts, and had them splendidly bound. The whole was sold by
auction in the reign of Louis XIV, and scarcely produced half the sum
which the binding of its volumes had cost: The same has been said of the
Harleian collection, sold in our times.

[Sidenote: His Birth and Education.]

Having remained a twelvemonth at Paris, Grotius returned to Holland.
Immediately after his arrival, he addressed a letter to the president
de Thou, in which he expressed great mortification at not having seen
him, and requested his acceptance of a book accompanying his letter,
which he had dedicated to the Prince of Condé. The president de Thou was
highly pleased with this letter: a correspondence took place between
them. Grotius furnished the president with materials for that portion of
his history which related to the troubles in the Low Countries.

In the last letter of the President de Thou, in this correspondence, he
earnestly dissuades Grotius from engaging in the religious disputes of
the times. In reply to it, Grotius respectfully intimates to the
president, that "he found himself obliged to enter into them by his love
of his country; his wish to serve his church, and the request of those
to whom he owed obedience:" promising, at the same time, "to abstain