XXIII. If Grotius had ground to be dissatisfied with the
disingenuousness and injustice of the English Ministry in his
negotiation concerning the Fishery, he had at least reason to be pleased
with the politeness of King James, who, Casaubon informs us, gave
Grotius a most gracious reception, and was charmed with his
conversation. But the greatest pleasure he received by this voyage was
the intimate friendship he contracted with Casaubon. They knew one
another before by character, and highly esteemed each other. They were
made to be intimate friends: in both the most profound erudition was
joined with the most perfect probity. They had still another sympathy to
knit faster the band of this union: both ardently wished to see all
Christians united in one faith and desired nothing more, than to be
employed in that great work. They have left behind them testimonies of
the satisfaction they found in each other's acquaintance. "For my part,
says Grotius in a letter to John Frederic Gronovius[62], I reckon it one
of the greatest felicities of my whole life to have been loved by a man
as illustrious for his piety, his probity, and his candor, as for his
extensive learning. It was by his counsels or those of persons he
approved that I conducted myself in the most difficult times."

"I respect no less, says he in another letter, his frankness and his
probity, than his uncommon erudition. His letters sufficiently prove
what great friendship he had for me."

We find in fact that they contain evidences of the highest esteem for
Grotius. 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