GROTIUS, Huoo, one of the most profound and en lightened scholars, and one of the most remarkable men of his age, was born at Delft in the United Netherlands, on the 10th of April 1583. The name in Dutch is De Groot, or the Great ; and as it had for many ages been the patrony mick of one branch of his ancestors, the circumstances which led to its adoption arc unknown. But few families have better merited such a distinction, if greatness he esti• mated not by external rank and honour, but by those intel lectual and moral endowments which far surpass in value all the gifts of fortune. The family of Grotius had been illustrious at Delft for four centuries, and he himself in the estimation of his own age and of posterity, pre-eminently merited the surname of Great among the great. He did not descend, however, in the uninterrupted male line from that family ; for it is related, that about the year 1430, De deric de Groot, burgomaster of Delft, and a highly distin guished member of the family, had an only child, a daugh ter named Eremgard, whom he left a wealthy heiress. This young lady was sought in marriage by Cornelius Cornetz, who sprung from that branch of the noble family of Cot. netz, which, under the Dukes of Burgundy, had emigrated from France into Holland. The lady favoured his ad dresses, hut, under this stipulation, that should there be any children of the marriage, they should take the name of her and her ancestors, De Groot. The first who, in conformi ty to this agreement, bore her name, was Hugh, grandson of Dederic, and grandfather of the subject of this article. One of the sons of this Hugh was Cornelius de Groot, born in Delft in 1544. After acquiring much learning at his na tive place, he prosecuted his studies, literary and mathe matical, with great ardour at Louvain and Paris. He de lighted in the philosophy of Plato. He then applied him self to the civil law at Orleans, and on his return to Delft, betook himself to the bar, and afterwards filled several im portant offices. In 1575 he was appointed professor of phi losophy in the university of Leyden, which dates its origin from about that time, and which has since been so cele brated in the republic of letters. He afterwards taught the
civil law in that seminary, and evinced his preference for the quiet pursuits of learning, by refusing a scat in the great council of the States, though that appointment was repeatedly pressed on his acceptance. He died without issue in 1601. Hugh Da Groot had another son, John, who also studied law. He was appointed burgomaster of Delft, and afterwards curator of the university of Leyden. He was an elegant scholar and a poet. But his chief claim to the remembrance of posterity is, that he was the father of our Hugo Grotius, to whom it is now proper to direct our attention.
This illustrious man was born, as we already stated, at Delft, in 1583. His mother's name was Alide Overschie, and the family to which she belonged was of some note. Endued by nature with admirable talents, he enjoyed from his infancy the advantage of an excellent education. When he was only seven years of age, he was placed under the tuition of masters, with whom he made such extraordinary progress, hat before he had completed his ninth year lie composed verses which obtained the approbation of the learned. At twelve he was so great a proficient in the knowledge of the classics, and of belles lcttres, that he was qualified to pursue his studies at the university. Ile was accordingly sent in 1595 from Delft to Leyden, where he spent three years in the study of mathematics, philosophy, theology, and law, and excelled in the knowledge of each of these sciences. He was only fifteen years old when he wrote a commentary on a very difficult Latin poet, Marcia nus Capella. The celebrated statesman, John Barnevelt, attorney-general of the republic of Holland, having been, in 1598, appointed ambassador to France, the young Gro tins accompanied him thither. Henry IV. who then reign ed in France, gave him most gratifying marks of his es teem. The monarch presented him with a gold chain, and a portrait of himself ; and it is said that lie was so highly pleased with such attention, that he caused his own por trait to be engraved, adorned with these tokens of royal fa vour. While he remained in France, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Law at the early age of sixteen.