GROTIUS, HUGO, was born at Delft, 10th April 1583, of which town his father, Johu do Groot, was burgomaster, and also ourator of the then newly established University of Leyden. From his boyhood Grotius manifested au extraordinary ability, and he is said to have written Latin verses when he was only eight years old. At the ago of eleven he was sent to the University of Leyden, where his education was particularly superintended by the theologian Junius, with whom he lived, and by Joseph Scaliger. He remained three years at Leyden, during which he applied himself to the study of divinity, law, and mathematics. In 1597 ho maintained two publio theses on philo sophy, and wrote in praise of Henri IV., in Latin, a poem entitled 'Triumphnis Gallicus,' which ho dedicated to 11. de Buzenval, the French ambassador in Holland. In 1593 he accompanied a Dutch embassy to Parise, where he was introduced to the king, who gave him a golden chain, and presented him to his court as the miracle of Holland. After one year's stay in France, where he was treated with much distinction by many eminent personages, he returned to Holland, whence he addressed a letter to Thuanus (Da Thou), ex pressing his regret at having missed an opportunity of making his acquaintance when in France. This letter laid the foundation of a literary and friendly correspoudence, which lasted till the death of Thuanus. In the same year (1599) he published an edition of Mar tianus Capella, with notes, which he dedicated to the Prince de Conde. This edition is adorned, besides a portrait of the Prince de Conde, with that of Grotius himself, aged fifteen, wearing the chain which he had received from Henri IV. Immediately on his return from France, Grotius was called to the bar, and pleaded with great success; but his legal occupations did not prevent him from attend ing to other studies. In the same year (1599) he published a Latin translation of a nautical work, written by Stevinue, at the request of the Prince Maurice of Nassau, for the use of naval officers. In 1600 appeared his edition of the Phmnomena ' of Aratus. The corrections he made in the Greek text are considered to be very judicious, and his notes show some knowledge of Arabic. Notwithstanding these serious studies, Grotius found time for cultivating poetry, and with each success. that he was considered one of the beat Latin poets of his time. The Prosopopeia' of the city of Ostend, which had sus tained a siege of three years, was universally considered a master piece, and was translated into French by Rapin, Pasquier, and Malherbe, and into Greek by Isaac Casaubon.
Grotius was nominated advocate-general for the treasury of Holland and Zealand in 1607, and in the next year married Mary Reygers burgh, a lady of great family in Zealand. In 1613 he was made pensionary of Rotterdam, an important place which gave him a seat in the assembly of the states of Holland, and afterwards in that of the states-general, and it was about that time that he contracted an intimate friendship with Olden Barneveldt, a connection which exercised the greatest influence on his life. In 1615 Grotius was
sent to England in order to arrange the difficulties arising from the claims of the English to exclude the Dutch from the whale-fisheries of Greenland. During that negotiation, Grotius was by no means satisfied with the English ministry, but he was much pleased with his reception by King James. The most agreeable incident of his visit to England was however the opportunity which it afforded him of form ing an intimate friendship with Isaac Casaubon, in common with whom he entertained a hope of uniting all Christians into one church.
The intimacy of Grotius with Barneveldt, whose political and religious opinions he shared, involved him in the misfortune of his friend. [Baaxzvatm; AuruiICS.] He was condemned on the 18th of May 1619 to perpetual imprisonment, and his property confiscated. Pursuant to this sentence, he was conveyed on the 6th of June in the same year to the fortress of Loevestein, situated at the extremity of an island formed by the Maas and the Waal. His wife was allowed to share her husband's imprisonment, but Grotius's father was refused permission to see his son. During the imprisonment of Grotius study became his consolation and the business of his life. In several of his letters addressed from Loevestein to Vossius, he gives an account of his studies, informing him that he was occupied with law and moral philosophy. He devoted his Sundays to reading works on religious subjects, and he employed in the same way the time which remained after his ordinary labours were over. He wrote during his imprison ment his treatise on the truth of the Christian religion, in Dutch verse (which he subsequently translated into Latin prose), translated the 'Phceniseas ' of Euripides into Latin verse, wrote the institutions of the laws of Holland in Dutch, and drew up for his daughter Cornelia a kind of catechism in 185 questions and answers, written in Flemish verse. After eighteen months' confinement, Grotius was at last released by tho ingenuity of his wife, who had obtained permission to go out of the prison twice a week. lie constantly received books, which were brought In and taken out in a largo chest together with his linen. For some time this chest wee strictly examined by the guards, but finding only books and foul linen, they at last grew tired of the search, and gave it up. Grotius's wife having observed this, per suaded her husband to get into the chest, which he did, and in this manner escaped from the fortress on the 21st of March 162L Be mado his way through Antwerp to France, where his wife, who had been detained for about a fortnight in prison, joined him a few months afterwards.