THE LIFE OF HUGO GROTIUS With Brief Minutes of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of the Netherlands by CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. Of Lincoln's-Inn London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street. M.DCCC.XXVI. TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF SUSSEX, THIS BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF ONE OF THE MOST AMIABLE AND RESPECTABLE DEFENDERS OF THE NOBLE CAUSE OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, OF WHICH HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS HAS UNIFORMLY BEEN A CONSTANT AND POWERFUL ADVOCATE, IS (WITH HIS PERMISSION), MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR, Great Ormond Street 29 Sept. 1826 CONTENTS In the following pages we shall attempt to present our Readers, with a Life of HUGO GROTIUS; and MINUTES OF THE CIVIL, ECCLESIASTICAL, AND LITERARY HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS. In writing these pages, we principally consulted his life, written in the French language, by _M. de Burigni_, Member of the French Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres; an English translation of it, was published in 1754, in one Volume, 8vo.; _Hugonis Grotii Manes, ab iniquis obtrectationibus vindicati_; 2 vols. 8vo. 1727: the author of this work is said to be M. Lehman; The article _Grotius_, in _Bayle's and Chalmers's Dictionaries_; And many of the letters in _Hugonis Grotii Epistolæ_, published at Amsterdam in 1687, in one volume, folio; and many in the _Præstantium et Eruditorum Virorum Epistolæ Ecclesiasticæ_, published at Amsterdam in 1684, in one volume, 4to. For what we have said on GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS, we principally consulted, _Schmidt's Histoire des Allemands_; _Pfeffell's Histoire Abregé de l'Allemagne_, 2 vols. 8vo.; _Mr. Durnford's excellent Translation, of Professor Pütter's Historical Developement, of the Political History of the German Empire_; 3 vols. 8vo.; And _Hugonis Grotii Annales, et Historiæ de Rebus Belgicis_, one vol. 8vo. Amsterdam, 1658. In our account of the troubles on _Arminianism_, and the Synod of Dort; we principally consulted, the French Abridgment, in 3 vols. 8vo. of _Brand's History of the Netherlands_, and _Grotius's_ excellent _Apology_: In every part of the work, we have consulted other publications;--three only of these we shall mention; The three _Bibliothècques_ of Le Clerc; _The Life of Arminius_, and _Calvinism and Arminianism Compared_, by Mr. James Nichols. From these materials the following pages have been composed: they may be found to contain,-- INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER A.D. 800-911. I. 1. _Boundaries, and Devolution of the Empire of Germany, during the Carlovingian dynasty_ 2. _State of Literature, in the time of Charlemagne_ 3. _Decline of Literature, under the Descendants of Charlemagne_ A.D. 911-1024. II. 1. _Boundaries, and Devolution of the empire of Germany, during the Saxon dynasty_ 2. _State of Literature, during the Saxon dynasty_ A.D. 1024-1138.