"I began to repeat aloud in German, the prayer which begins _Herr Jesu:_[078] he followed me in a very low voice; with his hands clasped. When I had done, I asked him, 'if he understood me.' He answered, '_I understand you very well_.' I continued to repeat to him those passages of the word of God, which are commonly offered to the remembrance of dying persons; and asking him, 'if he understood me,' he answered, '_I heard your voice, but I did not understand what you said._' "These were his last words; soon afterwards he expired; just at midnight. His body was delivered to the physicians, who took out his bowels. I easily obtained leave to bury them in our principal church, which is dedicated to the Virgin." His corpse, was afterwards carried to Delft, and deposited in the tomb of his ancestors. He wrote this modest epitaph for himself, "GROTIUS HIC HUGO EST, BATAVUM CAPTIVUS ET EXSUL, LEGATUS REGNI, SUECIA MAGNA, TUI." Burigni informs us that Grotius had a very agreeable person, a good complexion, an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a serene and smiling countenance; that he was not tall, but very strong, and well built. The engraving of him prefixed to the _Hugonis Grotii Manes_ answers this description. It is needless to give an account of his descendants, or their prosperous or adverse fortunes: they are noticed at length by Burigni. In _Mr. Boswell's Life of Johnson_, mention is made of one who was then in a state of want. Dr. Johnson, in a letter to Dr. Vyse, "requests him to recommend, an old friend, to his grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. His name," says the Doctor, "is De Groot. He has all the common claims to charity; he is poor and infirm in a great degree. He has likewise another claim, to which no scholar can refuse attention: he is, by several descents, the nephew of Hugo Grotius; of him, of whom every man of learning has perhaps learned something. Let it not be said, that, in any lettered country, the nephew of Grotius, ever asked a charity, and was refused." The reader must be pleased, to be informed, that the application,--it was for some situation, in the charter-house,--was successful. Dr. Vyse informed Dr. Johnson of it, by letter. In his answer, "Dr. Johnson," by Dr. Vyse's account, "rejoiced much, and was lavish of the praise he bestowed upon his favourite Hugo Grotius."[079] [Sidenote: The Death of Grotius.]