“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.]

Three points were united in Grotius, each of which would strongly recommend him to Dr. Johnson:  he was learned, pious, and opposed to the doctrines of Calvin.  It is still more unnecessary to mention the various encomiums, which the learned of all nations have made of Grotius, in prose and verse.  That he was one of the most universal scholars, whom the world has produced, and that he possessed sense, taste, and genius in a high degree, is universally confessed.  It is equally true, that both his public and his private character, are entitled to a high degree of praise.

When Queen Christina, heard of his death, she wrote to his widow, a letter of condolence, and requested, that the manuscripts which he had left, might be sent to her: 

“My ambassador,” the Queen says in this letter, “has made you acquainted, with my high esteem, for his learning, and the good services he did me; but he could not express, how dear I hold his memory, and the effects of his great labours.  If gold, or silver, could do any thing towards redeeming such a valuable life, I would gladly employ all, I am mistress of, for that purpose.”

She concludes by asking his widow, for all the manuscripts “of that learned man, whose works had given her such pleasure.”  The Queen assures her, that “they could not fall into better hands,” and that, “the author, having been useful to her in his lifetime, it was not just that she should be deprived, after his death, of the fruits of his labours.”

It remains to mention, that, after the death of Grotius, his wife communicated with the Church of England:  this, it is said, she did in conformity to the dying injunctions of her husband:  it is certain, that Grotius respected the Church of England.  His wife died at the Hague, in the communion of the Remonstrants.  Through life, she was uniformly respected; and, whenever the services of Grotius, to sacred and profane literature, are recorded, her services to him, should be mentioned with praise.