The celebrated Peyresc having made a journey into Holland in 1606, would not leave the Hague[706] till he had made acquaintance with Grotius, already famous for universal learning.  “Though he was but very young, says Gassendi[707], when Peyresc heard of his arrival at Paris, he said, that France, by gaining Grotius, had a sufficient reparation for the loss of Scaliger; and that if some others had been the ornament of the age, he was the wonder of it; and it is with reason (adds M. Mesnage, after relating this story of Peyresc) that we still consider Grotius as a prodigy of learning, since he has made a greater proficiency in most of the sciences, than many of those who have wholly applied to one of them in particular.”

In the funeral Elogium of Peyresc, delivered at Rome December 2, 1637, mention is made of the learned men with whom he was connected.  James Bucard, who spoke it, distinguisheth Salmasius and Grotius from the rest, styling them the Princes of literature and of the fine arts.  We cannot conceive a higher idea of Grotius than the celebrated Gerard Vossius entertained, as appears from the beautiful poem written by him in honour of his friend:  we would give it at length if it were not too long, but we cannot omit the last stanza: 

Felici omine dicte magne, quid te Sol majus videt? o decus tuorum, Delfi gloria, Patrii Deique amores, Splendor inclute, Belgices ocelle, Orbis delicium, Deique amores!

He never mentions Grotius without admiration.  “He is, says he[708], one of the greatest ornaments of our times, or rather the miracle, the eternal honour, of Holland, and of his age.”  He wrote to Meursius[709], “If we would do him justice, there is none we can place above him, nor even any we can compare with him.”

Utengobard, who had been his master, said, that to speak after Grotius, was to expose one’s self to be laughed at.

Balzac has employed his most eloquent phrases to express his thoughts of Grotius:  he writes to Mesnage, “Is it true, what you tell me, of the Swedish Ambassador, and shall I be so happy to share in his esteem?  I tell it you as solemnly as if I were by the altar on which we swore to be friends, that my ambition was dead, but you have revived it, and my transports would be as great as yours, if my blood were as fine and sparkling:  who would not glory in the esteem of one whose birth our age ought to be proud of? he is a modern whom the President Jeannin sets in opposition to the greatest of the ancients.”  In another letter written to Chapelain[710], he says:  “Whatever comes from Grotius is a high recommendation of him to me; and besides the solidity of his learning, the strength of his reasoning, and the graces of his language, I observe in it an air of probity, that one may put entire confidence in him, excepting in what regards our Church, to which he is unhappily a stranger.”