im to persist in
his plea.

Much disregard of form took place, and many arbitrary acts were
perpetrated, in the proceedings against Grotius. On the 18th of May
1619, the Commissioners pronounced sentence against him. After
enumerating all the charges, of which he was accused, and asserting that
all were proved against him, the judges condemned him to perpetual
imprisonment, and his estates to be confiscated. The same sentence was
passed on Hoogerbetz; but the house of the latter was assigned to him
for his imprisonment.

On the 6th of June, Grotius was taken to Louvestein. It lies near
Gorcum, in South Holland, at the point of the island formed by the Vaal
and the Meuse. Twenty-four sous a day were allowed for his maintenance;
but his wife undertook to support him, during his confinement, from her
own estate. She was at length admitted into prison with him, on
condition that she should remain in it, while his imprisonment lasted.

[Sidenote: Trial and Imprisonment of Grotius.]

At first, his confinement was very rigid: by degrees it was relaxed: his
wife was allowed to leave the prison for a few hours, twice in every
week. He was permitted to borrow books, and to correspond, except on
politics, with his friends.

He beguiled the tedious hours of confinement by study, relieving his
mind by varying its objects. Antient and modern literature equally
engaged his attention: Sundays he wholly dedicated to prayer and the
study of theology.

Twenty months of imprisonment thus passed away. His wife now began to
devise projects for his liberty. She had observed that he was not so
strictly watched as at first; that the guards, who examined the chest
used for the conveyance of his books and linen, being accustomed to see
nothing in it but books and linen, began to examine them loosely: at
length, they permitted the chest to pass without any examination. Upon
this, she formed her project for her husband's release.

She began to carry it into execution by cultivating an intimacy with the
wife of the commandant of Gorcum. To her, she lamented Grotius's
immoderate application to study; she informed her that it had made him
seriously ill; and that, in consequence of his illness, she had resolved
to take all his books from him, and restore them to their owners. She
circulated every where the account of his illness, and finally declared
that it had confined him to his bed.

[Sidenote: CHAP. VII. 1618--1621.]

In the mean time,