he presented
him with his picture and a golden chain. Grotius gives an account of
this embassy, in the seventh book of his Annals: he abstains, with a
praiseworthy modesty, from any mention of himself: but, in one of his
poems, he dwells with complacency on his having seen the monarch, "who
owed his kingdom only to his valour"--

" ... _Le Heros, qui regna sur la France,
Et par droit de conquete et par droit de naissance_."
VOLTAIRE, _Henriade_.

Grotius was so much pleased with his reception, and the present which he
received from Henry, that he caused a print of himself, adorned with the
chain presented to him by Henry, to be engraved. He was introduced to
many of the most distinguished persons at Paris: there was one, whom he
particularly esteemed, but whom, from some unexplained circumstance, he
missed seeing.

[Sidenote: Chap. 1. 1582-1597]

This was _the President de Thou_, a name never to be mentioned without
veneration. He had been employed by his sovereign on many delicate and
important commissions, and had acquitted himself in all, with ability
and honour. He had filled the office of _Maitre des Requetes_, and been
advanced to that of _President a Mortier_. He was employed, at this
time, upon his immortal History. In the account which it gives of the
events, that took place in France, it is entitled to almost unqualified
praise: in regard to what happened to other countries, he necessarily
depended on the information which he received from them, and cannot
therefore be equally relied upon. The prolixity, with which he is now
reproached, was not felt at the time in which he wrote; every event,
however small, was then thought to be important, and multitudes were
personally interested in it. But the charm of his work is, that every
page of it shews a true lover of his country, an impartial judgment, and
an honourable mind. The memoirs, which he has left us of his own life,
recently translated into English by Mr. Collinson, are interesting and
entertaining. He collected a very large library, both of printed books
and manuscripts, and had them splendidly bound. The whole was sold by
auction in the reign of Louis XIV, and scarcely produced half the sum
which the binding of its volumes had cost: The same has been said of the
Harleian collection, sold in our times.

[Sidenote: His Birth and Education.]

Having remained a twelvemonth at Paris, Grotius returned to H