olland.
Immediately after his arrival, he addressed a letter to the president
de Thou, in which he expressed great mortification at not having seen
him, and requested his acceptance of a book accompanying his letter,
which he had dedicated to the Prince of Conde. The president de Thou was
highly pleased with this letter: a correspondence took place between
them. Grotius furnished the president with materials for that portion of
his history which related to the troubles in the Low Countries.

In the last letter of the President de Thou, in this correspondence, he
earnestly dissuades Grotius from engaging in the religious disputes of
the times. In reply to it, Grotius respectfully intimates to the
president, that "he found himself obliged to enter into them by his love
of his country; his wish to serve his church, and the request of those
to whom he owed obedience:" promising, at the same time, "to abstain
from all disputes that were not necessary." After the death of the
President, Grotius celebrated his memory in a poem, which was considered
by the bard's admirers to be one of his best performances.

CHAPTER II.

GROTIUS EMBRACES THE PROFESSION OF THE LAW. HIS FIRST PROMOTIONS.

1597-1610.

In the ruin of the Roman Empire, her laws were lost in the general
wreck. During the 200 years, which followed the reign of Constantine the
Great, Europe was a scene of every calamity, which the inroads of
barbarians could inflict, either on the countries through which they
passed, or those in which they settled. About the sixth century, Europe
obtained some degree of tranquillity, in consequence of the introduction
of feudalism; the most singular event in the annals of history. At
first, it produced a general anarchy; but the system of subordination
upon which it was grounded, contained in it the germ of regular
government, and even, of jurisprudence. Its effects were first visible
in the _various codes of law_ which the barbarous nations promulgated.
Such are the Salic, the Ripuarian, the Alemannic, the Burgundian, the
Visigothic, and the Lombard laws.

[Sidenote: Feudal Jurisprudence.]

A complicated or refined system of jurisprudence is not to be looked for
in them; but, if they are considered with due regard to the state of
society for which they were calculated, they will be found to contain
much that deserves praise. The _capitularies_, or short legislative
provisions, propounded by the sovereign, and ado