tween the
Ambassador and Grotius was probably cut off till the beginning of 1621;
for it is not till the fifteenth of January that year, he returns him
his thanks[106]. He says it is impossible for him to express his
obligations to the Most Christian King, to his wife Council, and to Du
Maurier in particular, for the pains they took to assist him in his
misfortunes; that tho' their intentions had not the effect which might
have been hoped for, it gave him great consolation to find persons of
such importance interest themselves in his troubles. He calls his
conscience, as the judge he most respected, to witness, that all he
intended was the prevention of schism; that he never had a thought of
making any innovation in the Republic; that he only purposed the
supporting the rights of his Sovereigns, without invading the legal
authority of the States-General; that such as were in the secret of
affairs knew that his whole crime was refusing to comply with the
caprices of those who wanted to rule according to their fancies; and
that he chose rather to lose his estate and his health, than to ask
pardon for a fault he had never committed.

Du Maurier losing his lady about this time, Grotius writes him, February
27, 1621, a very handsome consolatory letter, in which he deduces with
great eloquence every ground of support that Philosophy and Religion can
suggest in that melancholly event. The only method he took to unbend and
recreate himself, was to go from one work to another. He translated the
_Phoenissae_ of Euripides: wrote his _Institutions of the Laws of
Holland_ in Dutch: and composed some short Instructions for his daughter
Cornelia[107] in the form of a Catechism, and in Flemish verse,
containing an hundred and eighty-five Questions and Answers: it was
printed at the Hague in 1619. The author afterwards translated it into
the same number of Latin verses for the use of his son: it is added in
the later editions of his Poems. He wrote also, while under confinement,
a Dialogue in Dutch verse between a father and a son, on the necessity
of silence, explaining the use and abuse of Speech, and shewing the
advantages of taciturnity. In fine, he collected, when in prison, the
materials of his _Apology_[108].

FOOTNOTES:

[102] Apolog. Pref.

[103] Ep. 126.

[104] Ep. 23. p. 761.

[105] Ep. 132.

[106] Ep. 133.

[107] Mem. Litt. de la Gr. Bretagne, t. xi. p. 66.

[108] Ep. 144.

XV. Grotius had been above eightee