THE DEATH OF GROTIUS.
1645
[Sidenote: CHAP. XIII. 1645.]
Every thing respecting the recall of Grotius being settled, he embarked
at Dieppe for Holland. He was extremely well received at Amsterdam and
Rotterdam: the constituted authorities, of the former city fitted a
vessel, which was to take him to Hamburgh: there, after along and
harassing journey, he arrived on the 16th of May. From Hamburgh he
proceeded to Lübec: the magistrates of that city gave him an honourable
reception. He proceeded to Wismar; where Count Wismar, the admiral of
the Swedish fleet, gave him a splendid entertainment, and afterwards
sent him in a man-of-war to Colmar: thence, he went by land to
Stockholm. When he arrived there, Queen Christina was at Upsal; but,
hearing that Grotius was at Stockholm, she returned to that city to meet
him. On the day after her arrival, she favoured him with a long
audience: she expressed to him great satisfaction at his conduct, and
made him large promises. These audiences were often repeated; and once
she permitted him to have the honour of dining with her. She assured
him, that if he would continue in her service, as Councillor of State,
and bring his family into Sweden, he should have no reason to complain
of her. But Grotius was anxious to leave Sweden; and his passport being
delayed, he resolved to quit it without one, and actually proceeded to a
seaport about seven leagues distant from Stockholm. The Queen, being
informed of his departure, sent a gentleman to inform him, that she
wished to see him once more. On this invitation he returned to
Stockholm, and was immediately admitted into the Queen's presence; he
then explained to her his reasons for wishing to quit Sweden. The Queen
appeared to be satisfied with them: she made him a present in money of
twelve or thirteen thousand Swedish imperials, of the value of about ten
thousand French crowns; she added to the present, some plate, the
finishing of which had, she told him, been the only cause of the delay
of his passport. She then put it into his hands, and a vessel was
appointed to carry him to Lübec. On the 12th August he embarked for that
city.
[Sidenote: The Death of Grotius.]
What were his real motives for refusing Christina's offers, or in what
place he ultimately intended to fix himself, is not known.
The vessel in which he embarked had scarcely sailed from Lübec, when it
was overtaken by a violent storm, and obliged, on the 17th August, to
take shelter in a port fourteen miles distant from Dantzic. Grotius went
from it in an open wagon to Lübec, and arrived very ill at Rostock[077]
on the 26th August. No one, there, knew him: his great weakness
determined him to call in the aid of a physician: one accordingly
attended him: his name was Stochman. On feeling Grotius's pulse, he said
his indisposition proceeded from weakness and fatigue, and that, with
rest and some restoratives, he might recover; but, on the following day
he changed his opinion. Perceiving that the weakness of Grotius
increased, and that it was accompanied with a cold sweat and other
symptoms indicating an exhaustion of nature, the physician announced
that the end of his patient was near. Grotius then asked for a
clergyman. _John Quistorpius_ was brought to him. Quistorpius, in a
letter to Calovius, gives the following particulars of Grotius's last
moments:
"You are desirous of hearing from me, how that Phoenix of
Literature, Hugo Grotius, behaved in his last moments, and I am
going to tell you. He embarked at Stockholm for Lübec, and after
having been tossed for the three days, by a violent tempest, he was
shipwrecked, and got to shore on the coast of Pomerania, from
whence he came to our town of Rostock, distant above sixty miles,
in an open wagon through wind and rain. He lodged with Balleman;
and sent for M. Stochman, the physician, who observing that he was
extremely weakened by years, by what he suffered at sea, and by the
inconveniences attending the journey, judged that he could not live
long. The second day after Grotius's arrival in this town, that is,
on the 18th of August, O.S. he sent for me, about nine at night, I
went, and found him almost at the point of death: I said, 'There
was nothing I desired more, than to have seen him in health, that I
might have the pleasure of his conversation.' He answered, 'God had
ordered it otherwise.' I desired him: to prepare himself for a
happier life, to acknowledge that he was a sinner, and to repent of
his faults: and, happening to mention the publican, who
acknowledged that he was a sinner, and asked God's mercy; he
answered, '_I am that publican_.' I went on, and told him that he
must have recourse to Jesus Christ, without whom there is no
salvation.'
"He replied, '_I place all my hope in Jesus Christ_.'
[Sidenote: The Death of Grotius.]
"I began to repeat aloud in German, the prayer which begins _Herr
Jesu:_[078] he followed me in a very low voice; with his hands
clasped. When I had done, I asked him, 'if he understood me.' He
answered, '_I understand you very well_.' I continued to repeat to
him those passages of the word of God, which are commonly offered
to the remembrance of dying persons; and asking him, 'if he
understood me,' he answered, '_I heard your voice, but I did not
understand what you said._'
"These were his last words; soon afterwards he expired; just at
midnight. His body was delivered to the physicians, who took out
his bowels. I easily obtained leave to bury them in our principal
church, which is dedicated to the Virgin."
His corpse, was afterwards carried to Delft, and deposited in the tomb
of his ancestors. He wrote this modest epitaph for himself,
"GROTIUS HIC HUGO EST, BATAVUM
CAPTIVUS ET EXSUL,
LEGATUS REGNI, SUECIA MAGNA, TUI."
Burigni informs us that Grotius had a very agreeable person, a good
complexion, an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a serene and smiling
countenance; that he was not tall, but very strong, and well built. The
engraving of him prefixed to the _Hugonis Grotii Manes_ answers this
description.
It is needless to give an account of his descendants, or their
prosperous or adverse fortunes: they are noticed at length by Burigni.
In _Mr. Boswell's Life of Johnson_, mention is made of one who was then
in a state of want. Dr. Johnson, in a letter to Dr. Vyse,
"requests him to recommend, an old friend, to his grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury. His name," says the Doctor, "is De Groot.
He has all the common claims to charity; he is poor and infirm in a
great degree. He has likewise another claim, to which no scholar
can refuse attention: he is, by several descents, the nephew of
Hugo Grotius; of him, of whom every man of learning has perhaps
learned something. Let it not be said, that, in any lettered
country, the nephew of Grotius, ever asked a charity, and was
refused."
The reader must be pleased, to be informed, that the application,--it
was for some situation, in the charter-house,--was successful. Dr. Vyse
informed Dr. Johnson of it, by letter. In his answer,
"Dr. Johnson," by Dr. Vyse's account, "rejoiced much, and was
lavish of the praise he bestowed upon his favourite Hugo
Grotius."[079]
[Sidenote: The Death of Grotius.]
Three points were united in Grotius, each of which would strongly
recommend him to Dr. Johnson: he was learned, pious, and opposed to the
doctrines of Calvin. It is still more unnecessary to mention the various
encomiums, which the learned of all nations have made of Grotius, in
prose and verse. That he was one of the most universal scholars, whom
the world has produced, and that he possessed sense, taste, and genius
in a high degree, is universally confessed. It is equally true, that
both his public and his private character, are entitled to a high degree
of praise.
When Queen Christina, heard of his death, she wrote to his widow, a
letter of condolence, and requested, that the manuscripts which he had
left, might be sent to her:
"My ambassador," the Queen says in this letter, "has made you
acquainted, with my high esteem, for his learning, and the good
services he did me; but he could not express, how dear I hold his
memory, and the effects of his great labours. If gold, or silver,
could do any thing towards redeeming such a valuable life, I would
gladly employ all, I am mistress of, for that purpose."
She concludes by asking his widow, for all the manuscripts "of that
learned man, whose works had given her such pleasure." The Queen assures
her, that "they could not fall into better hands," and that, "the
author, having been useful to her in his lifetime, it was not just that
she should be deprived, after his death, of the fruits of his labours."
It remains to mention, that, after the death of Grotius, his wife
communicated with the Church of England: this, it is said, she did in
conformity to the dying injunctions of her husband: it is certain, that
Grotius respected the Church of England. His wife died at the Hague, in
the communion of the Remonstrants. Through life, she was uniformly
respected; and, whenever the services of Grotius, to sacred and profane
literature, are recorded, her services to him, should be mentioned with
praise.