feet above the level of the sea, but generally limited to a height of 3000. The main ridge of the Carpathians, extending eastward from the vicinity of Tatra, is known as the " Waldgebürge," or Forest Mountains. The length of this portion is estimated at 200 miles, while the average width may be taken at 50 or 60. The mountain masses do not rise to a very great height, nor are the declivities steep; in their upper surfaces they do not exhibit high peaks, but extend in uneven plains, on which a few elevations, with a very gentle ascent, rise considerably above them. There are no rivers running longitudinally along the base of the mountains, as in some other parts of the Carpathians; but streams descend from the sides of the mountains, forming nearly right angles with their general course. The north-east portion of the Carpathians forms a boundary between the vast plains of Hungary and the still more extensive plains of Russia. Indeed, were it not for the interposition of these mountains, there would be almost an uninterrupted level from the north-east regions of Europe, near the confines of Asia, to Austria. Two great roads pass over the Forest Mountains, or rather over the most favourable valleys or passes which intersect them; and by these roads intercourse is maintained between Hungary and North-eastern Europe. When we have arrived at the southernmost point of the portion just described, we leave the Carpathians proper. We then enter upon the Province of Transylvania, which, although a very diversified and mountainous country, presents nothing so marked and conspicuous as the Carpathians, considered as a connected ridge. The Transylvania Mountains are a continuation of the Carpathians, but they ramify in every direction, and intersect that country in a remarkable manner, forming no longer a definite boundary between Transylvania and other countries, but a system of ridges over the whole region. DURING my residence among the Malabars, where the igno minious distinction of castes is carried to the utmost extent, I was fully convinced that it puts a stop to the noblest exertions of real charity, blunts the finest feelings of huma nity, and estranges man from man.-FORBES's Oriental Memoirs. IF a man indulges habits of bodily indolence, the natural powers of the constitution are impaired; and exertion becomes, every year he lives, more and more irksome. This wretched condition is, however, so painful in itself, so injurious to worldly interests, and so disgraceful, that it is, comparatively, but a few individuals who suffer themselves to sink into it. But the indolence of the mind is less apparent than the indolence of the body; and those who are the most subject to it may scarcely themselves be aware of their real condition. Persons may converse as they hear others converse; and do what they see others do; they may repeat what has been fixed in the memory, and believe what they have been taught, or what best pleases their particular tempers; while their minds may be as completely inactive, and as incapable of exertion, as the body is during sleep. This is certainly a very degraded state for a being whose mind is, by nature, capable of much more activity than his body; but yet, there is reason to believe that the minds of a great part of mankind are in this inactive state. It is owing, in a great measure, to this prevailing and habitual indolence, that millions of men, from one generation to another, continue to be deluded by childish and wicked superstitions. It is owing to this mental indolence in the mass of mankind, that one man, whose mind is active, often finds it easy to persuade thousands to receive some fanciful opinions of his own: or to induce them to follow him in absurd and mischievous enterprises, which bring miseries upon themselves and their neighbours. It is, in part, owing to this torpid indolence of the mind, that men, who have heard that there is a future life, which will be happy or wretched according to their conduct and the state of their minds in the present life; yet make them selves tranquil while they neglect the means of securing happiness in the life to come.-Elements of Thought. ANCIENT CUSTOM OF HOLDING LANDS BY THE POSSESSION OF A HORN. I. ONE of the various modes of transferring inheritances in use among our ancestors, was by a horn. Ingulphus, abbot of Croyland, particularly specifies the horn, amongst other things, whereby lands were conveyed in the early part of the reign of William the Conqueror. "At first," he says, (in reference to the time of the Conqueror,) "many estates were transferred by bare word of mouth, without any writing or charter, only by the lord's sword, or helmet, or horn, or cup; and many tenements by a spur, a scraper, a bow; and some by an arrow." By this it appears that the implement was always such as was well known to have belonged to the donor or granter. The ivory horn of Ulphus, which is still preserved in the vestry of the church at York, was presented by Ulphus to that church in token of his bestowing upon God and St. Peter all his lands, tenements, &c. When he gave the horn (which was probably the richest and most valuable moveable the munificent donor was possessed of), he filled it with wine, and on his knees before the altar made the declaration, Deo et S. Petro omnes terras et redditus propinavit. He then drank off the wine, and left the horn behind him, in testimony that thereby he gave up his lands, even to the disinheriting of his sons; and the members of the church of York were required to pledge him. A figure of this horn is given in DRAKE's Eboracum. The family of Pusey held the village of Pusey, in Berkshire, in fee, by a horn which was first given to William Picote by King Canute. In the eleventh year of the reign of Henry the Sixth, Sir Robert Plumpton, knight, died, possessed of one bovat in Mansfield Woodhouse, called Wolfhuntland, which was held by the service of winding a horn, for the purpose of driving or frightening the wolves in the forest of Shirewood. About the year 1124 Randal de Meschines, the third Norman earl of Chester, conferred upon Alan Silvestris, the bailiwick of the forest of Wirall, by the delivering to him of a bugle horn, which in 1751 was preserved at Hooton. In the reign of Edward the Third the forest was disforested, and the lands were partially inclosed. Edric, surnamed Silvaticus, or the Forester, was the supposed ancestor of Alan Silvestris, and of the Silvesters of Stourton, foresters of Wirall. The arms of Edric (who was a great warrior)—on a shield argent a large tree torn up by the roots, vert, since borne by the Silvesters of Stourton, in Wirall-are impressed on the horn. According to Ingulphus, Witlaff, king of Mercia, gave to the Abbey of Croyland, "the horn used at his own table for the elder monks of the house to drink out of it on festivals and saints' days, and that when they gave thanks they might remember the soul of Witlaff the donor." The Danes used the horn, as well as the Saxons, and after them the English. Thus Chaucer says, Janus sit by the fire with double berde, And drinketh of his bugle horn the wine. Hence the common expression, "the horn," applied to a drinking cup to this day. The cattle doctor gives medicines to sick beasts by means of a horn; a custom which seems to have been derived from the ancients. Horns for blowing were used in collecting cattle, and driving them out to pasture in the morning. Also, for summoning the people on various occasions; thus, the horn is now used (or was till lately) at Canterbury, for The horn seems also assembling the Burgmote court. to have been a badge of office, for those whose duty it was to summon the people. It was also used in the earliest times as an instrument of war. The horn, for whatever use employed, was often made of rich material, | and adorned in a most elegant manner. Thus lands were granted by the gift of a hunting horn, as well as of a drinking horn, when they were well known to have belonged to the donor. In some cases the two descriptions of horn were united in one. Thus the Pusey horn served for blowing or drinking; the dog's head at the orifice turned upon a joint, by which means the horn could either be opened for blowing, or shut for the holding of liquor. The Pusey horn deserves a detailed notice. the guild was long accustomed to proceed thither to Dr. Speaking of the manor of Pusey, Camden s says, "The Kyng Knowde gebe Wyllyam Pewse At the small end is a hound's head of silver gilt, made to screw in as a stopple. The colour of the horn is dark brown, which, together with its composition, proves it to have been a real ox horn, and not, as is sometimes the case, made of ivory. The horn is two feet and a half long, and nine inches and a half in height, from the feet to the outer edge or rim of the tube, which is of silver; the circumference in the largest part is one foot, in the central part nine inches and a quarter, and at the small end two inches and a quarter. It has a rim of silver gilt round the narrow end, as well as round the broad end. The College of Corpus Christi at Cambridge was also founded by the gift of a horn which belonged to the guild of Corpus Christi, the original founders of that college. This horn was presented to the guild by their alderman, John Goldcorne, about the year 1347. Masters, in his History of Corpus Christi College, speaking of guilds generally, and of that of Corpus Christi in particular, says, that on the day of election of the officers, "they usually feasted together when they drank their ale, of which they kept good store in their cellars, out of a great horn, finely ornamented with silver gilt, and which is still remaining in the college treasury; this was presented to the brethren of Corpus Christi by John Goldcorne, when alderman, and was liberally filled by them, especially upon the festival of Corpus Christi, when a magnificent procession was usually made." It appears that after the establishment of the college THE HORN OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. The head at the extremity of the given, may probably be intended for horn, of which an enlarged drawing is the reigning monarch, Edward the Third. On the front of the large end are the arms of the college. THE biography of men of eminence and merit is especially A WISE man who is not, at the same time, virtuous, is a Ir is from a mistaken notion that childhood is generally OF BOOKS PRIOR TO THE INVENTION THE author formerly, just as much as at present, had need of the assistance of others in placing his work before the public; and hence the occupation of bookseller and publisher, though not in their present distinct condition, was known to antiquity. Among the Greeks, Diogenes, of Laertes, tells us there were public shops or bibliopolia, in which manuscripts were sold; and in these it was the custom of the learned to meet, in order to hear new works read. Hermodorus, a disciple of Plato, is said to have carried on a considerable trade in his master's works, although without the consent of the philosopher. In Alexandria, a great market for books was maintained chiefly by the Greeks. Sellers of books are several times mentioned by the Latin authors, under the name of librarii, or bibliopoli, the former name having originally been applied only to the slave or freedman copyist. The shops were situated in a very public part of the city, and, as in Greece, the learned met in them for discussion and reading, and there advertisements of new works were exhibited. Martial desires a friend, who had applied to him for the loan of a volume of his Epigrams, to go to the booksellers' street, where he would find the shop covered with coloured placards of the titles of works. These shops were found also in provincial towns, and probably also in Constantinople. Sums of money were sometimes paid to the author, when of course the work became the property of the bookseller. Martial, in an epigram, hints that he has made but a sorry bargain with his bookseller, Tryphon : speaking to one who contemplates purchasing a copy, he says, "Perhaps you may have to pay four pieces, and perhaps you may get it for two, but even then Tryphon will have secured his profit." When a Greek or Roman author wished to have his works known, he frequently hired a room, and invited an audience, to whom he read them. Giraldus Cambrensis adopted a similar plan in the Middle Ages. A portico was sometimes employed, but then the hearers were often annoyed by the passers-by and mischievous boys. Books were frequently exported into the principal towns of Italy, and into Gaul, Spain, Africa, or Britain. Pliny, writing to his friend Germinius, expresses his gratification at learning that his works had circulated so far as Lyons, and there maintained their reputation, where customs and tastes were so different to those prevailing at Rome. Martial alludes to compliments he had received from Toulouse and Vienna. During the dark period of the Middle Ages, in which the cultivation of letters was almost utterly neglected, booksellers seem to have been unknown, for Mr. Hallam can find no trace of their existence prior to the end of the twelfth century. The stationarii, (so called according to Pegge from their possessing stalls or shops in distinction to itinerant vendors,) or booksellers, are mentioned in the statutes of Bologna, 1259. In these they are enjoined to sell only to the members of the university, and always to keep a certain number of books for hire at a specified remuneration, There were also book-brokers, who were allowed a certain commission, amounting to one-fortieth or one-sixtieth. Many Italian universities forbad the sale of books for the mere profiting by the transfers. At Paris, in 1323, the stationarius, or book-lender, is distinguished from the librarius, or book-broker. The prices of the books were fixed by officers of the universities, but no work could be disposed of at all without the previous sanction of the authorities. By an act passed in the reign of Richard the Third, and confirmed by Henry the Eighth, it was decreed that if booksellers offered works at unreasonable prices, the justices of the King's Bench were empowered to regulate such prices by the oaths of twelve honest, discreet persons. A bookseller could not refuse a member of a university the permission to transcribe a manuscript, but could demand a pledge for the security of the volume, and a fixed sum for its hire. The university also forbad that any book should be disposed of prior to the correction of the faults of the copyist, and if these were detected afterwards, they were to be corrected, or the book to be destroyed, and the bookseller punished. In 1303 twenty-eight booksellers, among whom were two women, took oaths to obey the ordonnances of the University of Paris. For some time after the invention of printing, the printers were also the booksellers. Faust carried his Bibles to France for sale, and many persons who had formerly been copyists now became agents for the printers, and carried the copies round to the various monasteries for sale. The numerous pilgrimages to holy places also afforded good opportunities of disposing of books, especially those of a religious character, now so much reduced in price by means of the printing press, and the cheapness of paper. But it was at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where so many strangers resorted to the fair, that the book trade especially flou rished, although the celebrity of its book fair has been since surpassed by that held at Leipsic*. At In connection with the powers assumed by the universities over booksellers, we may allude to the establishment of censorships, and the prohibition of obnoxious works. It is an error to suppose that the liberty of publishing opinions to the world has only been placed under restriction since the invention of printing; although it is certain, that after that epoch, owing to the number of works becoming so much increased, and so many of them being devoted to advancing the cause of the Reformation, such restriction became then much more stringent. The works of Protagoras, and of Diogenes of Melos, were prohibited at Athens, and all the copies that could be procured publicly burned, and the authors banished, for having denied the existence of the gods. Prodicius of Cos, having written a book to show that men elevated natural objects to the rank of gods, drank hemlock to avoid the disgrace of banishment. Rome one of the laws of the Twelve Tables, which was frequently renewed, condemned the author of defamatory writing to death. Augustus is said to have ordered several thousand books of a superstitious and astrological character, (to which the Romans were much addicted,) to be destroyed. He also condemned the Satires of Labienus to the flames, upon which occasion Cassius Severus said, that to destroy them effectually they must condemn him also to death, as he had all the works of his friend Labienus by heart. The dramatic poet Navus, wishing to imitate the licence of Aristophanes upon the stage, was banished, and his works prohibited. Ovid was exiled for having written his Art of Love, but this must have been but a pretext, as the book itself was not prohibited. In the reign of Tiberius, Crementius Cordas, having eulogized Brutus in his Annals, poisoned himself to avoid the vengeance of the emperor; his works were burned, but his daughter Marcia concealed a few copies, which were afterwards published. singular that the ferocious Nero treated those who even severely satirized him with more clemency than many of his predecessors. Antiochus Epiphanes caused the books of the Jews to be burned, and those of the earlier Christians were similarly treated. When the Christian religion became predominant, the clergy exercised the very severity towards obnoxious books which they had ridiculed, when employed by the heathens. Thus the Council of Nice condemned the works of Arius to the flames, Constantine denouncing death upon those who should conceal them; and Theodorus the Second, at the request of the Council of Ephesus, caused the works of Nestorius to be burned. The works of Abelard were condemned in 1141, and a See Saturday Magasine, Vol. XXIII., p. 165 It is few years after, those of Arnold of Brescia were burned, together with their author. The punishments of Amouy de Chartres, John Huss, Jerome of Prague, and others, and the attempted destruction of their works, are other familiar examples. In France an immense number of persons were condemned to be destroyed at the stake, with their works, for attempting to introduce the principles of the Reformation, with the early printed works. The despotism of Henry the Eighth, in the suppression and destruction of suspected works, is well known, and although the odious jurisdiction of the Star-Chamber was abolished, the Parliament long continued its restrictions, so that it is only from the year 1694 that liberty of the press can be truly said to have existed in this country. The cruel treatment which Prynne endured reminds us that the age of barbarism has not long passed away, and the burning of political works by the hands of the hangman has been performed within the memory of those living. The various universities of Europe seem first to have taken upon themselves the right of the censorship, and they obliged the booksellers to keep suspended a list of permitted works, with their prices. Beckman considers that the first example of a direct appointment of a censorship, is to be found in the mandate of Berthold, archbishop of Mentz, 1486, in which he forbids the translation or publication of any work in the mother tongue, until it has been approved of by four doctors, under pain of fine, excommunication, and forfeiture of books. Although the University of Paris had, from the thirteenth century, exercised an irregular and very arbitrary control over the booksellers, yet a regular censorship cannot be said to have been established before 1629. As one of the necessary results of their acknowledged claims to infallibility, the popes claimed the censorship of books. When manuscripts were scarce, and little read by the laity, and, when written by the clergy, usually referred to their superiors for approval and correction, they contented themselves with mere recommendations; but when the spread of knowledge began to menace their supremacy, absolute prohibitions, and the terrors of excommunication, were resorted to. Hence originated the celebrated Erpurgatory Index, or list of prohibited books, which embraces such a host of learned authors and illustrious men, that inclusion in it cannot be considered dishonourable: ainong these are Linnæus, Adam Smith, and Robertson. "The Council of Trent and the Spanish Inquisition," says Milton, gendering together, brought forth, or perfected, those catalogues or expurging indexes, that rake through the entraills of many a good old author, with a violation worse than any that could be offered to his tomb." He adds, "To fill up the measure of encroachment, the last invention was to ordain that no book, pamphlet, or paper, should be printed, (as if St. Peter had bequeathed them the keys of the Press, as well as of Paradise,) unless it were approved and licenct under the hands of two or three glutton friars. 66 en It is doubtful whether the first index was issued in 1548, or some years later. In one published by Clement the Eighth, in 1595, there is the extraordinary decree, that all Catholic books published since 1515, (just before Luther commenced his denunciations,) should not only be corrected by retrenchment of errors, but by the addition of whatever may seem necessary to the censors. The knowledge of the extent of the supply of books at different epochs furnishes us with some idea of the condition of literature at those periods. The abundance of books among the ancients was not so great as at first sight would appear. The cumbrous form of the volumen, or roll, obliged them to publish their works in detached parts; not exceeding, probably, in quantity of matter, seventy or eighty of our pages. Horace published at a time but one book of Odes, Epistles, or Satires; Virgil but one book of the Georgics; Ovid, one or two of his Metamorphoses; and Martial but one book of Epigrams: so that, as observed by Peignot, the 700,000 volumes, said to have been amassed at Alexandria, may have resulted from the labours of 6000 or 7000 authors, and perhaps the whole did not more than equal 30,000 or 40,000 of the folios of our own day. The fecundity of the old authors in these small volumes was, however, astonishing: many left from 150 to 200, or even from 400 to 500. Pliny the Elder, though cut short during his literary career, had yet written 400 volumes. Origen tells us of a certain Didymus, of Alexandria, who composed, in the time of Cæsar, 6000 of these volumes, but Seneca says the number was only 4000. The collection of books into public libraries has always proved of vast benefit to the cause of literature, and is a task only to be accomplished by the powerful or wealthy. The Egyptians are said to have had libraries cotemporarily with the Trojan war, and one was founded at Athens by Pisistratus, long prior to the time of Aristotle, who, Strabo says, was the first Greek who formed a library. The libraries of Alexandria have enjoyed a far-spread reputation; that founded by the Ptolemies was accidentally destroyed. Antony presenting to Cleopatra the library of Eumenes, king of Pergamos, laid the foundation of the celebrated collection, which, at the period of its destruction by the Saracens in 642, amounted to 700,000 volumes. The Romans, although they ultimately possessed some magnificent collections, did not establish any public library until the time of Augustus, who committed that charge to Pollio. Others were added by the various emperors, so that in the time of Constantine they were twenty-nine. One of the most magnificent was the Ulpian, founded by Trajan. Students were lodged and maintained there at the emperor's expense, in a most princely manner, their education superintended, and their access to the stores of knowledge facilitated. of knowledge facilitated. Many private citizens had considerable libraries. Tyrannion, in the time of Sylla, possessed 3000 volumes; Epaphrodotus, at a later period, 30,000. Sammonicus Teremus bequeathed to the Emperor Gordian a library of 60,000 volumes. These private libraries were not always accumulated from a love of literature, and Seneca complains of the vanity of the age, in furnishing the banqueting rooms with books out of the mere spirit of profusion; they were also to be found in the baths, and in the offices of the clients, and the waiting rooms of guests, to fill up odd hours. The libraries were often arranged with great taste, and even magnificence. Cicero, who was an enthusiastic bibliopolist, in a letter to Pomponius Atticus, speaks with rapture of the elegant manner in which his books had been arranged by the accomplished Tyro at Tusculum. Pollio introduced the practice of ornamenting the shelves with the busts of learned men, by placing in his library the statue of his cotemporary Varro. The press containing an author's works was often also ornamented by a small brass figure or plaister bust. How little of these accumulated treasures has been destined to reach our times! and yet, when we consider the infinity of impeding causes that have prevailed, we must agree with Gibbon, that after "the lapse of ages, the waste of ignorance, and the calamities of war, our treasures rather than our losses are the objects of surprise." The ravages of the barbarians in the fourth and fifth centuries, in their descent upon the south of Europe, sacrificed literary equally with grosser treasures; and the bigotry and ignorance of the early monks, so far from permitting them to endeavour to avert the flood of destruction, too often led them to assist its progress. The destruction of the Alexandrine Library, following in the seventh century, the whole civilized world, with the exception of one small focus of enlightenment at Constantinople, became involved in the chaotic confusion and deplorable ignorance of the justly termed dark ages. In the sixth century, how ever, some of the northern nations becoming converted to Christianity, some tranquillity was restored, while some few of the Gothic kings were attached to literature and the love of peace. The eighth century, says Henry, seems for Europe generally to have been the darkest period of that night which followed the destruction of the Roman empire. The irruption of the Lombards into Italy, and of the Saracens into France and Spain, together with the frivolous nature of the studies followed by the clergy, must have mainly contributed to this. Charlemagne, in his noble labours for the revival of learning among his subjects, had to seek his teachers far and wide. From the seventh to the eleventh cen tury, says Robertson, the state of Europe was such, that persons of the highest rank and most eminent station could neither read nor write. Many of the clergy did not understand the Breviary they were compelled to recite; and even dignified ecclesiastics were not always able to subscribe the canons they had assisted in promulgating. The signatures of even kings and nobles were often denoted by a cross, from inability to write, whence the phrase, signing, instead of subscribing a document. A great scarcity of books was both the cause and consequence of this state of things. The conquest of Egypt by the Saracens, in the seventh century, effectually prevented the export of papyrus, and therefore, until the discovery of linen paper, about the tenth or eleventh century, the expensive substance parchment was the only material, and that frequently not to be obtained at any price. Warton has collected many curious facts concerning the prices and rarity of books at this epoch, and we regret we cannot enter into his details. Even the papal library, at the end of the seventh century, was so badly furnished with books, that the Pope requested Sanctamund to assist in supplying his deficiencies from the remotest parts of Germany. The Abbot of Gemblours, having, with immense labour and expense, collected a hundred volumes on theological, and fifty upon profane subjects, considered he had indeed formed a splendid library. King John of France, at his death, left eight or ten volumes as a foundation for a royal library. It is true, observes Hallam, that under some religious superiors, as Wethamstede of St. Alban's, much industry prevailed; but this depended much upon the character of these superiors; and the ignorance and jollity prevailing at Bolton Abbey were far more the order of the day than the cultivation of the letters at St. Alban's; while the majority of the transcriptions consisted of mere monkish trash. Several monasteries had but one Missal, and in the tenth century the same copy of the Bible and Book of Offices served more than one religious house. Lupus, abbot of Ferriers, declares that throughout France a complete copy of Cicero or Quintilian did not exist. Private individuals seldom possessed any books at all, and we read of a Countess of Anjou bartering two hundred sheep, five quarters of wheat, and as much oats and millet, for a Book of Homilies. Even as late as 1471, when Louis the Eleventh wished to borrow the works of Rasis from the Library of Physicians at Paris, he was obliged to leave a large quantity of plate, and to procure the signature of a nobleman, agreeing to a forfeit, as a pledge for its security. When our Henry the Fifth died, several books he had borrowed were only restored after the claims of the owners were carefully examined into. The present of a book to a monastery was considered so acceptable an offering, as to entail a remission of a portion of sin; while terrible anathemata were fulminated against those who alienated a book presented to a religious house. When a book was purchased, persons of character and consequence witnessed the contract, and when it was bequeathed, restrictions and limitations usually accompanied the donation. HUGO GROTIUS. III. THE great Gustavus was about to exhibit to Sweden In his conduct as ambassador, Grotius exhibited prudence, activity, moderation, and firmness, so as to secure not only the friendship of the King of France, but the unqualified approbation of Oxenstiern, the High Chancellor of Sweden. Cardinal Richelieu indeed was variable in his conduct towards him, delayed the payment of subsidies granted to Sweden, or made deductions from them; and endeavoured to depart from the terms of the treaty in every way. Grotius, however, was always true to the interests of his country, and neither blandishments nor assumed dignity on the part of the cardinal and his agents could induce him to depart from his integrity. Thus he became odious to the French ministry, and a party endeavoured to obtain his removal. But Oxenstiern knew that the cardinal's enmity arose from the zeal displayed by Grotius for the service of the queen his mistress, and would not therefore consent to his recall. Grotius displayed such extreme tenacity of the dignity of Sweden, that he was often embroiled with the ambassadors of other lands. He even insisted of Sweden being "the most ancient and extensive kingon taking precedence of the English, in consideration dom in Christendom." The position in which Grotius stood with respect to the ministry of France may be judged of by an extract from one of his letters to Oxenstiern. "I am persuaded," he says, "that they would gladly see me gone, because I absolutely refuse the presents they offer me; and suffer not myself to be led by them like the other ambassadors. For this reason they put me in such a situation that I must either sacrifice the dignity of the kingdom, or expose myself to be hated. I will never do anything against the honour of Sweden; and I will shun, as much as I can, what may render me odious. censured; but I rely on the testimony of a good conWhatever I may do on such critical occasions I shall be science.” While Grotius was thus embroiled with the ministry and with the other ambassadors, he still continued on friendly terms with Louis XIII. He frequently visited him, and was always well received. The Prince of Condé also testified his esteem for Grotius, as did the most learned and eminent men of every communion. He also enjoyed the confidence of the queen his mistress; but she unadvisedly sent a mere adventurer, named Cerisante, with instructions for Grotius; and this man, taking upon himself an assumption of dignity, and acting in France so as to detract from the honour of the Swedes, and to lower the estimation in which their ambassador was held, Grotius became disgusted |