was
highly pleased with the respect, which was shewn to him by Selden.

On Selden's _Mare Clausum_ he composed the following epigram:--

Ipsum compedibus qui vinxerat Ennegisaeum,
Est Greca Xerxes multus in historia:
Lucullum Latii Xerxem dixere togatum;
Seldenus Xerxes ecce Britannus erit.

[Sidenote: CHAP. III. 1597-1610]

The States General were gratified by his work; but at that time it was
so much their interest to preserve the strictest amity with England,
that they discountenanced any further advocation of their claim.[012]

The year after his publication of his "Treatise on the Freedom of the
Sea," Grotius printed his work on the "_Antiquity of the Batavian
Republic_." He gives in it an account of the antient _Batavians;_ he
professes to shew that they were the allies, not the subjects of the
Romans; that, after a period of anarchy, during which little is known of
their history, they became subjects of the Counts of Holland; that these
were not vassals of the empire, but independent princes; and, strictly
speaking, elected by the people, although, in the election of them,
great regard was always shewn to the hereditary line: that they were
bound to conform to the laws of the state; and always required, before
their election, to swear to the observance of the constitution; that the
taxes were always imposed by the States, and that Philip the Second had
occasioned the grand war, by repeated infractions of the public and
private right of the people of the United Provinces.

[Sidenote: The early Publications of Grotius.]

The States of Holland were highly pleased with this work; they voted
thanks to its author, and accompanied them with a present. It is
considered that his partiality to his country led him to advance some
positions favourable to its antient independence, which his proofs did
not justify.

For the use of _Du Maurier_, the French ambassador to the States
General, Grotius published, about this time, his "Directions for a
Course of general Study," _De omni genere studiorum recte instituendo_.
It was favourably received, both by the diplomatist for whose use it was
composed, and the public at large; but, on account of the great
extension of literature, since the time of Grotius, it is now little
read. Mentioning the Roman history, he shews that a knowledge of it is
better acquired by reading its Greek than by reading its Latin
historians; because foreigners g