lso wrote a Paraphrase on the Epistle of St. John; which
Hugo Grotius mentions in one of his Letters[6].

Four times he was Burgomaster of Delft, and Curator of the University of
Leyden: this last was a place of great consequence at that time. There
are only three Curators in the University of Leyden; one is taken from
the body of the nobility, and nominated by them; the two others are
chosen by the States of the Province from among the cities of Holland,
or the Courts of Justice.

The Curators with the Burgomasters of Leyden have the direction of
whatever regards the welfare and advantage of the University; they chuse
the Professors, and have the care of the finances and revenues for
payment of their salaries.

John de Groot filled the place of Curator with great dignity and honour.
Daniel Heinsius wrote some verses in his praise, in which he styles him
the Apollo and Protector of the Muses.

This dignity did not hinder him from taking the degree of Doctor of
Laws. In the remaining part of his life he attached himself to the Count
of Hohenloo, who made him his Counsellor.

In 1582 he married Alida Averschie, of one of the first families in the
Country; by whom he had three sons and a daughter. He died in the month
of May 1640. In the same year his wife lost her eyesight; she lived till
the beginning of the year 1643[7].

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Stobaeus, Tit. 98. p. 413.

[6] Ep. xxii. p. 751.

[7] Ep. 499. p. 898. Grotii Ep. 638. p. 948.

V. Of the marriage of John de Groot with Alida Averschie was born the
celebrated Hugo de Groot, better known by the name of Grotius: he was
the first fruit of their coming together. Almost all who have mentioned
his birth[8] fix it on the tenth of April 1583. The President Bouhier
pretends they place it a year too late; and that he was born on the
tenth of April 1582. To prevent the authority of such a learned man,
which has already seduced several writers, from misleading others, we
shall shew that by departing from the general opinion he has fallen into
an error. Grotius writes to Vossius on Easter Sunday 1615[9], that on
that day he reckoned thirty-two years: He dates another letter[10] to
Vossius the twenty-fifth of March 1617; Easter-eve, "which, he observes,
begins my thirty-fifth year." April 11, 1643, he says he had completed
sixty years[11]. On Easter-day 1644 he reckons sixty-one years[12]. He
acquaints us in his Poems[13], that he was fifteen when he went first to
F