dens of Marly;" and "A Survey of the Royal Domains in the Vicinity of Paris;" which are admirably executed, and held in much estimation by connoisseurs. In 1754 he published "A Manual of Spherical Trigonometry." He was appointed geographer to the city of Paris, and was employed to survey and draw a plan of the river Seine, from its source to its mouth, as well as of all the principal rivers that empty themselves into it. This tedious work he executed without any assistance, and it was lodged among the archives of the city. He was also employed, conjointly with Cassini, in determining the meridian of the observatory at Paris. The last work which he undertook was "A Topography of Paris," upon a grand scale, in which every part of the city was to be laid down with distinctness, and in exact proportion according to actual measurement. But before he had accomplished this vast design he was cut off by death in 1757, when he was about sixty-eight years of age. Some sheets of this grand work were afterwards published by M. Huguin, the author's pupil. Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M. GRONOVIUS, JOHN FREDERIC, an eminent philologist, was born at Hamburgh in 1611. He received a learned education, and afterwards travelled into Germany, France, and Italy, for his improvement. He resided for some time at Deventer, whence the reputation he acquired caused him to be invited to Leyden to occupy the professorship of Greek and the Belles-lettres vacant by the death of Daniel Heinsius. He died in that city in 1672. Frederic Gronovius was the author of many esteemed works and editions of the classics. In 1637 he published a dissertation on the Sylva of Statius, and in 1639 three books of Observations, containing corrections and explanations of many passages in the ancients. His work on the ecclesiastical writers appeared in 1631. He published in 1656 an excellent treatise on the Sesterce, which was afterwards reprinted at Leyden in 4to. 1691, under the title "De Vetere Pecunia." The authors which he edited were Plautus, Sallust, Livy, Seneca, Pliny, Quintilian, and A. Gellius. Moreri.-A. GRONOVIUS JAMES, a very learned critic, son of the preceding, was born at Deventer in 1645. He was early initiated into the study of the classics, and of law, in which he made a rapid progress. In 1668 he travelled into England, where he became acquainted with the learned men of both universities and in the capital. He afterwards visited France and Flanders; and in 1672 accompanied M. Poets, embassador from the States-general to Spain: in his way back through Italy he was received with distinction by Cosmo grand-duke of Tuscany, who appointed him to a professorship at Pisa. After an abode there for two years, he returned to Deventer, and receiving an invitation in 1679 to occupy the chair of Greek and history in the university of Leyden, he accepted it, and thenceforth made that city his residence, notwithstanding several offers from other places. In 1701 he was nominated geographer to the university. He passed a life of learned labour, and died in 1716. James Gronovius was a man of acknowledged erudition, but so free in the use of those vituperatory expressions of which professed critics are often lavish, that he made himself many enemies. The most eminent scholars, when they came in his way, were treated by him with rude contempt, and he would seldom admit another's opinion, or give up his own. He gave corrected editions with annotations, of Macrobius, Polybius, Tacitus, Seneca the tragedian, Pompon. Mela, A. Gellius, Cicero, Ammianus Marcellinus, Harpocration, the Greek geographers, Q. Curtius, Suetonius, Phædrus, Arrian, Minut. Felix, Firmicus Maternus, and Herodotus, and also wrote notes upon some other authors, and dissertations on various subjects of antiquity. He published a "Thesaurus Antiquitatum Græcorum," thirteen volumes folio; and a Latin version of " Agostini on ancient Gems." He composed several pieces in controversy, Orations, &c. Moreri.-A. GROS, PETER LE, an eminent sculptor, was born at Paris in 1666. His father, of the same profession, early discovered his disposition to the art, and had him instructed in design. At the age of twenty, his talents were so conspicuous, that Louvois nominated him among the young artists to be sent to Rome at the king's expence. There he soon obtained a high reputation, and had a share in all the most considerable works of sculpture that were carrying on. He adopte ed the grand and simple style of Italy, and censured the attachment of his countrymen to prettiness and ornament. After a residence of some years at Rome, he revisited France, and remained there two years. He executed some works at Paris and Montmorency, but the jealousy of the artists procured him various mortifications which hastened his return to Rome. In the interval he was cut for the stone, to which disorder he had been long subject. He resumed his labours, when in the midst of them he was cut off by an inflammation of the chest in 1719, at the age of fifty-three. Le Gros was of a melancholy disposition, but agreeable in company. He was extremely reserved in his discourse, and never indulged in criticisms of the great artists of his time. His works are chiefly found in the churches of Rome, and some of them are much admired. At the Tuilleries is a statue of a Roman lady in a Grecian dress, of antique simplicity, which he copied with some improvements from an original in the Medici palace.-A. GROSLEY, PETER JOHN, a lawyer and polite writer, was the son of an advocate at Troyes, where he was born in 1718. He was brought up to the bar and became an advocate in parliament, but his taste led him to general literature and erudite researches. He indulged himself in travel, and twice visited Italy and England, and once Holland; he also made almost annual visits to the capital, where he was received in the best societies. He was an enemy to restraint and loved to speak freely. His fortune, originally decent, was increased by a spirit of economy, which, however, did not prevent him from performing generous actions; as he proved by resigning to his sister an inheritance of forty thousand livres. He also presented to his native city several marble busts of eminent men born there, which were placed in the Hotel-deville. He died at Troyes in 1785. M. Grosley was one of the concurrents for the academical prize at Dijon, " on the influence of the "sciences upon the morals," which was gained by Rousseau's famous discourse: that of Grosley obtained the accessit. His principal works are: "Recherches pour servir à l'Histoire du Droit François," 1752, much esteemed for the solidity of its erudition: "Vie des Frères Pithou," 1756, an interesting account of these friends of literature: "Observations de deux Gentilhommes Suedois sur l'Italie," four volumes 12m0; the mask which he assumes permits him to say many free things, and the work is lively and entertaining: "Londres," three volumes 12mo. containing observations made in his visits to England, which are deserving of notice, though mixed with the mistakes of a foreigner: "Essais Historiques sur la Champagne : "Ephemerides Troyennes :" great number of Letters, controversial pieces, Eulogies, &c. published in the "Journal Encyclopédique" from 1771 to 1785; some of the latter of these are marked with the declining age of the writer. He had also a share in the "Mémoires Academ. de Troyes," and the last translation of Davila. Dict. Hist.-A. Moreri. Nouv. priest, who distinguished himself by his labours in the cause of Jansenism, was descended from obscure parents, and born at Rheims, in the year 1675. As he early discovered great quickness of natural parts, and a surprising strength of memory, he was patronised by father Berger, prior of the canons-regular of St. Genevieve, who took upon himself the care of his education. After he had passed through a course of sity of Rheims, where he soon distinguished grammar learning, he was placed in the univerhimself by his proficiency in rhetoric and philosophy, and maintained his public exercises with great reputation and applause. Having attracted the notice of M. Tellier, archbishop of Rheims, that prelate entered him in his lesser seminary, to study theology under the celebrated M. Gillot. In 1694 he was appointed classical tutor in the college of the university, theological studies. while at the same time he diligently pursued his degree of B.A. the archbishop admitted him to When he had taken his deacon's orders, and confided to his superintendence his favourite seminary of St. James. While he held this employment he was chosen rector, and afterwards prior of the university. tor in 1702; and in 1704 was successively apHe was ordained priest in 1700; created docpointed chaplain of Notre Dame, canon of the collegiate church of St. Symphorien, and canon of the cathedral church of Rheims. After his promotion to the last-mentioned dignity, he devoted much of his time to the gratuitous instruction of about thirty young persons, in the classics, philosophy, and theology, and was indefatigable, while improving their understandings, in forming their minds to the love of virtue and piety. After the death of M. le Tellier in 1710, the diocese of Rheims, like the rest of the kingdom, was agitated by the disputes relative to the bull Unigenitus, to which M. le Gross was an active and spirited opponent. His zeal in this cause, however, provoked the resentment of the new archbishop, M. Mailly, who excommunicated him, and obtained a lettre stances rendered it necessary for M. le Gross de cachet to secure his person. These circumhe continued till the death of Lewis XIV., when to withdraw from the storm into Holland, where the processes against the opposers of the bull Unigenitus at Rheims being discontinued, he returned to his canonry in the year 1716. Afterwards he was deputed to go to Paris, on the affairs of his chapter; and during his stay there delivered a course of sermons in one of the GROSS, NICHOLAS LE, a learned French very crowded auditories. In the year 1721, the churches of that city, which was attended by a warmth of his zeal for Jansenism awakened against him the resentment of the Jesuits and of the court, and he received information that a fresh lettre de cachet was issued for his apprehension, and for his banishment to the frontiers of Spain. However, he was fortunate enough to escape the pursuit of the officers, and after remaining concealed in different parts of France for four or five years, visited Italy, whence he afterwards retired into Holland. The last twenty-five years of his life, excepting during a short visit which he paid to England, were spent in the United Provinces, where for a long time he filled with great reputation the theological chair in the seminary at Amersfort, to which he was appointed by the archbishop of Utrecht. He was one of the principal supporters of the jansenist tenets among the Catholics in that country. He died in 1751, when about seventy-six years of age. Among his numerous productions are, "The Holy Bible, translated from the original Texts, with the Variations of the Vulgate," 1739, 8vo.; "The Christian's Manual," 1740, 8vo. and 12mo., which has undergone numerous impressions; "Meditations on the Agreement of the Evangelists," 1730, in three volumes 12mo.; "Meditations on the Epistle to the Romans," 1735, in two volumes 12mo.; several treatises in French and Latin against usury, of which the most important is entitled "Dogma Ecclesiæ circa Usuram expositum & vindicatum," 1730, 4to., &c. For the titles of his numerous pieces in the jansenist controversy, and others in defence of the catholic church, we refer to Moreri. Nouv. Dict. Hist.-M. GROSSETESTE, or GROSTHEAD, RoBERT, a learned and eminent English prelate who flourished in the thirteenth century, was descended from low and obscure, but honest parents, and born at Stradbrook in Suffolk, most probably in the year 1175. We have no account in what place, or under whose patronage, he received his early education, but we learn that when properly qualified he was sent to the university of Oxford, where he distinguished himself by his proficiency in the different branches of literature, and particularly in the Greek language, at that time but little known in this country. From Oxford he went for farther improvement to Paris, where he made himself master of the French language. Soon after his return to his native country he appears to have entered into the service of the bishop of Hereford; but upon his death he resumed his studies at Oxford, where he acquired much reputation by reading lectures on philo sophy and theology. The abilities and learning which he displayed recommended him to the notice of Hugh de Welles, bishop of Lincoln, who presented him to a prebend in his cathedral church. In the year 1210 he was nominated to the archdeaconry of Chester; which dignity he exchanged in 1220, for the archdeaconry of Wilts. In the year 1224 he was admitted to the degree of doctor; soon after which he was presented to the rectory of Ashley, in Northamptonshire. He was archdeacon of Leicester in 1232, at which time he also held the prebend of Empingham, in the diocese of Lincoln. Upon the death of Hugh de Welles in 1234, the chapter of Lincoln unanimously elected Grosseteste successor to that prelate; which choice being readily confirmed by the king, he was consecrated bishop of that see during the following year. At this time the court of Rome, in consequence of the ignominious submission of king John, and the terms to which Henry III. was compelled to subscribe, exercised the most unbounded power over the English church. By the papal provisions and regulations, the wealth of the kingdom was transferred into the treasury of St. Peter; and among other scandalous oppressions and abuses, the best ecclesiastical benefices were bestowed upon Italians, who were entire strangers to the country, or upon those natives who offered the highest prices for their presentations. In many instances, not only persons entirely unqualified, but even boys were nominated to valuable dignities; and soon after Grosseteste had taken possession of his see, a mandate was sent to him from the 'pope, by which he was ordered to admit a nephew of the pontiff, who was under age, to the first canonry that should become vacant in the church of Lincoln. This mandate he was determined to resist; but he thought that by taking a journey to Rome, he might be able to prevent himself from being involved in a contest with the holy see, and also obtain relief from some of the exactions by which he, in common with the other English prelates, was burthened. Accordingly, he went to Rome, where he was very favourably received, and loaded with fair promises, though he did not succeed in the immediate objects of his journey. Upon his return home he wrote a letter to the pope's secretary, in which he informed him, that though he would always with due submission and respect obey all apostolic orders of the Roman see; yet that when commands were directed to him that tended to the destruction, and not the edification, of the church, he should deem it his duty to resist them. He said, that he would induct no persons to the incomes appointed for the subsistence and maintenance of pastors, who were not capable of executing their offices; and that he should consider any orders to the contrary, impossible to have been issued by the holy see. At the same time he severely reflected on the degeneracy of modern popes from the sanctity of their predecessors, and solemnly adjured his holiness to correct those enormous vices which, flowing from the court of Rome as from a poisoned fountain, contaminated the whole christ ian church. When this letter was first read by the pope, it exasperated him in the highest degree, and he threatened that the daring writer should feel his severe vengeance; but upon taking counsel with the cardinals, it was thought advisable to suffer this letter to pass unnoticed, on account of the great character and credit of our prelate, as well as the foundation that there was for his complaints, and for the opposition which he had shewn to the papal mandate. Such is the account which Matthew Paris has given us of the result of his spirited resistance against the usurpations of the Roman see. Other writers, among whom are Henry Knighton and Bale, maintain that the pope excommunicated our prelate on this occasion. Be this as it may, it is certain that no opportunity was overlooked of harassing him during the remainder of his life; and it is equally certain, that his spirit and intrepidity never forsook him, and generally proved successful in maintaining the rights of his see against the encroachments of the court of Rome. On one occasion, by his vigorous and resolute opposition, a heavy and shameful tax which the pope and the king intended to have levied on the clergy was obliged to be relinquished. Matthew Paris says, that in the warmth of his resentment against the pope, on account of the abuses which were sanctioned by him, he pronounced him to be an heretic, and antichrist. This censure, however, was levelled by Grosseteste against the individual who then presided over the church, and the measures of his administration, not against the office, or supposed legitimate prerogatives, of the sovereign pontiff: for he was attached, even to bigotry, to the constitution of the holy see according to the decretals, and the papal claims as supported by the traditions of the orthodox fathers. And Dr. Pegge observes, that "he soars so high in his ideas concerning the privileges and prerogatives of the clerical order, that he even leaves archbishop Becket far behind him." Over his own diocese he presided with the most vigilant attention, and unremitting application, taking the greatest care to have the parochial churches well supplied, and setting before his clergy a commendable example of the manner in which the pastoral duties ought to be discharged. He died at Buckden, in the year 1253. He deservedly acquired a high character for clearness of judgment, an undaunted firmness of mind, incorruptible integrity, and unimpeachable sanctity of manners. He was at the same time beneficent, hospitable, easy of access, and in company with his friends uncommonly lively and affable. Of learning and learned men he was the zealous and steady patron, and reckoned among his particular acquaintance some of the best-informed persons of his age, with whom he maintained an extensive correspondence. His own acquirements were extraordinary for the time in which he lived. Besides a knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French languages, and that acquaintance with theology and philosophy to which he was led by his professional studies, he was no mean proficient in civil and canon law, criticism, history, chronology, astronomy, and the other branches of literature and science then known. He left behind him numerous treatises on theological, philosophical, and miscellaneous subjects, several of which have been printed, and the rest are still extant in MS. Among the former are, "Opuscula Varia,” published at Venice in 1514; "Compendium Sphæræ Mundi," published at the same place in 1508; "Commentarius in Lib. poster. Aristotelis," published also at Venice in 1504, &c.; " Discourses," in which he freely exposed the vices and disorders of the clergy; and numerous "Letters," to be met with in the second volume of Brown's "Fasciculus Rerum expetendarum & fugiendarum," &c. For a particular enumeration of his edited and inedited works, we refer to the first and last of our subjoined authorities. Cave's Hist. Lit. vol. I. sub sac. Schol. Godwin de Prasul. Anglia. Dupin. Pegge's Life of Robert Grosseteste.-M. GROTIUS, HUGO, one of the most illustrious names in modern literature, the glory and the disgrace of his country, was born at Delft April 10th, 1583. His father, John de Groot (the proper family name), was a learned and respectable citizen of Delft, of which he was successively sheriff and burgomaster, and likewise curator of the university of Leyden. His mother was of one of the first families in the country. Hugo from his childhood gave proofs of wonderful quickness of parts, and it is affirmed that at eight years of age he composed Latin elegiac verses. His memory was prodi- finished before he went to France, and which gious, his judgment solid, and his application was received with great admiration by the indefatigable. Due pains were taken by his learned. This was followed by a Latin translafather to cultivate so promising a plant. He was tion of a treatise by Stevinus containing direc first boarded with M. Utengobard, a learned tions for finding a ship's place at sea; a task arminian minister at the Hague, for whom he which proved his acquaintance with the princicontracted a tender affection which continued ples of mechanics and navigation. An edition till death. In his twelfth year he was removed of the "Phenomena of Aratus," which he pubto Leyden, where he was under the special lished in 1600, with emendations of the Greek care of Francis Junius. The celebrated Joseph text, and a number of learned remarks, ob ained Scaliger, then almost at the head of literature, the highest praises for its deep crudition from was so much struck with the abilities of young Scaliger, De Thou, and Lipsius. In the mean Grotius, that he deigned to direct him in his time he relaxed from severer studies by the culstudies. At the age of fourteen he main- tivation of Latin poetry, in which he gained the tained public theses in mathematics, law, and reputation of a master. He did not confine philosophy. In such a theatre, his reputation himself to short and occasional pieces, but comcould not fail of being widely extended. Seve- posed tragedies on sacred subjects. The titles ral of the most eminent scholars of the age, of these are, " Adamus Exsul," printed in 1601; Pontanus, Meursius, Barlæus, Dousa, Heinsius, "Christus Patiens," in 1608; and "Sophommentioned him as a prodigy, and foretold his phaneas," on the story of Joseph. He had future distinction in the republic of letters. now so thoroughly established his character A proof of the depth and compass of his read- as a writer, that the United Provinces made ing at this early period, was given by his edition choice of him for their historiographer, in preof a difficult and obscure author, Martianus ference to several learned men who were comCapella, which he undertook at the age of petitors for the place. A post of more consefourteen. In executing this task he was quence was the fruit of his diligence and sucobliged to consult a number of ancient writers, cess in the profession of an advocate, which was many of them out of the common road, and that of advocate-general of the treasury for upon subjects so abstruse as grammar, logic, Holland and Zealand, conferred upon him unageography, astronomy, and music. He ac nimously. In 1608 he married Mary Reigersknowledges the assistance of his father in the berg, a lady descended from one of the best work, but it must chiefly have been the product families in Žealand, and whose father had been of his own labour. burgomaster of Veer. They lived together in perfect harmony and mutual esteem, and by the acknowledgment of posterity the wife proved herself worthy of the husband. In the following year was published an elaborate work dedicated to the service of his country, entitled "Mare Liberum," asserting the right of the Dutch to trade to the East Indies, in opposition to the claims of Portugal. It also claimed the general liberty of the seas, which afterwards produced an answer to it by the learned Selden. Another patriotic work which soon followed was his treatise "De Antiquitate Reipublicæ Batave," intended to prove the continued freedom and independence of the Batavian nation from the Roman times. The public thanks of the States, accompanied by a present, testified their satisfaction with this performance. On the death of the pensioner of Rotterdam in 1613, the place was offered by the city to Grotius, who made it the condition of his acceptance that he should never be turned out again, as he then foresaw the agitations which were impending in consequence of the spirit of party. His condition was allowed; and this important post His studies were agreeably and usefully interrupted in 1598 by a journey to France in the company of the embassador-extraordinary of the States, who was the excellent Barneveldt. He was introduced to the king, Henry IV., who gave him a gracious reception, and presented him with his picture and a gold chain. With the pardonable vanity of a youth elated by the notice of so great a prince, he caused his own portrait to be engraved with this chain about his neck. He took the degree of doctor of laws in France, and during a residence there of a year, received many attentions from men of rank and of learning. It was a disappointment to him that he could not gain a sight of the venerable president De Thou, whom of all persons in that country he most esteemed; but after his return he ventured to address a complimentary letter to him, which was the commencement of an intimate correspondence between them, notwithstanding the disparity of their ages. In 1599 Grotius, who was destined to the bar, pleaded his first cause at Delft. Soon after, he published his "Capella," which was |