He was but eight years old, when, in 1591, he wrote some elegiac verses, very pretty for that age: afterwards he thought them not good enough to publish.

M.le Clerc informs us, that he had seen a copy of them in the possession of a very able man, who purposed to write the life of Grotius.
Nothing contributed more to his amazing progress, than the excellent education he received.

He was so happy, as to find in his own father a pious and able governor, who formed his mind and his morals.

He did not confine himself to making his son a man of learning, he purposed making him a good man.

The young Grotius, like Horace, has celebrated his gratefulness for so good a father in some verses still extant.