her husband that it was in his power to get out of prison, if he would pat himself into this chest. But to prevent any danger to his health, she caused holes to be bored opposite to where his face was to be, so that he might breathe freely; and persuaded him to try if he could remain shut up in that confined posture (the chest was only three and a half feet in length, as long as it would require to go from Louvestein to Gorcum. Finding it might be done, she then watched for a fayourable opportunity to make the attempt. The commandant being called away, this faithful wife contrived to get her husband carried out in the chest, as though it were filled with books, while she remained in prison, pretending that he was very ill. Thus Grotius escaped, and went to Paris, where he had many friends. She was for a time confined and treated with great rigour; but finally released, and allowed to join her husband. Subsequently, when he wished to return to Holland, she went first to prepare the way. And then, when she made a journey into Zealand, to pick up the remains of their fortune, his biographer observes, "Time passed horribly with Grotius till the return of his life. She had always been his consolation in adversity. In truth, the most important works of this wonderful man owe their perfection, if not their origin, to her. She encouraged his plans, assisted him in preparing his writings for the press, and was his guardian and guiding angel through all the perils and perplexities of his life."
GROUCHY, SOPHIA,
Sister of Marshal Grouchy, and widow of the celebrated French Philosopher Condorcet, was a successful writer and translator. She translated two works of Adam Smith into French; and she added "Letters on Sympathy," in which Madame Condorcet supplies some omissions of the author, whom she examines, modifies, and often combats. Her translation is remarkable for the elegance and purity of its style, the ideas and severity of philosophical language. This lady composed a treatise for the education of her daughter, which remains unpublished. She died in 1822, universally regretted.
GUENEVER I.
This was the first wife of the British King Arthur, so famed in history and romance, as the implacable and heroic enemy of the Saxons. We are told expressly, that she was so remarkably beautiful, as to excel all the other ladies of Britain, on which account she was called Guinne, "a word in the Welsh tongue, signifying fair." so says Camden. This Guenever, it seems, was of Roman descent, and was educated up to the time of her marriage, by Cador, Earl of Cornwall, who was her near relative, for the old chronicle tells us that when Arthur had established peace he married "a fayre ladye, and a gentel that Cador, the Earl of Cornwall, had long since nourished in his chamber;" and it is afterwards said that although she bore him no children, the king "loved her wonder well and dearly."
Guenever having accompanied her husband on an expedition against the Picts and Scots, was taken prisoner and confined in the castle of Dunbar, in Angus, where she remained for the rest of her life. She is said to have been interred in a field about ten miles from Dundee, and to have had a sumptuous tomb erec-
