Descartes: A Biography

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 Descartes: A Biography

The whole of philosophy could not inspire him [Regius] with the constancy required

to accept this separation [from Descartes], the pain of which he expressed in words

that are all the more touching insofar as he did not trust Descartes’ promise to return

to Holland. Having given greetings from his wife, his daughter, Mr. Goodefroot van

Haestrecht, Mr. Peter van Leeuwen, Mr. Anthony Charles Parmentier and Mr. Peter

van Dam, the celebrated physician of Utrecht, in his letter of goodbye, protested

that had he not been bound by obligations to his wife, his children and his pro-

fession, he would have followed him everywhere and that he would have attached

himself to Descartes in a manner that he hoped to achieve, in his heart, for the rest of

his life. (iv.)

This is probably a more reliable indication of Descartes’ uncertain plans

forthe future than of Regius’ state of mind in June.Hecannot have

failed to notice, at that time, that his former protector and counsellor was

putting some distance between himself and a less-than-docile disciple.

Visit to France

Descartes arrived in Paris some time toward the end of June. His

long absence from France, especially the relative isolation in which he

lived, must have made his re-entry almost like a first visit to a foreign

country. During the years since,hehad acknowledged losing confi-

dence about French social customs, and even the fluency and unreflective

skills expected of a native speaker of French. He most probably travelled

bysea from Dordrecht to Calais, and then overland to Paris.He seems

to have gone to Paris initially and, according to Baillet, he then travelled

south to the Loire valley, where he met Florimond de Beaune in Blois and

his younger-brother in Tours. He wrote from Paris (July) that he was

about to leave the city to visit Brittany and that his journey would last two

months.Given the long distances involved and the relatively slow pace

of overland travel by coach – the trip from Paris to Tours, Nantes, and

Rennes was overkilometres – he most likely did not return to Paris

until he was about to leave for Holland again.

One of the reasons for this long-deferred return home was personal.

He simply did not get on well with his older brother, Pierre, and there was

little affection between them. Since Descartes’ father and his sister, Jeanne,

had both died four years previously, his closest family members were

his half-sister, Anne, his brother-in-law (Jeanne’s widower), Mr. Rogier,

and his half-brother, Joachim. Since Anne lived in Nantes, she was not

able to join the family reunion near Rennes. While visiting his family,