end CUNYB/Clarke December, :
Notes to Pages– .Descartes to Tobias Andreae,May(iv.).
.Descartes to Huygens,August(iv.).
.I rely on the revised dating and analysis of Bos (). TheLetterwas probably
written in French, although Descartes arranged for a Dutch translation to be
submitted as well. However, he accepted responsibility only for the original French
version. See viii-..
.The Preface to the first volume of Voetius’ disputations was datedOctober.
.Descartes to Bourdin,September(iii.–).
.Descartes to Dinet, October(iv.–).Chapter
.Descartes, writing from Paris to Princess Elizabeth in The Hague (July),
(v.–). On the redating of this letter, from Julyto July, see v..
.Catherine Descartes (–) recorded this version of events in a poem. See
Catherine Descartes (),.
.Since there are no independent indications of financial support for his former
nursethroughout her life, the death-bed wish may have been a result of the dying
philosopher’s feverish imagination.
.Charles Adam (b) makes a valiant effort to situate Descartes in a context of
feminine friendships that include his grandmothers, his sister, his niece Cather-
ine, Picot’s sister, Clerselier’s sister (Marguerite, who married Pierre Chanut),
Huygens’ sister (Constantia, who married de Wilhem), Van Schurman, and
Princess Elizabeth.
.It is difficult to gauge the depth or extent of Descartes’ emotional attachment
to Helena. The most obvious interpretation of the available evidence is that he
observed the social proprieties by helping to provide financially for her to have a
respectable marriage with someone else.
.Baillet (), i..
.Cohen (),, quotes J. de Bois as describing the friendship in these terms.
.Huygens to Descartes,February(iv.).
.This included the period when Descartes knew her. Van Schurman later moved
to Friesland with Labadie. For Van Schurman’s biography, I have borrowed from
her autobiography,Eukleria(), and from Birch (), Irwin (), Brink
(), and de Baar ().
.Voetius (–), iii..
.Beardslee (),. The excesses of the age are listed in detail in Voetius (–
), iv.–.
.Va n S churman (). This was translated into French asQuestion celebre(),
and into English asThe Learned Maid(). There is a modern English translation
in Van Schurman ().
.Va n S churman (),.
.Ibid.,–.
.Ibid.,–,.