Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle

Father Mersenne had spent the greater part of the winter in Holland, where he had had the leisure to entertain Mr. Descartes and to enjoy his presence in Amsterdam, just as he could have done in Paris.

There was no city, no place however little considerable in all the united provinces, that he was not glad to go through; and he had no difficulty in contracting friendships with the scholars and the curious of the country he could get to know, without dwelling on the diversity of religions.

Towards the beginning of spring he returned to the Netherlands under Spanish rule, and he brought as much curiosity to visiting the Catholic provinces as he had had for Holland. But when he arrived in Antwerp, he found people there who had learned a part of what he had done in Holland, and who thought of causing him trouble on this subject.

It appears that his confreres above all, and some other scrupulous Catholics wanted to make it a crime for him to have exposed the sanctity of his robe, and for the demonstrations of friendship he had given and received from several heretics covered with the mantle of scholars. This poor father took this accident for a bad “fortune”.

He wrote to Descartes to share with him the sorrow he had to see that the measures he had taken to keep secret the habits he had made in Holland had so poorly succeeded for him.

Descartes consoled him for this accident, as for something without remedy. He even wanted to persuade him that he was not as much to be pitied as he had imagined, and that being morally impossible to keep his trip in the cities of Holland secret for a long time, it was better that the thing had happened as it had happened to him in Antwerp, than if one had come to know it later at a time when it would not have been so easy to remedy fiction and slander.

Father Mersenne having seen the most considerable cities and scholars of Flanders and Brabant, took his route towards the bishopric of Liège to go to the waters of Spa.

The fear of arriving too late to take the waters properly and in their season, made him advance with so much diligence that he found himself in Liège 15 days sooner than was necessary to make the trip to Spa, which is about eight leagues from this city. The length of this stay seemed boring to him, and Descartes to whom he made it known told him that for his part he greatly regretted these fifteen days that they could have used together to walk and to talk about their studies.

This father after having visited the country of the Lower Rhine, returned to Paris in his convent of the place royale towards the month of October, after more than a year of absence. This is the calculation that one can make of it on the date of the letters of Mr. Gassendi; but which does not fail to suffer from difficulties, which can be left to be raised by those who will take charge of making a new life of Father Mersenne.

Meanwhile, Sieur Ferrier, a maker of mathematical instruments, felt more and more overwhelmed by the misery into which he had fallen, for having neglected to follow the advice of Mr. Descartes. The presumption which had made him believe that he could walk alone in the work of the glasses joined to the displeasure of not having been able to put Mr. Mydorge in a bad light in the mind of Mr. Descartes, had led him to take several steps against his duty, and to lose the respect he owed to both. The place he was waiting for in the Louvre failed him.

Father de Gondren, the new general of the Oratory, to whom Mr. Descartes had written in his favor, Father Gibieuf and Father de Sancy to whom he had recommended him, had not succeeded in serving him as effectively as they would have wished for the love of Mr. Descartes.

This small reversal of fortune made him open his eyes to his bad conduct: and without reflecting on the subjects of discontent he had given Mr. Descartes, he had him propose through Father Mersenne to allow him to go find him in Holland to serve him, and to work under his orders. Father Mersenne had left Mr. Descartes for a few weeks, when he received the letter from Sieur Ferrier; and he wrote on the spot to Mr. Descartes, to warn him that this man was preparing to go to him, without even caring to know his will in advance. He also gave him a small detail of what he had learned on his subject since his departure from Paris, besides what he had been able to tell him by mouth concerning his negligences; and he told him that he had abandoned the instrument that Mr. Morin, a professor of mathematics, was having him make by order of monsieur, the king’s brother.

Mr. Descartes appeared surprised by these proposals of which Sieur Ferrier had not told him anything. It had been five or six months since he had received news from him, although he had written him two long letters that looked more like volumes, where he explained to him the greater part of what he had thought concerning the construction of telescopes. He wrote back at the end of the month of March to Father Mersenne who was then in Antwerp: and he asked him to let Sieur Ferrier know promptly that he no longer thought of attracting him to him, since he had taken away his hope, when the previous year being in Franeker in Friesland, he had invited him to go live with him. He reminded him of the design he had to make the trip to England in five or six weeks, as he believed he had already written to him about it. He represented to him that even if he did not budge from the city of Amsterdam, he could no longer have Sieur Ferrier at his home without inconvenience. Besides, what Father Mersenne had added to him concerning the instrument of Mr. Morin that Sieur Ferrier had not been able to finish, would have made him lose the desire to receive him, when he would have had the convenience. Ferrier had told Mr. Descartes the previous year that monsieur had ordered him to finish this instrument, and that fabrics from Germany had been brought to him expressly. But Ferrier having been unable to succeed with this instrument for nearly three years that he had been working on it, did not give Mr. Descartes reason to hope that he would “execute” the glasses, for which he would have to prepare machines that he held to be more difficult than this instrument. He feared that if after having kept him two or three years he did not succeed in anything that surpassed the common, one could not impute the fault to him, or at least that of having had him come for nothing. It is not that he still did not love Sieur Ferrier as before, and that he did not always consider him as an honest man. But because he only knew two people with whom he had ever had dealings, and that he complained of both of them notwithstanding their singular merit, he judged from that that he was too difficult, or too unhappy. After all, he could not help but pity the fate of this man, and he would have sincerely wished to be able to relieve him in his bad fortune. He testified not to know any other fault in him, except that he never made his account on the basis of present things, but only of those he hoped for, or which were past; and that he had a certain irresolution which prevented him from executing what he undertook.

Father Mersenne having received the letter from Mr. Descartes, wrote back from Antwerp to Sieur Ferrier to dissuade him from his enterprise, under the pretext of the trip that Mr. Descartes was to make to England; and without openly marking the dispositions where he found himself with regard to him, he did not fail to make him guess that there was some cooling.

This news made him fall into a dejection of mind which made him languid for nearly six months without knowing what to resolve. He did not know to whom, Father Mersenne, or Mydorge, to attribute his pretended disgrace: but when he reflected on himself, he did himself the justice of only blaming his bad conduct. He often went to solicit the friends that Mr. Descartes had in Paris to “manage his peace,” and he attracted their compassion sometimes by depicting his misfortune to them, sometimes by throwing himself on the praises of Mr. Descartes. He addressed himself particularly to the fathers of the Oratory and to Mr. Gassendi, whom he softened and whom he overcame by his importunities. The first gave him letters of recommendation to Mr. Descartes. Several other people did the same. But Mr. Gassendi having excused himself from writing to him directly, on the grounds that their friendship did not consist in the commerce of letters, was willing to write to Mr. Reneri their common friend, to whom Sieur Ferrier addressed the packet of letters to have it delivered to Mr. Descartes. His letter dated November 22, 1630, is short enough to hold its place here.

“It has been more than two months,” he says to Mr. Reneri, **“since I wrote back to you concerning your analysis. I also spoke to you about the treatise that I made for the defense of Father Mersenne against Robert Fludd, and of the edition that I had made here of my dissertation on the parhelions, of which I was sending you a copy with a letter for Mr. Golius. Today I am writing to you on the occasion of the packet which is addressed to you for Mr. Descartes. The one who sends it to you is a mathematical instrument maker named Ferrier, of whom I do not believe the industry and skill are unknown to you. This man who has always shown great feelings of respect and affection for Mr. Descartes had the misfortune to fall into his disgrace, I do not know by what accident; and he is in despair at the cooling that he has noticed in the affection and the kindnesses with which he was accustomed to overwhelm him. He writes him a letter full of submission to justify himself to him; and he has pressed me to accompany it with one of mine to testify to his innocence. I excused myself from it on the grounds that having not had the honor of speaking to Mr. Descartes more than once in my life, and not using with him in the terms of such a great familiarity, he could find fault with my freedom, and would have reason to despise the recommendation of a person who seems to touch him from too far. But not wanting to neglect anything that can depend on me for the satisfaction of Sieur Ferrier, I have taken the side of addressing myself to you, “as to a person very closely linked to Mr. Descartes, and who can do a lot on his mind.” For the rest I believe I know Sieur Ferrier enough to answer you for the disposition of his heart. I have seen him often; I have had frequent conversations with him. But he has almost never entertained me except with Mr. Descartes, and always with so many testimonies of esteem, and such extraordinary praises, that if I had not known elsewhere the merit of Mr. Descartes, I would not have been able to defend myself from considering such magnificent and frequent praises, as true hyperboles. He never spoke to me about him except as a divinity descended from heaven for the good of the human race, pretending to admire only him in the world, and protesting that he is indebted to him for all things.

Finally, I have always found him so uniform and so constant in his esteem, in his affection, and in the zeal he has for his service, that there would be reason to be surprised by the cooling of Mr. Descartes, if he did not have some other reason that one does not know here. For me, if I had to have myself put in reputation, I would not want to entrust the care of it to others than to Sieur Ferrier: and I would be sure to acquire it to the highest degree, if he undertook it with the zeal he has for Mr. Descartes, to whom you will make known, if you judge it appropriate, what my disposition is with regard to him, and the sincerity with which I am his very humble servant. Sieur Ferrier wishes that the packet be returned to him in case it is not delivered safely to Mr. Descartes in Holland, or that one cannot have it delivered exactly to him in England, where he has been told that he had the intention of going in a short time. Etc.”**

Mr. Reneri did not fail to have the packet delivered to Mr. Descartes, who was surprised to find in it such a large number of letters on the same subject. He was very satisfied to see testimonies from so many friends in favor of Sieur Ferrier. But for fear that the ease he had to excuse him in their consideration might give them reason to believe that Sieur Ferrier was innocent in his misfortune, he took the trouble to write back to all in particular, making some judges of his conduct, and giving to the others clarifications on that of Ferrier, which had not been known enough to them. He also wrote to Sieur Ferrier, and made a packet of all these answers that he addressed to Father Mersenne in the month of December. He sent them all open, so that he would read them before returning them, that he would be informed of the secret practices of Sieur Ferrier, and that he could remedy the impressions that the complaints of this man could have made on the mind of his friends. To put this father at rest on the suspicions of Ferrier, who could have rejected on him or on Mr. Mydorge the cause of his disgrace, he assured this father that none of those who had written to him in favor of Ferrier, had mixed him in the complaints of this man. He did not take the freedom to write to Mr. Gassendi, whose letter Mr. Reneri had communicated to him: but he charged Father Mersenne to see him on his behalf, to make him his civilities, and to justify him well with him. For the other letters that he wrote on this subject, they were almost all lost: and only those he addressed to Father de Gondren, and the one that was for Sieur Ferrier, have been made public. He testified to Father de Gondren that he would have wished that he had ordered him something more difficult than to wish well to Sieur Ferrier, to be able to give him still greater proofs of his obedience, and of his veneration. That he was very far from wanting evil to Sieur Ferrier; but that he would esteem himself happy to be able only to exempt himself from his complaints. “One cannot without cruelty,” he says, **“want evil to a person so afflicted; and as for his complaints, I excuse them just as if he had the gout, or that his body was all covered with wounds. One cannot touch so little to people who are in this state, that they do not cry out, and that they do not often say insults to the best of their friends, and to those who strive the most to remedy their evils.

I would have been very glad to bring some relief to his: but because I do not judge myself capable of it, he would oblige me a lot to leave me in peace, and not to accuse me of the evils that he does to himself. I am nevertheless obliged to him for having addressed himself particularly to you to complain: and I esteem myself happy that you deign to take knowledge of the difference that he pretends to have with me.

I do not pretend to bore you by pleading my cause here: but I have asked Father Mersenne, who knows perfectly this whole affair, to want to instruct you in it. I am content to tell you that Sieur Ferrier is only angry that I have seen clearer than he wished. He knows very well in his conscience that I have learned nothing that touched him except from himself. If he wants to make believe that some false reports have been made to me about him, it is only to have more pretext to complain and to excuse himself. But he was mistaken when he believed he was greatly displeasing me in a thing that was indifferent to me. If you find that I am wrong, you will oblige me extremely not to flatter me: and I will not fail to obey exactly all that you will order.”**

The letter that Mr. Descartes wrote to Sieur Ferrier on the same subject, showed that he had not divested himself of the feelings of the affection he had had for him. He contented himself with putting back before his eyes, but with his usual gentleness and kindness, a part of the subjects he had given him for not being satisfied with him, while nevertheless offering him his services as before. Here are the terms in which he was willing to excuse himself to him. **“I assure you, sir, that I have not had any intention of causing you any displeasure, and that I am as ready as ever to employ myself for you in everything that will be in my power.

I have discontinued writing to you, because I have seen by experience that my letters were harmful to you, and gave you occasion to lose time. I told one of my friends what I recognized of your humor, because knowing that you were accustomed to complaining of all those who had tried to oblige you, I was very happy, if you came one day to complain of me, that a person of his merit and his condition could testify to the truth. I also warned him of what you had written to me about him, and showed him your letter. For being a witness of the obligations that I have to him; and knowing very certainly that you were only blaming him to prevent me, and prevent me from believing the truths that he could tell me to your disadvantage although he never taught me anything about it, I would have believed I was committing a great crime, and making myself an accomplice of your little gratitude, if I had not warned him of it. But since I hold the pen, I must once and for all try to get rid of all your complaints, and give you an account of all my actions. If I had known your humor and your affairs from the beginning, I would never have advised you to work on what I had thought about refractions. But you know that I had barely seen you once or twice, when you offered yourself to it. The desire I had to see the execution of it prevented me from inquiring more diligently whether you could succeed; and I had no difficulty in communicating to you what I knew about it. For I judged well that it was a work that required a lot of trouble and expense.

Remember, if you please, that I told you then distinctly that the execution of it would be difficult, and that I assured you well of the truth of the thing, but that I did not know if it could be reduced to practice, and that it was up to you to judge and to seek the inventions for it. This is what I was telling you expressly, so that if you lost time there, as you have done, you could not attribute the fault to me, or complain of me. Having since known the difficulties that had stopped you, and being touched by the time that you had uselessly employed there, I have for your love lowered my thought down to the smallest inventions of mechanics: and when I believed I had found enough to make the thing succeed, I invited you to come here to work on it. To facilitate the means for you more, I offered to bear all the expense, on the conditions that you would have all the profit, if any could be drawn from it. I do not yet see that you can complain of me up to there. When you told me that you could not come here, I no longer invited you to work on it: on the contrary, I expressly advised you to employ yourself in things that could bring you present profit, without feeding on vain hopes. Then I judged by your letters that what I had written to you to come here had diverted you from your other works.

You pretended to prepare for this trip, when the thing had become impossible for you, and when I was no longer in a state to receive you near me. So that to prevent you from dragging on for two or three years following your humor in this vain hope, and so that at the end of the account, seeing that I would no longer have been disposed to receive you, you would not complain of what you would have prepared yourself for; I told you that you should no longer expect it, especially since I would perhaps be on the point of returning, before you were ready to come. To take away the desire for it from you, I wrote you a part of what I had thought, and I offered to help you by letters as much as I was capable of. But, if you have paid attention to it, I was warning you by the same letters not to get involved in working on it, if you did not have a lot of leisure and conveniences for that; and that the thing would be long and difficult. I do not want to inquire about what you have done since. For if you have esteemed my inventions more than my advice, and that you have worked on it uselessly, it is not my fault, since you have not warned me of it. You have been after that seven or eight months without writing to me. I do not want to either tell you the cause, or ask you for it.

For as you cannot be ignorant of it, I also beg you to believe that I have known it very well, although no one but you has taught me it. However, I have never been angry about it as you imagine. I have only had pity to see that you were deceiving yourself: and because my letters had given you the matter for it, I no longer wanted to write to you. You know very well that if I had had the intention of harming you, I would have done it more than six months ago; and that if a small word that has been seen of my writing has made you receive displeasure, my prayers and my reasons joined to the assistance of my friends would not have had less power. I assure you moreover that there is no one who has told me anything to your disadvantage; and that the one you blame for having asked you to show him my letters, had not done it out of a vain curiosity as you say: but because I had very humbly begged him for it without telling him the reason, and that in that very thing he thought he was doing you a favor. But so that you do not take occasion to say that I have ill-founded suspicions, and that I have been mistaken in my judgments, “I ask you to show these same letters that I had written to you fourteen or fifteen months ago to those to whom you have given the trouble of writing to me.” They contain nothing that I desire you to keep secret, as you pretend: and if I have sometimes had difficulty saying it to others, it has been purely for your love. But you know very well that those to whom I ask you to show them will not do you any wrong: and after having seen them, if they find that I have been wrong in something, and that I have had an other opinion of you than I should have, I oblige myself to give you all the satisfactions they will judge reasonable.”**

Mr. Descartes after having wanted to descend into all this detail, to justify himself against the complaints and the bad humor of Sieur Ferrier, who had thought of committing him so improperly with his friends, wholeheartedly forgot the faults that ingratitude had made this man commit. He served and assisted him with his advice and his credit as before. We have remained among his letters marks of the commerce he still had with him nine or ten years later: and we have the praises he still made since of his honesty, of his gratitude, and of his skill to people to whom he recommended him to render him service.