Miscellaneous Essays | Page 9

glad M. Des Cartes did not
rob the gallows by executing his threat, especially as he could not
possibly have brought his vessel to port, after he had murdered his crew;
so that he must have continued to cruise for ever in the Zuyder Zee, and
would probably have been mistaken by sailors for the Flying Dutchman,
homeward bound. "The spirit which M. Des Cartes manifested," says
his biographer, "had the effect of magic on these wretches. The
suddenness of their consternation struck their minds with a confusion
which blinded them to their advantage, and they conveyed him to his
destination as peaceably as he could desire."
Possibly, gentlemen, you may fancy that, on the model of Cæsar's
address to his poor ferryman,--"_Cæsarem vehis et fortunas ejus_"--M.
Des Cartes needed only to have said,--"Dogs, you cannot cut my throat,
for you carry Des Cartes and his philosophy," and might safely have
defied them to do their worst. A German emperor had the same notion,
when, being cautioned to keep out of the way of a cannonading, he
replied, "Tut! man. Did you ever hear of a cannon-ball that killed an
emperor?" As to an emperor I cannot say, but a less thing has sufficed

to smash a philosoper; and the next great philosopher of Europe
undoubtedly was murdered. This was Spinosa.
I know very well the common opinion about him is, that he died in his
bed. Perhaps he did, but he was murdered for all that; and this I shall
prove by a book published at Brussels, in the year 1731, entitled, _La
Via de Spinosa; Par M. Jean Colerus_, with many additions, from a MS.
life, by one of his friends. Spinosa died on the 21st February, 1677,
being then little more than forty-four years old. This of itself looks
suspicious; and M. Jean admits, that a certain expression in the MS. life
of him would warrant the conclusion, "que sa mort n'a pas été
tout-à-fait naturelle." Living in a damp country, and a sailor's country,
like Holland, he may be thought to have indulged a good deal in grog,
especially in punch,[1] which was then newly discovered. Undoubtedly
he might have done so; but the fact is that he did not. M. Jean calls him
"extrêmement sobre en son boire et en son manger." And though some
wild stories were afloat about his using the juice of mandragora (p. 140,)
and opium, (p. 144,) yet neither of these articles appeared in his
druggist's bill. Living, therefore, with such sobriety, how was it
possible that he should die a natural death at forty-four? Hear his
biographer's account:--"Sunday morning the 21st of February, before it
was church time, Spinosa came down stairs and conversed with the
master and mistress of the house." At this time, therefore, perhaps ten
o'clock on Sunday morning, you see that Spinosa was alive, and pretty
well. But it seems "he had summoned from Amsterdam a certain
physician, whom," says the biographer, "I shall not otherwise point out
to notice than by these two letters, L.M. This L.M. had directed the
people of the house to purchase an ancient cock, and to have him boiled
forthwith, in order that Spinosa might take some broth about noon,
which in fact he did, and ate some of the old cock with a good appetite,
after the landlord and his wife had returned from church.
[Footnote 1: "June 1, 1675.--Drinke part of 3 boules of punch, (a liquor
very strainge to me,)" says the Rev. Mr. Henry Teonge, in his Diary
lately published. In a note on this passage, a reference is made to
Fryer's Travels to the East Indies, 1672, who speaks of "that enervating
liquor called Paunch, (which is Indostan for five,) from five
ingredients." Made thus, it seems the medical men called it Diapente; if
with four only, Diatessaron. No doubt, it was its Evangelical name that

recommended it to the Rev. Mr. Teonge.]
"In the afternoon, L.M. staid alone with Spinosa, the people of the
house having returned to church; on coming out from which they learnt,
with much surprise, that Spinosa had died about three o'clock, in the
presence of L.M., who took his departure for Amsterdam the same
evening, by the night-boat, without paying the least attention to the
deceased. No doubt he was the readier to dispense with these duties, as
he had possessed himself of a ducatoon and a small quantity of silver,
together with a silver-hafted knife, and had absconded with his pillage."
Here you see, gentlemen, the murder is plain, and the manner of it. It
was L.M. who murdered Spinosa for his money. Poor S. was an invalid,
meagre, and weak: as no blood was observed, L.M., no doubt, threw
him down and smothered him with pillows,--the poor man