" See what a rent the envions Casca made !"
Corruption and violence having ecpially failed to pre- vent .Spinoza's desertion of the synagogue, he was sol- emidy cut off from the chosen people. The excommu- nication seems to have severed him from the members ipf his own family, and he was reduced entirely to his own resources. The Jewish law has always recjuircd the acipiisition of some handicraft as an assured means of support in case of necessity. S])iiioza, accordingly, learned the art of grinding optical glasses, and depend- ed upon this for his future maintenance. He applied himself also to drawing. He withdrew from Amster- «lam. where all his surroundings were embarrassing, and found a lodging with a friend in tlie country. How long he remained in the neighborhood of his native city is uncertain. In lt)()4 he removed to Hhinsburg, a small place between Leyden and the mouth of the Rhine, which is there a mean and sluggish stream, muddying through the fat and hollow land. He remained at Khiiisburg through the winter, and then changed his abode to Vourburg, a small town three miles from the Hague, Some three years thereafter lie was induced to transfer his residence to the Hague itself, where he spent the short remainder of his life. From the time of his de|>arture from Amsterdam his existence passeil in secluded industry, mechanical and philosophical. By grinding lenses for optical instruments — an occupation iinich increased by the recent discovery of telescopes and microscopes — he secured a very modest but inde- pendent support. The rest of his time was assiduously employed in meditating bis metaphysical scheme, or in plea-saut conversation with the few friends who en- joyed his intimacy, or with admiring visitors.
The only incidents in tiiis monotonous life which de- serve mention are his visit to Utrecht to meet the great ('■>nde, and his refusal of a professorship at Heidelberg. Thelirst occurrence was due loan invitation from Stoupe, a Swiss colonel, commamlant in I'trjcht during Louis XIV's I)utch war, Stoupe sent Spinoza a passport through the French lines, accompanied with the decla- ration of the prince de (.'onde's solicitude to make his aciiuaintance, Coiide was in Utrecht in 1G72, but he was suffering from a severe wound in the wrist, received at the passage of the Khine. He was in no condition li. meet the Hebrew philosopher, and he set off for his seat at (Jhantilly as wxin as he was able to travel, Spi- noza, however, after some thlay, accepted Stoupc's in- \itniion, perhaps with the hope of a secure refuge in France in case of his being driven out of Hollaml on ac- count of his opinions. He did not see Condi-, who had left Utricht Ixfore his arrival. When he got back to the Hague, he found much fermentation among the fieople, who regarded his visit to the French ipiarters M the visit of a spy, and as a proof of treasonable iiego- tintioim. Van der .Spyck, wiih whom he lo.lged at the liin<-, was alarmed by the pojiular connnotion, and by the meniice of danger to his house and to his lodger. Spinoza r«nssure.| him, sialini: iliai he could satisfacto- rily explain his journey u> Utrecht; but that if the
rabble approached the door, he would go straight to thcin, even if they should tear him to |)ieces, as they had t<irn the De \Vitts. The massacre of the De Witts occurred on Aug, 22, 1672. Conde was woundeil on June 12 in that year. Thus the proximate date of Spi- noza's visit to Utrecht may be determined.
The second incident was the offer, in 1673, of a pro- fessorship by the elector-palatine. The invitation was conveyed in the most gratifying and liattering manner. The chair of philosophy was off'ered. Entire freedom of speculation was accorded, on the understanding that there should be no offence to the recognised religion. It was a strange proposal, with a strange condition. It displayed the t(»leration of rationalistic tendencies which is so characteristic of Germany in our day, let it is not easy to discern how Spinozism could be taught without grave infringement of any form of Christianity, The invitation was declined in a graceful and piquant manner, because Spinoza had no disposition to teach instead of studying philosophy, could not determine the limits of the freedom conceded, and preferred the quiet of his private and solitary life to distinctions and emol- uments.
This retired and equable existence was his delight. It was never broken at the Hague, except by intem- perate denunciations of his sui)posed opinions, which amused more than they disquieted him, though they prevented him from giving his Ethics and other lucu- brations to the imblic. The clamor which had been raised in Holland and throughout Europe by the publi- cation of his Tnictdtus Thwlixjiai-politicus, and the apprehension of louder clamor and more vehement op- position, induced him to withhold his Ethics from the worhl, when alreadj' preparing to give it to the press.
The later years of Spinoza were rendered easy and comfortable by a modest annuity bequeathed to him by a friend. He had declined the chair at Heidelberg without regard to its revenues. He refused to dedicate a treatise to Louis XIV, even with the prospect of a roy- al pension. Simple, upright, independent, incorru|)ti- ble, self-sustained, of few and humble wants, he declined all favors which might in any way compromise his per- fect moral and intellectual freed(im. Yet in his later years he was provided for without the necessity of his own labor, and was remitted to the enjoyment of his trancjuil speculative activity. Simon De Vries, of Am- sterdam, presented him with two thousand florins, to enable him to live more at his ease. He rejected the gift, saying that he had no need of it, and that the pos- session of so large a sum would certainly interfere with his studies. When Simon approached his end, he de- termined to bequeath all his worldly goods to Spinoza, being himself without wife or child, Spinoza remon- strated with his friend, maintaining that the estate ought to lie loft to the decedent's brother at Schiedam, This was accordingly done, on the comlition that the brother should bestow a pension for life on Spinoza, Five Innidred tlorins a year was the amount proposed by the heir, Spinoza pronoimcetl the sum excessive, and insisted on its reduction to three hundred florins. So small a sum snthced for his maintenance, and for the satisfaction of his truly philosophic wants.