periods. The life and work of René Descartes[1] (1596-1650) belong more properly to the history of philosophy than of literature. Educated by the Jesuits, he served as a volunteer under Maurice of Nassau and the Duke of Bavaria. It was when in winter quarters in Germany that he conceived his "method," and tested it by elaborating the application of algebra to geometry. He visited Switzerland and Italy, and returned to Paris in 1625, where he spent two years hidden from his friends, immersed in study and reflection. In 1629 he migrated to Holland, which became his headquarters until 1649, when he accepted the invitation of the Queen of Sweden and removed to Stockholm, where he died in the following year. The famous Discours de la Méthode was published at Leyden in 1637. A great part of his subsequent writing consisted of replies to objections and learned correspondence. The Traité des Passions, written for Princess Elizabeth of the Palatinate in 1649, was published in 1650.
Descartes is the greatest and completest representative of the rationalism which was the chief though Rationalism. not the sole factor in the formation of classical literature in France. He did on a larger scale and in the region of philosophy the work of selection and ordering which Malherbe and
- ↑ Opera Omnia, Amst., 1670-83. Œuvres Complètes, &c., ed. Victor Cousin, 11 vols., Paris, 1824-26. Œuvres inédites, &c., ed. Foucher de Careil, Paris, 1859-60. Œuvres, &c., ed. C. Adam et P. Tannery, 1897, in progress. A centenary edition. For studies, see bibliographical note in Petit de Julleville, vol. iv., and Histories of Philosophy generally.
