e
nineteenth century itself is perhaps an example) when the study of
philosophy is almost divorced from style. There are others when the two
are intimately wedded. Nowhere is this latter more the case than in the
seventeenth century, and in France. Much of the most excellent writing
of the time was directed to philosophic subjects. But it so happened
that the great reformer of philosophy in France was also the greatest
reformer of her prose style, and that his greatest disciple carried
philosophical writing, as far as style is concerned, to very nearly, if
not quite, the highest pitch which it has yet attained in French. We
shall not have to concern ourselves in more than the very slightest
degree with the subject of the writings of Descartes and Malebranche,
but they have as legitimate a place in the history of French literature
as they have in that of European philosophy.

[Sidenote: Descartes.]

Rene Descartes[272] was born at La Haye in Touraine on the 31st of
March, 1596. His family belonged by descent to the province in which he
was born, but by occupation and official position (as well it would seem
as by possessions) to Britanny. It was of noble rank, though only of
_noblesse de robe_, and possessed enough landed property to leave
estates and territorial designations to two sons. Thus Rene was Seigneur
du Perron, though, quite contrary to the wont of the day, he never made
use of the title. He was of weak health both at this time and
afterwards, and, unlike most of his contemporaries, did not begin his
studies very early. In 1604 he was sent to the Jesuit College of La
Fleche, and remained there nearly eight years. After a short stay at
home he was sent to Paris, where he divided his time between ordinary
pursuits and amusements on the one hand, and hard study on the other. In
1617, when he had just attained his majority, he joined the army as a
volunteer, and the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War soon gave him
plenty of employment. He visited various parts of Europe, partly on
duty, partly as an ordinary traveller. First he served for two years at
Breda under Prince Maurice of Nassau, pursuing the same mixture of study
and routine employments. Then he went to Germany, where in his winter
quarters his great philosophical idea, as he has told in memorable
words, flashed across him. He served in various parts of the empire, and
in Hungary and Bohemia, but left the army in 1621 and went to Holland,
experiencing o