universally true, the
average man would undoubtedly prefer to jog along comfortably with a mate
beside him.

It is worth while, however, to note that many great men have remained
single; some from choice, some from indifference, some because of early
disappointment. Especially among those whose work requires the most
concentrated reasoning is the single state frequent. In the following
nutshell biographies of famous bachelors it will be observed that a
majority of the men named are philosophers. The great philosopher seldom
marries--for is not the experience of Socrates a warning?

BARUCH DE SPINOZA (Holland--1632-1677).

Baruch Spinoza was by nature unfitted for matrimony. An aggressive
thinker, he led a troubled life. Of Portuguese Hebrew parentage, he was
accused of heresy at an early age and narrowly escaped assassination.
Quitting Amsterdam he took up his abode at The Hague, where he remained
until he died. Having no private fortune he earned his living by polishing
spectacles. His needs were few, and he refused with equal equanimity a sum
of two thousand florins, which his friend, Simon de Vries, presented to
him, and the offer of the chair of philosophy in the University of
Heidelberg.

Fame was not his object, and of all his writings a theologico-political
treatise was the only one published during his life. A storm of
disapproval greeted it, and the author decided not to provoke the public
any further. He did not cease to labor, however, and after his death his
friends found that a mass of manuscripts were ready for the press.

RENE DESCARTES (France--1596-1650).

Another thinker, over whose life no woman seems to have exercised any
influence, is Rene Descartes. He took part in the siege of La Rochelle in
1629 and then sought solitude in Holland and remained there for twenty
years. During this time he published his metaphysical works and made a
great name for himself. The Princess Palatine became his warm friend, and
Christine of Sweden invited him to her court. He declined her invitation
at first, but finally, finding that his theological opponents were
determined to suppress him, he fled from Holland and took refuge in
Stockholm, where the rigorous climate soon carried him off. Christine,
whose counselor and warm friend, in a Platonic sense, he had been for
years, mourned sincerely for him. So did other notable women who dimly
recognized in him the Socrates of the seventeenth century.

SIR ISAAC