Complete Works, Volume Six

of Letters

...mention of those things reported in the history of Matthew Paris. 54 Matthew Paris was a 13th century English Benedictine monk and chronicler.
He shares an observation of the Solar Eclipse of the year 1633, and mentions something regarding the Rosa Ursina. 55 The Rosa Ursina is a major work on sunspots by Christopher Scheiner.
TO SCHICKARD. He shares several celestial observations with him, namely the occultation of a star by the Moon seen in the year 1627, advising him about magnetic variation and the manuscripts brought from the East by Golius. 33 Wilhelm Schickard was a polymath who designed the first mechanical calculator. Jacob Golius was a renowned orientalist and mathematician.
The altitude of the Pole observed at Grenoble during the Solstice itself. 35
The occultation of a star in Sagittarius by the Moon, announcing the death of Kepler. 43
Mercury seen in the Sun, Venus not seen, and solar spots. 45 Gassendi was the first to observe the transit of Mercury in 1631.
He commends Schickard's response to his own observation of Mercury seen in the Sun, returning thanks. 59
He shares various and repeated elongations of Mercury, and furthermore the latitude of Avignon. 66
He sets out doubts regarding certain observations, extolling Schickard's book on the Bacchanalia of the Jews. 69 Original: "Bacchanalibus Iudæorum". This refers to Schickard's work on Jewish festivals and customs.
He intends for him what he observed in the heavens in the years 1634 and 1635, when he learns that Schickard has departed from the living due to the plague. 75
TO SCHURMAN. He praises the gifts of that maiden's mind and her learned writing, she being skilled in many languages. 198 Anna Maria van Schurman was a highly educated German-Dutch artist and scholar, known as the "Star of Utrecht."
He returns thanks because she deigned to respond beyond her usual practice. 216
TO SÉGUIER, Chancellor of France. He offers a copy of the Philosophy of Epicurus, declaring that certain matters are becoming disordered. 295 Original: "scopas quasdam fore dissolutas", a Latin idiom meaning things are falling apart or disorganized.
TO SNELL. He praises his Eratosthenes, and for the sake of the geographical work undertaken, he sends the polar altitude and latitude of various places: he also entreats that he see to the making of a steel astronomical quadrant for Frère Monfort. 2 Willebrord Snellius was the mathematician known for Snell's law of refraction.
He indicates the difference in feet, ells, and measures of various places, as well as the longitude and latitude of several cities, and observations of the Comet of 1618 and the Eclipses of the years 1620 and 1621. 6
TO SORBIÈRE. He commends his friendship: he does not refuse his objections to the Metaphysics of Descartes for the sake of Praetæus. 155 Samuel Sorbière was a physician and translator who helped disseminate Gassendi's and Hobbes's works.
He sends those very objections to be published. 162
He praises the affection of Courcelles. 174
Asked about the nature of Time, he discourses on it. 178
And regarding the Void or Vacuum original: "Inani seu Vacuo" possible in the nature of things. 186
He urges him to translate Hobbes's book On the Citizen into French. 249 Thomas Hobbes's De Cive was a foundational work of political philosophy.
He complains as a friend regarding the French edition of his short dissertation on the lacteal veins, the circulation of the blood, and the respiration and pulse of animals. 279
He earnestly asks that he not support a French edition of the Syntagma of Epicurus unless it is purged of necessary notes indicating the man's errors. 325 Gassendi was careful to reconcile Epicurean atomism with Christian doctrine.
He congratulates him and rejoices in his salvation because he has finally acknowledged the Holy Roman Church as Mother: for which conversion all the Earth with its gold is not enough: and he laments the death of Prince Valois, considering his blameless character. 328
He sends letters of recommendation to him, holding Sorbière's letter regarding Pecquet's experiments in high regard. 330 Jean Pecquet was a physician who discovered the thoracic duct.
TO SUARÈS, the Prelate. He congratulates him for seeking Sorbière for God and the Church, returning thanks. 328

TO TENNEURIUS. He commends his disputation on the acceleration of falling heavy bodies. page 260 Jean-Baptiste Tenneur was a mathematician involved in debates over Galilean physics.
He urges him to make the second part of the disputation public. 265
He writes that he has received Tenneurius's historical work on the glorious lineage of Kings. 311
TO TONDUT DE SAINT-LÉGER. He shows the longitude between Paris, Avignon, Digne, and Aix-en-Provence based on observations. 65
He shares an observation of the Lunar Eclipse of the year 1634. 69

TO THE PRINCE OF VALOIS. He advises him regarding the Assemblies of the Gallican Clergy, and about the prelates who have come over to his side or who have wished to oppose rather than support him regarding the agency of the Clergy. page 95 Louis de Valois, Count of Alais, was a high-ranking nobleman and patron of Gassendi.
Marveling at the great love of the Prince for him, as he reads his letters, a memory occurs to him of Charles IX, the most excellent King of the French, writing in verse to Ronsard: and likewise of Epicurus writing to Idomeneus. He commends Bailli and Derodon. 96 Gassendi compares his relationship with the Prince to famous historical friendships between rulers and poets or philosophers.
Because the Prince wrote back to the Bishop of Grasse for his sake, an excess of gratitude...