SKETCH

OF THE

LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

SORBIERE.

SAMUEL SORBIERE was born of Protestant parents in the year 1610. His father was a tradesman. Having laid a proper foundation in languages and polite literature, he went to Paris and studied divinity; but he soon quitted that pursuit. He applied himself to physic; in which he made so great a progress, that he formed an abridgment for his own use, which was likewise printed on one sheet. He after

wards turned Roman Catholic; and was well recommended to the Court of Rome by Cardinal Mazarin, to whom he dedicated his Reasons of Conversion. But

Sorbiere, who was a discontented man, grumbled that Clement IX. did not take sufficient care of his fortune; and on receiving some small favours from the Pope, it is said that he exclaimed, "Most holy Father, you give ruffles to a man who wants a shirt." Nevertheless Sorbiere, by the patronage of Louis XIV. and Pope Alexander VII. had a comfortable subsistence during his life, which ended by a dropsy in April 1670. His chief works are, a Treatise on the passage of the Chyle, and the Motion of the Heart, abounding in doubts; a Discourse on the Transfusion of the Blood of Animals into the Human Body; translations into the French language, of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, some of Hobbes's works, and some part of Camden's Britannia.

SORBERIANA.

ATHEISTS.

THERE are three kinds of atheists; persons of subtle understandings, men of profligate principles, and ignorant pretenders to thinking. The two last are generally converted by misfortunes, or the approach of death, the great touchstone of the soul. As to the former, it is impossible for me to imagine how they can, as men of knowledge, reject so many evidences of a first

cause.

M. DESCARTES.

M. Descartes was very silent and sparing of words. I passed two hours with him one day, without carrying away one idea. He spoke little, and seemed afraid lest

wards turned Roman Catholic; and was well recommended to the Court of Rome by Cardinal Mazarin, to whom he dedicated his Reasons of Conversion. But Sorbiere, who was a discontented man, grumbled that Clement IX. did not take sufficient care of his fortune; and on receiving some small favours from the Pope, it is said that he exclaimed, "Most holy Father, you give ruffles to a man who wants a shirt." Nevertheless Sorbiere, by the patronage of Louis XIV. and Pope Alexander VII. had a comfortable subsistence during his life, which ended by a dropsy in April 1670. His chief works are, a Treatise on the passage of the Chyle, and the Motion of the Heart, abounding in doubts; a Discourse on the Transfusion of the Blood of Animals into the Human Body; translations into the French language, of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, some of Hobbes's works, and some part of Camden's Britannia.

SORBERIANA.

ATHEISTS.

THERE are three kinds of atheists; persons of subtle understandings, men of profligate principles, and ignorant pretenders to thinking. The two last are generally converted by misfortunes, or the approach of death, the great touchstone of the soul. As to the former, it is impossible for me to imagine how they can, as men of knowledge, reject so many evidences of a first

cause.

M. DESCARTES.

M. Descartes was very silent and sparing of words. I passed two hours with him one day, without carrying away one idea, He spoke little, and seemed afraid lest