The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• On the Improvement of the Understanding.
• The Ethics.
• Part I.: Concerning God.
• Part II.: Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind.
• Part III.: On the Origin and Nature of the Emotions.
• Part IV.: Of Human Bondage, Or the Strength of the Emotions.
• Part V.: Of the Power of the Understanding, Or of Human Freedom.
• Spinoza’s Correspondence.
• Letter I. (i. 1 ): Henry Oldenburg 2 to B. De Spinoza.
• Letter II. (ii.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letter III. (iii.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter IV. (iv.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letter V. (v.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter VI. (vi.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letter VII. (vii.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter Viii (xi.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter IX. (xiii.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letters X.—XIV. 1: Letter XIII. A.: Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XV. (xxxii.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letter XVI. (xxxiii.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XVII. (lxi.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XVIII. (lxii.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XIX. (lxviii.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letter XX. (lxxi.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XXI. (lxxiii.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letter XXII. (lxxiv.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XXIII. (lxxv.): Spinoza to Oldenburg.
• Letter XXIV. (lxxvii.): Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XXV. (lxxviii.)
• Letter XXV. A.: Oldenburg to Spinoza.
• Letter XXVI. (viii.): Simon De Vries 1 to Spinoza.
• Letter XXVII. (ix.): Spinoza to Simon De Vries.
• Letter XXVIII. (x.): Spinoza to Simon De Vries.
• Letter XXIX. (xii.): Spinoza to L. M. 1 (lewis Meyer).
• Letter XXIX. A. 1: Spinoza to Lewis Meyer.
• Letter XXX. (xvii.): Spinoza to Peter Balling. 1
• Letter XXXI. (xviii.): William De Blyenbergh 1 to Spinoza.
• Letter XXXII. (xix.): Spinoza to Blyenbergh.
• Letter XXXIII. (xx.): Blyenbergh to Spinoza.
• Letter XXXIV. (xxi.): Spinoza to Blyenbergh.
• Letter XXXV. (xxii.): Blyenbergh to Spinoza.
• Letter XXXVI. (xxiii.): Spinoza to Blyenbergh.
• Letter XXXVII. (xxiv.): Blyenbergh to Spinoza.
• Letter XXXVIII. (xxvii.): Spinoza to Blyenbergh.
• Letter XXXIX.: Spinoza to Christian Huyghens.
• Letter Xl. (xxxv.): Spinoza to Christian Huyghens.
• Letter Xli. (xxxvi.): Spinoza to Christian Huyghens.
• Letter Xli. A.: Spinoza to * * * * * 1 (may Or June, 1665).
• Letter Xlii. (xxxvii.): Spinoza to I. B. 1
• Letter Xliii. (xxxviii.): Spinoza to I. V. M. 1
• Letters Xliv., Xlv., Xlvi. (xxxix., Xl., Xli.): Spinoza to I. I. 2
• Xliv.
• Xlv.
• Xlvi.
• Letter Xlvii. (xliv.): Spinoza to I. I.
• Letter Xlviii.
• Letter Xlix.: Spinoza to Isaac Orobio. 1
• Letter L. (l.): Spinoza to Jarig Jellis.
• Letter Li. (xlv.): Godfrey Leibnitz to Spinoza.
• Letter Lii. (xlvi.): Spinoza to Leibnitz.
• Letter Liii. (xlvii.): Fabritius to Spinoza.
• Letter Liv. (xlviii.): Spinoza to Fabritius.
• Letter Lv. (li.): Hugo Boxel to Spinoza.
• Letter Lvi. (lii.): Spinoza to Hugo Boxel.
• Letter Lvii. (liii.): Hugo Boxel to Spinoza.
• Letter Lviii. (liv.): Spinoza to Hugo Boxel.
• Letter Lix. (lv.): Hugo Boxel to Spinoza.
• Letter Lx. (lvi.): Spinoza to Hugo Boxel.
• Letter Lxi. (lvii.): * * * * * to Spinoza. 1
• Letter Lxii. (lviii.): Spinoza to * * * * * 2 (the Hague, October, 1674).
• Letter Lxiii. (lix.): * * * * * to Spinoza. 1
• Letter Lxiv. (lx.): Spinoza to * * * * *. 1
• Letter Lxv. (lxiii.): G. H. Schaller to Spinoza. 1
• Letter Lxvi. (lxiv.): Spinoza to * * * * *. 1
• Letter Lxvii. (lxv.): * * * * * 1 to Spinoza.
• Letter Lxviii. (lxvi.): Spinoza to * * * * *. 1
• Letter Lxviii. A.: G. H. Schaller to Spinoza.
• Letter Lxviii. B.: Spinoza to Schaller.
• Letter Lxix. (lxxx.): * * * * * 1 to Spinoza.
• Letter Lxx. (lxxxi.): Spinoza to * * * * * 1
• Letter Lxxi. (lxxxii.): * * * * * 1 to Spinoza.
• Letter Lxxii. (lxxxiii.): Spinoza to * * * * 1
• Letter Lxxiii. (lxvii.): Albert Burgh to Spinoza.
• Letter Lxxiv. (lxxvi.): Spinoza to Albert Burgh.
• Letter Lxxv. (lxix.): Spinoza to Lambert Van Velthuysen ( Doctor of Medicine At Utrecht. ) 1

LETTER XVI. (XXXIII.)

Oldenburg to Spinoza.

* * * * * *

But I pass on to politics. Everyone here is talking of a report that the Jews, after remaining scattered for more than two thousand years, are about to return to their country. Few here believe in it, but many desire it. Please tell your friend what you hear and think on the matter. For my part, unless the news is confirmed from trustworthy sources at Constantinople, which is the place chiefly concerned, I shall not believe it. I should like to know, what the Jews of Amsterdam have heard about the matter, and how they are affected by such important tidings which, if true, would assuredly seem to harbinger the end of the world. * * * Believe me to be

Yours most zealously,

Henry Oldenburg

London, 8 Dec., 1665.

P.S. I will shortly (d.v.) tell you the opinion of our philosophers on the recent comets.