Christiaan Huygens – A family affair - Proeven van Vroeger

I have always believed that Monsieur le Premier [the First Knight] would have the goodness to
remember toward my children the old friendship between Monsieur de Beringhen and their
Father; but this Monsieur le Premier does not leave my expectations unanswered by an excess
of favors and civilities which my Archimedes informs me he does not stop to honor him with.
He mentions it to me, monsieur, not just as a story that I ought to rejoice in, but as to call me
for help, and not knowing how to provide for the gratitude that he acknowledges he owes to
you. 314
Promising to inform himself about the universal medicine in Amsterdam so as to find “Elixirs” to
lengthen the old First Knight’s lifespan, Constantijn Sr. asked him to accept his son Christiaan
Jr.’s friendship. Monsieur de Beringhen would give a clear sign that the bond between the old
Knight and Constantijn Sr. would be renewed in the form of a bond between the Knight and
Christiaan Jr. when he would drop the “excessive” civilities in their conversations. 315
Over the course of his life, as we have seen Christiaan filled a small library with books
on the art of conversation, the art of pleasing and how to be the perfect courtier and honnête
homme (see Chapter V, section ii and appendix A 316 ). It is a striking fact that Christiaan
Huygens Jr., the famous mathematician-astronomer, had three copies of Baldassare
Castiglione’s “Il Cortegiano” (“The Courtier”) in his library at the end of his life (see Appendix
B), while only a handful of other people in Europe are known to have possessed an equal or
higher number of them (Chapelain was one of them; he possessed five copies 317 ). At court the
manner book was an important aide, and especially when one moved at different courts, a
cosmopolitan outlook and grasp of courtly manners were essential. These functional
characteristics of the early-modern canon of courtly manners and aristocratic behavior, rather
314 Ibid., Vol. III, No. 821 (Dec. 9, 1660). “J’aij tousiours bien creu que Monsieur le Premier auroit la
bonté de se souuenir à l’endroit de mes enfans de l’anciene amitié d’entre Monsieur de Beringhen et leur
Pere; mais ce Monsieur le Premier ne laisse pas de tromper mon attente par un exces de faueurs et de
ciuilitez dont mon Archimede me mande qu’il ne cesse de l’honorer. Il me le mande, monsieur, non pas
seulement comme une histoire qui me doibt resjouir, mais comme m’appellant au secours, et ne sachant
de quoij fournir à la reconnoissance qu’il avouë vous en debuoir.”
315 Ibid., Vol. III, No. 821 (Dec. 9, 1660)
316 I have made a selection from the many books on Christiaan’s catalogue that are, I think, relevant with
regard to the social circumstances in which he lived. I have left out titles of religious, historical and
“disciplinary” books
317 BURKE, P. (1996) The fortunes of the Courtier : the European reception of Castiglione's Cortegiano,
University Park, Pennsylvania State University Press., p166. “That he [Chapelain] also owned copies of
Du Refuge [Du Refuge, Etienne (1616) Traité de la cour ou instruction des courtisans, revised and enlarged
edn Rouen 1631] and Faret [Faret, Nicolas (1630) L’honeste homme ou l’art de plaire à la cour, ed. M.
Magendie, paris 1925] offers a clue to the way in which Chapelain read the text [of ‘the Courtier’].”
BURKE, P. (1996) The fortunes of the Courtier : the European reception of Castiglione's Cortegiano, University
Park, Pennsylvania State University Press., p128. Christiaan’s book catalogue makes an unexpected and
important contribution to Burke’s list.
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