Letter XVI. From Oldenburg
LETTER XVI. (XXXIII)
OLDENBURG TO SPINOZA.
[After some remarks on Spinoza's last letter, and an account of experiments at the Royal Society and at Oxford, Oldenburg mentions ca report about the return of the Jews to Palestine].
* * * * * *
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.