Spinoza, the story goes, was among her pupils, and from a pupil
became a lover. But he had a rival in a fellow-pupil named
Kerkering, who finally won the lady's hand by the help of a valu-
able pearl necklace. Now it is true that Van den Ende had a
daughter named Clara Maria, who married Theodore Kerckrinck
(such is the authentic form of the name). The date of the mar-
riage, however, has been ascertained by Van Vloten to be 1671
(the year when Van den Ende left Holland), and it appears by the
register that the bride was twenty-seven years old. Now Spinoza
was excommunicated and left Amsterdam in 1656. Clara Maria
van den Ende was therefore eleven or twelve years old at the latest
time when Spinoza could have been her father's pupil, and the
tale of the students' rivalry and the pearl necklace must be dis-
missed. Kerckrinck was a physician, who published works on
medicine, anatomy, and chemistry, and earned a considerable scien-
tific reputation, so that the match was in itself a natural one
enough for Van den Ende's daughter. The question remains
whether the tale of Spinoza's love for her is absolutely without
foundation. There is no reason whatever to suppose that Spinoza
did not keep up his acquaintance with Van den Ende in the visits
which we know that he made from time to time to Amsterdam ;
and thus we have occasion and room enough for a friendship
extending into Klaartje's riper years, which may have passed into
a serious inclination. A romantic affection we cannot ascribe to
Spinoza at this time : it would be too much out of keeping with
all his habits and character ; and one may shrewdly suspect that
his inclination never in truth got beyond a hypothetical stage.
