THE CHATEAU DE PRANGINS
‘Retractation,’ he wrote, ‘was all very well for St. Augustine; but it will not do for him. I know his character. If your complaints get too loud, he will quote a certain catechism by your Professor of Theology, wherein it is said that revelation is “a thing of some utility,” and wherein there is no single word about the holy, adorable, and invisible Trinity. When he establishes that he has not disclosed a secret, but has only publicly taken cognizance of an opinion publicly expressed, you will be slightly embarrassed.’
CHAPTER XXII
VOLTAIRE AND THE THEATRE
Another bone of contention was found in Voltaire’s passionate devotion to the theatre. His tastes were shared by the ‘advanced’ set at Geneva; but the divines, in spite of their broad views on matters of dogmatic theology, still held narrow views on the subject of the drama. Dramatic performances, whether public or private, were not allowed upon Genevan soil; while performances given close to the frontier, on the territory of Savoy or France, caused the ministers many searchings of heart.
There had been such performances shortly before Voltaire’s arrival—in 1751—at Carouge and Chatelaine, and the Consistory had passed a resolution on the subject. It had decided to exhort the members of the Council to keep their wives away from the entertainments, and to exhort the professors to warn the students—and more particularly the candidates for Holy Orders—not to attend them. Afterwards, hearing that the daughters of some of the pastors had visited the theatre in defiance of their admonitions, they had passed a further resolution to the effect that this state of things gave ground for reflection—qu’il y a lieu d’y réfléchir.
Such was the public opinion which Voltaire braved; and his first attempt to brave it was not very successful. Soon after his arrival he arranged a salle de spectacle inside the city walls, and organized a performance of ‘L’Orphelin de la Chine.’ The Consistory growled out a hostile resolution, and he dropped the enterprise, but proceeded to educate opinion from a safe distance; that is to say, he set up his theatre at Lausanne, and wrote insinuating letters about its management to his friends among the Genevan pastors. We have Gibbon’s testimony to the fact that this theatre ‘refined in a visible degree the manners of Lausanne’; and we have a letter in which Voltaire gives the pastor, Vernés, sound reasons for coming to witness the performances.
‘In your quality of minister of the Gospel,’ he writes, ‘you might very well be present at the rendering of a piece taken from the Gospel itself, and hear the word of God from the mouth of the Marquise de Gentil, Madame d’Aubonne, and Madame d’Hermenches, who are as worthy women as the three Magdalens, and more respectable.’ And he adds: ‘At the first representation we had all the ministers of the Holy Gospel in the Town, and all the candidates for Holy Orders.’