[673]. It has been thought that this passage, as glancing at the Henriade, was one of the reasons of Voltaire’s affection for Montesquieu. It is perhaps worth observing that there is a strong resemblance, with some minor differences, between Montesquieu’s attitude to literature, and that of his friend Chesterfield.
[674]. I use the thirteen-vol. ed. of the Panthéon Littéraire (Paris, 1876) because, though cumbrous individually, it is the only one that will go in moderate shelf-room.
[675]. This comes, it is true, from the Sentiments du Curé Meslier (vi. 542). But it is allowed that Voltaire rewrote this, and I should not be surprised if he did a little more.
[676]. These are to be found in more places than one: the Lettres sur les Anglais (originally Lettres Philosophiques), those to the Prince of Brunswick, the dialogue in which Rabelais figures with Lucian and Erasmus, &c.
[677]. This, the usually quoted form, runs in the Lettres sur les A., “un Rabelais dans son bon sens, et vivant en bonne compagnie.”
[678]. Ed. cit., ix. 56.
[679]. I have not thought it necessary to waste time and space by selecting additional justificatory pieces from his enormous Correspondence.
[680]. This attitude was emphasised (perhaps by his dislike of Rousseau) in his later years; and was handed on to men like Condorcet and La Harpe.
[681]. The gibe of Gautier (Caprices et Zigzags, “Un tour en Belgique”), where he calls the Sun “un astre à qui M. de Malfilâtre fait une ode trouvée admirable par D’Alembert” contains no doubt something of youthful Romantic naughtiness in it: but also something more. The ode has a frigid Akensidish grace; but there is too much about axes and orbits therein: and it is to be feared that this, rather than the poetry, attracted the philosophe critic.
[682]. His Academic Discours de Réception (Aug. 25, 1753). It is easily accessible—for instance in the Didot Œuvres Choisies, i. 19-25.