[897] Lord Brougham, in his life of Voltaire, says that it appeared in 1751. Lives of Men of Letters, vol. i p. 106. But 1752 is the date given in Biog. Univ. xlix. 478; in Quérard, France Lit. vol. x. p. 355; and in Lepan, Vie de Voltaire, p. 382.
[898] ‘On veut essayer de peindre à la postérité, non les actions d'un seul homme, mais l'esprit des hommes dans le siècle le plus éclairé qui fut jamais.’ Siècle de Louis XIV, in Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. xix. p. 213. And in his correspondence respecting his work on Louis XIV., he carefully makes the same distinction. See vol. lvi. pp. 453, 488, 489, 500, vol. lvii. pp. 337, 342–344, vol. lix. p. 103.
[899] Chap. xxix., in Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. xx. pp. 234–267.
[900] Chap. xxx., in Œuvres, vol. xx. pp. 267–291. This chapter is praised in Sinclair's History of the Public Revenue, vol. iii. appendix, p. 77; an indifferent work, but the best we have on the important subject to which it refers.
[901] Chap. xxxi., in Œuvres, vol. xx. pp. 291–299; necessarily a very short chapter, because of the paucity of materials.
[902] Chapters xxxii. to xxxiv., in Œuvres, vol. xx. pp. 299–338.
[903] Œuvres, vol. xx. pp. 338–464.
[904] This disposition to favour Louis XIV. is noticed by Condorcet, who says it was the only early prejudice which Voltaire was unable to shake off: ‘c'est le seul préjugé de sa jeunesse qu'il ait conservé.’ Condorcet, Vie de Voltaire, in Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. i. p. 286. See also, on this defect, Grimm et Diderot, Corresp. Lit. vol. ii. p. 182; Lemontey, Etablissement Monarchique, pp. 451, 452; Mém. de Brissot, vol. ii. pp. 88, 89. It is interesting to observe, that Voltaire's earlier opinions were still more favourable to Louis XIV. than those which he afterwards expressed in his history. See a letter which he wrote in 1740 to Lord Harvey, printed in Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. lviii. pp. 57–63.
[905] Mr. Burton, in his interesting work, Life and Correspondence of Hume, vol. ii. p. 129, says it was ‘first published in 1756;’ and the same date is given by Quérard (France Littéraire, vol. x. p. 359), who is a very accurate bibliographer; so that Condorcet (Vie de Voltaire, p. 199) and Lord Brougham (Men of Letters, vol. i. p. 98) are probably in error in assigning it to 1757. In regard to its title, I translate ‘Mœurs’ as ‘morals and manners;’ for M. Tocqueville uses ‘mœurs’ as equivalent to the Latin word ‘mores.’ Tocqueville, Démocratie en Amérique, vol. iii. pp. 50, 84.
[906] Superficial writers are so much in the habit of calling Voltaire superficial, that it may be well to observe, that his accuracy has been praised, not only by his own countrymen, but by several English authors of admitted learning. For three remarkable instances of this, from men whom no one will accuse of leaning towards his other opinions, see notes to Charles V., in Robertson's Works, pp. 431, 432; Barrington's Observations on the Statutes, p. 293; and Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. xvi. Even Sir W. Jones, in his preface to the Life of Nader Shah, says, that Voltaire is ‘the best historian’ the French have produced. Works of Sir William Jones, vol. v. p. 542; and compare the preface to his Persian Grammar, in Works, vol. ii. p. 123.