[917] In 1763, he writes to D'Argental: ‘il y a environ douze batailles dont je n'ai point parlé, Dieu merci, parceque j'écris l'histoire de l'esprit humain, et non une gazette.’ Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. lxiii. p. 51. See also his letter to Tabareau (Lettres inédites de Voltaire, vol. ii. p. 585): ‘Personne ne lit les détails des combats et des sièges; rien n'est plus ennuyeux que la droite et la gauche, les bastions et la contrescarpe.’
[918] M. Lamartine characterizes him as ‘ce génie non pas le plus haut, mais le plus vaste de la France.’ Hist. des Girondins, vol. i. p. 180.
[919] Biog. Univ. vol. xlix. p. 493. His Orphelin de la Chine is taken from Chinese sources: see Davis's China, vol. ii. p. 258.
[920] The surprising versatility of Voltaire's mind is shown by the fact, unparalleled in literature, that he was equally great as a dramatic writer and as an historian. Mr. Forster, in his admirable Life of Goldsmith, 1854, says (vol. i. p. 119), ‘Gray's high opinion of Voltaire's tragedies is shared by one of our greatest authorities on such a matter now living, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, whom I have often heard maintain the marked superiority of Voltaire over all his countrymen in the knowledge of dramatic art, and the power of producing theatrical effects.’ Compare Correspondence of Gray and Mason, edit. Mitford, 1855, p. 44.
[921] Essai sur les Mœurs, chap. lxxxv., in Œuvres, vol. xvi. p. 412, and elsewhere.
[922] During the eighteenth century, and, I may say, until the publication in 1818 of Hallam's Middle Ages, there was in the English language no comprehensive account of the feudal system; unless, perhaps, we except that given by Robertson, who in this, as in many other matters of history, was a pupil of Voltaire. Not only Dalrymple, and writers of his kind, but even Blackstone, took so narrow a view of this great institution, that they were unable to connect it with the general state of society to which it belonged. Some of our historians gravely traced it back to Moses, in whose laws they found the origin of allodial lands. See a charming passage in Barry's History of the Orkney Islands, p. 219. On the spirit of feudality, there are some remarks well worth reading in Comtés Philos. Posit. vol. v. pp. 393–413.
[923] Constant, in his work on Roman polytheism, says, ‘des rites indécens peuvent être pratiqués par un peuple religieux avec une grande pureté de cœur. Mais quand l'incrédulité atteint ces peuples, ces rites sont pour lui la cause et le prétexte de la plus révoltante corruption.’ This passage is quoted by Mr. Milman, who calls it ‘extremely profound and just.’ Milman's History of Christianity, 1840, vol. i. p. 28. And so it is—extremely profound and just. But it happens that precisely the same remark was made by Voltaire, just about the time that Constant was born. Speaking of the worship of Priapus, he says (Essai sur les Mœurs, chap. cxliii. in Œuvres de Voltaire, vol. xvii. p. 341), ‘nos idées de bienséance nous portent à croire qu'un cérémonie qui nous paraît si infâme n'a été inventée que par la débauche; mais il n'est guère croyable que la dépravation des mœurs ait jamais chez aucun peuple établi des cérémonies religieuses. Il est probable, au contraire, que cette coutume fut d'abord introduite dans les temps de simplicité, et qu'on ne pensa d'abord qu'à honorer la Divinité dans le symbole de la vie qu'elle nous a donnée. Une telle cérémonie a dû inspirer la licence à la jeunesse, et paraître ridicule aux esprits sages, dans les temps plus raffinés, plus corrompus, et plus éclairés.’ Compare the remarks on the indecency of the Spartan customs, in Thirlwall's Hist. of Greece, vol. i. pp. 326, 327.
[924] Essai sur les Mœurs, chaps. xiv. and xxxi., in Œuvres, vol. xv. pp. 391, 514. Neander observes, that in the Greek church there were more heresies than in the Latin church, because the Greeks thought more; but he has failed to perceive how this favoured the authority of the popes. Neander's History of the Church, vol. ii. pp. 198, 199, vol. iii. pp. 191, 492, vol. iv. p. 90, vol. vi. p. 293, vol. viii. p. 257.
[925] In his account of the trade of Archangel, he says, ‘les Anglais obtinrent le privilége d'y commercer sans payer aucun droit; et c'est ainsi que toutes les nations devraient peut-être négocier ensemble.’ Hist. de Russie, part i. chap. i., in Œuvres, vol. xxiii. p. 35. Remarkable words to have been written by a Frenchman, born at the end of the seventeenth century; and yet they have, so far as I am aware, escaped the attention of all the historians of political economy. Indeed, on this, as on most matters, sufficient justice has not been done to Voltaire, whose opinions were more accurate than those of Quesnay and his followers. However, Mr. M'Culloch, in noticing one of the economical errors of Voltaire, honestly admits that his ‘opinions on such subjects are, for the most part, very correct.’ M'Culloch's Principles of Political Economy, p. 530. For proof of his sympathy with Turgot's efforts to establish free trade, compare Lettres inédites de Voltaire, vol. ii. pp. 367, 403, 423, with Longchamp, Mém. sur Voltaire, vol. i. pp. 376, 378.
[926] ‘The idea of the different ratios by which population and food increase, was originally thrown out by Voltaire; and was picked up and expanded into many a goodly volume by our English political economists in the present century.’ Laing's Notes, second series, p. 42.