[22] Tr. in English, 1753. It is noteworthy that Cataneo formally accepts Montesquieu’s professions of orthodoxy. [↑]
[23] Correspondance littéraire de Grimm et Diderot, ed. 1829–31, i, 273. See the footnote for an account of the indecent efforts of the Jesuits to get at the dying philosopher. The curé of the parish who was allowed entry began his exhortation with: “Vous savez, M. le Président, combien Dieu est grand.” “Oui, monsieur,” returned Montesquieu, “et combien les hommes sont petits.” [↑]
[24] Mesnard, Hist. de l’académie française, p. 63. [↑]
[25] A full analysis is given by Strauss in the second Appendix to his Voltaire: Sechs Vorträge, 2te Aufl. 1870. [↑]
[26] The details are dubious. See the memoir compiled by “Rudolf Charles” (R. C. D’Ablaing van Giessenburg), the editor of the Testament, Amsterdam, 3 tom. 1861–64. It draws chiefly on the Mémoires secrets de Bachaumont, under date Sept. 30, 1764. [↑]
[27] Testament, as cited, i, 25. [↑]
[29] First published in 1762 [or 1764? See Bachaumont, Oct. 30], with the date 1742; and reprinted in the Évangile de la Raison, 1764. It was no fewer than four times ordered to be destroyed in the Restoration period. [↑]
[30] Probably Diderot did the most of the adaptation. “Il y a plus que du bon sens dans ce livre,” writes Voltaire to D’Alembert; “il est terrible. S’il sort de la boutique du Système de la Nature, l’auteur s’est bien perfectionné” (Lettre de 27 Juillet, 1775). [↑]
[31] “Il leur faut un Être à ces messieurs; pour moi, je m’en passe.” Grimm, Correspondance Littéraire, ed. 1829–31, iv, 186. [↑]