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Memoirs of the Life and Writings of M. de Voltaire. MEMOIRS of M. de VOLTAIRE.

M.

Continued from p. 14.

De Voltaire having been often attacked in the Année Literaire, feemed at first infenfible to the fting of that rafp, as he afterwards flyled the author, M. Freron. At length he was roufed from this kind of flumber by the extract which was given, in that journal, of a comedy afcribed to our. poet, entitled, The Reasonable Woman, afted at Karonge. True it is, that a piece fo named was acted at Luneville, twelve years before, in the palace of K. Stanislaus, where M. de Voltaire then, refided, but the latter part of it only was written by him (at least if he may be believed); and he divided it also into three acts, very different from that which Freron publifhed. The Reafonable Woman was acted by the Marchiohefs de Chatelet, with univerfal applaufe; and the other parts, by the first perions of the kingdom, both in rank and genius. On this occafion, our author inferted a letter against that journalist, in the Mercury; and fince that time the Scotch woman, the Poor Devil, and a thousand other fatirical fhafts have been levelled at him, from the fame inexhaustible quiver.

M. de le Franc de Pompignan, being received into the French academy on the death of M. de Maupertuis, pronounced a speech on his reception, March 10, 1760. He there proved, that "an abuse of talents, a contempt "of religion, a hatred of authority, "are the reigning character of the "productions of the philofophers of "the day; that every thing bears the "ftamp of a depraved literature, cor"rupted morals, and an arrogant phi

lofophy, which faps alike the throne "and the altar; that philofophers loud"ly declaim against riches, yet fecretly " envy the rich," &c. This difcourfe ftrangely provoked M. de V.-M. le Franc then prefented a memorial to the King, in which he justified himfelf from the reproaches of his adver fary. This memorial only inflamed the choler of the philofopher of Delices, who wrote fatires upon fatires, and will write ftill more.

When M. de Voltaire published his panegyric on Lewis XV. he did not own himself the author. The journalifts of Trevoux, who could not difcover in it the ftrokes of a great mafter, confidered it as the weak at

In his Scotchwoman. GENT. MAG. Feb. 1774.

57

tempt of a young scholar. They thought, however, they could obferve in it fome tendency to good writing, and in confequence they made a criticifm on it, in order to exhort the young man not to be wanting to himself. The little efteem in which they held his work, did not prevent the true anthor from appearing. He only expreffed his diffatisfaction with thofe who had treated him fo ill. He thought their criticifin unjust, and inconfiderate: these are his words in his preface. Such a man as M. de Voltaire, when he complains, ought to be heard. He was fo, and in one of the following journals, it appeared that the difcourfe had been read with other eyes; or, at least, that M. de Voltaire's preface had been read. It was only faid, that the author was blameable in not difcovering himself sooner.

This reparation did not fatisfy him. His chagrin increased. When Father Bertier extolled feveral objectible paffages in the Eay on General Hiftory, M. de Voltaire declared openly against him, in the piece which he published on the death of the Margravine of Bareith.

F. Bertier repulfed his attacks with fpirit in the Journals of Trevoux. The Poet then changed his battery, and, inftead of ferious complaints, he produced a thoufand jokes. The firft was his account of the illness, confeflion, death and apparition of Jefuit Bertier, with a relation of the voyage of Brother Garage, &c. M. de Voltaire wreaked his refentment on all the Jefuits.

In 1759, the Abbe Guyan published the Oracle of the new Philofophers; which is a collection of convertations in which M. de Voltaire thews himfelf an enemy to all religions, all governments, and almost all men of learning. To draw him in this point of view, the Abbe had no other trouble than that of collecting the principal paffages of his works. This blow was the more fenfibly felt, as he hims felf furni@ted the weapons for his defeat; every kind of abufe, therefore, was thrown upon the Abbe.

One of the writers of the Journal Chretien, M. Dinouard, inferted in that Journal a letter containing the analyfis of the Hiftorical Ejays of Paris, by M. de St. Foix. He there charged that author with attacking religion in his Effays, and with endeavouring to make its minifters ridicu

lous,

58

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of M. de Voltaire.

Jous. M. de St. Foix fummoned M.
Dinouard to the Châtelet, and gave in
a memoral in defence of his book, in
which he diftinctly answered every ob-
jection of the journalist, and concluded
by demanding a reparation. The au-
thors of the journal did not wait for
the fentence of the Châtelet: they
printed a tract with which M. de St.
Foix was well fatisfied. M. de Vol-
taire took this opportunity roughly to
attack the journalists, and especially
the Abbe Troublet, formerly his
friend. This writer, however, had
ho fhare in the criticifin on the work of
M. de St, Foix, his countryman; but
he was related to Maupertuis; he had
faid in his Effays, that the "Henriade

made fome men of learning yawn." Nothing more was neceffary to ftir the filth in M. de Voltaire's Romach, which gave vent to a thousand infolent witticifms, which only hurt himself.

The Abbe Troublet, when he was received into the French Academy, in 1761, fent his difcourfe of reception to his enemy; and this generous proceeding a little foftened the illuftrious Choleric of Ferney,

In 1762, there was published for Fez, at Avignon, under the title of Paris, a work entitled The Errors of Voltaire, both in tenets and hiftory. This compilation, made with judgment, the more displeased the criticited author, as his cenfor expofed his faults with great moderation. In order to difcredit the work, M. de Voltaire inferted in the Journal Encyclopedique a letter, in which he pretended that the Sieur Fez had offered to fell him all the copies of the work for a thousand crowns. This propofal, as may well be fuppofed, was a chimera; M. de Voltaire, who is not familiarifed to truth, again repeated this falfehood, in the remarks which he annexed to his Univerfal Hiftory, edition of 1763. Nothing can exceed the paffion and acrimony which his obfervations breathe.

John Francis Corneille, the only male now in being of that name, is the fon of a coulin-german of the His father famous Peter Corneille.

having left him nothing but an illuftri-
cus name, he came to Paris in order to
change his difrefsful fituation. On
March 10, 1760, the French Come-
dians acted Rodogune for his benefit.
This reprefentation produced him 5000
livres, of which he fet apart a fum fuf-
ficient to give his daughter, aged feven-

teen, an education becoming her birth, and ha py difpofitions. M. le Brun, fecretary to the governments of the Prince of Conti, wrote to M. de Voltaire, in favour of this great niece of Corneille, and received the following answer. If the life of the author of the Henriade abounded with fuch incidents, the excellence of his heart would be deemed equal to the brilliancy of his wit,

"M. de Voltaire to M. de Brun.

"Caffle of Ferney, Nov. 5, 1760. "I fhould make you wait for my anfwer, Sir, four months at least, if I pretended to give it in as fine verses as yours. I must be contented to tell you in profe, how much I am charmed with your ode and your propofal. It is highly proper that an old foldier of the great Corneille should endeavour to be useful to the grand daughter of his general.

"When a man builds caftles and churches, and has poor relations to maintain, there scarce remains fufficient to do what he would for a perion who ought not to be affifted but by the greatest men in the kingdom.

"I am old, I have a niece who is fond of all the arts, and fucceeds in fome; if the perfon whom you mention, whom without doubt you know, will accept from my niece the genteeleft. education, the will undertake the care of her as of her daughter: I will endeavour to be to her a father: her own fhall be st no manner of expence for her. Her journey fhall be defrayed to Lyons; the fhall be configned at Lyons to M. Tronchin, who will furnish her with a carriage to my cattle, or rather a female fhall go and fetch her in my equipage. If that be agreeable, I am at her command, and hope to have reafon to thank you to the last day of my life, for having procured me the honour of doing what-M. de Fontenelle ought to have done. One part of the education of this young lady will be to fee, and fometimes play fome pieces of her grandfather's, and we will make her embroider the tubj.cts of Cinna and the Cid.

"I have the honour to be, with all the efleem and all the fentiments which are due to you, Sir, &c.

VOLTAIRE."

M. de Voltaire was not contented with affording a retreat to the great niece of Corneille; he married her ad

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Memoirs of the Life and Writings of M. de Voltaire.

vantageoufly to M. Dupuis, a captain

of horse, and gave up to her the pro fits of the new edition of her uncle's works, which he published in 1764, in 12 vols. 8vo. with fine engravings. To the text of the tragedies and comedies, the editor added, 1. An histo, rical and critical commentary on most of those pieces, and fome reflections on those which are no longer acted; 2. A tranflation of Heraclius from the Spanish, with notes at the bottom of each page; 3. A literal tranflation, in verfe, of the Julius Cæfar of Shakefpear; 4. A commentary on the Berenice of Racine, compared with that of Corneille; 5. Another commentary on the tragedies of Ariana and the Earl of Flex of Thomas Corneille, which are still stock plays; 6. Several tracts on the dramatic pieces of Peter Corneille, never before printed.

This

beautiful edition of the French Sophocles, by the modern Euripides, was publifhed by fubfcription. This work was patronifed by all the nobility of France, and by many in Germany, England, &c. It confifted of 12 vols. 8vo. with thirty prints; the price two louis d'ors, or guineas.

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In 1763, the Bishop of Puy published, in 4to. A Paftoral Charge on the pretended Philofophy of modern Unbelievers. The errors of M. de Voltaire were there expofed with fpirit. This cenfure was very fenfibly felt by the author of the Pbilofophical Dictionary. In return, he published his Paftoral Charge of the Bishop of Aletopolis, which we here infert as a model of low wit. About the fame time appeared the Letter from a Quaker to M. de Pempignan, in which the author kept no bounds.

A Pafloral Charge of the bumble Bishop of Aletapolis, occafioned by the Pafioral Charge of John George, the humble Bifbop of Puy.

"My Dear Brethren, "My brother John George de Puy has thought proper to instruct you in a large volume. You know that truth is at the bottom of a well t; but you do not yet know whether John George has drawn it out. You at firft exclaimed on feeing the arms of John George engraved at the head of his work. This escutcheon represents a 'mounted on a quadruped; you are in doubt, whether that animal be the fup

man

A vile pun, puits being French for will.

59

porter of Balaam, or that of the Knight whom Cervantes has celebrated. The one was a prophet, and the other a redreffer of wrongs; you are igno rant which of thefe two is the patron of my dear brother. You are amazed that his humility fhould not prevent him from ftyling himself my Lord; but he was not afraid that his virtue fhould belie itfelf in his heart, by that proud title. The fathers of the church did not place thefe enfigns of vanity at the head of their works; we do not even fee that the gofpels were written by my Lord Matthew and my Lord Luke. But withal, confider, my dear brethren, that the words of my Lord John George are not the words of the gospel.

"He takes care to inform us, that he is alfo ftiled Pompignan; at that great name, we have feen the fevereft brows unbend, and joy diffused over every face, till the moment when the reading of the first pages made a total change in all phylognomies, and plunged their minds in a sweet repose. And an enquiry foon was made in the little town of Puy, whether it were true that my Lord was an author at Paris, and it was enquired at Paris whether that prelate had printed a work at Puy.

"All our brethren, I confefs, think it wrong, that he should thus prostitute the dignity of the facred miniftry; that, under the pretence of giving a charge in a small diocefe, he fhould in fact print a book which was not made for that diocele, and that he should affect to talk of Newton and Locke to the inhabitants of Puy, in Velay. At this we are the more forprifed, as the works of thofe Englishmen are not more known to the inhabitants of Velay, than they are to my Lord. In fhort, we maintain, that, next to mortal fin, that which a Bishop ought most to avoid is ridicule.

"As our diocefe is extremely diftant from his, we make ufe, after his example, of the prefs, in order to give him a brotherly correction, which all good chriftians owe to one another; a duty which they have faithfully discharged at all times.

"It is not that we would conteft with John George his epifcopal pretenfions to wit; it is not from our want of esteem for his ardent zeal, which, through the fear of omitting things uleful, generously difplays itfelf on things which are not fo. We allow

60

The Grievances of the Americans fairly reprefented.

his abundent eloquence, which is never fmothered under his ideas; we admire his chriftian charity, which divines the moft fecret fentiments of all his contemporaries, and which mifreprefents them, left their fentiments fhould poifon the age.

"But, in doing juftice to all the great talents of John George, we hudder, my dear brethren, at his having made a blunder in his pafloral charge, which many of the malicious among you fay is neither like a fcholar nor a paftor. This blunder confits in Booking on the greateft geniufes as unbelievers: he ranks in this clafs Montaigne, Charon, Fontenelle, and all the authors of our days, without mehtioning the Prayer of a Deifi, by his elder brother, whom God forgive.

"To write against a whole age is an enterprize rather too hardy; and perhaps it is not having a zeal according to knowledge, to say, “My brethren,

all men of wit and learning think differently from me, they all laugh ." at me; believe, therefore, all that I "am going to tell you." This retort does not feem very artful.

"It is alfo faid, that there is, in the quarto of my brother John George, a Jong chapter against toleration, in fpite of the word of Jefus Chrift, and the Apostles, who command us to bear with one another, I exhort you, my brethren, according to that word, to bear with John George. You may fay, if you pleafe, that his book cannot be borne; that is not a reafon for breaking the bonds of charity. If you think his work too big, let me tell you, for your comfort, that my binder has promifed me, that it will be very flat when it has been beaten.

"We remain, therefore, in union with John George, and even with John James*, though we think differently from them in fome points. What comforts us is, our being affured on all fides, that the work of our brother of Puy is like the ark of the Lord; it is holy, it is expofed to the public, and no one dare look into it.

"Good night, my brethren.

The humble Bishop of Aletopolis."
[To be continued.]

Mr. URBAN,
THE following letter addreffed to the

Earl of DARTMOUTH, and writ ten with great good fente and candour, represents the grievances of the people of New-England in a very friking Rouleau.

:

light even the enemies of the colonies must be at a loss to defend the treachery of their governors; for no man can be a friend to liberty, who wishes to introduce arbitrary government into any part of his Majefty's dominions. Your giving it a place in your collection will oblige F. N.

My LORD, THE report to be made upon the petition from the House of Reprefentatives of the Maffachusets bay, against their governors, will have fo decifive an influence on the people of that province, that I feel myself compelled to address your Lordship on the fubject.

A difcovery is made, by letters under their own hands, that the Governor and Lieut. Governor had been fecretly labouring to fubvert the chartered rights of the colony, to fubject the people to arbitrary government, and to fubdue them by military force. It appeared, that, to accomplish these ends, they had painted the proceedings of the people in the moft falfe and odious. colours; forging falfhoods where mifrepresention would not fuffice.

All this was conducted under the cloak of fecret and confidential correfpondence, that the mischief might come upon them unforeseen, the causes unknown, and the authors undifcovered. The people were to be the victims of a fecret information-they were to be condemned without being heard, and punished with the heaviest of all calamities, the lofs of their rights and liberties, without being apprifed of the accufation, or a poffibility of defence,

The perfons who planned and executed this atrocious, and (for upon principle it cannot be deemed lefs) this treasonable conspiracy against the conftitution, ftipulated their expectations of reward.

It was natural that this discovery fhould exafperate the people to an extreme. They faw, in the persons of those who were thus planning their destruction, men bound to them by all the ties of fellow-citizens, and the obligations of gratitude; men who had been long cherished, trufted and honoured among them, and who had always profeiled the most zealous attachment, which virtue and gratitude could inspire, to their rights and in1erefts. This was more especially the cafe of their chief governor, who was, at that very time, practising every at

The Grievances of the Americans fairly reprefented.

to fix. in the minds of the people an exalted opinion of his warmest affection for them, and of his unremitting endeavours to promote their best interefts at the court of Great Britain. They faw, befides, in the mode of this attempt against them, fomething pecu. liarly malignant. The ministry were fufficiently difpofed to adopt every leverity against them. Governor Bernard and the commiffioners were fufficient to keep up their prejudices and paffions. To poifon the minds of thofe in oppofition, and by that means to deprive the people of every benefit, either from the efforts of that oppofition, or from a change of adminiftration, was the diabolical plan of Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver.

Had the popular indignation been followed by the most immediate and tragical confequences, no one could have been furprised. Happily, however, the very men, whom the governors had afperfed as the fowers of fedition and promoters of outrage, prevailed upon them to tuft to his Mjefty's juftice for redrefs. For this purpofe, the House of Reprefentatives have, in humble petition, implored his Majesty's intervention to remove these men, because they have lost all tuft and confidence with the people. It is this prayer to which you are now to advise an answer.

It is well worth confidering, my Lord, what will be the confequence of an ungracious, irritating anfwer. For fome years paft the people of America, and thofe of Bofton in particular, have been abused, mifreprefented, and oppreffed, beyond the example of the woft of times. They have feen, for a feries of years, every reprefentation against them received, every application for them rejected. When the authors of the fecret informations, which tended to bring upon them the displeasure of their fovereign, the refentment of parliament, and to fubvert their liberties, were providentially dif covered, and their reprefentations proved falfe and wicked; the confequence has invariably been the encouragement and reward of thofe fo detected. The dif covery of Governor Bernard's falfe and malignant letters, with the frauds he committed in his office, ferved only to make him a Baronet, with what is equivalent to an enormous penfion. Mr. Oliver was charged, upon the oaths of feveral of his Majefty's Council, and by their unanimous refolution,

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with a most dangerous breach of trust, in having forged minutes of their board, and authenticated them on oath, for the purpose of justifying a maffacre committed by a licentious foldiery, and to throw the blame of it upon the people. What was the confequence? Not punishment, but promotion. The people faw, with aftonishment and horror, this very man, thus ftigmatized, immediately promoted to be their Lieutenant Governor.

These are facts, my Lord, of public notoriety; facts which, fpeaking to ftones, would make them capable of impreffion. Rewards have followed crimes as conftantly as light the fun. Promotion and emolument in America, have been exactly proportioned to men's perfidy to the people, and their avowed enmity to their immediate country. No people can be fo dull as not to feel thefe injuries-no people can be fo pufillanimous as not to refent them. Reiterated oppreffions, detections, complaints, and disappointments, have worked up men's minds to the highest pitch of refentment and despair. The meafure is now full-one drop more may make the waters of bitterness overflow, to the deftruction of the moft valuable commerce of this country, and the irreparable injury of the whole dominion.

The people of the Maffachufets bay have asked humbly, and waited patiently, for juftice against Mr. Hutchinfon and Mr. Oliver. That the tax was artfully thrown in to irritate and incenfe them to violence was not their fault; infamous, inimical, and odious, as the Governors have rendered themselves, they have been fuffered to fleep in fecurity. A confidence in his Majesty's juftice, a hope that the eyes of his minifters would be at length opened, have fufpended their refentiment. In my opinion, my Lord, this is the last effort of expectation

and endurance.

I have not yet heard a denial or publication of the letters upon which their petition is founded; but it has been faid, that the letters cannot be admitted as evidence, unless the manner in which they were obtained be declared. This rule of evidence is of the first impreffion, and as rational as it is new. We ought at least to be told in what book of evidence it is to be found; in what court, in what cafe it was ever urged or adınitted. The North Britons have kindly undertaken

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