LIVES

or

EMINENT

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

VOLTAIRE.

1694 — 1778 .

It is impossible to commence the biography of thisextraordinary man without feelings of apprehensionas to our power of well executing the task. To writethe life of Voltaire in a full and satisfactory manner, isto write not only the biography of an individual author,and the history of French literature during the courseof nearly a century, but also of a revolution in theminds of men, in their opinions and rules of action,which, if not brought about entirely by him, was fos-tered and supported by his influence, in a manner themost singular and powerful. We are apt, as we readhis letters, to laugh at the petulance which he evincedwhen attacked, and to reprove the vehemence withwhich he attacked others in return. But when weconsider that an absolute monarch and a powerful hier-archy supported opinions which he and his friendsstruggled to subvert, we feel that it required all hisdogmatic spirit, all his bitterness of sarcasm andvehemence of temper, to combat opposition, and to sup-port both his own courage and that of his followers, inhis attempt.

VOL. II.

B