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slow undermining of years, all human hope does fadeand decay, as life proceeds to its close ; so Voltaire ,now nearly seventy years of age, might, on lookingback, consider'disappointment and sorrow as the markof humanity; and, by showing these ills to be in-evitable, inculcate a philosophical indifference. Still thetone of “ Candide ” is not moral, and, like all Voltaire ’slighter productions, is stamped with a coarseness whichrenders it unfit for general perusal. In addition tothese minor productions, Voltaire laboured at the cor-rection and enlargement of his historical work on the“Manners and Spirit of Nations,” — one of the great-est monuments which his genius achieved.
While Voltaire was at Berlin, d’Alembert and. Di-derot had set on foot the project of the “ Encyclopedie .”Their plan was, to write a book which would becomeindispensable to every library, from its containing themost recent discoveries in philosophy, and the best ex-planations and details on every topic, and this mingledwith an anti-catholic spirit, that would serve to sap thefoundations of the national religion. Voltaire contri-buted but few, and those merely literary, articles tothis work —. whose progress, however, he regarded withlively interest.
The outcry against the “ Encyclopedie ” was of courseprodigious ; every one who did not belong to the partyformed by the lovers of innovation rose against it. Par-liament and clergy pronounced its condemnation, andsucceeded so far in suppressing it, that the editors wereobliged to continue it clandestinely. They, however, didnot submit without a struggle : a literary war was de-clared, which raged furiously. Voltaire was consideredat the head of the liberal party, and he gave his mightyaid to turn the opposers of his opinions into ridicule.One after the other, they sank under the shafts of hiswit, and were forced to take shelter in retirement fromthe ridicule with which his epigrams had covered them.Voltaire considered his thus abetting his friends asacred duty. “ I belong to a party,” he wrote, “ and