Diderot and the Encyclopaedists Volume I Part 16

[Footnote 173: I have no s.p.a.ce to quote an interesting page in this article on the characteristics and the varying destinies of genius. "We must rank in this cla.s.s Pindar, aeschylus, Moses, Jesus Christ, Mahomet, Shakespeare, Roger Bacon, and Paracelsus." xvii. 265-267.]

[Footnote 174: The same idea is found still more ardently expressed in one of his letters to Mdlle. de Voland (Oct. 15, 1759, xviii. 408), where he defends the eagerness of those who have loved one another during life, to be placed side by side after death.]

[Footnote 175: xiv. 32.]

[Footnote 176: _S.v._ Sarrasins, xvii. 82. See also xviii. 429, for Diderot's admiration of Sadi.]

[Footnote 177: _S.v. Pyrrhonienne_.]

[Footnote 178: _E.g._ in the article on _Plaisir_, xvi. p. 298.]

[Footnote 179: To Damilaville, 1766, xix. 477.]

[Footnote 180: xx. 34.]

[Footnote 181: xvi. 280.]

[Footnote 182: See also article _Independance_.]

[Footnote 183: iv. 93.]

[Footnote 184: The reader will find abundant information and criticism upon the Wolffian Philosophy in Professor Edward Caird's _Critical Account of the Philosophy of Kant_, recently published at Glasgow.]

[Footnote 185: xvi. 491, 492.]

[Footnote 186: There are casual criticisms on Spinosa in the articles on _Ident.i.ty_ and _Liberty_.]

[Footnote 187: xv. 501.]

[Footnote 188: xix. 435, 436.]

[Footnote 189: See below, vol. ii.]

[Footnote 190: S.v. _Luxe_, xvi. 23.]

[Footnote 191: As an ill.u.s.tration how much these ideas were in the air, the reader may refer to a pa.s.sage in Sedaine's popular comedy, _The Philosopher without knowing it_ (1765), Act II. sc. 4. Vanderk, among other things, says of the merchant: "Ce n'est pas un temple, ce n'est pas une seule nation qu'il sert; il les sert toutes, et en est servi: c'est l'homme de l'univers. Quelques particuliers audacieux font armer les rois, la guerre s'allume, tout s'embrase, l'Europe est divisee: mais ce negociant anglais, hollandais, russe ou chinois, n'en est pas moins l'ami de mon coeur: nous sommes sur la superficie de la terre autant de fils de soie qui lient ensemble les nations, et les ramenent a la paix par la necessite du commerce; voila, mon fils, ce que c'est qu'un honnete negociant."]

[Footnote 192: The younger sister of Diderot's Sophie.]

[Footnote 193: xviii. 454.]

[Footnote 194: See below, the chapter on _Rameau's Nephew_.]

[Footnote 195: Nov. 10, 1770; xix. 22.]

[Footnote 196: See, for instance, xix. 81, 91, 129, 133, 145, etc.--pa.s.sages which Mr. Carlyle and Rosenkranz have either overlooked, or else, without any good reason, disbelieved.]

[Footnote 197: xviii. 293.]

[Footnote 198: xix. 46.]

[Footnote 199: xix. 84. See also 326.]

[Footnote 200: xix. 137, 341, etc.]

[Footnote 201: xviii. 535.]

[Footnote 202: xviii. 507, etc.]

[Footnote 203: xviii. 526, 531.]

[Footnote 204: Nov. 2, 1759; xviii. 431.]

[Footnote 205: xix. 82.]

[Footnote 206: xix. 139.]

[Footnote 207: xix. 107.]

[Footnote 208: xix. 181.]

[Footnote 209: xix. 81.]

[Footnote 210: xix. 149.]

[Footnote 211: xix. 90.]

[Footnote 212: xix. 163, 164.]

[Footnote 213: Sept. 20, 1765; xix. 179-187.]

[Footnote 214: xviii. 476, 478.]

[Footnote 215: xviii. 479. Comte writes more seriously somewhat in the same sense: "For thirty centuries the priestly castes of China, and still more of India, have been watching our Western transition; to them it must appear mere agitation, as puerile as it is tempestuous, with nothing to harmonise its different phases but their common inroad upon unity." _Positive Polity_, iv. 11 (English Translation)]

[Footnote 216: xix. 233.]

[Footnote 217: Voltaire's Satire on the Economists.]

[Footnote 218: Oct. 8, 1768; xix. 832.]

[Footnote 219: xviii. 509.]

[Footnote 220: xviii. 513.]

[Footnote 221: xviii. 511-513.]

[Footnote 222: xix. 244.]