AND WORKS ***




Produced by David Widger.




               *VOLTAIRE: A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS*

                  _WITH SELECTIONS FROM HIS WRITINGS_

                                  _By_

                     *J. M. Wheeler & G. W. Foote.*


                                _London_

                                 _1891_




CONTENTS


    INTRODUCTION
    PREFACE
    EARLY LIFE
    HEGIRA TO ENGLAND
    EXAMPLES FROM ENGLAND
    AT CIREY
    "CANDIDE"
    THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
    LAST DAYS
    HIS CHARACTER AND SERVICES
    TRIBUTES TO VOLTAIRE
    SELECTIONS FROM VOLTAIRE'S WORKS
    History
    Wars
    Politics
    The Population Question
    Nature's Way
    Prayer
    Doubt and Speculation
    Dr. Pangloss and the Dervish
    Motives for Conduct
    Self-Love
    Go From Your Village
    Religious Prejudices
    Sacred History
    Dupe And Rogue
    "Delenda Est Carthago"
    Jesus and Mohammed
    How Faiths Spread
    Superstition
    The Bible
    Transubstantiation
    Dreams and Ghosts
    Mortifying the Flesh
    Heaven
    Magic
    DETACHED THOUGHTS




INTRODUCTION


My share in this little book on Voltaire is a very minor one. My old
friend and colleague, Mr. J. M. Wheeler, had written the greater part of
the following pages before he brought the enterprise to my attention. I
went through his copy with him, and assisted him in making some
alterations and additions. I also read the printer's proofs, and
suggested some further improvements--if I may call them so without
egotism. This is all I have done. The credit for all the rest belongs to
him. My name is placed on the title-page for two reasons. The first is,
that I may now, as on other occasions, be associated with a dear friend
and colleague in this tribute to Voltaire. The second is, that whatever
influence I possess may be used in helping this volume to the
circulation it deserves.

  G. W. FOOTE.

November, 1891




PREFACE


He would be a bold person who should attempt to say something entirely
new on Voltaire. His life has often been written, and many are the
disquisitions on his character and influence. This little book, which at
the bicentenary of his birth I offer as a Freethinker's tribute to the
memory of the great liberator, has no other pretension than that of
being a compilation seeking to display in brief compass something of the
man's work and influence. But it has its own point of view. It is as a
Freethinker, a reformer, and an apostle of reason and universal
toleration that I esteem Voltaire, and I have considered him mainly
under this aspect. For the sketch of the salient points of his career I
am indebted to many sources, including Condorcet, Duvernet,
Desnoisterres, Parton, Espinasse, Collins, and Saintsbury, to whom the
reader, desirous of fuller information, is referred. Mr. John Morley's
able work and Col. Hamley's sketch may also be recommended.

That we are this year celebrating the bicentenary of Voltaire's birth
should remind us of how far our age has advanced from his, and also of
how much we owe to our predecessors. The spread of democracy and the
advance of science which distinguish our time both owe very-much to the
brilliant iconoclasts of the last century, of whom Voltaire was the
chief. In judging the work of the laughing sage of France we must
remember that in his day the feudal laws still obtained in France, and a
man might be clapped in prison for life without any trial. The poor were
held to be born into the world for the service of the rich, and it was
their duty to be subject to their masters, not only to the good and
gentle, but also to the froward. Justice was as easily bought as jewels.
The Church was omnipotent and freethought a crime. If Voltaire's
influence is no longer what it was, it is because he has altered that.
We can no longer keenly feel the evils against which he contended. His
work is, however, by no means fully accomplished. While any remnant of
superstition, intolerance, and oppression remains, his unremitting
warfare against _l'