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diff --git a/5621-8.txt b/5621-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..65f58e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/5621-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4542 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Baron d'Holbach, by Max Pearson Cushing + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Baron d'Holbach + A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France + +Author: Max Pearson Cushing + +Posting Date: March 18, 2009 [EBook #5621] +Release Date: May, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARON D'HOLBACH *** + + + + +Produced by David Ross and Richard Farris + + + + + + + + +BARON D'HOLBACH + +A Study of Eighteenth Century Radicalism in France + + + +By Max Pearson Cushing + + + + + Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements + for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in + the Faculty of Political Science, + Columbia University + + New York + + 1914 + + + Press of + The New Era Printing Company + Lancaster, PA + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + Introduction. + + CHAPTER I. HOLBACH THE MAN. + + Early Letters to John Wilkes. + + Holbach's family. + + Relations with Diderot, Rousseau, Hume, Garrick + and other important persons of the century. + + Estimate of Holbach. His character and personality. + + + CHAPTER II. HOLBACH'S WORKS. + + Miscellaneous Works. + + Translations of German Scientific Works. + + Translations of English Deistical Writers. + + Boulanger's _Antiquité dévoilée_. + + Original Works: _Le Christianisme devoilé_. + _Théologie portative_. + _La Contagion sacrée_. + _Essai sur les préjugés_. + _Le bons-sens_. + + + CHAPTER III. THE _Système de la Nature_ AND ITS PHILOSOPHY. + + Voltaire's correspondence on the subject. + + Goethe's sentiment. + + Refutations and criticisms. + + Holbach's philosophy. + + + APPENDIX. HOLBACH'S CORRESPONDENCE. + + Five unpublished letters to John Wilkes. + + + [ENDNOTES] + + + BIBLIOGRAPHY. + + Part I. Editions of Holbach's works in Chronological Order. + + Part II. General Bibliography. + + + + + +BARON D'HOLBACH + + + A une extréme justesse d'esprit il joignait une simplicité + de moeurs tout-à-fait antique et patriarcale. + + J. A. Naigeon, _Journal de Paris_, le 9 fev. 1789 + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Diderot, writing to the Princess Dashkoff in 1771, thus analysed the +spirit of his century: + +Chaque siècle a son esprit qui le caractérise. L'esprit du nôtre semble +être celui de la liberté. La première attaque contre la superstition a +été violente, sans mesure. Une fois que les hommes ont osé d'une manière +quelconque donner l'assaut à la barrière de la religion, cette barrière +la plus formidable qui existe comme la plus respectée, il est impossible +de s'arrêter. Dès qu'ils ont tourné des regards menaçants contre la +majesté du ciel, ils ne manqueront pas le moment d'après de les diriger +contre la souveraineté de la terre. Le câble qui tient et comprime +l'humanité est formé de deux cordes, l'une ne peut céder sans que +l'autre vienne à rompre. [Endnote 1:1] + +The following study proposes to deal with this attack on religion that +preceded and helped to prepare the French Revolution. Similar phenomena +are by no means rare in the annals of history; eighteenth-century +atheism, however, is of especial interest, standing as it does at the +end of a long period of theological and ecclesiastical disintegration +and prophesying a reconstruction of society on a purely rational and +naturalistic basis. The anti-theistic movement has been so obscured by +the less thoroughgoing tendency of deism and by subsequent romanticism +that the real issue in the eighteenth century has been largely lost from +view. Hence it has seemed fit to center this study about the man who +stated the situation with the most unmistakable and uncompromising +clearness, and who still occupies a unique though obscure position in +the history of thought. + +Holbach has been very much neglected by writers on the eighteenth +century. He has no biographer. M. Walferdin wrote (in an edition of +Diderot's Works, Paris, 1821, Vol. XII p. 115): "Nous nous occupons +depuis longtemps à rassembler les matériaux qui doivent servir à venger +la mémoire du philosophe de la patrie de Leibnitz, et dans l'ouvrage +que nous nous proposons de publier sous le titre "D'Holbach jugé par +ses contemporains" nous espérons faire justement apprécier ce savant +si estimable par la profondeur et la variété de ses connaissances, si +précieux à sa famille et à ses amis par la pureté et la simplicité +de ses moeurs, en qui la vertu était devenue une habitude et la +bienfaisance un besoin." This work has never appeared and M. Tourneux +thinks that nothing of it was found among M. Walferdin's papers. [2:2] +In 1834 Mr. James Watson published in an English translation of the +_Système de la Nature_, _A Short Sketch of the Life and the Writings +of Baron d'Holbach_ by Mr. Julian Hibbert, compiled especially for +that edition from Saint Saurin's article in Michaud's _Biographie +Universelle_ (Paris, 1817, Vol. XX, pp. 460-467), from Barbier's _Dict. +des ouvrages anonymes_ (Paris, 1822) and from the preface to the Paris +edition of the _Système de la Nature_ (4 vols., 18mo, 1821). This sketch +was later published separately (London, 1834, 12mo, pp. 14) but on +account of the author's sudden death it was left unfinished and is of no +value from the point of view of scholarship. Another attempt to publish +something on Holbach was made by Dr. Anthony C. Middleton of Boston in +1857. In the preface to his translation to the _Lettres à Eugenia_ +he speaks of a "Biographical Memoir of Baron d'Holbach which I am +now preparing for the press." If ever published at all this _Memoir_ +probably came to light in the _Boston Investigator_, a free-thinking +magazine published by Josiah P. Mendum, 45 Cornhill, Boston, but it is +not to be found. Mention should also be made of the fact that M. Assézat +intended to include in a proposed study of Diderot and the philosophical +movement, a chapter to be devoted to Holbach and his society; but this +work has never appeared. [3:3] + +Of the two works bearing Holbach's name as a title, one is a piece of +libellous fiction by Mme. de Genlis, _Les Diners du baron d'Holbach_ +(Paris, 1822, 8vo), the other a romance pure and simple by F. T. Claudon +(Paris, 1835, 2 vols., 8vo) called _Le Baron d'Holbach_, the events of +which take place largely at his house and in which he plays the rôle +of a minor character. A good account of Holbach, though short and +incidental, is to be found in M. Avézac-Lavigne's _Diderot et la Société +du Baron d'Holbach_ (Paris, 1875, 8vo), and M. Armand Gasté has a little +book entitled _Diderot et le cure de Montchauvet, une Mystification +littéraire chez le Baron d'Holbach_ (Paris, 1895, 16vo). There are +several works which devote a chapter or section to Holbach. [3:4] The +French critics and the histories of philosophy contain slight notices; +Rosenkranz's "Diderot's Leben" devotes a chapter to Granval, Holbach's +country seat, and life there as described by Diderot in his letters to +Mlle. Volland; and he is included in such histories of ideas as +Soury, J., "Bréviaire de l'histoire de Matérialisme" (Paris, 1881) +and Delvaille, J., _Essai sur l'histoire de l'idée de progrès_ +(Paris, 1910); but nowhere else is there anything more than the merest +encyclopedic account, often defective and incorrect. + +The sources are in a sense full and reliable for certain phases of his +life and literary activity. His own publications, numbering about fifty, +form the most important body of source material for the history and +development of his ideas. Next in importance are contemporary memoirs +and letters including those of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Grimm, +Morellet, Marmontel, Mme. d'Epinay, Naigeon, Garat, Galiani, Hume, +Garrick, Wilkes, Romilly and others; and scattered letters by Holbach +himself, largely to his English friends. In addition there is a large +body of contemporary hostile criticism of his books, by Voltaire, +Frederick II, Castillon, Holland, La Harpe, Delisle de Sales and a host +of outraged ecclesiastics, so that one is well informed in regard to the +scandal that his books caused at the time. Out of these materials +and other scattered documents and notices it is possible to +reconstruct--though somewhat defectively--the figure of a man who played +an important rôle in his own day; but whose name has long since lost its +significance--even in the ears of scholars. It is at the suggestion of +Professor James Harvey Robinson that this reconstruction has been made. +If it shall prove of any interest or value he must be credited with the +initiation of the idea as well as constant aid in its realization. For +rendering possible the necessary investigations, recognition is due +to the administration and officers of the Bibliothèque Nationale, the +British Museum, the Library of Congress, the Libraries of Columbia and +Harvard Universities, Union and Andover Theological Seminaries, and the +Public Libraries of Boston and New York. + + +M. P. C. + +NEW YORK CITY, + +July, 1914. + + + + +CHAPTER I. HOLBACH, THE MAN. + + +Paul Heinrich Dietrich, or as he is better known, Paul-Henri Thiry, +baron d'Holbach, was born in January, 1723, in the little village of +Heidelsheim (N.W. of Carlsruhe) in the Palatinate. Of his parentage and +youth nothing is known except that his father, a rich parvenu, according +to Rousseau, [5:5] brought him to Paris at the age of twelve, where he +received the greater part of his education. His father died when Holbach +was still a young man. It may be doubted if young Holbach inherited +his title and estates immediately as there was an uncle "Messire +Francois-Adam, Baron d'Holbach, Seigneur de Héeze, Léende et autres +Lieux" who lived in the rue Neuve S. Augustin and died in 1753. His +funeral was held at Saint-Roch, his parish church, Thursday, September +16th, where he was afterward entombed. [5:6] Holbach was a student in +the University of Leyden in 1746 and spent a good deal of time at his +uncle's estate at Héeze, a little town in the province of North Brabant +(S.E. of Eindhoven). He also traveled and studied in Germany. There are +two manuscript letters in the British Museum (Folio 30867, pp. 14, 18, +20) addressed by Holbach to John Wilkes, which throw some light on his +school-days. It is interesting to note that most of Holbach's friends +were young Englishmen of whom there were some twenty-five at the +University of Leyden at that time. [6:7] Already at the age of +twenty-three Holbach was writing very good English, and all his life he +was a friend of Englishmen and English ideas. His friendship for Wilkes, +then a lad of nineteen, lasted all his life and increased in intimacy +and dignity. The two letters following are of interest because they +are the only documents we have bearing on Holbach's early manhood. They +reveal a certain sympathy and feeling--rather gushing to be sure--quite +unlike anything in his later writings, and quite out of line with the +supposedly cold temper of a materialist and an atheist. + +[Footnote: These letters, contrary to modern usage, are printed with all +the peculiarities of eighteenth century orthography. It was felt +that they would lose their quaintness and charm if Holbach's somewhat +fantastic English were trifled with or his spelling, capitalization and +punctuation modernized.] + + +HOLBACH TO WILKES + +HÉEZE Aug. 9, 1746 + +_Dearest Friend_ + +I should not have felt by half enough the pleasure your kind letter gave +me, If I had words to express it; I never doubted of your friendship, +nor I hope do you know me so little as to doubt of mine, but your letter +is full of such favorable sentiments to me that I must own I cannot +repay them but by renewing to you the entire gift of my heart that has +been yours ever since heaven favour'd me with your acquaintance. I need +not tell you the sorrow our parting gave me, in vain Philosophy cried +aloud nature was still stronger and the philosopher was forced to yield +to the friend, even now I feel the wound is not cur'd. Therefore no more +of that--_Hope_ is my motto. Telling me you are happy you make me so +but in the middle of your happiness you dont forget your friend, What +flattering thought to me! Such are the charms of friendship every +event is shar'd and nothing nor even the greatest intervals are able to +interrupt the happy harmony of truly united minds. I left Leyden about 8 +or 10 days after you but before my departure I thought myself obliged to +let Mr Dowdenwell know what you told me, he has seen the two letters Mr +Johnson had received and I have been mediator of ye peace made betwixt +the 2 parties, I don't doubt but you have seen by this time Messrs Bland +& Weatherill who were to set out for Engelland the same week I parted +with them. When I was leaving Leyden Mr Vernon happen'd to tell me he +had a great mind to make a trip to Spa. So my uncles' estate being on +ye road I desir'd him to come along with me, he has been here a week +and went on afterwards in his journey, at my arrival here, I found that +General Count Palfi with an infinite number of military attendants had +taken possession of my uncles' house, and that the 16 thousd men lately +come from Germany to strengthen the allies army, commanded by Count +Bathiani and that had left ye neighborhood of Breda a few days before +and was come to Falkenswert (where you have past in your journey to +Spa) one hour from hence. Prince Charles arrived here the same day from +Germany to take ye command of the allies, the next Day the whole army +amounting to 70thd men went on towards the county of Liège to prevent +the French from beseiging Namur, I hear now that the two armies are only +one hour from another, so we expect very soon the news of a great battle +but not without fear, Count Saxes army being, by all account of hundred +ten thoud. men besides. Prince Counti's army of 50 thd. this latter +General is now employ'd at the siege of Charleroy, that can't resist +a long while, it is a report that the King of France is arrived in +his army, I hope this long account will entertain you for want of news +papers: Mr. Dowdeswell being left alone of our club at Leyden I Desir'd +him to come and spend with me the time of his vacations here, which +proposal I hope he will accept and be here next week. What happy +triumvirat would be ours if you were to join: but that is impossible at +present; however those who cant enjoy reality are fond of feeding their +fancies with agreable Dreams and charming pictures; that helps a little +to sooth the sorrow of absence and makes one expect with more pati[ence] +till fortune allows him to put in execution the cherish'd systems he has +been fed upon fore some [time] I shall expect with great many thanks the +books you are to send me; it will be for me a dubble pleasure to read +them, being of your choice which I value as much as it deserves, and +looking at them as upon a new proof of your benevolence, as to those I +design'd to get from Paris for you, I heard I could not get them before +my uncles' return hither all commerce being stopt by the way betwixt +this country and France. + +A few days before my departure from Leyden I receiv'd a letter from +Mr Freeman from Berlin, he seams vastly pleas'd with our Germany, and +chiefly with Hambourg where a beautiful lady has taken in his heart the +room of poor Mss. Vitsiavius, my prophesy was just; traveling seems to +have alter'd a good deal his melancholy disposition as I may conjecture +by his way of writing. He desired his service to you. As to me, Idleness +renders me every day more philosopher every passion is languishing +within me, I retain but one in a warm degree, viz, friendship in +which you share no small part. I took a whim to study a little Physic +accordingly I purchased several books in that Way, and my empty hours +here are employ'd with them. I am sure your time will be much better +employ'd at Alesbury you'll find there a much nobler entertainment +Cupid is by far Lovlier than Esculapius, however I shall not envy your +happiness, in the Contrary I wish that all your desires be crown'd with +success, that a Passion that proves fatal to great many of men be void +of sorrow for you, that all the paths of love be spred over with flowers +in one Word that you may not address in vain to the charming Mss. M. I +am almost tempted to fall in love with that unknown beauty, 't would not +be quite like Don Quixotte for your liking to her would be for me a very +strong prejudice of her merit, which the poor Knight had not in his love +for Dulcinea. + +I shall not ask your pardon for the length of this letter I am sure +friendship will forgive the time I steal to Love however I cannot give +up so easily a conversation with a true friend with whom I fancy to +speak yet in one of those delightfull evening walks at Leyden. It is +a dream, I own it, but it is so agreable one to me that nothing but +reality could be compared to the pleasure I feel: let me therefore +insist a little more upon't and travel with my Letter, we are gone! I +think to be at Alesbury! there I see my Dear Wilkes! What a Flurry +of Panions! Joy! fear of a second parting! what charming tears! what +sincere Kisses!--but time flows and the end of this Love is now as +unwelcome to me, as would be to another to be awaken'd in the middle of +a Dream wherein he is going to enjoy a beloved mistress; the enchantment +ceases, the delightfull images vanish, and nothing is left to me but +friendship, which is of all my possessions the fairest, and the surest, +I am most sincerely Dear Wilkes + + Your affectionate friend and humble servant + DE HOLBACH +Heze the 9th august 1746 N. S. + +I shall expect with impatience the letter you are to write me from +Alesbury. Will it be here very soon! + + +HOLBACH TO WILKES [HÉEZE Dec. 3rd. 1746] + +_Dearest Wilkes_ + +During a little voyage I have made into Germany I have received your +charming letter of the 8th. September O. S. the many affairs I have been +busy with for these 3 months has hindered me hitherto from returning +to you as speedy an answer as I should have done. I know too much your +kindness for me to make any farther apology and I hope you are enough +acquainted with the sincerety of my friendship towards you to adscribe +my fault to forgetfulness or want of gratitude be sure, Dear friend, +that such a disposition will allways be unknown to me in regard to +you. I don't doubt but you will be by this time returned at London, +the winter season being an obstacle to the pleasures you have enjoyed +following ye Letter at Alesbury during the last Autumn. I must own I +have felt a good deal of pride when you gave me the kind assurance +that love has not made you forget an old friend, I need not tell you my +disposition. I hope you know it well enough and like my friendship for +you has no bounds I want expressions to show it. Mr Dowdeswell has been +so good as to let me enjoy his company here in the month of August, and +returned to Leyden to pursue his studies in the middle of September. +We often wished your company and made sincere libations to you with +burgundy and Champaigne I had a few weeks there after I set out for +Germany where I expected to spend the whole winter but the sudden death +of my Uncle's Steward has forced me to come back here to put in order +the affairs of this estate, I don't know how long I shall be obliged to +stay in the meanwhile I act pretty well the part of a County Squire, id +est, hunting, shooting, fishing, walking every day without to lay aside +the ever charming conversation of Horace Virgil Homer and all our noble +friends of the Elysian fields. They are allways faithfull to me, with +their aid I find very well how to employ my time, but I want in this +country a true bosom friend like my dear Wilkes to converse with, but my +pretenssions are too high, for every abode with such a company would be +heaven for me. + +I perceive by your last letter that your hopes are very like to succeed +by Mss Mead, you are sure that every happines that can befall to you +will make me vastly happy. I beseech you therefore to let me know +everytime how far you are gone, I take it to be a very good omen for +you, that your lovely mistress out of compliance has vouchsafed to learn +a harsh high-dutch name, which would otherwise have made her starttle, +at the very hearing of it. I am very thankful for her kind desire +of seeing me in Engelland which I dont wish the less but you know my +circumstances enough, to guess that I cannot follow my inclinations. I +have not heard hitherto anything about the books you have been so kind +as to send me over by the opportunity of a friend. I have wrote about it +to Msrs Conrad et Bouwer of Rotterdam, they answered that they were not +yet there. Nevertheless I am very much oblided to you for your kindness +and wish to find very soon the opportunity of my revenge. Mr Dowderswell +complains very much of Mrs Bland and Weatherill, having not heard of +them since their departure from Leyden. I desire my compliments to Mr +Dyer and all our old acquaintances. Pray be so good as to direct your +first letter under the covert of Mr Dowderwell at Ms Alliaume's at +Leyden he shall send it to me over immediately, no more at Mr Van +Sprang's like you used to do. I wish to know if Mr Lyson since his +return to his native country, continues in his peevish cross temper. If +you have any news besides I'll be glad to hear them by your next which I +expect very soon. + +About politicks I cannot tell you anything at present, you have heard +enough by this time the fatal battle fought near Liège in 8ber last; +everybody has little hopes of the Congress of Breda, the Austrian and +Piedmontese are entered into provence, which is not as difficult as to +maintain themselves therein, I wish a speedy peace would enable us both +to see the rejoicings that will attend the marriage of the Dauphin +of France with a Princess of Saxony. I have heard that peace is made +between England and Spain, which you ought to know better than I. We +fear very much for the next campaign the siege of Maestrich in our +neighborhood. These are all the news I know. I'll tell you another that +you have known a long while viz. that nobody is with more sincerity My +Dear Wilkes + + Your faithfull humble Servant and Friend + HOLBACH +Heeze the 3 d Xber 1746 ns + + +By 1750 Holbach was established in Paris as a young man of the world. +His fortune, his learning, his sociability attracted the younger +literary set toward him. In 1749 he was already holding his Thursday +dinners which later became so famous. Among his early friends were +Diderot, Rousseau and Grimm. With them he took the side of the Italian +_Opera buffa_ in the famous musical quarrel of 1752, and published +two witty brochures ridiculing French music. [12:9] He was an art +connoisseur and bought Oudry's _Chienne allaitant ses petits_, the _chef +d'oeuvre_ of the Salon of 1753. [12:10] During these years he was hard +at work at his chosen sciences of chemistry and mineralogy. In 1752 +he published in a huge volume in quarto with excellent plates, a +translation of Antonio Neri's _Art of Glass making_, and in 1753 a +translation of Wallerius' _Mineralogy_. On July 26, 1754, the Academy +of Berlin made him a foreign associate in recognition of his scholarly +attainments in Natural History, [12:11] and later he was elected to the +Academies of St. Petersburg and Mannheim. + +All that was now lacking to this brilliant young man was an attractive +wife to rule over his salon. His friends urged him to wed, and in 1753 +he married Mlle. Basile-Genevieve-Susanne d'Aine, daughter of "Maître +Marius-Jean-Baptiste Nicolas d'Aine, conseiller au Roi en son grand +conseil, associé externe de l'Acad. des sciences et belles letters de +Prusse." [12:12] M. d'Aine was also Maître des Requêtes and a man +of means. Mme. d'Holbach was a very charming and gracious woman and +Holbach's good fortune seemed complete when suddenly Mme. d'Holbach died +from a most loathsome and painful disease in the summer of 1754. Holbach +was heart-broken and took a trip through the provinces with his friend +Grimm, to whom he was much attached, to distract his mind from his +grief. He returned in the early winter and the next year (1755) got a +special dispensation from the Pope to marry his deceased wife's sister, +Mlle. Charlotte-Susanne d'Aine. By her he had four children, two sons +and two daughters. The first, Charles-Marius, was born about the middle +of August, 1757, and baptized in Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, Aug. 22. +He inherited the family title and was a captain in the regiment of the +Schomberg-Dragons. [13:13] The first daughter was born towards the end +of 1758 and the second about the middle of Jan., 1760. [13:14] The elder +married the Marquis de Châtenay and the younger the Marquis de Nolivos, +"Captaine au régiment de la Seurre, Dragons." Their Majesties the King +and Queen and the Royal Family signed their marriage contract May 27, +1781. [13:15] Of the second son there seem to be no traces. Holbach's +mother-in-law, Madame d'Aine, was a very interesting old woman as she +is pictured in Diderot's _Mémoires_, and there was a brother-in-law, +"Messire Marius-Jean-Baptiste-Nicholas d'Aine, chevalier, conseiller +du roi en ses conseils, Maître des requêtes honoraire de son hôtel, +intendant de justice, police, et finances de la généralité de Tours," +who lived in rue Saint Dominique, paroisse Saint-Sulpice. There was in +Holbach's household for a long time an old Scotch surgeon, a homeless, +misanthropic old fellow by the name of Hope, of whom Diderot gives a +most interesting account. [14:16] These are the only names we have of +the personnel of Holbach's household. His town house was in the rue +Royale, butte Saint-Roch. It was here that for an almost unbroken period +of forty years he gave his Sunday and Thursday dinners. The latter day +was known to the more intimate set of encyclopedists as the _jour du +synagogue_. Here the _église philosophique_ met regularly to discuss its +doctrines and publish its propaganda of radicalism. + +Holbach had a very pleasant country seat, the château of Grandval, +now in the arrondisement of Boissy St. Léger at Sucy-en-Brie. It is +pleasantly situated in the valley of a little stream, the Morbra, which +flows into the Marne. The property was really the estate of Mme. d'Aine +who lived with the Holbachs. Here the family and their numerous guests +passed the late summer and fall. Here Diderot spent weeks at a time +working on the Encyclopedia, dining, and walking on the steep slopes +of the Marne with congenial companions. To him we are indebted for our +intimate knowledge of Grandval and its inhabitants, their slightest +doings and conversations; and as Danou has well said, if we were to wish +ourselves back in any past age we should choose with many others the +mid-eighteenth century and the charming society of Paris and Grandval. +[14:17] + +Holbach's life, in common with that of most philosophers, offers no +events, except that he came near being killed in the crush and riot in +the rue Royale that followed the fire at the Dauphin's wedding in 1770. +[15:18] He was never an official personage. His entire life was spent +in study, writing and conversation with his friends. He traveled very +little; the world came to him, to the _Café de l'Europe_, as Abbé +Galiani called Paris. From time to time Holbach went to Contrexéville +for his gout and once to England to visit David Garrick; but he disliked +England very thoroughly and was glad to get back to Paris. The events of +his life in so far as there were any, were his relations with people. +He knew intimately practically all the great men of his century, except +Montesquieu and Voltaire, who were off the stage before his day. [15:19] +Holbach's most intimate and life-long friend among the great figures +of the century was Diderot, of whom Rousseau said, "À la distance de +quelques siècles du moment où il a vécu, Diderot paraîtra un homme +prodigieux; on regardera de loin cette tête universelle avec une +admiration mêlée d'étonnement, comme nous regardons aujourd'hui la tête +des Platon et des Aristote." [15:20] All his contemporaries agreed that +nothing was so charged with divine fire as the conversation of +Diderot. Gautherin, in his fine bronze of him on the Place +Saint-Germain-des-Près, seems to have caught the spirit of his talk and +has depicted him as he might have sat in the midst of Holbach's society, +of which he was the inspiration and the soul. Holbach backed Diderot +financially in his great literary and scientific undertaking and +provided articles for the Encyclopedia on chemistry and natural science. +Diderot had a high opinion of his erudition and said of him, "Quelque +système que forge mon imagination, je suis sur que mon ami d'Holbach me +trouve des faits et des autorités pour le justifier." [16:21] Opinions +differ in regard to the intellectual influence of these men upon each +other. Diderot was without doubt the greater thinker, but Holbach stated +his atheism with far greater clarity and Diderot gave his sanction to +it by embellishing Holbach's books with a few eloquent pages of his +own. Diderot said to Sir Samuel Romilly in 1781, "Il faut _sabrer_ +la théologie," [16:22] and died in 1784 in the belief that complete +infidelity was the first step toward philosophy. Five years later +Holbach was buried by his side in the crypt of the Chapel of the Virgin +behind the high altar in Saint-Roch. No tablet marks their tombs, and +although repeated investigations have been made no light has been thrown +on the exact position of their burial place. According to Diderot's +daughter, Mme. Vandeuil, their entire correspondence has been destroyed +or lost. [16:23] + +Holbach's relations with Rousseau were less harmonious. The account +of their mutual misunderstandings contained in the _Confessions_, in a +letter by Cerutti in the _Journal de Paris_ Dec. 2, 1789, and in +private letters of Holbach's to Hume, Garrick, and Wilkes, is a long and +tiresome tale. The author of _Eclaircissements relatifs à la publication +des confessions de Rousseau..._ (Paris, 1789) blames the _club +holbachique_ for their treatment of Rousseau, but the fault seems to +lie on both sides. According to Rousseau's account, Holbach sought his +friendship and for a few years he was one of Holbach's society. But, +after the success of the _Devin du Village_ in 1753, the _holbachiens_ +turned against him out of jealousy of his genius as a composer. Visions +of a dark plot against him rose before his fevered and sensitive +imagination, and after 1756 he left the Society of the Encyclopedists, +never to return. Holbach, on the other hand, while admitting rather +questionable treatment of Rousseau, never speaks of any personal injury +on his part, and bewails the fact that "l'homme le plus éloquent s'est +rendu ainsi l'homme le plus anti-littéraire, et l'homme le plus sensible +s'est rendu le plus anti-social." [17:24] He did warn Hume against +taking him to England, and in a letter to Wilkes predicted the quarrel +that took place shortly after. In writing to Garrick [17:25] he says +some hard but true things about Rousseau, who on his part never really +defamed Holbach but depicted him as the virtuous atheist under the guise +of Wolmar in the _Nouvelle Heloïse_. Their personal incompatibility +is best explained on the grounds of the radical differences in their +temperaments and types of mind and by the fact that Rousseau was too +sensitive to get on with anybody for any great length of time. + +Two other great Frenchmen, Buffon and d'Alembert, were for a time +members of Holbach's society, but, for reasons that are not altogether +clear, gradually withdrew. Grimm suggests that Buffon did not find the +young philosophers sufficiently deferential to him and to the authorized +powers, and feared for his dignity,--and safety, in their company. +D'Alembert, on the other hand, was a recluse by nature, and, after +giving up his editorship on the Encyclopedia, easily dropped out of +Diderot's society and devoted himself to Mlle. Lespinasse and Mme. +Geoffrin. Holbach and Helvetius were life-long friends and spent much +time together reading at Helvetius's country place at Voré. After his +death in 1774, Holbach frequented Mme. Helvetius' salon where he +knew and deeply influenced Volney, Cabanis, de Tracy, and the first +generation of the Ideologists who continued his and Helvetius' +philosophical doctrines. Among the other Frenchmen of the day who were +on intimate relations with Holbach and frequented his salon were La +Condamine, Condillac, Condorcet, Turgot, Morellet, Raynal, Grimm, +Marmontel, Colardeau, Saurin, Suard, Saint-Lambert, Thomas, Duclos, +Chastellux, Boulanger, Darcet, Roux, Rouelle, Barthès, Venel, Leroy, +Damilaville, Naigeon, Lagrange and lesser names,--but well known in +Paris in the eighteenth century,--d'Alinville, Chauvelin, Desmahis, +Gauffecourt, Margency, de Croismare, de Pezay, Coyer, de Valory, +Charnoi, not to mention a host of others. + +Among Holbach's most intimate English friends were Hume, Garrick, +Wilkes, Sterne, Gibbon, Horace Walpole, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, +Dr. Priestley, Lord Shelburne, Gen. Barré, Gen. Clark, Sir James +MacDonald, Dr. Gem, Messrs. Stewart, Demster, Fordyce, Fitzmaurice, +Foley, etc. Holbach addressed a letter to Hume in 1762, before making +his acquaintance, in which he expressed his admiration of his philosophy +and the desire to know him personally. [18:26] In 1764 Hume came to +Paris as secretary of the British Embassy and immediately called on +Holbach and became a regular frequenter of his salon. It was to Holbach +that he wrote first on the outbreak of his quarrel with Rousseau and +they corresponded at length in egard to the publication of the _Exposé +succinct_, which was to justify Hume in the eyes of the French. Hume and +Holbach had much in common intellectually, although the latter was far +more thoroughgoing in his repudiation of Theism. + +David Garrick and his wife were frequent visitors at the rue Royale +on their trips to Paris where they were very much liked by Holbach's +society. Nothing is more cordial or gracious than the compliments passed +between them in their subsequent correspondence. There are two published +letters from Holbach in Mr. Hedgecock's recent study of Garrick and his +French friends, excellent examples of the happy spontaneity and sympathy +that were characteristic of French sociability in the eighteenth +century. [19:27] Holbach in turn spent several months with Garrick at +Hampton. + +Holbach's early friendship for Wilkes has already been mentioned. Wilkes +spent a great deal of time in Paris on the occasion of his exiles from +England and became very intimate with Holbach. They corresponded up to +the very end of Holbach's life and there was a constant interchange of +friendly offices between them. [19:28] Miss Wilkes, who spent much time +in Paris, was a very good friend of Mme. Holbach and Mlle. Helvetius. +Adam Smith often dined at Holbach's with Turgot and the economists; +Gibbon also found his dinners agreeable except for the dogmatism of the +atheists; Walpole resented it also and kept away. Priestley seems +to have gotten on very well, although the philosophers found his +materialism and unitarianism a trifle inconsistent. It was at Holbach's +that Shelburne met Morellet with whom he carried on a long and serious +correspondence on economics. There seem to be no details of Holbach's +relations with Franklin, who was evidently more assiduous at the salon +of Mme. Helvetius whom he desired to marry. + +Holbach's best friend among the Italians was Abbé Galiani, secretary +of the Neapolitan Embassy, who spent ten years in the salons of Paris. +After his return to Naples his longing for Paris led him to a voluminous +correspondence with his French friends including Holbach. A few of their +letters are extant. Beccaria also came to Paris at the invitation of +the translator of his _Crimes and Punishments_, Abbé Morellet, made on +behalf of Holbach and his society. Beccaria and his friend Veri, who +accompanied him, had long been admirers of French philosophy, and the +Frenchmen found much to admire in Beccaria's book. One _avocat-général_, +M. Servan of the Parlement of Bordeaux, a friend of Holbach's, tried +to put his reforms in practice and shared the fate of most reformers. +Holbach was also in correspondence with Beccaria, and one of his letters +has been published in M. Landry's recent study of Beccaria. + +Among the other Italians whom Holbach befriended were Paulo Frizi, the +mathematician; Dr. Gatti; Pincini, the musician; and Mme. Riccoboni, +ex-actress and novelist; whose lively correspondence with Garrick whom +she met at Holbach's sheds much light on the social relations of the +century. + +Among the other foreigners who were friends or acquaintances of Holbach +were his fellow countrymen, Frederich Melchon Grimm, like himself a +naturalized Frenchman and the bosom friend of Diderot; Meister, his +collaborator in the _Literary Correspondence_; Kohant, a Bohemian +musician, composer, of the _Bergère des Alpes_ and Mme. Holbach's +lute-teacher; Baron Gleichen, Comte de Creutz, Danish and Scandinavian +diplomats; and a number of German nobles; the hereditary princes of +Brunswick and Saxe Gotha, Baron Alaberg, afterwards elector of Mayence, +Baron Schomberg and Baron Studitz. + +Among the well known women of the century Holbach was most intimate with +Mme. d'Epinay, who became a very good friend of Mme. Holbach's and was +present at the birth of her first son, and, in her will, left her a +portrait by Rembrandt. He was also a friend of Mme. Geoffrin, attended +her salon, and knew Mlle. de Lespinasse, Mme. Houderot and most of the +important women of the day. + +There are excellent sources from which to form an estimate of this man +whose house was the social centre of the century. Just after Holbach's +death on January 21, 1789, Naigeon, his literary agent, who had lived on +terms of the greatest intimacy with him for twenty-four years, wrote a +long eulogy which filled the issue of the _Journal de Paris_ for Feb. +9. There was another letter to the _Journal_ on Feb. 12. Grimm's +_Correspondance Littéraire_ for March contains a long account of him +by Meister, and there are other notices in contemporary memoirs such as +Morellet's and Marmontel's. All these accounts agree in picturing him as +the most admirable of men. + +It must be remembered that Holbach always enjoyed what was held to be a +considerable fortune in his day. From his estates in Westphalia he had +a yearly income of 60,000 _livres_ which he spent in entertaining. This +freedom from economic pressure gave him leisure to devote his time +to his chosen intellectual pursuits and to his friends. He was a +universally learned man. He knew French, German, English, Italian and +Latin extremely well and had a fine private library of about three +thousand works often of several volumes each, in these languages and in +Greek and Hebrew. The catalogue of this library was published by Debure +in 1789. It would be difficult to imagine a more comprehensive and +complete collection of its size. He had also a rich collection +of drawings by the best masters, fine pictures of which he was a +connoisseur, bronzes, marbles, porcelains and a natural history cabinet, +so in vogue in those days, containing some very valuable specimens. +He was one of the most learned men of his day in natural science, +especially chemistry and mineralogy, and to his translations from the +best German scientific works is largely due the spread of scientific +learning in France in the eighteenth century. Holbach was also very +widely read in English theology and philosophy of the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries and derived his anti-theological inspiration from +these two sources. To this vast fund of learning, he joined an extreme +modesty and simplicity. He sought no academic honors, published all +his works anonymously, and, had it not been for the pleasure he took in +communicating his ideas to his friends, no one would have suspected his +great erudition. He had an extraordinary memory and the reputation of +never forgetting anything of interest. This plenitude of information, +coupled with his easy and pleasant manner of talking, made his society +much sought after. Naigeon said of him (in his preface to the works of +Lagrange): + +Personne n'était plus communicatif que M. le baron d'Holbach; personne +ne prenait aux progrès de la raison un intérêt plus vif, plus sincère, +et ne s'occupait avec plus de zèle et l'activité des moyens de les +accélérer. + +Également versé dans la plupart des matières sur lesquelles il importe +le plus à des êtres raisonnables d'avoir une opinion arrêtée, M. le +baron d'Holbach portait dans leur discussion un jugement sain, une +logique sévère, et une analyse exacte et précise. Quelque fut l'objet de +ses entretiens avec ses amis, ou même avec des indifférens, tels qu'en +offrent plus ou moins toutes les sociétés; il inspirait sans effort à +ceux qui l'écoutaient l'enthousiasme de l'art ou de la science dont +il parlait; et on ne le quittait jamais sans regretter de n'avoir pas +cultivé la branche particulière de connaissances qui avait fait le sujet +de la conversation, sans désirer d'être plus instruit, plus éclairé, et +surtout sans admirer la claret, la justesse de son esprit, et l'ordre +dans lequel il savait présenter ses idées. + +This virtue of communicativeness, of _sociabilité_, Holbach carried into +all the relations of life. He was always glad to lend or give his books +to anyone who could make use of them. "Je suis riche," he used to say, +"mais je ne vois dans la fortune qu'un instrument de plus pour opérer +le bien plus promptement et plus efficacement." In fact Holbach's whole +principle of life and action was to increase the store of human well +being. And he did this without any religious motive whatsoever. As Julie +says of Wolmar in _La Nouvelle Heloïse_, "Il fait le bien sans espoir de +récompense, il est plus vertueux, plus désintéressé que nous." There are +many recorded instances of Holbach's gracious benevolence. As he said to +Helvetius, "Vous êtes brouillé avec tous ceux que vous avez obligé, mais +j'ai gardé tous mes amis." Holbach had the faculty of attaching people +to him. Diderot tells how at the Salon of 1753 after Holbach had bought +Oudry's famous picture, all the collectors who had passed it by came to +him and offered him twice what he paid for it. Holbach went to find +the artist to ask him permission to cede the picture to his profit, +but Oudry refused, saying that he was only too happy that his best work +belonged to the man who was the first to appreciate it. Instances of +Holbach's liberality to Kohant, a poor musician, and to Suard, a poor +literary man, are to be found in the pages of Diderot and Meister, and +his constant generosity to his friends is a commonplace in their Memoirs +and Correspondence. Only Rousseau was ungrateful enough to complain +that Holbach's free-handed gifts insulted his poverty. His kindness to +Lagrange, a young literary man whom he rescued from want, has been well +told by M. Naigeon in the preface to the works of Lagrange (p. xviii). + +But perhaps the most touching instances of Holbach's benevolence are his +relations with the peasants of Contrexéville, one of which was published +in the _Journal de Lecture_, 1775, the other in an anonymous letter +to the _Journal de Paris_, Feb. 12, 1789. The first concerns the +reconciliation of two old peasants who, not wanting to go to court, +brought their differences to their respected friend for a settlement. +Nothing is more simple and beautiful than this homely tale as told in +a letter of Holbach's to a friend of his. The second, which John Wilkes +said ought to be written in letters of gold, deserves to be reproduced +as a whole. + +L'éloge funèbre que M. Naigeon a consacré à la mémoire de M. le Baron +d'Holbach suffit pour donner une idée juste de ses lumières, mais le +hasard m'a mis à portée de les juger encore mieux. J'ai vu M. le Baron +d'Holbach dans deux voyages que j'ai faits aux eaux de Contrexéville. +S'occuper de sa souffrance et de sa guérison, c'est le soin de chaque +malade. M. le Baron d'Holbach devenait le médecin, l'ami, le consolateur +de quiconque venait aux eaux et il semblait bien moins occupé de ses +infirmités que de celles des autres. Lorsque des malades indigens +manquaient de secours, ou pécuniaires ou curatifs, il les leur procurait +avec un plaisir qui lui faisait plus de bien que les eaux. Je me +promenais un soir avec lui sur une hauteur couverte d'un massif de bois +qui fait perspective de loin et près duquel s'élève un petit Hermitage. +Là, demeure un cénobite qui n'a de revenu que les aumônes de ceux dont +il reçoit les visites. Nous acquittâmes chacun notre dette hospitalière. +En prenant congé de l'Hermite, M. le Baron d'Holbach me dit de le +précéder un instant et qu'il allait me suivre. Je le précédai, et comme +il ne me suivait pas je m'arrêtai, pour l'attendre sur un terte exhaussé +d'où l'on découvre tout le pays. Je contemplais le canton que je +dominais, plongé dans une douce rêverie. J'en fus tiré par des cris et +je me retournai vers l'endroit d'òu ils partaient. Je vis M. le Baron +d'Holbach environné d'une vieille femme et de deux villageois, l'un +vieux comme elle et l'autre jeune. Tous trois, les larmes aux yeux, +l'embrassaient hautement. Allez vous-en donc, s'écrait M. le Baron +d'Holbach; laissez moi, on m'attend, ne me suivez pas, adieu; je +reviendrai l'année prochaine. En me voyant arriver vers eux, les trois +personnes reconnaissantes disparurent. Je lui demandai le sujet de tant +de bénédictions. Ce jeune paysan que vous avez vu s'etait engagé, j'ai +obtenu de son colonel sa liberté en payant les cents écus prescrits par +l'ordonnance. Il est amoureux d'une jeune paysanne aussi pauvre que +lui, je viens d'acheter pour eux un petit bien qui m'a coûté huit cent +francs. Le vieux père est perclus, aux deux bras, de rhumatismes, je lui +ai fourni trois boîtes du baume des Valdejeots, si estimé en ce pays-ci. +La vieille mère est sujetté à des maux d'estomac, et je lui ai apporté +un pot de confection d'hyacinthe. Ils travaillaient dans le champ, +voisin du bois, je suis allé les voir tandis que vous marchiez en avant. +Ils m'ont suivi malgré moi. Ne parlez de cela à personne. On dirait +que je veux faire le généreux et le bon philosophe, mais je ne suis que +humain, et mes charités sont la plus agréable dépense de mes voyages. + +This humanity of Holbach's is the very keynote of his character and of +his intellectual life as well. As M. Walferdin has said, the denial of +the supernatural was for him the base of all virtue, and resting on this +principle, he exemplified social qualities that do the greatest honor to +human nature. He and Madame Holbach are the only conspicuous examples +of conjugal fidelity and happiness among all the people that one has +occasion to mention in a study of the intellectual and literary circles +of the eighteenth century. They were devoted to each other, to their +children and to their friends. Considering the traits of Holbach's +character that have been cited, there can scarcely be two opinions in +regard to completeness with which he realized his ideal of humanity +and sociability. M. Naigeon has well summed up in a few words Holbach's +relation to the only duties that he recognized, "He was a good husband, +a good father and a good friend." + + + + +CHAPTER II. HOLBACH'S WORKS. + + +Holbach's published works, with the exception of a few scattered +ones, may be divided into three classes, viz., translations of German +scientific works, translations of English deistical writings, and his +own works on theology, philosophy, politics and morals. Those which fall +into none of these categories can be dealt with very summarily. They +are: + +1. Two pamphlets on the musical dispute of 1752; _Lettre à une dame d'un +certain âge sur l'état présent de l'Opéra_, (8vo, pp. 11) and _Arrêt +rendu à l'amphithéâtre de l'Opéra_, (8vo, pp. 16,) both directed against +French music and in line with Grimm's _Petit Prophète_ and Rousseau's +_Lettre sur la musique française_. + +2. A translation in prose of Akenside's _The Pleasures of Imagination_ +(Paris, 1759, 8vo). + +3. A translation of Swift's _History of the Reign of Queen Anne_ in +collaboration with M. Eidous (Amsterdam, 1765, 12mo, pp. xxiv + 416). + +4. Translations of an _Ode on Human Life_ and a _Hymn to the Sun_ in the +_Variétés littéraires_ (1768). + +5. Articles on natural science in the _Encyclopédie_ and article +_Prononciation des langues_ in the _Dictionnaire de Grammaire_ of the +_Encyclopédie méthodique_. + +6. Translation of Wallerius' _Agriculture reduced to its true +principles_ (Paris, 1774, 12mo). + +7. Two _Facéties philosophiques_ published in Grimm's _Correspondence +Littéraire. L'Abbé et le Rabbin_, and _Essai sur l'art de ramper, à +l'usage des courtisans_. + +8. Parts of Raynal's _Histoire philosophique des deux Indes_. + +9. Notes to Lagrange's _Vie de Senèque_. + + +Holbach's translations of German scientific works are as follows: +(Complete titles to be found in Bibliography, Pt. I.) + +1. _Art de la Verrerie de Neri, Merret, et Kunckel_ (Paris, Durand, +1752). Original work in Italian. Latin translation by Christopher +Merret. German translation by J. Kunckel of Löwenstern. Holbach's +translation comprises the seven books of Antionio Neri, Merret's +notes on Neri, Kunckel's observations on both these authors, his own +experiments and others relative to glass-making. The translation +was dedicated to Malesherbes who had desired to see the best German +scientific works published in French. In his _Préface du Traducteur_ +Holbach writes: + +L'envie de me rendre utile, dont tout citoyen doit être animé, m'a fait +entreprendre l'ouvrage que je présente au Public. S'il a le bonheur +de mériter son approbation, quoiqu'il y ait peu de gloire attachée +au travail ingrat et fastidieux d'un Traducteur, je me déterminerai à +donner les meilleurs ouvrages allemands, sur l'Histoire Naturelle, +la Minéralogie, la Métallurgie et la Chymie. Tout le monde sait que +l'Allemagne possede en ce genre des trésors qui ont été jusqu'ici comme +enfouis pour la France. + +2. _Minéralogie ou Description générale du règne mineral par J. G. +Wallerius_ (Paris, Durand, 1753) followed by _Hydrologie_ by the same +author. Second edition, Paris, Herrissant, 1759. Originally in Swedish +(Wallerius was a professor of chemistry in the University of Upsala). +German translation by J. D. Denso, Professor of Chemistry, Stargard, +Pomerania. Holbach's translation was made from the German edition which +Wallerius considered preferable to the Swedish. He was assisted by +Bernard de Jussien and Rouelle, and the work was dedicated to a friend +and co-worker in the natural sciences, Monsieur d'Arclais de Montamy. + +3. _Introduction à la Minéralogie... oeuvre posthume de M. J. F. +Henckel_, Paris, Cavelier, 1756, first published under title _Henckelius +in Mineralogiâ redivivus_, Dresden, 1747, by his pupil, M. Stephani, +as an outline of his lectures. Holbach's translation made from a German +edition, corrected, with notes on new discoveries added. + +4. _Chimie métallurgique... par M. C. Gellert_. Paris, Briasson, 1758, +translated earlier. Approbation May 1, 1753, Privilege Dec. 21, 1754. +Originally a text written by Gellert for four artillery officers whom +the King of Sardinia sent to Freyburg to learn mining-engineering. + +5. _Traités de physique, d'histoire naturelle, de mineralogy et de +métallurgie_. Paris, Herrissant, 1759, by J. G. Lehmann, three vols. I. +L'Art des Mines, II. Traité de la formation des métaux, III. Essai d'une +histoire naturelle des couches de la terre. In his preface to the third +volume Holbach has some interesting remarks about the deluge, the irony +of which seems to have escaped the royal censor, Millet, _Docteur en +Théologie_. + +"La description si précise et si détaillée que Moïse fait du Deluge dans +la Genèse, ayant une autorité infaillible, puis qu'elle n'est autre +que celle de Dieu même, nous rend certains de la réalité et de +l'universalité de ce châtiment terrible. Il s'agit simplement d'examiner +si les naturalistes, tels que Woodward, Schenchzer, Buttner et M. +Lehmann lui-même ne se sont points trompés, lorsqu'ils ont attribué à +cet événement seul la formation des couches de la terre et lorsqu'ils +s'en sont servis pour expliquer l'état actuel de notre globe. Il semble +que rien ne doit nous empêcher d'agiter cette question; l'Ecriture +sainte se contente de nous apprendre la voie miraculeuse dont Dieu s'est +servi pour punir les crimes du genre humain; elle ne dit rien qui puisse +limiter les sentiments des naturalistes sur les autres effets physiques +que le déluge a pu produire. C'est une matière qu'elle paroît avoir +abandonnée aux disputes des hommes." He then proceeds to question +whether the deluge could have produced the results attributed to it +and argues against catastrophism which, it must be remembered, was the +received geological doctrine down to the days of Lyell. "Les causes les +plus simples sont capables de produire au bout des siècles les effets +les plus grands, surtout lorsqu'elles agissent incessament; et nous +voyons toutes ces causes réunies agir perpétuellement sous nos yeux. +Concluons, donc, de tout ce qui précède, que le déluge, seul et les feux +souterrains seuls ne suffisent point pour expliquer la formation des +couches de la terre. On risquera toujours de se tromper, lorsque par +l'envie de simplifier on voudra dériver tous les phénomènes de la nature +d'une seule et unique cause." + +6. _Pyritologie_ by J. F. Henkel, Paris, Herrissant, 1760, a large +volume in quarto, translated by Holbach. It contains _Flora Saturnisans_ +(translated by M. Charas and reviewed by M. Roux), Henkel's _Opuscules +Minéralogiques_ and other treatises. Original editions: _Pyritologia_, +Leipzig, 1725, 1754; _Flora Saturnisans_, Leipzig, 1721; _De +Appropriatione Chymica_, Dresden, 1727, and _De Lapidum origine_, +Dresden, 1734, translated into German, with excellent notes, Dresden, +1744, by M. C. F. Zimmermann, a pupil of M. Henkel. Holbach's +translations seem to have been well received because he writes in +this preface: "Je m'estimerai heureux si mon travail peut contribuer à +entretenir et augmenter le goût universel qu'on a conçu pour le saine +physique." + +7. _Oeuvres métallurgiques_ de M. J. C. Orschall, Paris, Hardy, 1760. +Orschall still accepted the old alchemist tradition but was sound in +practice and was the best authority on copper. Holbach does not attempt +to justify his physics which was that of the preceding century. Orschall +was held in high esteem by Henckel and Stahl. + +8. _Recueil des mémoires des Académies d'Upsal et de Stockholm_, Paris, +Didot, 1764. These records of experiments made in the Royal Laboratories +of Sweden, founded in 1683 by Charles XI, had already been translated +into German and English. Holbach's translation was made from the German +and Latin. He promises further treatises on Agriculture, Natural History +and Medicine. + +9. _Traité du Soufre_ by G. E. Stahl, Paris, Didot, 1766. In speaking +of Stahl's theories Holbach says: "Il ne faut pas croire que ces +connaissances soient des vérités stériles propres seulement à satisfaire +une vaine curiosité, elles ont leur application aux travaux de la +métallurgie qui leur doivent la perfection où on les a portés depuis +quelques temps." Holbach understood very clearly the utility of science +in his scheme of increasing the store of human well-being, and would +doubtless have translated other useful works had not other interests +prevented. There is a MSS. note of his in the Bibliothèque Nationale to +M. Malesherbes, then Administrateur de la Librairie Royale; suggesting +other German treatises that might well be translated. (MSS. 22194). + + +HOLBACH TO MALESHERBES + +_Monsieur_ + +J'ai l'honneur de vous envoyer ci-joint la liste des ouvrages dont +M. Liège fils pourrait entreprendre la traduction. Je n'en connais +actuellement point d'autres qui méritent l'attention du public. M. +Macquer m'a écrit une lettre qui a pour objet les mêmes choses dont vous +m'avez fait l'honneur de me parler, et je lui fais la même réponse. + +J'ai l'honneur d'être avec respect, Monsieur, + + Votre très obéissant serviteur + D'HOLBACH +à Paris ce 6 d'avril 1761 + + +The list of books was as follows: + +1. Johann Kunckel's _Laboratorium Chymicum_, 8vo. + +2. Georg Ernest Stahl's _Commentary on Becher's Metallurgy_, 8vo. + +3. _Concordantia Chymica Becheri_, 40º, published by Stahl. + +4. _Cadmologia_, or the _Natural History of Cobalt_, by J. G. Lehmann, +Berlin, 1760, 4°. + + +After 1760 Holbach became interested in another line of intellectual +activity, namely the writing and translation of anti-religious +literature. His first book of this sort really appeared in 1761 although +no copies bear this date. From 1767 on however he published a great +many works of this character. It is convenient to deal first with his +translations of English deistical writers. They are in chronological +order. + +1. _Esprit du clergé, ou le Christianisme primitif vengé des entreprises +et des excès de nos Prêtres modernes_. Londres (Amsterdam), 1767. This +book appeared in England in 1720 under the title of _The Independent +Whig_; its author was Thomas Gordon (known through his Commentaries on +Sallust and Tacitus) who wrote in collaboration with John Trenchard. The +book was partially rewritten by Holbach and then touched up by Naigeon, +who, according to a manuscript note by his brother, "atheised it as +much as possible." It was sold with great secrecy and at a high price--a +reward which the colporters demanded for the risk they ran in peddling +seditious literature. The book was a violent attack on the spirit of +domination which characterized the Christian priesthood at that time. + +2. _De L'imposture sacerdotale, ou Recueil de Pièces sur le clergé_, +Londres (Amsterdam), 1767. Another edition 1772 under title _De la +Monstruosité pontificale_ etc. + +Contains translations of various pamphlets including Davisson, _A +true picture of Popery_; Brown, _Popery a Craft_, London 1735; Gordon, +_Apology for the danger of the church_, 1719; Gordon, _The Creed of an +Independent Whig_, 1720. + +3. _Examen des Prophéties qui servent de fondement à la religion +Chrétienne_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1768. Translation of Anthony Collins, +_A Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion_, +London, 1724. Contains also _The Scheme of literal Prophecy considered_, +1727, also by Collins in answer to the works of Clarke, Sherlock, +Chandler, Sykes, and especially to Whiston's _Essay towards restoring +the text of the Old Testament_, one of the thirty-five works directed +against Collins' original _"Discourse"_. Copies of this work have become +very rare. + +4. _David, ou l'histoire de l'homme selon le coeur de Dieu_. Londres +(Amsterdam), 1768. This work appeared in England in 1761 and is +attributed to Peter Annet, also to John Noorthook. Some English +eulogists of George II, Messrs. Chandler, Palmer and others, had likened +their late King to David, "the man after God's own heart." The deists, +struck by the absurdity of the comparison, proceeded to relate all +the scandalous facts they could find recorded of David, and by clever +distortions painted him as the most execrable of Kings, in a work +entitled _David or the Man after God's Own Heart_, which formed the +basis of Holbach's translation. + +5. _Les prêtres démasqués ou des iniquités du clergé chrétien_. Londres, +1768. Translation of four discourses published under the title _The +Ax laid to the root of Christian Priestcraft by a layman_, London, T. +Cooper, 1742. A rare volume. + +6. _Lettres philosophiques..._ Londres (Amsterdam, 1768). Translation +of J. Toland's _Letters to Serena_, London, 1704. The book, which had +become very rare in Holbach's time, had caused a great scandal at the +time of its publication and was much sought after by collectors. It +contains five letters, the first three of which are by Toland, the other +two and the preface by Holbach and Naigeon. The matters treated are, +the origin of prejudices, the dogma of the immortality of the soul, +idolatry, superstition, the system of Spinoza and the origin of movement +in matter. + +Diderot said of these works, in writing to Mlle. Volland Nov. 22, 1768 +(_Oeuvres_, Vol. XVIII, p. 308): "Il pleut des bombes dans la maison +du Seigneur. Je tremble toujours que quelqu'un de ces téméraires +artilleurs-là ne s'en trouve mal. Ce sont les _Lettres philosophiques_ +traduites, ou supposées traduites, de l'anglais de Toland; c'est +_l'Examen des prophéties_; c'est la _Vie de David ou de l'homme selon là +coeur de Dieu_, ce sont mélle diables déchainés.--Ah! Madame de Blacy, +je crains bien que le Fils de l'Homme ne soit à la porte; que la +venue d'Elie ne soit proche, et que nous ne touchions au règne de +l'Anti-christ. Tous les jours, quand je me lève, je regarde par ma +fenêtre, si la grande prostituée de Babylone ne se promène point déjà +dans les rues avec sa grande coupe à la main et s'il ne se fait aucun +des signes prédits dans le firmament." + +7. _De la Cruauté religieuse_, Londres (Amsterdam). _Considerations +upon war, upon cruelty in general and religious cruelty in particular_, +London, printed for Thomas Hope, 1761. + +8. _Dissertation critique sur les tourmens de l'enfer_ printed in +an original work, _L'Enfer détruit_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1769. A +translation of Whitefoot's _The Torments of Hell, the foundation and +pillars thereof discover'd, search'd, shaken and remov'd_. London, 1658. + +9. In the _Recueil philosophique_ edited by Naigeon, Londres +(Amsterdam), 1770. I. Dissertation sur l'immortalité de l'âme. +Translated from Hume. II. Dissertation sur le suicide (Hume). III. +Extrait d'un livre Anglais qui a pour titre le Christianisme aussi +ancien que le monde. (Tindal, Christianity as old as Creation.) + +10. _Esprit de Judaïsme, ou Examen raisonné de la Loi de Moyse_. Londres +(Amsterdam), 1770 (1769), translated from Anthony Collins. With the +exception of some of Holbach's own works this is one of the fiercest +denunciations of Judaism and Christianity to be found in print. In fact, +it is very much in the style of Holbach's anti-religious works and shows +beyond a doubt that Holbach derived his inspiration from Collins and the +more radical of the English school. The volume has become exceedingly +rare. + +After outlining the history of Judaism the book ends thus: + +Ose, donc enfin, ô Europe! secouer le joug insupportable des préjugés +qui t'affligent. Laisse à des Hébreux stupides, à des frénétiques +imbéciles, à des Asiatiques lâches et dégradés, ces superstitions aussi +avilissantes qu'insensées: elles ne sont point faites pour les habitans +de ton climat. Occupe-toi du soin de perfectionner tes gouvernemens, de +corriger tes lois, de réformer tes abus, de régler tes moeurs, et ferme +pour toujours les yeux à ces vraies chimères, qui depuis tant de siècles +n'ont servi qu'à retarder tes progrès vers la science véritable et à +t'écarter de la route du bonheur. + +11. _Examen critique de la vie et des ouvrages de Saint Paul_, Londres +(Amsterdam), 1770. A free translation of Peter Annet's _History and +character of St. Paul examined_, written in answer to Lyttelton. New +edition 1790 and translated back into English "from the French of +Boulanger," London, R. Carlile, 1823. A rather unsympathetic account, +but with flashes of real insight into "le système religieux des +Chrétiens dont S. Paul fut évidemment le véritable architecte." (Epître +dédicatoire.) + +Annet said of Paul's type of man "l'enthousiaste s'enivre, pour l'ainsi +dire, de son propre vin, il se persuade que la cause de ses passions +est la cause de Dieu (p. 72), mais quelque violent qu'ait pu être +l'enthousiasme de S. Paul, il sentait très bien que la doctrine qu'il +prêchait devait paraître bizarre et insensée à des êtres raisonnables" +(p. 141). + +12. _De la nature humaine, ou Exposition des facultés, des actions et +des passions de l'âme_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1772. (Thomas Hobbes.) +Reprinted in a French Edition of Hobbes' works by Holbach and Sorbière, +1787. Appeared first in English in 1640, omitted in a Latin Edition of +Hobbes printed in Amsterdam. In spite of its brevity, Holbach considered +this one of Hobbes' most important and luminous works. + +13. _Discours sur les Miracles de Jesus Christ_ (Amsterdam, 1780?). +Translated from Woolston, whom Holbach admired very much for +his uncompromising attitude toward truth. He suffered fines and +imprisonments, but would not give up the privilege of writing as he +pleased. The present discourse was the cause of a quarrel with his +friend Whiston. He died Jan. 27, 1733, "avec beaucoup de fermeté... +il se ferma les yeux et la bouche de ses propres mains, et rendit +l'esprit." This work exists in a manuscript book of 187 pages, written +very fine, in the Bibliothèque Nationale (Mss. français 15224) and was +current in France long before 1780. In fact it is mentioned by Grimm +before 1770, but the dictionaries (Barber, Quérard) generally date it +from 1780. + + +Before turning to Holbach's original works mention should be made of +a very interesting and extraordinary book that he brought to light, +retouched, and later used as a kind of shield against the attacks of the +parliaments upon his own works. + +In 1766 he published a work entitled _L'Antiquité dévoilée par ses +usages, ou Examen critique des principales Opinions, Cérémonies et +Institutions religieuses et politiques des différens Peuples de la +Terre_. Par feu M. Boulanger, Amsterdam, 1766. This is a work based on +an original manuscript by Boulanger, who died in 1759, preceded by +an excellent letter on him by Diderot, published also in the _Gazette +Littéraire_. + +The use made by Holbach of Boulanger's name makes it necessary to +consider for a moment this almost forgotten writer. Nicholas Antoine +Boulanger was born in 1722. As a child he showed so little aptitude for +study that later his teachers could scarcely believe that he had turned +out to be a really learned man. As Diderot observes, "ces exemples +d'enfans, rendus ineptes entre les mains des Pédans qui les abrutissent +en dépit de la nature la plus heureuse, ne sont pas rares, cependant +ils surprennent toujours" (p. 1). Boulanger studied mathematics and +architecture, became an engineer and was employed by the government as +inspector of bridges and highways. He passed a busy life in exacting +outdoor work but at the same time his active intellect played over a +large range of human interests. He became especially concerned with +historical origins and set himself to learn Latin and Greek that he +might get at the sources. Not satisfied that he had come to the root of +the matter he learned Arabic, Syriac, Hebrew and Chaldean. Diderot +says "Il lisait et étudiait partout, je l'ai moi-même rencontré sur +les grandes routes avec un auteur rabinnique à la main." He made a +_mappemonde_ in which the globe is divided in two hemispheres, one +occupied by the continents, the other by the oceans, and by a singular +coincidence he found that the meridian of the continental hemisphere +passed through Paris. Some such rearrangement of hemispheres is one of +the commonplaces of modern geography. He furnished such articles as, +_Deluge, Corvée, Société_ for the Encyclopedia and wrote several large +and extremely learned books, among them _Recherches sur l'origine du +Despotisme oriental_ and _Antiquité dévoilée_. He died from overwork at +the age of thirty-seven. + +Boulanger's ideas on philosophy, mythology, anthropology and history are +of extraordinary interest today. Diderot relates his saying--"Que si la +philosophie avait trouvé tant d'obstacles parmi nous c'était qu'on avait +commencé par où il aurait fallu finir, par des maximes abstraites, des +raisonnemens généraux, des réflexions subtiles qui ont révolté par leur +étrangeté et leur hardiesse et qu'on aurait admises sans peine si elles +avaient été précédées de l'histoire des faits." He carried over this +inductive method into realm of history, which he thought had been +approached from the wrong side, i.e., the metaphysical, "par consulter +les lumières de la raison" (p. 8). He continues, "j'ai pensé qu'il +devait y avoir quelques circonstances _particulières_. Un fait et non +une spéculation métaphysique m'a toujours semblé devoir être et tribut +naturel et nécessaire de l'histoire." Curiously enough the central fact +in history appeared to Boulanger to be the deluge, and on the basis of +it he attempted to interpret the _Kulturgeschichte_ of humanity. It is +a bit unfortunate that he took the deluge quite as literally as he did; +his idea, however, is obviously the influence of environmental pressure +on the changing beliefs and practices of mankind. Under the spell of +this new point of view, he writes, "Ce qu'on appelle l'histoire n'en est +que la partie la plus ingrate, la plus uniforme, la plus inutile, quoi +qu'elle soit la plus connue. La véritable histoire est couverte par le +voile des temps" (p. 7). Boulanger however was not to be daunted and +on the firm foundation of the fact of some ancient and universal +catastrophe, as recorded on the surface of the earth and in human +mythology, he proceeds to inquire into the moral effects of the changes +in the physical environment back to which if possible the history of +antiquity must be traced. Man's defeat in his struggle with the elements +made him religious, _hinc prima mali labes_. "Son premier pas fut un +faux pas, sa première maxime fut une erreur" (p. 4 sq). But it was not +his fault nor has time repaired the evil moral effects of that early +catastrophe. "Les grandes révolutions physiques de notre globe sont les +véritables époques de l'histoire des nations" (p. 9). Hence have arisen +the various psychological states through which mankind has passed. +Contemporary savages are still in the primitive state--Boulanger +properly emphasizes the relation of anthropology to history--"On +aperçoit qu'il y a une nouvelle manière de voir et d'écrire l'histoire +des hommes" (p. 12) and with a vast store of anthropological and +folklorist learning he writes it so that his assailant, Fabry d'Autrey, +in his _Antiquité justifiée_ (Paris, 1766) is obliged to say with truth, +"Ce n'est point ici un tissus de mensonges grossiers, de sophismes +rebattus et bouffons, appliqués d'un air méprisant aux objets les +plus intéressants pour l'humanité. C'est une enterprise sérieuse et +réfléchie" (p. 11). + +In 1767 Holbach published his first original work, a few copies of +which had been printed in Nancy in 1761. This work was _Le Christianisme +dévoilé ou Examen des principes et des effets de la religion +Chrétienne_. Par feu M. Boulanger. Londres (Amsterdam), 1767. There +were several other editions the same year, one printed at John Wilkes' +private press in Westminster. It was reprinted in later collections +of Boulanger's works, and went through several English and Spanish +editions. The form of the title and the attribution of the work to +Boulanger were designed to set persecution on the wrong track. There +has been some discussion as to its authorship. Voltaire and Laharpe +attributed it to Damilaville, at whose book shop it was said to have +been sold, but M. Barbier has published detailed information given him +by Naigeon to the effect that Holbach entrusted his manuscript to M. De +Saint-Lambert, who had it printed by Leclerc at Nancy in 1761. Most +of the copies that got to Paris at that time were bought by several +officers of the King's regiment then in garrison at Nancy, among them M. +de Villevielle, a friend of Voltaire and of Condorcet. Damilaville did +not sell a single copy and even had a great deal of trouble to get one +for Holbach who waited for it a long time. This circumstantial evidence +is of greater value than the statement of Voltaire who was in the habit +of attributing anonymous works to whomever he pleased. [39:2] + +The edition of 1767 was printed in Amsterdam as were most of Holbach's +works. We have the details of their publication from Naigeon _cadet_, a +copyist, whose brother, J. A. Naigeon, was Holbach's literary factotum. +In a manuscript note in his copy of the _Système de la Nature_ he tells +how he copied nearly all Holbach's works, either at Paris or at Sedan, +where he was stationed, and where his friend Blon, the postmaster, aided +him, passing the manuscripts on to a Madame Loncin in Liège, who in +turn was a correspondent of Marc-Michel Rey, the printer in Amsterdam. +Sometimes they were sent directly by the diligence or through +travellers. This account agrees perfectly with information given M. +Barbier orally by Naigeon _aîné_. After being printed in Holland the +books were smuggled into France _sous le manteau_, as the expression is, +and sold at absurd rates by colporters. [40:3] + +Diderot writing to Falconet early in 1768 [40:4] says: "Il pleut des +livres incrédules. C'est un feu roulant qui crible le sanctuaire de +toutes parts... L'intolérance du gouvernment s'accroit de jour en jour. +On dirait que c'est un projet formé d'éteindre ici les lettres, de +ruiner le commerce de librairie et de nous réduire à la besace et à +la stupidité... _Le Christianisme dévoilé_ s'est vendu jusqu'à quatre +louis." + +When caught the colporters were severely punished. Diderot gives +the following instance in a letter to Mlle. Volland Oct. 8, 1768 +(Avézac-Lavigne, _Diderot_, p. 161): "Un apprenti avait reçu, en payment +ou autrement, d'un colporteur appelé Lécuyer, deux exemplaires du +_Christianisme dévoilé_ et il avait vendu un de ces exemplaires à son +patron. Celui-ci le défère au lieutenant de police. Le colporteur, sa +femme et l'apprenti sont arrêtés tous les trois; ils viennent d'être +piloriés, fouettés et marqués, et l'apprenti condamné à neuf ans de +galères, le colporteur à cinq ans, et la femme à l'hôpital pour toute sa +vie." + +There are two very interesting pieces of contemporary criticism of _Le +Christianisme dévoilé_, one by Voltaire, the other by Grimm. Voltaire +writes in a letter to Madame de Saint Julien December 15, 1766 +(_Oeuvres_, XLIV, p. 534, ed. Garnier): "Vous m'apprenez que, dans votre +société, on m'attribue _Le Christianisme dévoilé_ par feu M. Boulanger, +mais je vous assure que les gens au fait ne m'attribuent point du tout +cet ouvrage. J'avoue avec vous qu'il y a de la clarté, de la chaleur, +et quelque fois de l'éloquence; mais il est plein de répétitions, de +négligences, de fautes contre la langue et je serais très-fâché de +l'avoir fait, non seulement comme académicien, mais comme philosophe, et +encore plus comme citoyen. + +"Il est entièrement opposé à mes principes. Ce livre conduit à +l'athéisme que je déteste. J'ai toujours regardé l'athéisme comme le +plus grand égarement de la raison, parce qu'il est aussi ridicule de +dire que l'arrangement du monde ne prouve pas un artisan suprême qu'il +serait impertinent de dire qu'une horloge ne prouve pas un horloger. + +"Je ne réprouve pas moins ce livre comme citoyen; l'auteur paraît +trop ennemi des puissances. Des hommes qui penseraient comme lui ne +formeraient qu'une anarchie: et je vois trop, par l'example de Genève, +combien l'anarchie est à craindre. Ma coutume est d'écrire sur la marge +de mes livres ce que je pense d'eux, vous verrez, quand vous daignerez +venir à Ferney, les marges de _Christianisme dévoilé_ chargés de +remarques qui montrent que l'auteur s'est trompé sur les faits les plus +essentiels." These notes may be read in Voltaire's works (Vol. XXXI, p. +129, ed. Garnier) and the original copy of _Le Christianisme dévoilé_ +in which he wrote them is in the British Museum (c 28, k 3) where it +is jealously guarded as one of the most precious autographs of the +Patriarch of Ferney. + +Grimm's notice is from the _Correspondance Littéraire_ of August 15, +1763 (Vol. V, p. 367). "Il existe un livre intitulé _le Christianisme +dévoilé ou Examen des principes et des effets de la religion +Chrétienne_, par feu M. Boulanger, volume in 8º. On voit d'abord qu'on +lui a donné ce titre pour en faire le pendant de _l'Antiquité dévoilée_; +mais il ne faut pas beaucoup se connaître en manière pour sentir que ces +deux ouvrages ne sont pas sortis de la même plume. On peut assurer +avec la même certitude que celui dont nous parlons ne vient point de la +fabrique de Ferney, parce que j'aimerais mieux croire que le patriache +eût pris la lune avec ses dents; cela serait moins impossible que de +guetter sa manière et son allure si complètement qu'il n'en restât +aucune trace quelconque. Par la même raison, je ne crois ce livre +d'aucun de nos philosophes connus, parce que je n'y trouve la manière +d'aucun de ceux qui ont écrit. D'òu vient-il donc? Ma foi, je serais +fâché de le savoir, et je crois que l'auteur aura sagement fait de ne +mettre personne dans son secret. C'est le livre le plus hardi et le +plus terrible qui ait jamais parti dans aucun lieu du monde. La +préface consiste dans une lettre où l'auteur examine si la réligion est +reéllement nécessaire ou seulement utile au maintien ou à la police des +empires, et s'il convient de la respecter sous ce point de vue. Comme +il établit la négative, il entreprend en conséquence de prouver, par +son ouvrage, l'absurdité et l'incohérence du dogme Chrétien et de la +mythologie qui en résulte, et l'influence de cette absurdité sur les +têtes et sur les âmes. Dans la seconde partie, il examine la morale +chrétienne, et il prétend prouver que dans ses principes généraux elle +n'a aucun avantage sur toutes les morales du monde, parce que la justice +et la bonté sont recommandées dans tous les catéchismes de l'univers, et +que chez aucun peuple, quelque barbare qu'il fut, on n'a jamais +enseigné qu'il fallût être injuste et méchant. Quant à ce que la morale +chrétienne a de particulier, l'auteur pretend démontrer qu'elle ne peut +convenir qu'à des enthousiastes peu propres aux devoirs de la société, +pour lesquels les hommes sont dans ce monde. Il entreprend de prouver, +dans la troisième partie, que la religion chrétienne a eu les effets +politiques les plus sinistres et les plus funestes, et que le genre +humain lui doit tous les malheurs dont il a été accablé depuis quinze à +dix-huit siècles, sans qu'on en puisse encore prévoir la fin. + +Ce livre est écrit avec plus de véhémence que de véritable éloquence; +il entraine. Son style est châtié et correct, quoique un peu dur et +sec; son ton est grave et soutenu. On n'y apprend rien de nouveau, et +cependant il attache et intéresse. Malgré son incroyable témérité, on +ne peut refuser à l'auteur la qualité d'homme de bien fortement épris du +bonheur de sa race et de la prospérité des sociétés; mais je pense que +ses bonnes intentions seraient une sauvegarde bien faible contre les +mandements et les réquisitions." This is a clear and fair account of +a book that is without doubt the severest criticism of the theory and +practice of historical Christianity ever put in print. + +The church very naturally did not let such a book pass unanswered. Abbé +Bergier, a heavy person, triumphantly refuted Holbach in eight hundred +pages in his _Apologia de la Religion Chrétienne contre l'Auteur du +Christianisme dévoilé_, Paris, 1769, which finishes with the fatal +prophecy, "Nous avons de surs garans de nos espérances: tant que le sang +auguste de S. Louis sera sur le trône, _il n'y a point de révolutions +à craindre ni dans la Religion ni dans la politique_. La religion +Chrétienne fondée sur la parole de Dieu... triomphera des nouveaux +Philosophes. Dieu qui veille sur son ouvrage n'a pas besoin de nos +faibles mains pour le soutenir" (Psaume 32, vs. 10, 11). + +2. There already existed in 1767 another work by Holbach entitled +_Théologie portative ou Dictionnaire Abrégé de la Religion Chrétienne. +Par Mr Abbé Bernier_. Londres (Amsterdam), 1768 (1767). This book +went through many editions and was augmented by subsequent authors and +editors. Voltaire was already writing to d'Alembert about it August 14, +1767. [44:5] + +In a letter to Damilaville, October 16, he writes (Vol. XIV, p. 406): + +Depuis trois mois il y a une douzaine d'ouvrages d'une liberté +extrême, imprimés en Hollande. _La Théologie portative_ n'est nullement +théologique: ce n'est qu'une plaisanterie continuelle par ordre +alphabétique; mais il faut avouer qu'il y a des traits si comiques que +plusieurs théologiens mêmes ne pourront s'empêcher d'en rire. Les jeunes +gens et les femmes lisent cette folie avec avidité. Les éditions de tous +les livres dans ce goût se multiplient. + +And on February 8, 1768, he wrote: + +On fait tous les jours des livres contre la religion, dont je voudrais +bien imiter le style pour la défendre. Y a-t-il de plus salé, que la +plupart des traits qui se trouvent dans la _Théologie portative_? Y +a-t-il rien de plus vigoreux, de plus profondément raisonné, d'écrit +avec une éloquence plus audacieuse et plus terrible, que le _Militaire +philosophe_, ouvrage qui court toute l'Europe? [by Naigeon and Holbach] +Lisez la _Théologie portative_, et vous ne pourrez vous empêcher +de rire, en condammant la coupable hardiesse de l'auteur. Lisez +_l'Imposture sacerdotale_--vous y verrez le style de Démosthène. Ces +livres malheuresement inondent l'Europe; mais quelle est la cause +de cette inondation? Il n'y en a point d'autre que les querelles +théologiques qui ont révolté les laïques. _Il s'est fait une révolution +dans l'esprit humain que rien ne peut plus arrêter: les persécutions ne +pourraient qu'irriter le mal_. [Footnote: the italics are mine.] + +It is to be noted however that Voltaire's sentiments varied according to +the point of view of the person to whom he was writing. In a letter to +d'Alembert, May 24, 1769 (Vol. LXV, p. 453), he calls the _Théologie +portative_ "un ouvrage à mon gré, très plaisant, auquel je n'ai +assurément nulle part, ouvrage que je serais très fâché d'avoir fait, et +que je voudrais bien avoir été capable de faire." But in a letter to the +Bishop of Annecy June, 1769, he writes (Vol. XXVIII, p. 73): "Vous lui +[M. de Saint Florentin] imputez, à ce que je vois par vos lettres, des +livres misérables, et jusqu'à _la Theologie portative_, ouvrage fait +apparemment dans quelque cabaret; vous n'êtes pas obligé d'avoir du +goût, mais vous êtes obligé d'être juste" (Vol. XXVIII, p. 73). +Diderot even said of the book: "C'est un assez bon nombre de bonnes +plaisanteries noyées dans un beaucoup plus grand nombre de mauvaises" +and this criticism is just. A few examples of the better jokes will +suffice: + +_Adam:_ C'est le premier homme, Dieu en fait un grand nigaud, qui pour +complaire à sa femme eut la bêtise de mordre dans une pomme que ses +descendans n'ont point encore pu digérer. + +_Idées Innées:_ Notions inspirées des Prêtres de si bonne heure, si +souvent répétées, que devenu grand l'on croît les avoir eu toujours ou +les avoir reçus dès le ventre de sa mère. + +_Jonas:_ La baleine fut à la fin obligée de le vomir tant un Prophète +est un morceau difficile à digérer. + +_Magie:_ Il y en a de deux sortes, la blanche et la noire. La première +est très sainte et se pratique journellement dans l'église. + +_Protestants:_ Chrétiens amphibies. + +_Vierge:_ C'est la mère du fils de Dieu et belle-mère de l'église. + +_Visions:_ Lanternes magiques que de tout temps le Père Eternel s'est +amusé à montrer aux Saintes et aux Prophètes. + +3. Holbach furnished the last chapter of Naigeon's book _Le Militaire +philosophe, ou Difficulties sur la religion_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1768. +Voltaire ascribed the work to St. Hyacinthe. Grimm recognized that the +last chapter was by another hand and considered it the weakest part of +the book. It attempts to demonstrate that all supernatural religions +have been harmful to society and that the only useful religion is +natural religion or morals. The book was refuted by Guidi, in a "_Lettre +a M. le Chevalier de... [Barthe] entraîné dans l'irreligion par un +libelle intitulé Le Militaire philosophe_ (1770, 12mo). + +4. Holbach's next book was _La Contagion sacrée ou l'Histoire naturelle +de la Superstition_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1768. In his preface Holbach +attributed the alleged English original of this work to John Trenchard +but that was only a ruse to avoid persecution. The book is by Holbach. +It has gone through many editions and been translated into English and +Spanish. The first edition had an introduction by Naigeon. According +to him manuscripts of this book became quite rare at one time and were +supposed to have been lost. Later they became more common and this +edition was corrected by collation with six others. + + + [PG transcriber's note: at this point there appears to be a break + in the original text. A sentence introducing the fifth book in + this list, "Letters to Eugenie", has evidently been lost.] + + +The letters were written in 1764, according to Lequinio (_Feuilles +posthumes_), who had his information from Naigeon, to Marguerite, +Marchioness de Vermandois in answer to a very touching and pitiful +letter from that lady who was in great trouble over religion. Her young +husband was a great friend of the Holbachs, but having had a strict +Catholic bringing up she was shocked at their infidelity and warned by +her confessor to keep away from them. "Yet in their home she saw all +the domestic virtues exemplified and beheld that sweet and unchangeable +affection for which the d'Holbachs were eminently distinguished among +their acquaintances and which was remarkable for its striking contrast +with the courtly and Christian habits of the day. Her natural good +sense and love for her friends struggled with her monastic education and +reverence for the priests. The conflict rendered her miserable and she +returned to her country seat to brood over it. In this state of mind she +at length wrote to the Baron and laid open her situation requesting him +to comfort, console, and enlighten her." [47:7] His letters accomplished +the desired effect and he later published them in the hope that they +would do as much for others. They were carefully revised before they +were sent to the press. All the purely personal passages were omitted +and others added to hide the identity of the persons concerned. Letters +of the sort to religious ladies were common at this time. Fréret's were +preventive, Holbach's curative, but appear to be rather strong dose +for a _dévote_. Other examples are Voltaire's _Epître à Uranie_ and +Diderot's _Entretien d'un Philosophe avec la Maréchale de..._. + +6. In 1769 Holbach published two short treatises on the doctrine of +eternal punishment which claimed to be translations from English, but +the originals are not to be found. The titles are _De l'intolérance +convaincue de crime et de folie_ as it is sometimes given, and-- + +7. _L'Enfer détruit ou Examen raisonné du Dogme de l'Eternité des +Peines_. Londres, Amsterdam, 1769. This letter was translated into +English under the title _Hell Destroyed!_ "Now first translated from the +French of d'Alembert without any mutilations," London 1823, which led +Mr. J. Hibbert to say, "I know not why English publishers attribute this +awfully sounding work to the cautious, not to say timid d'Alembert. It +was followed by Whitefoot's _'Torments of Hell,'_ now first translated +from the French." [47:8] + + +Of Holbach's remaining works on religion two, _Histoire critique de +Jésus Christ_ and _Tableau des Saints_, date from 1770 when he began to +publish his more philosophical works. + +8. The _Histoire critique de Jésus Christ ou Analyse raisonnée des +Evangiles_ was published without name of place or date. It was preceded +by Voltaire's _Epître à Uranie_. It is an extremely careful but +unsympathetic analysis of the Gospel accounts, emphasizing all the +inconsistencies and interpreting them with a literalness that they +can ill sustain. From this rationalistic view-point Holbach found the +Gospels a tissue of absurdities and contradictions. His method, however, +would not be followed by the critique of today. + +9. The _Tableau des Saints_ is a still more severe criticism of the +heroes of Christendom. Holbach's proposition is "La raison ne connaît +qu'une mesure pour juger et les hommes et les choses, c'est l'utilité +réelle et permanente, qui en résulte pour notre espèce," (p. 111). +Judged by this standard, the saints with their eyes fixed on another +world have fallen far short. "Ils se flattèrent de mériter le ciel en +se rendant parfaitement inutile à la terre" (p. xviii). Holbach much +prefers the heroes of classical antiquity. The book is violent but +learned throughout, and deals not only with the Jewish patriarchs from +Moses on but with the church fathers and Christian Princes down to the +contemporary defenders of the faith. After a rather one-sided account +of the most dreary characters and events in Christian history, +Holbach concludes: "Tel fut, tel est, et tel sera toujours l'esprit du +Christianisme: il est aisé de sentir qu'il est incompatible avec les +principes les plus évidens de la morale et de la saine politique" (p. +208). + +10. In _Recueil philosophique_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1770, edited by +Naigeon. Réflexions sur les craintes de la Mort. Problème important--La +Religion est-elle nécessaire à la morale et utile à la Politique. Par M. +Mirabaud. + +11. _Essai sur les préjugés, ou De l'influence des opinions sur les +moeurs et sur le bonheur des Hommes_. Londres (Amsterdam), 1770, under +name of Dumarsais. The book pretended to be an elaboration of Dumarsais' +essay on the _Philosophe_ published in the _Nouvelles libertés de +penser_, 1750. + +The special interest connected with it was the refutation Frederick the +Great published under the title _Examen de l'Essai sur les préjugés_, +Londres, Nourse, 1770 (16 mo). The King of Prussia writing from the +point of view of a practical, enlightened despot, took special exception +to Holbach's remarks on government. "Il l'outrage avec autant de +grossièreté que d'indécence, il force le gouvernement de prendre fait et +cause avec l'église pour s'opposer à l'ennemi commun. Mais, quand avec +un acharnement violent et les traits de la plus âcre satire, il calomnie +son Roi et le gouvernement de son pays, on le prend pour un frénétique +echappé de ses chaînes, et livré aux transports les plus violens de +sa rage. Quoi, Monsieur le philosophe, protecteur des moeurs et de +la vertu, ignorez vous qu'un bon citoyen doit respecter la forme de +gouvernement sous laquelle il vit, ignorez vous qu'il ne convient point +à un particulier d'insulter les Puissances..." (p. 28). + +"Non content d'insulter à toutes les têtes couronnés de l'Europe, notre +philosophe s'amuse, en passant, à répandre du ridicule sur les ouvrages +de Hugo Grotius. J'oserais croire qu'il n'en sera pas cru sur sa +parole, et que le _Droit de la guerre et de la paix_ ira plus loin à la +postérité que _l'Essai sur les préjugés_" (p. 39). + +Holbach in his anti-militaristic enthusiasm had used the words +"bourreaux mercenaires"; "epithète élégante," continues Frederick, +"dont il honore les guerriers. Mais souffrions nous qu'un cerveau brûlé +insulte au plus noble emploi de la Societé?" (p.49). He goes on to +defend war in good old-fashioned terms. "Vous déclamez contre la guerre, +elle est funeste en elle-même; mais c'est un mal comme ces autres +fléaux du ciel qu'il faut supposer nécessaires dans l'arrangement de cet +univers parce qu'ils arrivent périodiquement et qu'aucun siècle n'a pu +jusqu'à présent d'en avoir été exempt. J'ai prouvé que de tout temps +l'erreur a dominé dans ce monde; et comme une chose aussi constante peut +être envisagée comme une loi général de la nature, j'en conclus que ce +qui a été toujours sera toujours le même" (p. 19). + +Frederick sent his little refutation to Voltaire for his compliments +which were forthcoming. A few days after Voltaire wrote to d'Alembert: + +Le roi de Prusse vous a envoyé, sans doute, son petit écrit contre un +livre imprimé cette année, intitulé _Essai sur les préjugés_, ce roi a +aussi les siens, qu'il faut lui pardonner; on n'est pas roi pour rien. +Mais je voudrais savoir quel est l'auteur de cet _Essai_ contre lequel +sa majesté prussienne s'amuse à écrire un peu durement. Serait-il de +Diderot? serait-il de Damilaville? serait-il d'Helvetius? peut-être ne +le connaissez-vous point, je le crois imprimé en Hollande (Vol. LXVI, p. +304). + +D'Alembert answered: + +Oui, le roi de Prusse m'a envoyé son écrit contre _l'Essai sur les +préjugés_. Je ne suis point étonné que ce prince n'ait pas goûté +l'ouvrage; je l'ai lu depuis cette réfutation et il m'a paru bien long, +bien monotone et trop amer. Il me semble que ce qu'il y de bon dans ce +livre aurait pu et dû être noyé dans moins de pages et je vois que vous +en avez porté à peu près le même jugement (Vol. LXVI, p. 324). + +In spite of these unfavorable judgments the _Essai_ was reprinted +as late as 1886 by the Bibliotheque Nationale in its _Collection des +meilleurs auteurs anciens et modernes_, still attributed to Dumarsais +with the account of his life by "le citoyen Daube" which graced the +edition of the year I. (1792) + +12. Early in 1770 appeared Holbach's most famous book, the _Système de +la Nature_, the only book that is connected with his name in the minds +of most historians and philosophers. It seems wiser, however, to deal +with this work in a chapter apart and continue the account of his later +publications. + +13. The next of which was _Le bon-sens, ou idées naturelles opposées +aux idées surnaturelles. Par l'Auteur du Système de la Nature_, Londres +(Amsterdam), 1772. This work has gone through twenty-five editions or +more and has been translated into English, German, Italian and Spanish. +As early as 1791 it began to be published under the name of the curé +Jean Meslier d'Etrépigny, made so famous by Voltaire's publication of +what was supposed to be his last will and testament in which on his +death bed he abjured and cursed Christianity. Some editions contain in +the preface Letters by Voltaire and his sketch of Jean Meslier. The +last reprint was by De Laurence, Scott & Co., Chicago, 1910. The book +is nothing more or less than the _Système de la Nature_, in a greatly +reduced and more readable form. + +Voltaire, to whom it was attributed by some, said to d'Alembert, "Il y +a plus que du bon sens dans ce livre, il est terrible. S'il sort de la +boutique du _Système de la Nature_, l'auteur s'est bien perfectionné." +D'Alembert answered: "Je pense comme vous sur le _Bon-sens_ qui me +paraît un bien plus terrible livre que le _Système de la Nature_." These +remarks were inscribed by Thomas Jefferson on the title page of his copy +of _Bon-sens_. The book has gone through several editions in the United +States and was sold at a popular price. The German translation was +published in Baltimore on the basis of a copy found in a second-hand +book store in New Orleans. The most serious work written against it is +a long and carefully written treatise against materialism by an Italian +monk, Gardini, entitled _L'anima umana e sue proprietà dedotte da +soli principi de ragione, dal P. lettore D. Antonmaria Gardini, monaco +camaldalese, contro i materialisti e specialmente contro l'opera +intitulata, le Bon-Sens, ou Idées Naturelles opposées aux idées +Surnaturelles. In Padova MDCCLXXXI Nella stamperia del Seminario. +Appresso Giovanni Manfré, Con Licenza de Superiori e Privilegio_ (8vo, +p. xx + 284). + +14. In 1773 Holbach published his _Recherches sur les Miracles_, a much +more sober work than his previous writings on religion. In this book he +raises the well known difficulties with belief in miracles and brings +a great deal of real learning and logic to bear on the question. The +entire work is in a reasonable and philosophic spirit. His conclusion +is that "une vraie religion doit avoir au défaut de bonnes raisons, des +preuves sensibles, capables de faire impression sur tout ceux qui la +cherchent de bonne foi. Ce ne sont pas les miracles." The same year he +published two serious but somewhat tiresome works on politics. + +15. _La politique naturelle_. + +16. _Système social_ in which he attempts to reduce government to the +naturalistic principles which were the basis of his entire philosophy. +The first is also attributed to Malesherbes. There is a long and keen +criticism of the _Système Social_ by Mme. d'Epinay in a letter to Abbé +Galiani Jan. 12, 1773 (Gal. _Corresp._, Vol. II, p. 167). + +But the most interesting reaction upon it was that of the Abbé Richard +who criticized it from point of view of the divine right of kings in +his long and tiresome work entitled _La Défense de la religion, de +la morale, de la vertu, de la politique et de la société, dans la +réfutation des ouvrages qui ont pour titre, l'un Système Social etc. +Vautre La Politique Naturelle par le R. P. Ch. L. Richard, Professeur de +Théologie_, etc., Paris, Moulard, 1775. + +In a preface of forty-seven pages the fears of the conservative old +Abbé are well expressed. The aim of these modern philosophers who are +poisoning public opinion by their writings is to "démolir avec l'antique +édifice de la religion chrétienne, celui des moeurs, de la vertu, de la +saine politique etc. rompre tous les canaux de communication entre la +terre et le ciel, bannir, exterminer du monde le Dieu qui le tira du +néant, y introduire l'impiété la plus complète, la licence la plus +consomnée, l'anarchie la plus entière, la confusion la plus horrible." + +17. Holbach's next work, _Ethocratie ou Gouvernement fondé sur la +Morale_, Amsterdam, Rey, 1776, is interesting mainly for its unfortunate +dedication and peroration, inscribed to Louis XVI, who was hailed +therein as a long expected Messiah. + +18. Holbach's last works dealt exclusively with morals. They are _La +morale universelle ou les devoirs de l'homme fondés sur la nature_, +Amsterdam, 1771, and + +19. A posthumous work, _Elements de la Morale universelle, ou catechisme +de la nature_, Paris, 1790. This is a beautiful little book. It +is simple and clear to the last degree. There have been several +translations in Spanish for the purposes of elementary education +in morals in the public schools. It was composed in 1765. Holbach's +attitude towards morals is indicated by his _Avertissement_--"La morale +est une science dont les principes sont susceptibles d'une démonstration +aussi claire et aussi rigoureuse que ceux du calcul et de la géometrie." + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE SYSTÈME DE LA NATURE. + + +Early in 1770 appeared the famous _Système de la Nature, ou Des Loix du +Monde Physique et du Monde Morale, Par M. Mirabaud, Secrétaire Perpétuel +et l'un des Quarante de l'Académie Française_, Londres (Amsterdam), +1770. This work has gone through over thirty editions in France, Spain, +Germany, England and the United States. No book of a philosophic or +scientific character has ever caused such a sensation at the time of its +publication, excepting perhaps Darwin's _Origin of Species_, the thesis +of which is more than hinted at by Holbach. There were several editions +in 1770. A very few copies contain a _Discours préliminaire de l'Auteur_ +of sixteen pages which Naigeon had printed separately in London. The +_Abrégé du Code de la Nature_, which ends the book was also published +separately and is sometimes attributed to Diderot, 8vo, 16 pp. [54:1] + +There is also a book entitled _Le vrai sens du Système de la Nature_, +1774, attributed to Helvetius, a very clear, concise epitome largely in +Holbach's own short and telling sentences, and much more effective than +the original because of its brevity. Holbach himself reproduced the +_Système de la Nature_ in a shortened form in _Bon-sens_, 1772, and +Payrard plagiarized it freely in _De la Nature et de ses Lois_, Paris, +1773. The book has been attributed to Diderot, Helvetius, Robinet, +Damilaville and others. Naigeon is certain that it is entirely by +Holbach, although it is generally held that Diderot had a hand in it. +It was published under the name of Mirabaud to obviate persecution. The +manuscript, it was alleged, had been found among his papers as a sort +of "testament" or philosophical legacy to posterity. This work may be +called the bible of scientific materialism and dogmatic atheism. Nothing +before or since has ever approached it in its open and unequivocal +insistence on points of view commonly held, if at all, with reluctance +and reserve. It is impossible in a study of this length to deal fully +with the attacks and refutations that were published immediately. We may +mention first the condemnation of the book by the _Parlement de +Paris_, August 18, 1770, to be burned by the public hangman along +with Voltaire's _Dieu et les Hommes_, and Holbach's _Discours sur les +Miracles_, _La Contagion sacrée_ and _le Christianisme dévoilé_, which +had already been condemned on September 24, 1769. [55:2] + +The _Réquisitoire_ of Seguier, _avocat général_, on the occasion of the +condemnation of the _Système de la Nature_ was so weak and ridiculous +that the _Parlement de Paris_ refused to sanction its publication, and +it was printed by the express order of the King. As Grimm observed, +it seemed designed solely to acquaint the ignorant with this dangerous +work, without opposing any of its propositions. One would look in vain +for a better example of the conservatism of the legal profession. [55:3] + +Le poison des nouveautés profanes ne peut corrompre la sainte gravité +des moeurs qui caractérise les vrais Magistrats: tout peut changer +autour d'eux, _ils restent immuables avec la loi_ (page 496). + +N'est-ce pas ce fatal abus de la liberté de penser, qui a enfanté cette +multitude de sectes, d'opinions, de partis, et cet esprit d'indépendance +dont d'autres nations ont éprouvé les sinstres révolutions. Le même +abus produira en France des effets peut-être plus funestes. La liberté +indéfinie trouveroit, dans la caractère de la nation, dans son activité, +dans son amour pour la nouveauté, un moyen de plus pour préparer les +plus affreuses révolutions (p. 498). + +The most interesting private attacks on the _Système de la Nature_ +came from two somewhat unexpected quarters, from Ferney and Sans Souci. +Voltaire, as usual, was not wholly consistent in his opinions of it, as +is revealed in his countless letters on the subject. Grimm attributed +his hostility to jealousy, and the fear that the _Système de la Nature_ +might "renverse le rituel de Ferney et que le patriarcat ne s'en aille +au diable avec lui." [56:4] George Leroy went so far as to write a book +entitled _Réflexions sur la jalousie, pour servir de commentaire aux +derniers ouvrages de M. de Voltaire_, 1772. Frederick II naturally felt +bound to defend the kings who, as Voltaire said, were no better treated +than God in the _Système de la Nature_. [56:5] + +Voltaire's correspondence during this period is so interesting that it +seems worth while to quote at length, especially from his letters to +Fredrick the Great. In May 1770, shortly after the publication of the +_Système de la Nature_ Voltaire wrote to M. Vernes: [56:6] "On a tant +dit de sottises sur la nature que je ne lis plus aucun de ces livres +là." But by July he had read it and wrote to Grimm: [56:7] "Si l'ouvrage +eut été plus serré il aurait fait un effet terrible, mais tel qu'il est +il en a fait beaucoup. Il est bien plus éloquent que Spinoza... J'ai +une grande curiosité de savoir ce qu'on en pense à Paris." In writing +to d'Alembert about this time he seemed to have a fairly favorable +impression of the book. "Il m'a paru qu'il y avait des longueurs, des +répétitions et quelques inconséquences, mais il y a trop de bon pour +qu'on n'éclate avec fureur contre ce livre. Si on garde le silence, ce +sera une preuve du prodigieux progrès que la tolérance fait tous les +jours." [57:8] But there was little likelihood that philosophers or +theologians would keep silent about this scandalous book. Before the end +of the month Voltaire was writing to d'Alembert about his own and +the king of Prussia's refutations of it, and the same day wrote to +Frederick: "Il me semble que vos remarques doivent être imprimées; ce +sont des leçons pour le genre humain. Vous soutenez d'un bras la cause +de Dieu et vous écrasez de l'autre la superstition." [57:9] Later +Voltaire confessed to Frederick that he also had undertaken to rebuke +the author of the Système de la Nature. "Ainsi Dieu a pour lui les deux +hommes les moins superstitieux de l'Europe, ce que devrait lui plaire +beaucoup" (p. 390). + +Frederick, however, hesitated to make his refutation public, and wrote +to Voltaire: "Lorsque j'eus achevé mon ouvrage contre l'athéisme, je +crus ma réfutation très orthodoxe, je la relus, et je la trouvai bien +éloignée de l'être. Il y a des endroits qui ne saurait paraître sans +effaroucher les timides et scandaliser les dévots. Un petit mot qui +m'est échappé sur l'éternité du monde me ferait lapider dans votre +patrie, si j'y étais né particulier, et que je l'eusse fait imprimer. +Je sens que je n'ai point du tout ni l'âme ni le style théologique." +[57:10] Voltaire, in his "petite drôlerie en faveur de la Divinité" +(as he called his work) and in his letters, could not find terms harsh +enough in which to condemn the _Système de la Nature_. He called it "un +chaos, un grand mal moral, un ouvrage de ténèbres, un péché contre la +nature, un système de la folie et de l'ignorance," and wrote to Delisle +de Sales: "Je ne vois pas que rien ait plus avili notre siècle que +cette énorme sottise." [58:11] Voltaire seemed to grow more bitter about +Holbach's book as time went on. His letters and various works abound in +references to it, and it is difficult to determine his motives. He was +accused, as has been suggested, by Holbach's circle "de caresser les +gens en place, et d'abandonner ceux qui n'y sont plus." [58:12] M. +Avenel believed that he suspected Holbach himself of making these +accusations. Voltaire's letter to the Duc de Richelieu, Nov. 1, 1770, +[58:13] seems to give them foundation. + +A very different reaction was that of Goethe and his university circle +at Strasburg to whom the _Système de la Nature_ appeared a harmless +and uninteresting book, "grau," "cimmerisch," "totenhaft," "die echte +Quintessenz der Greisenheit." To these fervent young men in the youthful +flush of romanticism, its sad, atheistic twilight seemed to cast a +veil over the beauty of the earth and rob the heaven of stars; and +they lightheardedly discredited both Holbach and Voltaire in favor of +Shakespeare and the English romantic school. One would look far for a +better instance of the romantic reaction which set in so soon and so +obscured the clarity of the issues at stake in the eighteenth century +thought. [58:14] + +The leading refutations directed explicitly against the _Système de la +Nature_ are: + +1. 1770, Rive, Abbé J. J., Lettres philosophiques contre le _ Système de +la Nature_. (Portefeuille hebdomadaire de Bruxelles.) + +2. Frederick II, _Examen critique du livre intitulé, Système de la +Nature_. (Political Miscellanies, p. 175.) + +3. Voltaire, Dieu, Réponse de M. de Voltaire au _Système de la Nature_. +Au château de Ferney, 1770, 8 vo, pp. 34. + +4. 1771, Bergier, Abbé N. F., Examen du matérialisme, ou Réfutation du +_Système de la Nature_. Paris, Humbolt, 1771, 2 vols., 12mo. + +5. Camuset, Abbé J. N., Principes contre l'incrédulité, a l'occasion du +_Système de la Nature_. Paris, Pillot, 1771, 12mo, pp. viii + 335. + +6. Castillon, J. de (Salvernini di Castiglione), Observations sur le +livre intitulé, _Système de la Nature_. Berlin, Decker, 1771, 8vo. (40 +sols broché.) + +7. Rochford, Dubois de, Pensées diverses contre le système des +matérialistes, à l'occasion d'un écrit intitulé; _Système de la Nature_. +Paris, Lambert, 1771, 12mo. + +8. 1773, L'Impie démasqué, ou remontrance aux écrivains incrédules. +Londres, Heydinger, 1773 + +9. Holland, J. H., Réflexions philosophiques sur le _Système de la +Nature_. Paris, 1773, 2 vols., 8vo. + +10. 1776, Buzonnière, Nouel de, Observations sur un ouvrage intitulé le +_Système de la Nature_. Paris, Debure, père, 1776, 8vo, pp. 126. (Prix 1 +livre, 16 sols broché.) + +11. 1780, Fangouse, Abbé, La religion prouvée aux incrédules, avec +une lettre à l'auteur du _Système de la Nature_ par un homme du +monde. Paris, Debure l'aîné, 12mo, p. 150. Same under title Réflexions +importantes sur la religion, etc., 1785. + +12. 1788, Paulian, A. J., Le véritable système de la nature, etc., +Avignon, Niel, 2 vols., 12mo. + +13. 1803, Mangold, F. X. von, Unumstossliche Widerlegung des +Materialismus gegen den Verfasser des _Systems der Natur_. Augsburg, +1803. + + +Of these and other refutations of materialism such as Saint-Martin's +_Des erreurs et de la vérité_, Dupont de Nemours' _Philosophie de +l'univers_, Delisles de Sales' _Philosophie de la nature_, etc., which +are not directed explicitly against the _Système de la Nature_, the +works of Voltaire and Frederick the Great are the most interesting but +by no means the most serious or convincing. Morley finds Voltaire very +weak and much beside the point, especially in his discussion of order +and disorder in nature which Holbach had denied. Voltaire's argument is +that there must be an intelligent motor or cause behind nature (p. 7). +This is God (p. 8). He admits at the outset that all systems are mere +dreams but he continues to insist with a dogmatism equal to Holbach's on +the validity of his dream. He repeatedly asserts without foundation that +Holbach's system is based on the false experiment of Needham (pp. 5, +6), and even goes so far as to ridicule the evolutionary hypothesis +altogether (p. 6). He speaks of the necessity of a belief in God, by +a kind of natural logic. God and matter exist in the nature of things, +"Tout nous announce un Être suprême, rien ne nous dit ce qu'il est." God +himself seems to be a kind of fatalistic necessity. "C'est ce que vous +appellerez Nature et c'est ce que j'appelle Dieu." At the end he shifts +the argument from the base of necessity to that of utility. Which is the +more consoling doctrine? If the idea of God has prevented ten crimes +I hold that the entire world should embrace it (p. 27). As Morley has +said, such arguments could scarcely have convinced Voltaire himself. + +Frederick was surprised that Voltaire and D'Alembert had found anything +good in the book. His refutation was more methodical than that of +Voltaire, who called it a "homage to the Divinity" but wrote to +D'Alembert that it was written in the style of a notary. Two other +refutations emanating from the Academy of Berlin were those of Castillon +and Holland. The first of these is a very heavy and learned work, +formidable and forbidding in its logic. Castillon reduces Holbach's +propositions to three. The self-existence of matter, the essential +relation of movement to it, and the possibility of deriving everything +from it or some mode of it. Castillon concludes after five hundred pages +of reasoning that matter is contingent, movement not inherent in it, +and that purely spiritual beings exist in independence of it. Hence +the _Système de la Nature_ is a "long and wicked error." Holland's is a +still more serious work, which the Sorbonne recommended strongly as +an antidote against Holbach's _Système_ which it qualified as "une +malheureuse production que notre siècle doit rougir d'avoir enfantée." +But when it was discovered that Holland was a Protestant his work was +condemned forthwith, Jan. 17, 1773. + +Bergier's refutation is interesting as an attack from a churchman +of extraordinary keenness and insight into the progress of the new +philosophy. In the _Système de la Nature_ he recognized the hand of the +author of _La Contagion sacrée_ and the _Essai sur les préjugés_ +and dealt with it as he did the _Christianisme dévoilé_. Buzonniere, +Rochfort and Fangouse are milder and more naive in their demonstrations +and their works are of no weight or interest. _L'Impie démasqué_ is +a brutal work which qualifies Holbach as a "vile apostle of vice and +crime," and the _Système de la Nature_ as the most impudent treatise on +atheism that has yet dishonored the globe--one which covers the century +with shame and will be the scandal of future generations. + +The work of Paulian is of a different sort. Coming comparatively late, +it attempted to review the hostile opinions of many years and then mass +them in an overwhelming final attack on the _Système de la Nature_. To +this end Paulian rewrites the entire book chapter by chapter, giving +the "true version." He then reviews Holland's outline and Bergier's +comments, together with seven articles directed explicitly against the +_Système de la Nature_ in such works as the _Lettres Helviennes_, of +Abbé Barruel, _Dict. des Philosophes_, _Dict. anti-philosophe_, his own +_Dict. théologique_, etc., besides many other writings against the +new philosophy in general. He then reviews articles by members of the +philosophic school against materialism and then goes back to Holbach's +sources, Diderot, Bayle, Spinoza, Lucretius, Epicurus, etc. The work is +not scholarly but comprehensive and evidently discouraged further formal +refutations. + +The _Système de la Nature_ had many critics in the stormy days that +followed 1789. Delisle de Sales found it a monstrosity--a _fratras_; La +Harpe called it an infamous book, "un amas de bêtises qu'on ose appeler +philosophie, inconcevables inepties, un immense échafaudage de mensonge +et d'invective"; M. Villemain is much more calm and fair; Lord Brougham, +like Damiron, Buzonnière, and many others, found it seductive but full +of false reasoning; Lerminier was so severe that St.-Beuve was moved to +defend Holbach against him. Samuel Wilkinson, the English translator of +1820, is one of the few whose criticism is at all favorable. Holbach has +always appealed to a certain type of radical mind and his translators +and editors have generally been men who were often over-enthusiastic. +For example, Mr. Wilkinson says of the _Système de la Nature_, [64:15] +"No work, ancient or modern, has surpassed it in the eloquence and +sublimity of its language or in the facility with which it treats +the most abstruse and difficult subjects. It is without exception the +boldest effort the human mind has yet produced in the investigation of +Morals and Theology. The republic of letters has never produced another +author whose pen was so well calculated to emancipate mankind from all +those trammels with which the nurse, the school master, and the priest +have successively locked up their noblest faculties, before they were +capable of reasoning and judging for themselves." + +It seems unnecessary to analyze the _Système de la Nature_. This has +been done by Damiron, Soury, Fabre, Lange, Morley, the historians of +philosophy, and encyclopaedists; and the book itself is easily available +in the larger libraries. The substance of Holbach's philosophy is +susceptible of clearer treatment apart from it or any one of his books, +although it permeates all of them. + +M. Jules Soury has said, in describing a certain type of mind: "Il est +d'heureux esprits, des âmes fortes et saines, que n'effraie point le +silence éternel des espaces infinis où s'anéantissait la raison de +Pascal. Naïves et robustes natures, mâles et vigoureux penseurs, qui +gardent toute la vie quelque chose des dons charmants de la jeunesse et +de l'enfance même, une foi vive dans le témoinage immédiat de nos sens +et de notre conscience, une humeur alerte, toute de joyeuse ardeur, +et comme une intrépidité d'esprit que rien n'arrête. Pour eux tout est +clair et uni; ou à peu près, et là où ils soupçonnent quelque bas-bond +insondable, ils se détournent et poursuivent fièrement leur chemin. +Comme cet Epicurien dont parle Cicéron au commencement du _De natura +deorum_, ils ont toujours l'air de sortir de l'assemblée des dieux et de +descendre des intermondes d'Epicure." + +Such was Holbach. His philosophy is based on the child-like assumption +that things are as they seem, provided they are observed with sufficient +care by a sufficient number of people. This brings us at once to the +very heart of Holbach's method which was experimental and inductive +to the last degree. Holbach was nourished on what might be called +scientific rather than philosophical traditions. As M. Tourneux has +pointed out, he had been a serious student of the natural sciences, +especially those connected with the constitution of the earth. These +studies led him to see the disparity between certain accepted and +traditional cosmologies and a scientific interpretation of the +terrestrial globe and the forms of life which flourish upon it. Finding +the supposed sacred and infallible records untrustworthy in one regard, +he began to question their veracity at other points. Being of a +critical frame of mind, he took the records rather more literally than +a sympathetic, allegorical apologist would have done, although it cannot +be said that he used much historical insight. After having studied the +sacred texts for purposes of writing or having translated other men's +studies on Moses, David, the Prophets, Jesus, Paul, the Christian +theologians and saints, miracles, etc., he concluded that these accounts +were untrustworthy and mendacious. He knew ancient and modern philosophy +and found in the greater part of it an unwarranted romantic or +theological trend which his scientific training had caused him to +suspect. It must be admitted that however false or illogical Holbach's +conclusions may be considered, he was by no means ignorant of the +subjects he chose to treat, as some of his detractors would have one +believe. His theory of knowledge was that of Locke and Condillac, and +on this foundation he built up his system of scientific naturalism and +dogmatic atheism. + +His initial assumption is, as has been suggested, that experience +(application réitérée des sens) and reason are trustworthy guides to +knowledge. By them we become conscious of an external objective world, +of which sentient beings themselves are a part, from which they receive +impressions through their sense organs. These myriad impressions when +compared and reflected upon form reasoned knowledge or truth, provided +they are substantiated by repeated experiences carefully made. That is, +an idea is said to be true when it conforms perfectly with the actual +external object. This is possible unless one's senses are defective, or +one's judgment vitiated by emotion and passion. + +Holbach's contention is that if one applies experience and reason to +the external universe, or nature, "ce vaste assemblage de tout ce qui +existe"; it reveals a _single objective reality_, i. e., _matter_, which +is in itself essentially active or in a state of motion. + +From matter in motion are derived all the phenomena that strike our +senses. All is matter or a function of it. Matter, then, is not an +effect, but a cause. It is not caused; it is from eternity and of +necessity. The cardinal point in Holbach's philosophy is an inexorable +materialistic necessity. Nothing, then, is exempt from the laws of +physics and chemistry. Inorganic substance and organic life fall into +the same category. Man himself with all his differentiated faculties +is but a function of matter and motion in extraordinary complex and +involved relations. Man's imputation to himself of free will and +unending consciousness apart from his machine is an idle tale built on +his desires, not on his experiences nor his knowledge of nature. This +imputation of a will or soul to nature, independent of it or in any +sense above it, is a still more idle one derived from his renunciation +of the witness of his senses and his following after the phantoms of his +imagination. It is ignorance or disregard of nature then that has +given rise to supernatural ideas that have "no correspondence with true +sight," or, as Holbach expressed it, have no counterpart in the external +object. In other words, theology, or poetry about God, as Petrarch said, +is ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system. + +Man is a purely natural or physical being, like a tree or a stone. His +so-called spiritual nature (l'homme moral) is merely a phase of his +physical nature considered under a special aspect. He is all matter in +motion, and when that ceases to function in a particular way, called +life, he ceases to be as a conscious entity. He is so organized, however +that his chief desires are to survive and render his existence happy. +By happiness Holbach means the presence of pleasure and the absence of +pain. In all his activity, then, man will seek pleasure and avoid pain. +The chief cause of man's misery or lack of well being is his ignorance +of the powers and possibilities of his own nature and the Universal +Nature. All he needs is to ascertain his place in nature and adjust +himself to it. From the beginning of his career he has been the dupe +of false ideas, especially those connected with supernatural powers, +on whom he supposed he was dependent. But, if ignorance of nature gave +birth to the Gods, knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them and +the evils resulting from them, the introduction of theistic ideas into +politics and morals. In a word, the truth, that is, _correct ideas of +nature_ is the one thing needful to the happiness and well-being of man. + +The application of these principles to the given situation in France in +1770 would obviously have produced unwelcome results. Holbach's theory +was that religion was worse than useless in that it had inculcated false +and pernicious ideas in politics and morals. He would do away completely +with it in the interest of putting these sciences on a natural basis. +This basis is self-interest, or man's inevitable inclination toward +survival and the highest degree of well-being, "L'objet de la morale est +de faire connaître aux hommes que leur plus grand intérêt exige qu'ils +pratiquent la vertu; le but du gouvernement doit être de la leur faire +pratiquer." + +Government then assumes the functions of moral restraint formally +delegated to religion; and punishments render virtue attractive and vice +repugnant. Holbach's theory of social organization is practically that +of Aristotle. Men combine in order to increase the store of individual +well-being, to live the good life. If those to whom society has +delegated sovereignty abuse their power, society has the right to take +it from them. Sovereignty is merely an agent for the diffusion of truth +and the maintenance of virtue, which are the prerequisites of social and +individual well-being. The technique of progress is enlightenment and +good laws. + +Nothing could be clearer or simpler than Holbach's system. As Diderot +so truly said, he will not be quoted on both sides of any question. +His uncompromising atheism is the very heart and core of his system +and clarifies the whole situation. All supernatural ideas are to be +abandoned. Experience and reason are once for all made supreme, and +henceforth refuse to share their throne or abdicate in favor of faith. +Holbach's aim was as he said to bring man back to nature and render +reason dear to him. "Il est tempts que cette raison injustement dégradée +quitte un ton pusillamine qui la rendront complice du mensonge et du +délire." + +If reason is to rule, the usurper, religion, must be ejected; hence +atheism was fundamental to his entire system. He did not suppose by any +means that it would become a popular faith, because it presupposed too +much learning and reflection, but it seemed to him the necessary weapon +of a reforming party at that time. He defines an atheist as follows: +"C'est un homme, qui détruit des chimères nuisibles au genre humain, +pour ramener les hommes à la nature, à l'expérience, à la raison. C'est +un penseur qui, ayant médité la matière, ses propriétés et ses façons +d'agir, n'a pas besoin, pour expliquer les phénomènes de l'univers et +les opérations de la nature, d'imaginer des puissances idéales, des +intelligences imaginaires, des êtres de raison; qui loin de faire mieux +connaître cette nature, ne font que la rendre capricieuse, inexplicable, +et méconnaissable, inutile au bonheur des hommes." + + + + +APPENDIX + +HOLBACH'S CORRESPONDENCE + + + The following letters of Holbach are extant: + + Holbach to Hume, Aug. 23, 1763. + Holbach to Hume, Mar. 16, 1766. + Holbach to Hume, July 7, 1766. + Holbach to Hume, Aug. 18, 1766. + Holbach to Hume, Sept. 7, 1766. + + These were printed in Hume's _Private Correspondence_, London, 1820, + pp. 252-263, and deal largely with Hume's quarrel with Rousseau. + + Holbach to Garrick, June 16, 1765. + Holbach to Garrick, Feb. 9, 1766. + + These two letters are in manuscript in Lansdowne House, + Coll. Forster, and were published by F. A. Hedgcock, + _David Garrick et ses amis français_. Paris, 1911, pp. 251-253. + + Holbach to Wilkes, Aug., 1746, 9 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30867, p. 14). + Holbach to Wilkes, Dec. 10, 1746 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30867, p. 18). + Holbach to Wilkes, May 22, 1766 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30869, p. 39) + Holbach to Wilkes, Nov. 9, 1766 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30869, p. 81). + Holbach to Wilkes, Dec. 10, 1767 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30869, p. 173). + Holbach to Wilkes, July 17, 1768 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30870, p. 59). + Holbach to Wilkes, Mar. 19, 1770 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30871, p. 16). + Holbach to Wilkes, April 27, 1775, 9 (Wilkes, _Correspondence_, + London, 1804, Vol. IV, p. 176). + + The first seven of these letters are published for the first time + in the present volume, pp. 6-11 and pp. 75-80. + + Holbach to Galiani, Aug. 11, 1769 (_Critica_, Vol. I, pp. 488 sq.). + + Galiani to Holbach, April 7, 1770 (Galiani, _Correspondence_, Paris, + 1890, Vol. I, p. 92). + + Galiani to Holbach, July 21, 1770 (Galiani, _Correspondence_, Paris, + 1890, Vol. I, p. 199). + + Holbach to Galiani, Aug. 25, 1770 (_Critica_, Vol. I, p. 489). + + + There are references to other letters in _Critica_ which I have not + been able to find. + + Holbach to Beccaria, Mar. 15, 1767, published by M. Landry + _Beccaria, Scritte e lettre inediti_, 1910, p. 146. + + Holbach to Malesherbes, April 6, 1761 (hitherto unpublished). See + present volume, p. 30. + + + HOLBACH TO HUME + (Hume, Private Correspondence, London, 1820, pp. 252-263) + PARIS, the 23rd. of August, 1763 + + _Sir,_-- + + I have received with the deepest sense of gratitude your very kind + and obliging letter of the 8th. inst: favors of great men ought to + give pride to those that have at least the merit of setting the value + that is due upon them. This is my case with you, sir; the reading + of your valuable works has not only inspired me with the strongest + admiration for your genius and amiable parts, but gave me the highest + idea of your person and the strongest desire of getting acquainted + with one of the greatest philosophers of my age, and of the best friend + to mankind. These sentiments have emboldened me to send formally, + though unknown to you, the work you are mentioning to me. I thought + you were the best to judge of such a performance, and I took only + the liberty of giving a hint of my desires, in case it should meet + with your approbation, nor was I surprized, or presumed to be + displeased, at seeing my wishes disappointed. The reasons appeared + very obvious to me; not withstanding the British liberty, I conceived + there were limits even to it. However, my late friend's book has + appeared since and there is even an edition of it lately done in + England: I believe it will be relished by the friends of truth, + who like to see vulgar errors struck at the root. This has been + your continued task, sir; and you deserve for it the praises of all + sincere wellwishers of humanity: give me leave to rank myself among + them, and express to you, by this opportunity you have been so kind + as to give me, the fervent desire we have to see you in this country. + Messrs. Stuart, Dempster, Fordyce, who are so good as to favor me + with their company, have given me some hopes of seeing you in this + metropolis, where you have so many admirers as readers, and as many + sincere friends as there are disciples of philosophy. I don't doubt + but my good friend M. Helvétius will join in our wishes, and prevail + upon you to come over. I assure you, sir, you won't perceive much + the change of the country, for all countries are alike for people that + have the same minds. + + I am, with the greatest veneration and esteem, sir, your most + obedient and most humble servant. + D'HOLBACH. + Rue Royale, butte St. Roch, à Paris. + + + HOLBACH To GARRICK + (Coll. Forster, Vol. XXI; pub., Hedgcock, p. 253) + PARIS, Feb ye 9th, 1766. + + I received, my very Dear Sir, with a great deal of pleasure, your + agreeable letter of ye 24th of January, but was very sorry to hear + that you are inlisted in the numerous troup of _gouty_ people. Tho' + I have myself the honour of being of that tribe I dont desire my + friends should enter into the same corporation. I am particularly + griev'd to see you among the invalids for you have, more than any + other, occasion for the free use of your limbs. However, don't be + cross and peevish for that would be only increasing you distemper; + and I charge you especially of not scolding that admirable lady + Mrs Garrick, whose sweetness of temper and care must be a great + comfort in your circumstances. I beg leave to present her with my + respects and ye compliments of my wife, that has enjoyed but an + indifferent state of health, owing to the severity of the winter. + Mr and Made Helvetius desire you both their best wishes and so do + all your friends, for whom I can answer that every one of them + keeps a kind remembrance of your valuable persons. Dr. Gem thinks + you'll do very well to go to Bath, but his opinion is that a thin + diet would be more serviceable to you than anything else; believe + he is in the right. Abbé Morellet pays many thanks for the answers + to his queries, but complains of their shortness and laconism; + however it is not your fault. He is glad to hear you have receiv'd + his translation of Beccaria's book, _Des délits et des peines_ and + the compliments of our friend Dr Gatti to whom I gave your direction + before he went to London. Our friend Suard has entered his neck into + the matrimonial halter; we are all of us very sorry for it for we know + that nothing combin'd with love, will at last make nothing at all. + + I was not much surpris'd at the particulars you are pleas'd to mention + about Rousseau. According to the thorough knowledge I have had of + him I look on that man as a mere philosophical quack, full of + affectation, of pride, of oddities and even villainies; the work he + is going to publish justifies the last imputation. Is his memory so + short as to forget that Mr Grimm, for those 9 years past, has taken + care of the mother of his wench or _gouvernante_ whom he left to starve + here after having debauch'd her daughter and having got her 3 or 4 + times with child. That great philosopher should remember that + Mr. Grimm has in his hands letters under his own hand-writing that + prove him the most ungrateful dogg in the world. During his last + stay in Paris he made some attempts to see Mr Diderot, and being + refused that favor, he pretended that Diderot endeavoured to see + him, but that himself had refused peremptorily to comply with his + request. I hope these particulars will suffice to let you know what + you are to think of that illustrious man. I send you here a copy of + a letter supposed to come from the King of Prussia, but done by + Mr Horace Walpole, whereby you'll see that gentleman has found out + his true character. But enough of that rascal who deserves not to be + in Mr Hume's company but rather among the bears, if there are any in + the mountains of Wales. + + I am surprized you have not receiv'd yet the _Encyclopédie_, for a + great number of copies have been sent over already to England unless + you have left your subscription here, where hitherto not one copy has + been delivered for prudent reasons. + + We have had in the French Comedy a new play called _Le Philosophie sans + le savoir_ done and acted in a new stile, quite natural and moving: it + has a prodigious success and deserves it extremely well. Marmontel + will give us very soon upon the Italian stage his comical opera of + _La Bergère des Alpes_. I hope it will prove very agreeable to the + Publick, having been very much delighted by the rehearsal of it; the + music was done by Mr Cohaut who teaches my wife to play on the luth. + We expect a tragedy of the Dutch Barnvelt. + + Mr Wilkes is still in this town, where he intends to stay until you + give him leave to return to his native country. We have had the + pleasure of seeing Mr Chanquion, your friend, who seems to be a very + discerning gentleman and to whom in favor of your friendship I have + shown all the politeness I could. I hear that Sr James Macdonald has + been ill at Parma, but is now recovered and in Rome. Abbé Galliani is + still at Naples and stands a fair chance of being employ'd in the + ministry there. + + Adieu, very dear Sir and remember your affectionate friend + D'HOLBACH + + + HOLBACH TO WILKES + (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30869, p. 39) + PARIS the 22d Of May (1766) + + _My dear Sir_ + + I am extremely glad to know your lucky passage and happy arrival + in your native country. I hope you know too well the sincere + dispositions of my heart as to doubt of the friendship I have + vowed to you for life; it has been of too long a duration to be + shaken by any circumstances, and especially by those that do honor + to you. I shall be very happy if your affairs (that seem to be in + a fair way) permit you to drop over very soon to spend some time + in this place along with Miss Wilkes to whom Made D'Holbach and I + pay our best compliments. I can easily paint to my imagination + the pleasure you both felt at your first meeting; everybody that + has any sensibility must be acquainted with the grateful pangs in + those moving circumstances. + + Your case with the hawker at your entry in London is very odd and + whimsical you did extremely well to humour the man in his opinion + about Mr. Wilkes. I dare say if you had done otherwise his fist + would have convinc'd you of the goodness of your cause, and then it + would have been impossible for you to pass for a dead man any longer; + which however, I think was very necessary for you in the beginning. + I expect with great eagerness the settlement of your affairs with + the ministry to your own satisfaction; be persuaded, Dear Sir, that + nobody interests himself in your happiness than myself, and nothing + will conduce more to it than your steady attachment to the principles + of honor and patriotism. + + If you don't find a way of disposing of the little packet, you need + not take much trouble about it, and you may bring it back along with + you, when you come to this place, as to the kind offers you are so + good as to make me about commissions, experience has taught me that + it is unsafe to trust you with them, so I beg leave with gratitude + to decline your proposals as that point. + + All our common friends and acquaintances desire their best + compliments to you, and believe me, my dear Sir. + + Your affectionate oblig'd humble servant + D'HOLBACH + + + HOLBACH TO WILKES + (Brit. Mus. Mss., VOL 30869, p. 81) + PARIS 9ber 10th 1766 + + _My very Dear Sir_ + + I receiv'd with the greatest pleasure the news of your lucky arrival + in Engelland. You know the sentiments of my heart, and are undoubtedly + convinc'd how much I wish for the good success of all your enterprises + tho I am to be a great looser by it. I rejoice very heartily at the + fine prospect you have now in view and don't doubt but the persons you + mention will succeed if they are in good earnest: which is allways a + little doubtful in people of that Kidney. + + We have had the pleasure of seeing Miss Wilkes three or four times since + your departure, she is extreamly well and longs for the return of her + friend Mlle Helvetius the 20th of this month. + + Rousseau will very likely hate the English very cordially for making + him pay so dear for his books, it is however a sign that he told us a + lye when he pretended in his writings to have no books at all, as to + his guitar he should buy a new one to tune his heart a little better + than he did before. + + We have no news here, except the Election of Mr Thomas as a member of + the french academy. Marquis Beccaria is going to leave us very soon + being obliged to return to Milan: Count Veri will at the same time set + out for England. + + I'll be oblig'd to you for a copy or two of the book printed in holland + you mentioned in your letter you may send it by some private opportunity + to Miss Wilkes, with, proper directions. A gentleman of our Society + should be glad to get 2 copies of Baskervilles' virgil _in octavo_. + + Tho Mr Davenport and Rousseau seem to be pleased very much with one + another, I suppose they may very soon be tired of their squabbling, + and the latter like the apostles will shake of against the barbarous + Britons the dust of his feet. + + Receive the hearty compliments of my wife and all our friends. You + know the true sentiments of my heart for you, + Dear Sir. I am with great sincerity + your most obedient humble Servant + D'HOLBACH + + + HOLBACH TO WILKES + (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30869, p. 173) + + _Dear Sir_ + + I receiv'd with a great deal of pleasure your friendly letter from + Ostende of the 26th. nov. I was extreamly glad to hear your happy + arrival at that place, and do not doubt but you met with a lucky + passage to Dover the following day, we are now enjoying the conversation + of your British friends about elections; that will not be tedious for + you if, according to your hopes, you should succeed in your projects. + + I see by your letter that instead of coming back directly by Calais + you intend to travel with Miss Wilkes through Antwerp and the Low + countries, which I should think not very advisable in this rigorous + season of the year, for generally at that time the waters are lock'd + up by the frost and travelling is bad et tedious and may be would + prove hurtful to your tender fellow traveler to whom my wife and I + desire our best compliments. Such a scheme will be more advantagious + for you both and more conformable to the wishes of your friends in + this place. + + I hope your arrival in London will contribute to reconcile abbé + Galliani to that place, where he complains of having not heard of + the sun since he set his foot on British shore, however he may + comfort himself for we have had very little of it in this country. + The Abbé must be overjoy'd at the news of the Jesuits being expell'd + from his Native country for now he may say _Gens inimica mihi + Tyrrhenum navigat aquor_. We have no material news in this country, + except that the queen continues to be in a very bad state of health. + + If there is some good new romance I'll be oblig'd to bring it over + along with you as, well as a couple of french books call'd + _Militaire philosophe_ and _Théologie portative_ in case you may + easily find them in London, for we cannot get them here. I am told + the works of one Morgan have been esteem'd in your country but I don't + know the titles of them, if you should know them and meet with them + with facility, I should be very much oblig'd to you provided you make + me pay a little more than you have done hitherto for your commissions. + + All our common friends beg their compliments and I wish for your + speedy return, and I am Sincerely + Dear Sir + Your faithful affectionate humble servant + D'HOLBACH + PARIS the 10th of decemb. 1767 + + + + HOLBACH TO WILKES + (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30870, p. 59) + GRANDVAL, 17th of July 1768 + + _Dear Sir_ + + I receiv'd with a great deal of pleasure your very agreeable letter + of the 28th of last month. I am extreamly glad that your generous + soul is very far from sinking under the weight of these Misfortunes, + and to see that you don't give up the hopes of carrying triumphantly + your point notwithstanding the discouragements you have met with lately. + I need not tell you how much your friends in Paris and I in particular + interest ourselves in all the events that may befall you. Our old + friendship ought to be a sure pledge of my sincere sentiments for you, + and of my best wishes for your good success in all your undertakings. + I believe you can do no better but to keep strictly to the rules you + have laid down for your conduct, and I don't doubt but you'll find it + will answer the best to your purpose. + + I am very much oblig'd to you, Dear Sir, for the kind offers you make + in your friendly letter. I have desir'd already Mr Suard to bring over + a few books lately published in your metropolis. I am very glad to hear + that Gentleman is pleas'd with his journey. + + There's no possibility of getting for you a compleat sett of Callots + engravings. Such a collection must be the business of many years; it + is to be found only after the decease of some curious men who have taken + a great deal of trouble to collect them. I found indeed in two shops 8 + or 10 of them, but the proofs (les épreuves) were very indifferent and + they wanted to sell them excessively dear; in general 200 guineas would + procure a collection very far from being compleat. + + My wife and all our common acquaintence desire their best compliments + to you and to Miss Wilkes and you know the sentiments wherewith I am + for ever + Dear Sir + your affectionate friend and + very humble servant + D'HOLBACH + + + HOLBACH TO WILKES + (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30871, p. 16) + PARIS the 19th of March 1770 + + _Dear Sir_ + + I receiv'd with a due sense of gratitude the favour of your last + letter, and was overjoy'd to hear from yourself that your long + confinement has not been able hitherto to obstruct the lively flow + of your spirits. A little more patience and you'll reach the end + of all your misfortunes, that have been faithfully partaken by your + friends in England and abroad, for my own part I wish most sincerely + that everything for the future may turn to your profit and welfare, + without hurting that of your country, to whom, as a lover of mankind, + I am a well wisher. + + My wife desires her best compliments to you and your beloved Daughter, + whom we both expect to see again with a great deal of pleasure in + this country next month. Notwithstanding our bad circumstances we + are making very great preparations for the Wedding of the Dauphin, + and our metropolis begins already to be filled with foreigners that + flock hither from all parts of the world. Our friend Mr D'Alainville + is to set out at the end of April to fetch the Archdutchess at + Strasbourg and bring mask (ed) (?) her different stages on the road + to Versailles. + + We have no news in the literary world except that Voltaire + is become lately _le père temporal_, that is to say the benefactor + of the _Capucins du pays de Gex_ where he lives, a title of which + all his pranks seemd to exclude him, but grace you know, is omnipotent, + and monks are not over nice when there is something to be got by + their condescension. + + If the hurry of affairs whould leave you any moments to read + curious books I would advise you to peruse two very strange + works lately publish'd viz _Recherches philosophiques sur les + américains_, le _Système de la Nature_ par Mirabaud. I suppose + you'll find them cheaper and more easily in London that at + Paris. + + All your late acquaintances in this Town desire me to present + you with their sincere compliments and best wishes; as to mine + you know that they have no other object but your Welfare. + + I am, Dear Sir, for ever + your most affectionate friend + and humble servant + D'HOLBACH + + P. S. I'll be very much oblig'd to you for sending over to me in + 2 vol. small octavo. + + + + HOLBACH TO WILKES + (Wilkes, Correspondence, London, 1805, Vol. 4, p. 176) + PARIS, April 27; 1775 + + "_My Lord_, + + "I received with the utmost gratitude your lordship's friendly + letter of the 28th of March. (1775?) I should have done + myself the honor of answering sooner to your kind propositions, + if I had not been prevented by some gouty infirmities that have + assailed in the beginning of this spring. I esteem myself very + happy to find that the hurry of business, and your exhaltation + to the rank of chief-magistrate, could not make you forget your + friendship to me; though my present circumstances do not permit + me to make use of your friendly invitation, be persuaded my very + dear lord that Madame D'Holbach and myself shall forever keep + these signs of your kindness, in very grateful remembrance. + + We both desire our best compliments to your very amiable + lady-mayoress: who acted so well her part lately in the Egyptian + hall, to the satisfaction of that prodigious crowd you have + been entertaining there. All members of our society that have + had the happiness of being acquainted with you, desire to be + kindly remembered; and a continuation of your valuable friendship + shall for ever be the utmost ambition + my lord + of your most sincerely devoted + D'HOLBACH" + + + + GALIANI To HOLBACH + (Galiani, Corresp., Vol. I, p. 199) + NAPLES, le 21 juillet, 1770 + + _Bonjour, mon cher Baron,_ + + J'ai vu le _Système de la Nature_. C'est la ligne où finit la + tristesse de la morne et sèche vérité, au-delà commence la gaieté + du roman. Il n'y a rien de mieux que de se persuader que les dés + sont pipés: cette idée en enfante milles autres, et un nouveau + monde se régénère. Le M. Mirabaud est un vrai abbé Terray + de la métaphysique. Il fait des réductions, des suspensions, + et cause la banqueroute du savoir, du plaisir et de l'esprit + humain. Mais vous allez me dire qu'aussi il y avait trop de + nonvaleurs: on était trop endetté, il courait trop de papiers non + réels sur la place. C'est vrai aussi, et voilà pourquoi la crise + est arrivée. + + Adieu, mon cher baron. Ecrivez-moi de longues lettres, pour que + le plaisir en soit plus grand. Embrassez moi longuement la + baronne, et soyez longue dans tout que vous faites, dans tout + ce que vous patientez, dans tout ce que vous espérer. La + longanimité est une belle vertu; c'est elle qui me fait espérer + de revoir Paris. + Adieu. + + + + HOLBACH To GALIANI + (Critica, Vol. I, 1903, p. 489) + + GRANDVAL, le 25 d'août 1770 + + _Bonjour, mon très délicieux abbé,_ + + J'ai bien reçu votre très-précieuse lettre du 21 de juillet qui + m'accuse la réception de celle que je vous avais écrite le 3 de + juin. Je vois que celle-ci a été longtemps en route, attendu + que M. Torcia à qui M. Diderot s'était chargé de la remettre, a + encore traînassé quelque temps à Paris, suivant la louable + coutume des voyageurs qui nous quittent toujours avec peine. + + Je suis bien aise que vous ayez lu le livre de Mirabaud qui fait + un bruit affreux dans ce pays. L'abbé Bergier l'a déjà + réfuté très-longuement et sa réponse paraîtra cet hiver. La + Sorbonne est, dit-on, occupée à détruire ce maudit _Système_ qui + lui paraît au moins hérétique. Voltaire lui-même se prépare + à le pulvériser; en attendant nos seigneurs du Parlement y + viennent d'y répondre par des fagots, ainsi qu'à quelque autres + ouvrages de même trempe. Ce qu'il y a de fâcheux c'est que + l'ouvrage de V. qui a pour titre _Dieu et les hommes_ a été + enveloppé dans la même condamnation, ce qui doit déplaire + souverainement à l'auteur. Je me rappelle à cette occasion ce + que M. Hume dit d'un catholique que Henri VIII fit conduire au + bûcher avec quelques hérétiques, et dont le seul chagrin était + d'être brûlé en si mauvaise compagnie. Nonobstant toutes ces + réfutations, il parait tous les jours quelques nouveaux ouvrages + impies, au point que je suis très surpris que la récolte ait été + si bonne dans le royaume. En dernier lieu on vient de publier un + ouvrage sous le titre de _Droit des souverains sur les biens du + clergé_, qui, sans contenir des impiétés n'en est pas moins déplaisant + pour cela: Il va droit à la cuisine, et veut que pour liquider + la dette nationale on vende tous les biens ecclésiastiques et + que l'on met nos pontifes à la pension. Vous sentez qu'une + proposition si mal sonnante n'a pu manquer de mettre le ciel en + courroux; sa colère s'est déchargé sur cinq ou six libraires et + colporteurs qui ont été mis en prison. + + + + +[ENDNOTES] + + + [1:1] Diderot, _Oeuvres_, ed. Assézat et Tourneaux, Vol. XX, p. 28. + + [2:2] Grimm, _Corr. Lit._, Vol. XV, p. 421. + + [3:3] Diderot, _Oeuvres_, Vol. XX, p. 95. + + [3:4] Among the most important are Damiron J. P., _Mémoires pour + servir à l'histoire de la philosophie au dix-huitième siècle_ (Paris, + 1858, 3 vols., 8vo); Lange, _Geschichte des Materialismus_ (Eng. tr., + Boston, 1877); Morley, _Diderot and the Encyclopedists_ (N. Y., 1891, + 2 vols., 12mo); Plekhanow, G., _Beiträge zur Geschichte des Materialismus_ + (Stuttgart, 1896); Hancock, A. E., _The French Revolution and the + English Poets_ (N. Y., 1899); Tallentyre, _The Friends of Voltaire_ + (London, 1906); Fabre, _Les Pères de la Révolution_ (Paris, 1910), etc. + + [5:5] Confessions, _Oeuvres_, Vol. XXIV, p. 338. + + [5:6] Bib. Nat. mss. _Pièces originales,_ 1529, d'Holbach, 34, 861. + + [6:7] Carlyle, Rev. Dr. A., _Autobiography_, ed. Burton, Boston, 1861, + p. 137 sq. for Holbach's English friends mentioned in his letters to + Wilkes. + + [12:9] See Chap. II and Bibliography, Pt. I, for these and his other works. + + [12:10] Grimm _Cor. Lit._, Vol. II, p. 283. + + [12:11] _Gazette de France_, Aug. 10, 1754. + + [12:12] Jal, _Dict. Critique_, p. 685. + + [13:13] His career is somewhat doubtful. He travelled in Italy in 1779 + and Abbé Galiani, an old friend of Holbach's, got a very agreeable + impression of him. John Wilkes, in a letter to his daughter in 1781, + seems to imply that he had not turned out very well, and hopes that the + baron's second son will make good the deficiencies of the first. In + 1806 he published a translation of Weiland's _Oberon_ or _Huon de + Bordeaux_ which went thru another edition in 1825, but those are the + only details that have come to light. + + [13:14] Diderot, in writing to Mlle Volland Sep. 17, 1760 says: "On + nourrit, à Chenvières, les deux filles de Madame d'Holbach. L'aînée + est belle comme un chérubin; c'est un visage rond, de grands yeux + bleus, des levres fines, une bouche riante, la peau la plus blanche + et la plus animée, des cheveux châtains qui ceignent un très joli + front. La cadette est un peloton d'embonpoint où l'on ne distingue + encore que du blanc et du vermillon." + + [13:15] Gazette de France, June 1, 1781. + + [14:16] Holbach's intendant was [a] Jew, Berlise. After his death several + of his old servants Vincent, David, and Plocque, contested Holbach's will, + in which they thought they were legatees. The case was in the courts + for several years and was finally decided against them. Douarche, + _Les tribunaux civil de Paris pendant la révolution_, Paris, 1905, Vol. I., + pp. 141, 261, 325, 689. + + [14:17] Avézac-Lavigne, _Diderot_, p. 5. + + [15:18] _Critica_, Vol. I, p. 48, note. + + [15:19] He met Voltaire in Paris in 1778, however, and Naigeon relates + that Voltaire greeted him very cordially and said that he had long + desired to make his acquaintance. + + [15:20] Collignon, _Diderot_, p. 1. + + [16:21] Avézac-Lavigne, _Diderot_, p. 75, note. + + [16:22] Romilly, _Memoirs_, Vol. I, p. 179. + + [16:23] Diderot, _Oeuvres_, Vol. I, p. lxvi, note. + + [17:24] Journal de Paris, Dec. 2, 1789. + + [17:25] See appendix, p. 73, p. 77. + + [18:26] See appendix, p. 71. + + [19:27] See appendix, p. 72. + + [19:28] See p. 6 sq. and appendix pp. 75 sq. + + [39:2] Barbier, _Dict._, Vol. I, p. 175 sq. + + [40:3] Barbier, Vol. I, p. xxxiii, note. + + [40:4] _Oeuvres_, Vol. XVIII, p. 265. + + [44:5] _Oeuvres_, Vol. XIV, p. 352. + + [47:7] Middleton's translation, preface. + + [47:8] Cf. p. 94. [Bibliography Part I] + + [54:1] Morley, _Diderot_, Vol. II, p. 155. + + [55:2] Later _Bon-sens_ and _Théologie portative_ were doomed to the + flames by the condemnations of Jan. 10, 1774, and February 16, 1776. + + [55:3] _Système de la Nature_, ed. 1771, Vol. II, p. 496. + + [56:4] Grimm, _Cor. Lit._, Vol. IX, p. 167. + + [56:5] Voltaire, _Oeuvres_, ed. Beuchot, Vol. LXVI, p. 404. Subsequent + references to Voltaire are from this edition. + + [56:6] Vol. LXVII, p. 265. + + [56:7] Grimm, _Cor. Lit._, Vol. IX, p. 90. + + [57:8] Vol. LXVI, p. 432. + + [57:9] Vol. LXVI, p. 563. + + [57:10] Vol. LXVI, p. 386. + + [58:11] Vol. LXVI, p. 394. + + [58:12] Vol. XXVIII, p. 493. + + [58:13] Vol. LXVI, p. 469. + + [58:14] Goethe, _Wahrheit und Dichtung_, 11th Book, Goethe's _Werke_, + Stuttgart, Vol. 19, p. 55. + + Auf philosophische Weise erleuchtet und gefödert zu werden, hatten + wir keinen Trieb noch Hang: über religiöse Gegenstände glaubten wir + uns selbst aufgeklärt zu haben, und so war der heftige Streit + französischer Philosophen mit dem Pfafftum uns ziemlich gleichgültig. + Verbotene, zurn Feuer verdaminte Bücher, welche damals grossen Lärmen + machten, übten keine Wirkung auf uns. Ich gedenke statt aller des + _Système de la Nature_, das wir aus Neugier in die Hand nahmen. Wir + begriffen nicht, wie ein solches Buch gefährlich sein könnte. Es kam + uns so grau, so cimmerisch, so totenhaft vor, das wir Mühe hatten, + seine Gegenwart auszuhalten, dass wir davor wie vor einern Gespenste + schauderten. Der Verfasser glaubt sein Buch ganz eigens zu empfehlen, + wenn er in der Vorrede versichert, dass er, als ein abgelebter Greis, + soeben in die Grube stiegend, der Mit- und Nachwelt die Wahrheit verkünden + wolle. Wir lachten ihn aus: denn wir glaubten bemerkt zu haben, dass + von alten Leuten eigentlich an der Welt nichts geschätzt werde, was + liebenswürdig und gut an ihr ist. "Alte Kirchen haben dunkle Gläser" + "Wie Kirschen und Beeren schmecken, muss mann Kinder und Sperlinge + fragen"--dies waren unsere Lust und Leibworte: und so schien uns jenes + Buch, als die rechte Quintessenz der Greisenheit, unschmachhaft, ja + abgeschmackt Alles sollte notwendig sein und deswegen kein Gott. + "Könnte es denn aber nicht auch notwendig einen Gott geben?" fragten + wir. Dabei gestanden wir freilich, das wir uns den Notwendigkeiten der + Tage und Nächte, der Jahrszeiten, der klirnatischen Einflusse, der + physichen und animalischen Zustände nicht wohl entziehen könnten: doch + fühlten wir etwas in uns, das als vollkommene Willkür erschien, und + wieder etwas, das sich mit dieser Willkür ins Gleichgewicht zu setzen + suchte. Die Hoffnung, immer vernünftiger zu werden, uns von den aussern + Dingen, ja von uns selbst immer unabhängiger zu machen, konnten wir + nicht aufgeben. Das Wort Freiheit klingt so schon, dass mann es nicht + entbehren könnte und wenn es einen Irrtum bezeichnete. + + Keiner von uns hatte das Buch hinausgelesen; denn wir fanden uns in + der Erwartung getäuscht, in der wir es auf geschlagen hatten. + _System der Natur_ ward angekündigt und wir hofften also wirklich + etwas von der Natur, unsere Abgötten, zu erfahren. Physik und Chemie, + Himmels- und Erdbeschriebung, Naturgeschichte und Anatomie und so + manches andere hatte nun zeit Jahren und bis auf den letzten Tag uns + immer auf die geschmüchte grosse Welt hingeweisen, und wir hatten gern + von Sonnen und Sternen, von Planeten und Monden, von Bergen, Thälern, + Flüssen und Meeren und von allem, was dann lebt und webt, das Nähere + sowie das Allgemeinere erfahren. Das hierbei wohl manches vorkommen + müsste, was dem gemeinen Menschen als schädlich, der Geistlichkeit als + gefährlich, dem Staat als unzulässig erschienen möchte, daran hatten wir + keinen Zweifel, und wir hofften, dieses Büchlein sollte nicht unwürdig + die Feuerprobe bestauden haben. Allein wie hohl und leer ward uns in + deiser tristen Atheistischen Halbnacht zu Mute, in welcher die Erde mit + allen ihren Gebilden, der Himmel mit allen seinen Gestirnen verschwand! + Eine Materie sollte sein von Ewigkeit und von Ewigkeit her bewegt, und + sollte nun mit dieser Bewegung rechts und links und nach allen Seiten + ohne weiteres die unendlichen Phänomene des Daseins hervorbringen. + Dies alles wären wir sogar zufrieden gewesen, wenn der Verfasser + wirklich aus seiner bewegten Materie die Welt vor unsern Augen + aufgebaut hätte. Aber er mochte von der Natur so wenig wissen als wir; + denn indem er einige allgemeine Begriffe hingepfahlt, verlässt er sie + sogleich, um dasjenige, was höher als die Natur oder als höhere + Natur in der Natur erschient, zur materiellen schweren, zwar bewegten, + aber doch richtungs- und gestaltlosen Natur zu verwandeln, und glaubt + dadurch recht viel gewonnen zu haben. Wenn uns jedoch dieses Buch + einigen Schaden gebracht hat, so war es der, das wir allen + Philosophie, besonderers aber der Metaphysick recht herzlich gram + wurden, und bleiben, dagegen aber auf lebendige Wissen, Erfahren, + Thun und Dichten uns nur desto lebhafter und leidenschaftlicher hinwarfen. + + [64:15] Vol. II, p. 261, ed. 1820. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY--PART I. + + EDITIONS OF HOLBACH'S WORKS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. + + + As the works of Holbach are not yet cataloged in the Bibliothèque + Nationale, the following list is doubtless incomplete. The numbers + given are those of the Bibliothèque Nationale and the British Museum + where the books were used, except in cases where they were available + in Boston, New York or Washington. + + + ABBREVIATIONS + + B. N., Bibliothèque Nationale. + B. M., British Museum. + L. C., Library of Congress. + C. U., Columbia University. + H. U., Harvard University. + U. T. S., Union Theological Seminary. + G. T. S., General Theological Seminary. + A. T. S., Andover Theological Seminary. + N. Y., New York Public Library. + B. P., Boston Public Library. + + Of about 120 editions consulted, C. U. had 13; U. T. S. 7; N. Y. 7; + H. U. 6; B. P. 5; L. C. 4; A. T. S. 3; G. T. S. I. There are 20 or more + editions in existence that were not to be found in the library catalogs + consulted. + + 1752. Lettre à une dame d'un certain âge sur l'état présent de l'Opéra. + En Arcadie aux dépens de l'Académie Royale de Musique, (Paris, 8vo, pp. 11.) + B. M. 1103 b 21 (2). + + 1752. Arrêt rendu à l'amphithéâtre de l'Opéra, sur la plainte du + milieu du parterre intervenant dans la querelle des deux coins. + (Paris, 1752, 8vo, pp. 16.) + B. N. Yf 7726 (attributed to Diderot). + + 1752. Art de la Verrerie, De Neri, Merret et Kunckel; auquel on a + ajouté Le _Sol Sine Veste_ D'Orschall; _L'Helioscopium videndi sine + veste solem Chymicum_; Le _Sol Non Sine Veste_: Le Chapitre XI du + _Flora Saturnizans_ de Henckel, Sur la Vitrification des Végétaux; + Un Mémoire sur la manière de faire le Saffre; Le Secret des vraies + Porcelaines de la Chine et de Saxe; Ouvrages où l'on trouvera la + manière de faire le Verre et le Crystal, d'y porter des Couleurs, + d'imiter les Pierres Précieuses, de préparer et colorer les Emaux, + de faire la Potasse, de peindre sur le Verre, de préparer des Vernis, + de composer de Couvertes pour des Fayances et Poteries, d'extraire la + Couleur Pourpre de l'Or, de contrefaire les Rubis, de faire le Soffre, + de faire et peindre les Porcelaines, etc. Traduits de l'Allemand Par + M. D... A Paris Durand, rue St. Jacques, au Griffon. Pissot, Quai des + Augustins, à la Sagesse. Avec Approbation et Privilège du Roi (in quarto). + B. N. V. 11028. + C. U. A. n H 35 (Avery Library). + + 1753. Minéralogie, ou description générale des substances du règne + minéral. Par Mr. Jean Gotshalk Wallerius, Professeur Royale de + Chymie, de Métallurgie et de Pharmacie dans l'Université d'Upsal, + de l'Académie Impériale des Curieux de la Nature. Ouvrage traduit + de l'Allemand, A Paris, Chez Durand, rue S. Jacques, au Griffon. + Pissot, Quai de Conti, à la Croix d'Or, MDCCLII. Avec Approbation + et Privilège du Roi (2 vols., 8vo, pp. xlvii + 569 + 284). Followed + by (second title page) Hydrologie, ou description du règne aquatique, + divisés par classes, gendres, espèces et variétés, avec la manière de + faire l'essai des eaux (256 p.). + B. N., S. 1992 (2). + B. M. 987 h. 9-10. + + --Ibid. (Paris, Herissant, Durand, 1759, 2 vols., 8vo.) N. Y., P. W. D. + H. U. Geol. 7257-59. + B. M. 970 h.l. + + 1756. Introduction à la Minéralogie; ou connoissance des eaux, des + sucs terrestres, des sels, des terres, des pierres, des minéraux, et + des métaux: avec une description abrégée des opérations de métallurgie. + Ouvrage posthume de M. J. F. Henckel, publié sous le titre de _Henckelius + in Mineralogiâ redivivus_ et traduit de l'Allemand. A Paris, Chez Guillaume + Cavelier, Libraire, rue S. Jacques, au Lys d'Or. MDCCLVI. Avec Approbation + et Privilège du Roi. (2 vols., 12vo, pp. lxxi + 204 + 371.) + B. N. 19930 (1). + + 1758. Chimie métallurgique, Dans laquelle on trouvera la Théorie et + la Pratique de cet Art. Avec des Experiences sur la Densité + des Alliages des Métaux, et des demi-Métaux; et un Abrégé de + Docimastique. Avec Figures. Par M. C. E. Gellert, Conseiller + des Mines de Saxe et de l'Académie Imperiale de Petersbourg. + Ouvrages traduits de l'Allemand. A Paris, Chez Briasson, rue + Saint Jacques; Avec Approbation et Privelège. (2 vols., 12mo, + pp. xii + 296 + xvii + 351.) + B. N., R. 37032 (3). + + 1759. Traités de physique, d'histoire naturelle, de minéralogie et de + métallurgie. (Paris, 1759, 3 vols., 12mo.) (General title.) + Tome I. L'Art des Mines, ou Introduction aux connoissances + nécessaires pour l'exploitation des mines métalliques avec un traité + des exhalaisons minérales ou moufettes, et plusieurs mémoires sur + differens sujets d'Histoire Naturelle-Avec figures. Par + M. Jean Gotlob Lehmann, Docteur en Médecine, Conseiller des + Mines de Sa Majesté Prussienne, de l'Académie Royale des + Sciences de Berlin et de celle des Sciences utiles de Mayence. + Traduit de l'Allemand. A Paris, Chez Jean Thomas Herrisant + MDCCLIX. Avec Approbation et Privilège du Roi. + Tome II. Traité de la formation des métaux et de leurs + matrices ou minières, ouvrage fondé sur les principes de la + physique et de la minéralogie et confirmé par des expériences + chymiques. Par M. J. G. Lehmann, etc. Traduit de l'Allemand. + Tome III. Essai d'une Histoire Naturelle des couches de la + terre. Dans lequel on traite de leur formation, de leur situation, + des minéraux, des métaux et des fossiles qu'elles contiennent. + Avec des considerations physiques sur les causes des Tremblements + de Terre et de leur propagation. Ouvrages traduits de l'Allemand, + et augmentés de Notes du Traducteur etc. + H. U., M, Z. + B. M. 990 c. 16-18. + + 1759. Les plaisirs de l'imagination, poème en trois chants, par + M. Akenside. Traduit de l'anglais. A Amsterdam, Arkstée et Merkus, + et se trouve à Paris chez Pissot, Quai de Conti MDCCLIX (8vo). + B. N. 2 ex. Yk 2362 et 2498. + B. M. 1162 f 20. + + --Ibid. Les plaisirs de l'imagination, poème en trois chants, Par + Akenside, traduit de l'Anglais par le baron d'Holbach, augmenté de + Notes historiques et littéraires, de la vie de l'auteur et du Traducteur, + par Pissot. Paris, Hubert MDCCCVI (1806-18vo). + B. N. Yk 2363. + B. M. 1065 b 20 (2). + + 1760. Pyritologie, ou Histoire Naturelle de la Pyrite, ouvrage dans + lequel on examine l'origine, la nature, les propriétés et les usages + de ce Minéral important, et de la plupart des autres Substances du même + Règne: on y a joint le Flora Saturnisans où L'Auteur dèmontre l'Alliance + qui se trouve entre les Végétaux et les Minéraux; et les Orpuscules + Minéralogiques, Qui comprennent un Traité de l'Appropriation, un Traité + de L'Origine des Pierres, plusieurs Mémoires sur la Chymie et l'Histoire + Naturelle, avec un Traité des Maladies des Mineurs et des Fondeurs. + Par M. Jean-Frederic Henkel, Docteur en Médicine, Conseiller des Mines + du Roi de Pologne, Electeur de Saxe; de l'Académie Imperiale des Curieux + de la Nature et de celle de Berlin. Ouvrages Traduit de l'Allemand [by + Baron d'Holbach and M., Charas] à Paris, Chez jean Thomas Hérissant, + Libraire, Rue S. Jacques, à S. Paul et à S. Hilaire. MDCCLX. Avec + Approbation et Privilège du Roi. (Paris, 1760, quarto, pp. xvi + 524.) + B. N. 5324. + B. M. 34 c 15. + + 1760. Oeuvres Métallurgiques de M. Jean-Christian Orschall, Inspecteur + des Mines de S. A. S. le Land-grave de Hesse-Cassel. Contenant + I. L'Art de la Fonderie; II. Un Traité de la Siquation; + III. Le Traité de la Macération des Mines; IV. Le Traité + des Trois Merveilles; (Traduit de l'Allemand) Le prix est de 50 + sols broché et de 3 liv. relié. A Paris, Chez Hardy, Libraire, rue + S. Jacques au dessus de celle de la Parcheminerie à la Colonne + d'Or. MDCCLX. Avec Approbation et Privilège du Roi. + (12mo, pp. + 394.) + B. N., S 19,992. + + 1764. Recueil des mémoires les plus intéressants de chymie, et d'histoire + naturelle, contenus dans les actes de l'Académie d'Upsal, et dans les + Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Stockholm; Publiés depuis + 1720 jusqu'en 1760. Traduits du Latin et de l'Allemand. A Paris, Chez + Pierre-Fr. Didot, le jeune, Quai des Augustins, à S. Augustin. MDCCLXIV. + Avec Approbation et Privilège du Roi. (2 vols., 12mo, pp. viii + 687.) + B. N. R 15483 (4). + + 1765. Histoire du règne de la Reine Anne d'Angleterre, contenant Les + Négociations de la paix d'Utrecht, et les démêlés qu'elle occasionna + en Angleterre. Ouvrage posthume du Docteur Jonathan Swift. Doyen de + S. Patrice en Irelande: Publié sur un Manuscrit corrigé de la propre + main de l'Auteur, et traduit de l'Anglais par M... [d'Holbach and Eidous]. + A Amsterdam, Chez Marc-Michel Rey, et Arkstée et Merkus. MDCCLXV. + (12mo, pp. xxiv + 416.) + B. N. 8vo Nc 1718. + + 1766. Traité du Soufre, ou Remarques sur la dispute qui s'est élevée + entre les chymistes, au sujet du Soufre, tant commun, combustible + ou volatil, que fixe, etc. Traduit de l'Allemand de Stahl. + A Paris, Chez Pierre-Francois Didot, le jeune. Quai de + Augustins à Saint-Augustin. MDCCLXVI. Avec Approbation + et Privilège du Roi. (12mo, pp. 392.) + B. N., R 51709. + B. M. 233 b 15. + + 1766. L'Antiquité dévoilée par ses usages, ou Examen critique des + principales Opinions, Cérémonies et Institutions réligieuses et + politiques des différens Peuples de la Terre. Par feu M., Boulanger. + Homo, quod rationis est particeps, consequentiam cernit causas rerum + videt, earumque progressus et quasi antecessiones non ignorat, + similitudines compare, rebus praesentibus adjungit at anectit futuras. + --Cicero, De Offic. Lib. I. C. 4. + A Amsterdam, Chez Marc-Michel Rey, MDCCLXVI. (Quarto pp. viii + 412.) + B. N., E 690. + C. U., A P. B 66 (Avery Library). + + --Ibid. (1766, 3 vols., 12mo.) + B. N. *E 2446-2448. + + --Ibid. (1772, 3 Vols., (12mo.) + B. N. *E 2445 (VIII). + B. M. 4506 a 1. + + --Ibid. (Amsterdam, 1777, 3 vols., 12mo, pp. lx + 355 + 391 + 396.) + B. M. 696 b 35. + + --Ibid. In Oeuvres de Boulanger T. I-IV En Suisse. + De l'Imprimerie Philosophique MDCCXCI. (4 vols., (12mo.) + B. N., Z 24316-24319. + + --Ibid. In _Oeuvres de Boulanger_ T. I-II Amsterdam. + (Paris, 2 vols., 8vo.) (Quérard.) + + 1767. Le Christianisme dévoilé, ou Examen des principes et des effets + de la religion Chrétienne. Par feu M. Boulanger. Superstitio error + infanus est, amandos timet, quos colit violat; quid enim interest, + utrum Deos neges, an infames? Senec. Ep. 12. + A Londres, MDCCLVI (Nancy, Leclerc, 1761, 8vo, pp. xxviii + 295). + B. N., D2 5305. + B. M. 4016 bb 6. + B. M., C 2863 (another copy with MS. notes by Voltaire). + + --Ibid. (Londres, 1767, 8vo, pp. xx + 236.) Printed at John Wilkes' + private press in George St. Westminster, according to MS. note in + title page. + B. M. 4017 de. 13. + + --Ibid. (Londres, 1767, 8vo, pp. 244.) + A. T. S. 6 11. + + --Ibid. (A Paris, Chez les Libraires Associés, 1767, 8vo, + pp. xvii + 218.) + B. N., D2 8364. + + --Ibid. (Londres [Amsterdam], 1767, 12mo.) + B. M. 696 b 34 + + --Ibid. Oeuvres de Boulanger T. VII. (En Suisse de l'Imprimerie + philosophique, 1791, 12mo.) + B. N., Z 23421. + + --Ibid. Oeuvres de Boulanger T. V, 1793. + + --Christianity Unveiled; being an examination of the principles and + effects of the Christian Religion, from the French of Boulanger, + Author of _Researches into the Origin of Oriental Despotism_, by + W. M. Johnson. New York, 1795, printed at the Columbian Press by + Robertson and Gowan for the editor and sold by the principal book + sellers in the United States. (12mo, pp. ix + 238.) + B. M. 4017 de 4. + B. M. 900 i. 1, (7) another copy with MS. Notes. + B. P.... 7490 a 22. + + --Ibid. London, printed and published by R. Carlile, 55 Fleet St. + 1819 (8vo, pp. 98.) + B. M. 4016 d. 13. + + --Ibid. The Deist, etc. Vol. II, published by R. Carlile, 1819. + (8vo, pp. vii + 125.) + B. M. 4015 f 11. + + --El Cristianismo a descurbierto, ó examen de los principios y efectos + de la religion cristiana. Escrito en Francés por Boulanger y traducido + al castellano por S. D. V.... Londres en la emprenta de Davidson, 1821. + (12mo, pp. xxvi + 246.) + B. M. 4016 df 6. + + 1767. L'Esprit du clergé, ou Le Christianisme primitif vengé des + entreprises et des excès de nos Prêtres modernes. Traduit de + l'Anglois à Londres (Amsterdam) MDCCLXVII (2 vols. 8vo, + pp. 2 + 10 + 240). + B. M. pp. 54. + + 1767. De l'imposture sacerdotale, ou Recueil de Pièces sur le Clergé. + Traduites de l'Anglois. Londres (Amsterdam) MDCCLXVII. + (12mo, pp. 144.) + B. N., D2 8368 (7). + + Contains, Tableau fidèle des papes. _Traduit d'une Brochure + Anglaise_ de M. Davisson, Publie sous le titre de _a true picture + of Popery_, pp. 1-35. + + De l'insolence pontificale, ou des Prétentions ridicules du + Pape et des Flatteurs de la Cour de Rome. _Extrait de la + Profession de Foi du célèbre Giannone_, par. M. Davisson, pp. 36-54. + + Sermon. Sur les fourberies et les impostures du Clergé + Romain, _Traduit de l'Anglois sur une Brochure publiée à + Londres en 1735_ par M. Bourn Birmingham, Sous le titre de + _Popery a Craft_, pp. 55-84. + + Le Prêtrianisme opposé au Christianisme. Ou la Religion + des Prêtres comparée à celle de Jésus-Christ, ou examen de la + différence qui se trouve entre les Apôtres et les Membres du + Clergé moderne. _Publié en Anglois en 1720 sous le titre de_ + Priestanity. Or a View of the disparity between the Apostles + and the Modern Clergy, pp. 85-108. + + Des Dangers de l'Eglise, _Traduit de Anglois sur une Brochure + Publiée eu 1719_. Par M., Thomas Gordon, Sous le titre + d'_Apology for the danger of the Church_, etc., pp. 109-128. + + Le Simbole d'un Laïque, ou Profession de Foi d'un homme + désintéressé. Traduit de l'Anglois de M. Gordon, Sur une + brochure publiée en 1720. Sous le titre de _the creed of an + independent Whig_, pp. 129-144. + + --Ibid. Published under title De La Monstruosité pontificale, ou + Tableau fidèle des Papes. _Traduit de l'Anglois_ Londres + MDCCLXXII. (16vo, pp. 55.) + B. N., H. 19859. + + 1768. Examen des Prophéties qui servent de fondement à la religion + chrétienne, avec un Essai de critique sur les Prophètes et les + Prophéties en général. Ouvrages traduits de l'Anglois. + Londres MDCCLXVIII. (8vo, pp. 234.) + B. N., D2 5190. + B. M. 4017 de 18. + + Contains, Discours sur les fondements de la religion chrétienne, pp. 1-111. + + Extrait De l'Ouvrage qui a pour titre: Examen du Septème de ceux + qui prétendent que les Prophéties se sont accomplies à la lettre. + The Scheme of literal Prophecy considered, etc., 1727. (8vo, pp. 118-234.) + + 1768. David, ou l'Histoire de l'homme selon le coeur de Dieu, ouvrage + traduit de l'Anglois. Saül, et David, tragédie en 5 actes d'après + l'Anglois.... (Londres, 1768, 8vo.) + B. N. 3 ex. LD2 5194, Hz 1542, et Rès Z. Beuchot 798 (2). + B. M. 4014 a 67 (1). + + 1768. Les Prêtres démasqués, ou des iniquités du clergé chrétien. + Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois. Londres. MDCCLXVIII. + (16vo, pp. 180.) + B. N., D2 4639. + B. M. 4017 de 29. + + 1768. Lettres philosophiques, sur l'origine des Préjugés, du Dogme de + l'Immortalité de l'Ame, de l'Idolâtrie et de la Superstition; sur + le Système de Spinoza et sur l'origine du mouvement dans la + matière. Traduites de l'Anglois de J. Toland. + + Opinionum commenta delet dies, naturae judicia confirmat. + Cicero, de Nat. Deor. lib. II. A Londres (Amsterdam). 1768. + MDCCLXVIII. (8vo, pp. 267.) + B. N., D2 5203. + B. M. 4015 de 48. + + Containing, Préface ou Lettre à un ami, en lui envoyant les + Dissertations suivantes, dans laquelle l'Auteur rend compte des + motifs qui les ont fait écrire. (pp. 12-26.) + + Première Lettre. De L'origine et de la Force de ces Préjugés. + (pp. 27-44.) + + Seconde Lettre. Histoire du dogme de l'Immortalité de + l'Ame Chez les Payens. (pp. 45-93.) + + Troisième Lettre. Sur l'origine de l'Idolâtrie et sur les + fondements de la Religion Payenne. (pp. 94-152.) + + Quartrième Lettre. A un Gentilhomme Hollandois pour lui + prouver que le système de Spinoza est dépourvu de fondements + et pèche dans ses principes. (pp. 154-186.) + + Cinquième Lettre. Dans laquelle on prouve que le mouvement + est essentiel à la Matière; en réponse à quelques remarques + qui ont été faites à l'Auteur au sujet de sa réfutation du + Système de Spinoza. + + Nunc quae mobilitas fit reddita Materiaë Corporibus paucis + licet hinc cognoscere, Memmi. Lucret., lib. II, vers 142. + (pp. 187-267.) + + 1768. Théologie portative, ou Dictionnaire Abrégé de la Religion + Chrétienne. Par Mr. l'Abbé Bernier, Licencié en Théologie. + + Audite hoc Sacerdotes, et attendite Domus Israël, et Domus + Regis auscultate; quia vobis Judicium est, quoniam Laquens + facti estis Speculationi et rete expansum super Thabor. Osée, + Chap. V, Vers. I. Londres (Amsterdam), MDCCLXVIII (1767), + (12mo, pp. 243). + B. N., D2 14334. + B. M. 703 a 25. + + --Ibid. Londres (Suisse), 1768. + + --Ibid. A Rome, MDCCLXXV (8vo, pp. 213). + B. N., D2 8370. + + --Ibid. Augmentée d'un Volume. A Rome, avec permission et privilège + du Conclave. (2 vols., 12mo (1776).) + B. N., D2 8371. + + --Ibid. Under title. Manuel Théologique, en form de Dictionnaire. + Ouvrage très utile aux personnes des deux sexes pour le salut de leurs + âmes, par l'abbé Bernier etc. Rome, 1785 Au Vatican de l'Imprimerie du + Conclave. (2 vols., 8vo.) + + --Ibid. 1802. + + 1768. Le Militaire philosophe, ou Difficultés sur la Religion, + proposées au R. P. Malebranche, Prêtre de l'Oratoire. Par un ancien + Officier. Londres (Amsterdam) MDCCLXVIII. (8vo, pp. 193.) + C. U. 201 N 14. + + --Ibid. 1770 (8vo). + B. M. 4015 bb 32. + + --Ibid. 1776 (8vo). + B. M. 4015 de 34. + (Last chapter by d'Holbach.) + + 1768. La Contagion sacrée, ou Histoire Naturelle de la Superstition. + Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois. _Prima mali labes_. Londres + (Amsterdam), MDCCLXVII. (2 vols. in 1, 8vo.) + B. N., D2 5195. + C. U. 194 H 69 P. + + --Ibid. Avec des notes relatives aux Circonstances. Nouvelle + Edition. A Paris, de l'Imprimerie de Lemaire, rue d'Enfer no. 141, + An 5 de la Republique (1797). (2 vols. in 1, 8vo, pp. 179-190.) + U. T. S. 441 + B. H. 723 C. + + --El Contagion sagrado, ó Historia natural de la supersticion. + Paris, Rodriguez, 1822. (2 vols., 8vo.) (Quérard.) + + 1768. Lettres à Eugénia, ou Préservatif contre les préjugés... arctis + Relligionum animos nodis exsolvere pergo.--Lucret. de rer. nat., Lib. 4, + v. 6-7. A Londres, MDCCLXVIII. (2 vols., 8vo, pp. xii + 188 + 167) + + --Ibid. Oeuvres de Nicolas Fréret, T. I, pp. 1-359. Paris, 1792. (8vo.) + H. U. 19-30, vol. I. + + --Cartas á Eugenia, por Mr. Freret. Paris. Imprenta de F. Didot, + 1810 (8vo, pp. viii + 358). + B. M. 4015 de 23. + + --Letters to Eugenia on the absurd, contradictory and demoralizing + Dogmas and Mysteries of the Christian Religion. Now first translated + from the French of Fréret, but supposed to be written by Baron Holbach, + author of the System of Nature, Christianity Unveiled, Common Sense, + Universal Morality, Natural Morality. R. Carlile, The Deist, etc., + Vol. II, 1819, etc. (8vo, pp. 185.) + B. M. 4015 f. 11. + + --Cartas à Eugenia. Madrid, 1823, por Don Benito Cano. 2v. + N. Y., Z F F. + + --Letters to Eugenia on the absurd, contradictory and demoralizing + Dogmas and Mysteries of the Christian Religion, by Baron d'Holbach, + New York, published by H. M. Dubecquet, No. 190 + William Street, 1833. (12vo, pp. 236.) + U. T. S. 326 B. + + --Letters to Eugenia etc., translated by Anthony C. Middleton, + M.D. Boston, Josiah P. Mendum, 1857. + B. P. 5484 2. + + 1769. De la Cruauté religieuse. A Londres, MDCCLXIX. (16vo, pp. 228.) + B. N., D2 8365. + B. M. 4017 aa 25. + U. T. S. H 723. + + --Ibid. Amsterdam, 1775, 12vo. + + 1769. Le la Tolérance dans la Religion, ou de la Liberté de conscience + par Crellius. L'Intolérance convaincue de crime et de folie. + Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois, Londres, MDCCLXIX. (12vo, pp. 174.) + + Contains De la Tolérance dans la religion, ou de la liberté de + conscience (Crellius). + + De l'Intolérance dans la Religion (d'Holbach), p. 88. + + Enfer détruit ou Examen Raisonné du Dogme de l'Eternité + des peines. Ouvrages, tr. de L'Anglois à Londres, MDCCLXIX, p. 1. + + Dissertation critique sur les tourmens de l'enfer. Traduit de + L'Anglois, p. 96 (by Whitefoot). + B. N., D2 5154. + + --Ibid. Hell destroyed! Now first translated from the French of + d'Alembert without any mutilations. London. Printed and published + by J. W. Trust, 126 Newgate St., 1823. (8vo, pp. 47.) + (Followed by Whitefoot's Torments of Hell, "now first translated + from the French," to p. 83.) + + 1770. L'Esprit du judaïsme, ou Examen raisonné de la Loi de Moyse, + et de son influence sur la Religion Chrétienne. + Atque utinam nunquam Judaea sub acta fuisset Pompeii + bellis, imperioque Titi. + Latius excisae pestes contagie serpunt, Victoresques suos + natio victa premit. Rutilius, Itinerar. Lia I, vs. 394, Londres, + MDCCLXX. (12mo, pp. xxii + 201.) + B. N., D2 5191. + B. M. 4034 bb 38. + + 1770. Examen critique de la vie et des ouvrages de saint Paul, Avec + une dissertation sur saint Pierre par feu M. Boulanger. + Londres, 1770 (8vo), (by Peter Annet). + B. N. 3ex. [D2 5349 (2) 8367 et H. 7551]. + B. M. 48o8 aa 7. + + --Ibid. Nouvelle Edition, Londres, 1790. (8vo.) + B. N. [H 13032]. + + --Critical Examination of the Life of St. Paul. Translated from + the French of Boulanger. "Paul, thou art beside thyself, much + learning doth make thee mad." Acts, chap, 26, v 24. London. + Printed and published by R. Carlile, 5 Water Lane, Fleet St., + 1823. (8vo, pp. 72.) + B. M. 4372 h g (4). + + 1770. Histoire critique de Jésus-Christ, ou Analyse raisonnée + des Evangiles. Ecce Homo. + Pudet me humani generis, cuius mentis et aures talia ferre + potuerunt. S. Augustin. (No date [Amsterdam, 1770?], 16mo, + pp. viii + xxxii + 298.) + B. N, 7,549. + B. M. 4017 a. 45. + U. T. S. 465 H 723. + + --Ecce Homo! or a critical enquiry into the history of Jesus Christ, + being a Rational Analysis of the Gospels. Edinburg, 1799. + + --Ecce Homo! or a critical enquiry into the history of Jesus Christ, + being a Rational Analysis of the Gospels. (2d ed.) London, 1813. + Printed, published and sold by D. I. Easton. + G. T. S. 232 G. H. 69. + + --Historia critica de Jesus Christo, o anáilisis razonado le los + evangelios. Traducida del Frances, por el P. F. de T, ex-jesuita. + Ecce Homo. Vel. aqui el hombre. S. Juan, cap. 19, + + v. 5. Londres, en la imprenta de Davidson, 1822. (2 vols., 12mo, + pp. xiii + 200 + 280.) + + Contains Advertencia del Traductor. + + 1770. Tableau des Saints, ou examen de l'esprit, de la conduite, des + maximes, et du mérite des personnages que le Christianisme révère et + propose pour modèles. + Hoc admonere simplices etiam potest, + Opinione alterius ne quid ponderent; + Ambitio namque diffidens mortalium + Aut gratiae subscribunt, aut odio suo; + Erit ille nottis, quem per te cognoveris. + Phaed., Lib. III, Fab. 10. + + A Londres, MDCCLXX. (2 Vols., 12mo, pp. xxviii + 280 + 286.) + B. N., H 7,552. + B. M. 4,824 a a a a 27. + + 1770. Recueil philosophique, ou Mélange de Pièces sur la Religion et + la Morale. Par différents Auteurs (ed. Naigeon). + + Ovando enim ista observans quieto et libero animo esse poteris, + ut ad vem gerendam non Superstionem habeas, sed Rationem ducem. + --Cicero, de Divinat., Lib. 2. Londres, MDCCLXX. (2 vols., 12mo.) + B. N., D2 5309. + + Vol. I, p. 129 (VI), Réflexions sur les Craintes de la Mort. + + Vol. II, p. 34 (IX), Dissertation sur l'Immortalité de l'âme. + Traduite de l'Anglais. + + Vol. II, p. 50 (X), Dissertation sur le suicide. Traduit de l'Anglais. + + Vol. II, p. 70 (XI). Problème important. La Religion est + elle nécessaire à la Morale et utile à la Politique? Par M. + Mirabaud. + + Vol. II, p. 125 (XIII). Extrait d'un Ecrit Anglais qui a pour + titre _le christianisme aussi ancien que le monde_. + + 1770. Essai sur les préjugés, ou, De l'influence des opinions sur les + moeurs et sur le bonheur des hommes. Ouvrage contenant l'apologie + de la philosophie par Mr. D. M. + + Assiduite quotidiana et consuetudine oculorum assuescunt animi, + neque admirantur, neque requerunt rationes earum rerum quas vident. + --Cicero de Nat. Deorum, Lib. II. Londres, MDCCLXX. (8vo, pp. 394.) + B. N., R 20 553. + B. M. 8463 b b b 16. + H. U. Phil. 264840. + + --Ibid. Paris Desray an 1 (1792). (2 vols., 8vo, Cortina.) + + --Ibid. Oeuvres de Dumarsais. Paris, Pougin, 1797. T. VI + 8vo, pp. 43-352. + B. N., Z 23766-72. + H. U. 9578 13 VI. + + --Ibid. Paris, Niogret, 1822. + C. U. 3045 D 89. + + --Essayo sobre las preocupaciones ó del influjo de las opiniones + en las costumbres y felicidad de las hombres. Por Dumarsais. + En Paris. Hallase en la casa de Rosa, Librero. Gran pacio del + Palacio Real. 1823. (8vo, pp. 391.) + B. N., R 34,366. + + --(Bibliothèque Nationale. Collection des meilleurs auteurs + anciens et modernes.) Dumarsais. Essai sur les Préjugés. + Précédé d'un Discours préliminaire et d'un Précis historique de + la vie de Dumarsais par le citoyen Daube. Paris. Librairie de + la Bibliothèque Nationale. Rue de Richelieu 8, Près le + Théâtre Francais. Ci-devant rue de Valois 1886. Tous droits + resérvés (25 centimes). + B. N. 8vo R. 15952. + + 1770. Système de la Nature, ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du + Monde Moral. Par M. Mirabaud, Secrétaire Perpétuel et l'un + des Quarante de l'Académie Française. + + Natura rerum vis atque majestas in omnibus momentis fide + caret, si quis modè partes ejus, ac non totam complectatur + animo.--Plin. Hist., Lib. VII. Londres, MDCCLXX. + (2 vols., 8vo, pp. 370 + 412.) + B. M. 4017 f 32 + U. T. S. 321 H 7235. + + --Ibid, Londres, MDCCLXX. (Second edition, 2 Vols., in 8vo, + pp. 366 + 408.) + B. M., D2 5166-5167. + Contains Discours préliminaire de l'Auteur (pp. 16). Avis de + l'Editeur. Préface de l'Auteur, etc. + + --Abrégé du Code de la Nature, par M., Mirabaud, Secrétaire + Perpétuel et l'un des Quarante de l'Académe Française. + Londres. MDCCLXX. (8vo, 16 p.) + + --Ibid. Nouvelle Édition augmentée par l'auteur à laquelle on a + joint plusieurs pièces des meilleurs Auteurs relatives aux + mêmes objets, etc. (Ed. Naigeon.) Londres, MDCCLXXI. + (2 vols. in 8vo, pp. 397-500.) + + Contains Vol. II, p. 455, Réquisitoire, sur lequel est intervenu + l'Arrêt du Parlement du 18 Août 1770 qui condamne à + être brûlés, differens Livres ou Brochures, intitulés. + + 1. La Contagion sacrée... + 2. Dieu et les hommes. + 3. Discours sur les Miracles. + 4. Examen des Apologistes. + 5. Examen impartial des principales religions du Monde. + 6. Christianisme dévoilé. + 7. Système de la Nature. + Imprimé par ordre exprès du Roi. + B. M., D2 5168. + Reprinted in 1774, 1775-1777. + + --Ibid. Nouvelle Édition. Londres, 1780, 8vo, pp. xii + 371 + 464. + + Contains _Sentiments de Voltaire sur le Système de la Nature_. + Séguier's _Réquisitoire_ and Holbach's _Réplique_. + B. M. 528 1. 2526. + + --Ibid. Nouvelle Édition. Londres, 1781. (2 vols. in 8vo, pp. 316 + 385.) + B. N., D2 516g. + + --Ibid. German Translation, Schreiter. Leipzig and Frankfort, 1783. + + --Ibid. Paris, An. III (1795). (3 vols. in 8vo.) + + --The System of Nature. Translated from the French of M. Mirabeau. + London, 1797. Printed for G. Kearsley. + L. of C. B 2053-S G E-12 11-15959. + + --Ibid. Philadelphia, 1808. Pub. by R. Benson. + L. of C., B 2053-S G 3 E 13-11-1595 G. + + --Nature and Her Laws, as Applicable to the Happiness of Man Living + in Society, Contrasted with Superstitions and Imaginary Systems. + Done from the French of M. Mirabaud. London in 1816. W. Hodgson. + C. U. 194 H 69 S. + L. of C., B 2053 S g 3 E 14-11.15960 + + --Système de la Nature,... Avec notes de Diderot. Nouvelle édition. + Ed. Lemonnier, Paris, 1820. B. Roquefort. (2 vols. in 8vo.) + + --The System of Nature, or the Laws of the Moral and Physical World. + Translated by Samuel Wilkinson from the original French of M. Mirabaud. + Printed and published by Thomas Davison. (Vols. 2, 3, R. Helder, 1821.) + London, 1820. + 3 vols in 8vo, pp. xi + 348-311-273.) Contains Life of Mirabaud, + Vol. 3, pp. 263-273. + B. M. 804. de 20? + U. S. 321. H 723. + + --Système de la Nature... par le Baron d'Holbach. + Nouvelle Edition avec des notes et des corrections par Diderot. + Paris, Etienne Ledoux, 1821. (2 vols. in 8vo, pp. xvi + 507 +502.) + B. N., D2 5170. + B. M. 124 9 i. 26. + C. U, 194 H 69. R. + N. Y., Y C O. + Contains extract of Grimm's Literary Correspondence, Aug. 10, 1789. + + --Système de la Nature, ou des lois du monde physique et du monde + morale, par le Baron d'Holbach. Nouvelle Édition avec des notes et + des corrections par Diderot etc. Paris, Domère, 1822. (4 vols. in 12mo.) + Contains Avis de Naigion. Avertissement du nouvel éditeur, pp. 11-29. + Pièces diverses, pp. 30-46. + + --Sistema de la Naturaleza, con notas y correcciones por Diderot; + trad, al castell. por F. A. F.... Paris, Masson hijo, 1822, + 4 vols. in 18mo. + B. N., D2 5172. + + --Selections from Mirabaud's System of Nature in the Law of Reason, etc. + London, 1831. (16mo, pp. 231.) + Selections from Bon-Sens, pp. 39-81, 82-112. + B. M. 1387. b. 3. + + --Nature and her Laws, as Applicable to the Happiness of Man Living + in Society, Contrasted with Superstitions and Imaginary Systems. + From the French of M. de Mirabaud. James Watson. London, 1834. + (2 vols. in 12mo, pp. xxiv + 287 + 320.) + Sold for 7 s. 6 d. + B. M. 1133 b 29. + Contains + 1. Publisher's Preface (by James Watson). + 2. Preface. + 3. A short account of the life and writings of the Baron d'Holbach + (by Julian Hibbert). + + --System of Nature, new and improved edition with notes by Diderot. + Translated by H. D. Robinson. New York, 1835, published by Matsell. + N. Y., Y B X. + + --System of Nature, or the laws of the moral and physical world, + from the French of M. Mirabaud. (New edition, pp. 8 + 520.) + London, 1840. + C. U. 194 H 69. R 1. + + --System der Natur von Mirabaud. Deutsch bearbeitet und mit Anmerkungen + versehen von Biedermann. Leipzig, 1841. + (8vo, pp. 604.) Georg. Wigands Verlag. + T. S. (Andover 23). + + --System der Natur.... Translated by Schreiter, 1843. + + --System of Nature, new and improved edition with notes by Diderot, + translated by H. D. Robinson. Stereotype edition, Boston, 1848, + in 8vo. Published by J. P. Mendum. + B. P. 00.80-6105.5. + + --System der Natur..., tr. Allhusen, 1851. + + --System of Nature..., tr. Robinson, Boston. 1853. Published by + J. P. Mendum. + B. P. 3600.48. + N. Y., Y C O 11-15957/ + L. of C., B. 2053. S g 3 E 6. + + --The System of Nature; or, The Laws of the Moral and Physical World, + by the baron d'Holbach, originally attributed to M. de Mirabaud with + memoir by Charles Bradlaugh. Reprinted verbatim from the best edition. + London. Published by E. Truelove, 256 High Holborn, 1884. In 8vo, + pp. xi + 520. + B. M. 8467 a a 33. + + 1772. Le Bon-sens ou idées naturelles opposées aux idées surnaturelles. + Detexit quo doloso vaticinandi furore Sacerdotes + mysteria, illis saepe ignota, audacter publicant. + --Petronii Satyricon. + Londres (Amsterdam) 1772, 8vo, pp. xii - 515. + U. T. S. 321 H. 7236. + + --Ibid. Le Bon-sens du curé J. Meslier d'Etrépigny. Rome + (Paris), 1791, 8vo. + + --Ibid. Another edition, 1772, 8vo, pp. x-250. + + --Ibid. Londres (Amsterdam), 1774, 16mo, pp. xii-302. + U. T. S. 321 H. 7236. + + --Ibid. Le Bon-sens du curé Meslier d'Etrépigny. Rome + (Paris), 1791, 8vo. + + --Ibid. Nouvelle édition, suivi du Testament du curé Meslier. + Paris, Bouqueton, l'an I de la République. (1792, 2 vols., 12mo.) + + --Ibid. Le Bon-sens du curé J. Meslier suivi de son Testament. + Paris, 1802, 8vo, pp. 380. + C. U. 843 M 56 D 1. + + --Ibid. Paris, Palais des Thermes de Julien, 1802 (1822), 12mo. + + --Ibid. Paris, Guillaumin, 1830, 12mo. + + --Ibid. Paris, Guillaumin, 1831, 12mo. + + --Common Sense, H. D. Robinson, New York, circa 1833. + + --Le Bon-sens du curé J. Meslier, etc. Paris, Bacquenois, 1833, 12mo. + + --Ibid. Paris, Guillaumin, 1834, 12mo. + + --Ibid. Nancy, Haener, 1834, 12mo. + + --Der gesunde Menschenverstand. Baltimore, 1857. + + --Ibid. Baltimore, 1859 (second edition), H. U. + + --Ibid. Tr. into German by Miss Anna Knoop. circa 1878. + + --Ibid., under title, Superstition in all ages; by Jean Meslier... + who left to the world the following pages entitled _Common Sense_. + Translated from the French original by Miss Anna Knoop, New York, 1878. + C. U. L. 211 M. + + --Ibid. New York, Peter Eckler, 1890, pp. vi-339. + U. T. S. + + --Le Bon-sens du curé J. Meslier, Paris, Palais des Thermes de + Julien, 1802. (Garnier Frères, 1905.) + H. U. + + --Superstition in all ages, etc. Translated from the French original + by Miss Anna Knoop; arranged for publication in its present form and + manner with new title-page and preface by Dr. L. W. deLaurence. Same + to now serve as "text-book" number five for "the congress of ancient, + divine, mental and Christian masters," Chicago, Ill., DeLaurence, + Scott & Co., 1910, pp. xx-17-339. + L. of C. 1910, A 26880. L. W. de Laurence. + + 1772. De la nature humaine, ou Exposition des facultés, des actions + et des passions de l'âme, et de leurs causes, déduites d'après des + principes philosophiques qui ne sont communément ni reçus ni connus. + Par Thomas Hobbes; Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois. + Londres (Amsterdam), MDCCLXXII. (8vo, pp. iv + 171.) + B. M. 8403 c c 15. + (Bookmark of Richard Chase Sidney.) + + --Ibid. Oeuvres philosophiques et politiques de Thomas Hobbes. + 1787. (2 vols., 8vo.) (Tr. by Sorbière and Holbach.) + B. M. 528 2223. + + 1773. Recherches sur les Miracles. Par l'auteur de l'Examen des + Apologistes de la Religion Chrétienne. A Genus attonitum. + Ovid. Metam. Londres, MDCCLXXIII. (8vo. pp. 172.) + B. M. 4015 de 44. + + 1773. La politique naturelle, ou, Discours sur les vrais principes du + Governement. Par un ancien Magistrat. + Vis consili expers mole ruit suâ. --Horat., Ode IV, lib. III, vers. 65 + Londres (Amsterdam), MDCCLXXIII. (2 vols. in 8vo. + pp. vii + 232 + 280.) + B. M. 521 h. 8. + U. S. 269 E. H. 723 (ex libris Baron Carl de Vinck, Ministre de Belgique). + C. U. 320 H. 691. + (Ascribed also to C. G. Lamoignon de Malesherbes.) + + --Ibid. Londres, 1774. (2 vols, in 8vo.) + + --La Politica Naturale: discorsi sui veri principi di governo. + Traduzione di Luigi Salvadori. Mantova, Balbiani e Donelli, + '78-80. (2 vols., 16 (L. 5).) + + 1773. Système Social, ou principes naturels de la moral et de la + politique, avec un examen de l'influence du governement sur les moeurs. + Discenda virtus est, ars est bonum fieri; erras si existimas + vitia nobiscum nasci; supervenerunt in gesta sunt. --Seneca, Epis. 124. + Londres, MDCCLXXIII. (8vo, pp. 218 + 174 + 166, in three parts.) + B. N., R 20275.76 E 1919. + C. U. 320. H. 69. + N. Y. SC. + + --Ibid. Par l'auteur du Système de la Nature, Londres, 1774. + (3 vols., 8vo, pp. 208 + 174 + 167.) + B. M. 8403. h 23. + + --Ibid. A Paris, Servière, 1795. (2 vols., 8vo, pp. 472 + 403.) + B. M. 8404 dc. 25 (ex libris J. Gomez de la Cortina et amicorum. + Fallitur hora legendo). + + --Ibid....par le baron d'Holbach. Paris, Niogret, 1882. + (2 vols, 8vo.) + C. U. 320. H. 690. + + 1774. Agriculture réduit à ses vrais principes par Jean Gottschalk + Wallerius, Paris, Lacombe, 1774. (12mo.) + + 1776. Ethocratie ou le gouvernement fondé sur la morale. + Constituit bonos mores civitati princips. --Seneca, de Clementia, Lib. I. + A Amsterdam. Chez Marc Michel Rey. MDCCLXXVI. + (8vo, pp. 10 + 293 + 2.) + C. U. 320. 1 H 69. + + 1776. Morale universelle, ou Les devoirs de l'homme fondés sur la nature. + Naturâ duce utendum est: hanc ratio observe, hanc + consulit, idem est ergo beatè vivere et secundum naturam. --Seneca + de Vita beata, Cap. VIII init. + A Amsterdam. Chez Marc-Michel Rey, MDCCLXXVI. + (3 vols., 8vo, pp. 416 + 334 + 364.) + B. N., R 18596-7-8.. + B. M. 231 h-3 + + --Ibid. A Tours, Chez Letourmy le jeune et compagnie, A Angers, + De l'Imprimerie de Jahyer et Geslin. Imprimeurs-Libraries, rue + Milton, 1792. (8vo.) + B. M. 527. K. 1-3H. + U. Phil. 2648.50. + + --Ibid. Paris, Smith (Rey et Gravier), an 6, 1798. (3 vols., 8vo.) + + --Ibid. Par le baron d'Holbach. Paris, Masson et fils. Libraires, + Rue de Tournon, No. 6, 1820. (3 vols., 8vo, pp. xxxii + 314 + 266 + 300.) + C. U. 170 H 2. + B. M. 8411 k 7. + + --Moral universal ódeberes del hombre, fundatos en su naturaleza. + Obra escrita en francès por el baron de Holbach y traducida al + castellano por D. Manuel Diaz Moreno Zaragoza, 1838, imp. de + M. Heras. (3 vols., 8vo.) + + --La moral universel por el baron de Holbach. Madrid, 1840, + imp. y lib. del Establecimiento Central. (2 vols. in 4to.) + + --Ibid. Translated into German by Johann Umminger. Leipzig, 1898. + + + 1790. Elements de la morale universelle, ou catechisme de la nature. + Par feu M., le Baron d'Holbach des académies de Pétersbourg de Manheim + et de Berlin. + Numquam aliud natura aliud sapientia dicit.--Juvenal. + A Paris. Chez G. de Bure. Rue Serpente, No. 6, MDCCXC. + (24vo, pp. vi + 208.) + B. M. 528. a. 27. + B. P., G. 3537.14. + + --Elementos de la moral universel, ó catecismo de la naturaleza, + por el baron de Holbach. Madrid, 1820, imp. que fué de Fuentenebro, + lib de Sanchez en 8vo past. + + --Principios de moral, ó manuel de los deberes del hombre fundados + en la naturaleza. Obra póstuma de baron de Holbach. Traducida al + espanol por D. L. M. 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Paris, 1882. + + St.-Martin, Des erreurs et de la vérité. Edinburgh, 1775. + + Soury, Bréviaire de l'histoire de matérialisme. Paris, 1881. + + Stupuy, Chez Diderot, comédie en deux actes, en vers. Paris, 1868. + + Tallentyre, The Friends of Voltaire. London, 1906. + + Villemain, Cours de littérature française. Paris, 1859. + + Voltaire, Oeuvres complètes, ed. Beuchot. Paris, 1829-40. + Oeuvres complètes, ed. Garnier. Paris, 1880. + + Walpole, H., Letters, ed, Toynbee. London, 1912. + + Weiland, Oberon, tr. Holbach fils. Paris, 1825. + + Wetzer & Welte, Kirchen-lexikon. + + Wilkes, Correspondence with his Friends. London, 1805. + Letters from the year 1774 to 1796, addressed to his daughter. + London, 1805. + + Wright, A History of French Literature. London, 1912. + + + + + +VITA + + +Max Pearson Cushing, born in Bangor, Maine, October 27, 1886; Bangor +High School, 1905; A.B. Bowdown College, 1909. Instructor in English, +Robert College, Constantinople, 1909-1911; Graduate Student in History, +Columbia University, 1911-1913; A.M. Columbia, 1912, Instructor in +History, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, 1913. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Baron d'Holbach, by Max Pearson Cushing + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BARON D'HOLBACH *** + +***** This file should be named 5621-8.txt or 5621-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/2/5621/ + +Produced by David Ross and Richard Farris + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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