Letters on England by Voltaire


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Page 1

Under the regency that followed, Voltaire got into trouble again and
again through the sharpness of his pen, and at last, accused of verse
that satirised the Regent, he was locked up--on the 17th of May, 1717--in
the Bastille. There he wrote the first two books of his _Henriade_, and
finished a play on OEdipus, which he had begun at the age of eighteen. He
did not obtain full liberty until the 12th of April, 1718, and it was at
this time--with a clearly formed design to associate the name he took
with work of high attempt in literature--that Francois Marie Arouet, aged
twenty-four, first called himself Voltaire.

Voltaire's _OEdipe_ was played with success in November, 1718. A few
months later he was again banished from Paris, and finished the
_Henriade_ in his retirement, as well as another play, _Artemise_, that
was acted in February, 1720. Other plays followed. In December, 1721,
Voltaire visited Lord Bolingbroke, who was then an exile from England, at
the Chateau of La Source. There was now constant literary activity. From
July to October, 1722, Voltaire visited Holland with Madame de
Rupelmonde. After a serious attack of small-pox in November, 1723,
Voltaire was active as a poet about the Court. He was then in receipt of
a pension of two thousand livres from the king, and had inherited more
than twice as much by the death of his father in January, 1722. But in
December, 1725, a quarrel, fastened upon him by the Chevalier de Rohan,
who had him waylaid and beaten, caused him to send a challenge. For this
he was arrested and lodged once more, in April, 1726, in the Bastille.
There he was detained a month; and his first act when he was released was
to ask for a passport to England.

Voltaire left France, reached London in August, 1726, went as guest to
the house of a rich merchant at Wandsworth, and remained three years in
this country, from the age of thirty-two to the age of thirty-five. He
was here when George I. died, and George II. became king. He published
here his _Henriade_. He wrote here his "History of Charles XII." He
read "Gulliver's Travels" as a new book, and might have been present at
the first night of _The Beggar's Opera_. He was here whet Sir Isaac
Newton died.

In 1731 he published at Rouen the _Lettres sur les Anglais_, which
appeared in England in 1733 in the volume from which they are here
reprinted.

H.M.




LETTERS ON ENGLAND


LETTER I.--ON THE QUAKERS


I was of opinion that the doctrine and history of so extraordinary a
people were worthy the attention of the curious. To acquaint myself with
them I made a visit to one of the most eminent Quakers in England, who,
after having traded thirty years, had the wisdom to prescribe limits to
his fortune and to his desires, and was settled in a little solitude not
far from London. Being come into it, I perceived a small but regularly
built house, vastly neat, but without the least pomp of furniture. The
Quaker who owned it was a hale, ruddy-complexioned old man, who had never
been afflicted with sickness because he had always been insensible to
passions, and a perfect stranger to intemperance. I never in my life saw
a more noble or a more engaging aspect than his. He was dressed like
those of his persuasion, in a plain coat without pleats in the sides, or
buttons on the pockets and sleeves; and had on a beaver, the brims of
which were horizontal like those of our clergy. He did not uncover
himself when I appeared, and advanced towards me without once stooping
his body; but there appeared more politeness in the open, humane air of
his countenance, than in the custom of drawing one leg behind the other,
and taking that from the head which is made to cover it. "Friend," says
he to me, "I perceive thou art a stranger, but if I can do anything for
thee, only tell me." "Sir," said I to him, bending forwards and
advancing, as is usual with us, one leg towards him, "I flatter myself
that my just curiosity will not give you the least offence, and that
you'll do me the honour to inform me of the particulars of your
religion." "The people of thy country," replied the Quaker, "are too
full of their bows and compliments, but I never yet met with one of them
who had so much curiosity as thyself. Come in, and let us first dine
together." I still continued to make some very unseasonable ceremonies,
it not being easy to disengage one's self at once from habits we have
been long used to; and after taking part in a frugal meal, which began
and ended with a prayer to God, I began to question my courteous host. I
opened with that which good Catholics have more than once made to
Huguenots. "My dear sir," said I, "were you ever baptised?" "I never
was," replied the Quaker, "nor any of my brethren." "Zounds!" say I to
him, "you are not Christians, then." "Friend," replies the old man in a
soft tone of voice, "swear not; we are Christians, and endeavour to be
good Christians, but we are not of opinion that the sprinkling water on a
child's head makes him a Christian." "Heavens!" say I, shocked at his
impiety, "you have then forgot that Christ was baptised by St. John."
"Friend," replies the mild Quaker once again, "swear not; Christ indeed
was baptised by John, but He himself never baptised anyone. We are the
disciples of Christ, not of John." I pitied very much the sincerity of
my worthy Quaker, and was absolutely for forcing him to get himself
christened. "Were that all," replied he very gravely, "we would submit
cheerfully to baptism, purely in compliance with thy weakness, for we
don't condemn any person who uses it; but then we think that those who
profess a religion of so holy, so spiritual a nature as that of Christ,
ought to abstain to the utmost of their power from the Jewish
ceremonies." "O unaccountable!" say I: "what! baptism a Jewish
ceremony?" "Yes, my friend," says he, "so truly Jewish, that a great
many Jews use the baptism of John to this day. Look into ancient
authors, and thou wilt find that John only revived this practice; and
that it had been used by the Hebrews, long before his time, in like
manner as the Mahometans imitated the Ishmaelites in their pilgrimages to
Mecca. Jesus indeed submitted to the baptism of John, as He had suffered
Himself to be circumcised; but circumcision and the washing with water
ought to be abolished by the baptism of Christ, that baptism of the
Spirit, that ablution of the soul, which is the salvation of mankind.
Thus the forerunner said, 'I indeed baptise you with water unto
repentance; but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I
am not worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire.' Likewise Paul, the great apostle of the Gentiles, writes as
follows to the Corinthians, 'Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach
the Gospel;' and indeed Paul never baptised but two persons with water,
and that very much against his inclinations. He circumcised his disciple
Timothy, and the other disciples likewise circumcised all who were
willing to submit to that carnal ordinance. But art thou circumcised?"
added he. "I have not the honour to be so," say I. "Well, friend,"
continues the Quaker, "thou art a Christian without being circumcised,
and I am one without being baptised." Thus did this pious man make a
wrong but very specious application of four or five texts of Scripture
which seemed to favour the tenets of his sect; but at the same time
forgot very sincerely an hundred texts which made directly against them.
I had more sense than to contest with him, since there is no possibility
of convincing an enthusiast. A man should never pretend to inform a
lover of his mistress's faults, no more than one who is at law, of the
badness of his cause; nor attempt to win over a fanatic by strength of
reasoning. Accordingly I waived the subject.

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