M f \ m - WA ■ H fi m. ^J-frM 'W. m =v, * N %■ ^ x° A N r ° \ "otf * ■<*, BARON D'HOLBACH A STUDY OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY RADICALISM IN FRANCE BY MAX PEARSON CUSHING Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Political Science, Columbia University NEW YORK 1914 BARON D'HOLBACH A STUDY OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY RADICALISM IN FRANCE BY MAX PEARSON CUSHING Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Political Science, Columbia University ic NEW YORK 1914 i £■ ^ PRESS OF THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY LANCASTER, PA. + \ \ TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction i Chapter I. Holbach, The Man 5 Early letters to John Wilkes .6 Holbach's family 12 Relations with Diderot, Rousseau, Hume, Garrick and other important persons of the century 15 Estimate of Holbach. His character and personality. 21 Chapter II. Holbach's Works 26 Miscellaneous Works 26 Translations of German Scientific Works 27. Translations of English Deistical Writers 31 Boulanger's Antiquite devoilee 36 Original Works : Le Christianisme devoilee 38 Theologie portative 43 La Contagion sacree 46 Essai sur les prejuges 49 Le bon-sens 51 Chapter ill I. The Systeme de la Nature and its Phi- osophy 54 Voltaire's correspondence on the subject 56 Goethe's sentiment 58 Refutations and criticisms 59 Holbach's philosophy; 65 Appendix. Holbach's Correspondence 70 Five unpublished letters to John Wilkes 75 Bibliography. Part I. Editions of Holbach's Works in Chronological Order 85 Part II. General Bibliography 104 in BARON D'HOLBACH A une extreme justesse d" 1 esprit il joignait une simplicite de moeurs tout-d- 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 siecle a son esprit qui le caracterise. L'esprit du notre semble etre celui de la liberte. La premiere attaque contre la superstition a ete violente, sans mesure. Une fois que les hommes ont ose d'une maniere quelconque donner l'assaut a la barriere de la religion, cette barriere la plus formid- able qui existe comme la plus respectee, il est impossible de s'arreter. Des qu'ils ont tourne des regards menacants contre la majeste du ciel, ils ne manqueront pas le moment d'apres de les diriger contre la souverainete de la terre. Le cable qui tient et comprime l'humanite est forme de deux cordes, Tune ne peut ceder sans que l'autre vienne a rompre. 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 move L ment 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 un- compromising clearness, and who still occupies a unique though obscure position in the history of thought. 1 Diderot, Oeuvres, ed. Assezat et Tourneux, Vol. XX, p. 28. 2 BARON D'HOLBACH Holbach has been very much neglected by writers on the eighteenth century. He has no biographer. M. Walfer- din wrote (in an edition of Diderot's Works, Paris, 1821, Vol. XII p. 115) : " Nous nous occupons depuis longtemps a rassembler les materiaux qui doivent servir a venger la me- moire du philosophe de la patrie de Leibnitz, et dans l'ouv- rage que nous nous proposons de publier sous le titre D'Hol- bach juge par ses contemporains nous esperons faire juste- ment apprecier ce savant si estimable par la profondeur et la variete de ses connaissances, si precieux a sa famille et a ses amis par la purete et la simplicite de ses moeurs, en qui la vertu etait 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. Walfer din's papers. 2 In 1834 Mr. James Watson published in an Eng- lish translation of the Systeme 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 Uni- versale (Paris, 181 7, Vol. XX, pp. 460-467), from Bar- bier's Diet, des ouvrages anonymes (Paris, 1822) and from the preface to the Paris edition of the Systeme de la Nature (4 vols., i8mo, 1821). This sketch was later published separately (London, 1834, i2mo, 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 a 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, 2 Grimm, Corr. Lit., Vol. XV, p. 421. INTRODUCTION 3 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. Assezat 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 Of the two works, bearing Holbach's name as a title, one is a piece of libellous fiction by Mine, 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 role of a minor character. A good account of Holbach, though short and incidental, is to be found in M. Avezac-Lavigne's Diderot et la Societe du Baron d'Holbach (Paris, 1875, 8vo) and M. Armand Gaste has a little book entitled Diderot et le cure de Montchauvet, une Mystification litteraire chez le Baron d'Holbach (Paris, 1895, i6vo). There are several works which devote a chapter or section to Holbach. 4 The French critics and the histories of philosophy contain slight notices; Rosenkranz's Diderot's Leben devotes a chap- ter to Granval, Holbach's country seat, and life there as de- scribed by Diderot in his letters to Mile. Volland ; and he is included in such histories of ideas as Soury, J., Breviaire de I'histoire de Materialisme (Paris, 1881) and Delvaille, J., Essai sur I'histoire de I' idee de pr ogres (Paris, 19 10) ; but 3 Diederot, Oeuvres, Vol. XX, p. 95. 4 Among the most important are Damiron J. P., Memoires pour servir a I'histoire de la philosophie au dixhuitieme siecle (Paris, 1858, 3 vols., 8vo) ; Lange, Geschichte des Materialismus (Eng. tr., Boston, 1877) ; Morley, Diderot and the Encyclopedists (N. Y., 1891, 2 vols., i2mo) ; Plekhanow, G., Beitrdge sur 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 Peres de la Revolution (Paris, 1910), etc. 4 BARON D'HOLBACH nowhere else is there anything more than the merest ency- clopedic 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 publica- tions 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 con- temporary hostile criticism of his books, by Voltaire; Fred- erick 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 no- tices it is possible to reconstruct — though somewhat defec- tively — the figure of a man who played an important role in his own day; but whose name has long since lost its signifi- cance — even in the ears of scholars. It is at the suggestion of Professor James Harvey Robinson that this reconstruc- tion 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 pos- sible the necessary investigations, recognition is due to the administration and officers of the Bibliotheque 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 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 Heeze, Leende 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. 6 Holbach was a student in the Uni- versity of Ley den in 1746 and spent a good deal of time at his uncle's estate at Heeze, a little town in the province of North Brabant (S.E. of Eindhoven). He also travelled and studied in Germany. There are two manuscript letters in the British Museum (Folio 30867, pp. 14, 18, 20) ad- dressed 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 Ley den at that 5 Confessions, Oeuvres, Vol. XXIV, p. 338. 6 Bib. Nat. mss. Pieces originates, 1529, d'Holbach, 34, 861. 5 6 BARON D'HOLBACH time. 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 in- creased 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 cer- tain 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. 8 Holbach to Wilkes Heeze 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 senti- ments to me that I must own I cannot repay them but by re- newing 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 phi- losopher 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 7 Carlyle, Rev. Dr. A., Autobiography, ed. Burton, Boston, 1861, p. 137 sq. for Holbach's English friends mentioned in his letters to Wilkes. 8 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. THE MAN 7 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 M r Dowdenwell know what you told me, he has seen the two letters M r Johnson had received and I have been mediator of y e peace made betwixt the 2 parties, I don't doubt but you have seen by this time Mess rs Bland & Weatherill who were to set out for Engelland the same week I parted with them. When I was leaving Leyden M r Vernon happen'd to tell me he had a great mind to make a trip to Spa. So my uncles' estate being on y e 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 thous d men lately come from Germany to strengthen the allies army, commanded by Count Bathiani and that had left y e 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 y e command of the allies, the next Day the whole army amounting to 70th d men went on towards the county of Liege 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 thou d - men besides. Prince Counti's army of 50 th d - this latter General is now em- ploy'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 Ley- den 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 3 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 M r Freeman from Berlin, he seams vastly pleas'd with our Germany, and chiefly with Hambourg where a beau- tiful lady has taken in his heart the room of poor M S£L Vitsia- vius, my prophesy was just ; travelling 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, Idle- ness 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 happi- ness, 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 M ss - 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. THE MAN 9 I shall not ask your pardon for the length of this letter I am sure friendship will forgive the time I steal to Love how- ever 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 de- lightfull 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 [Heeze 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 kind- ness 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 I0 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 y e 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. M r 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 bur- gundy and Champaign e 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, fish- ing, 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 con- verse 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 M 88 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 mis- tress 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 THE MAN II my inclinations. I have not heard hitherto anything about the books you have been so kind as to send me over by the oppor- tunity of a friend. I have wrote about it to M** 3 Conrad et Bouwer of Rotterdam, they answered that they were mot yet there. Nevertheless I am very much oblided to you for your kindness and wish to find very soon the opportunity of my revenge. M r Dowderswell complains very much of M re Bland and Weatherill, having not heard of them since their departure from Leyden. I desire my compliments to M r Dyer and all our old acquaintances. Pray be so good as to direct your first letter under the covert of M r Dowderwell at M s Alliaume's at Leyden he shall send it to me over immediately, no more at M r Van Sprang's like you used to do. I wish to know if M r 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 Liege in 8 ber last ; everybody has little hopes of the Congress of Breda, the Austrian and Piedmontese are entered into prov- ence, 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 Maes- trich 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 X ber 1746 ns By I 75° Holbach was established in Paris as a young man of the world. His fortune, his learning, his sociability at- tracted the younger literary set toward him. In 1749 he 12 BARON D'HOLBACH was already holding his Thursday dinners which later be- came so famous. Among his early friends were Diderot, Rousseau and Grimm. With them he took the side of the Italian Opera buff a in the famous musical quarrel of 1752, and published two witty brochures ridiculing French music. 9 He was an art connoisseur and bought Oudry's Chienne allaitant ses petits, the chef d'oeuvre of the Salon of 1753. 10 During these years he was hard at work at his chosen sci- ences of chemistry and mineralogy. In 1752 he published in a huge volume in quarto with excellent plates, a transla- tion 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 His- tory, 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 Mile. Basile- Genevieve-Susanne d'Aine, daughter of " Maitre Marius- Jean-Baptiste Nicolas d'Aine, conseiller au Roi en son grand conseil, associe externe de l'Acad. des sciences et belles lettres de Prusse." 12 M. d'Aine was also Maitre des Requetes 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 sum- mer 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. 9 See Chap. II and Bibliography, Pt. I, for these and his other works. 10 Grimm Cor. Lit., Vol. II, p. 283. 11 Gazette de France, Aug. 10, 1754. 12 Jal, Diet. Critique, p. 685. THE MAN 13 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, Mile. 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 The first daughter was born towards the end of 1758 and the second about the middle of Jan., 1760. 14 The elder married the Marquis de Chatenay and the younger the Marquis de Nolivos, " Captaine au regiment de la Seurre, Dragons." Their Majesties the King and Queen and the Royal Family signed their mar- riage contract May 27, 1781. 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 Memoires and there was a brother-in-law, " Messire Marius-Jean-Baptiste-Nicholas d'Aine, chevalier, conseiller du roi en ses conseils, Maitre des requetes hono- raire de son hotel, intendant de justice, police, et finances de la generalite de Tours," who lived in rue Saint Dominique, 13 His career is somewhat doubtful. He travelled in Italy in 1779 and Abbe 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. 14 Diderot, in writing to Mile Volland Sep. 17, 1760 says : " On nour- rit, a Chenvieres, les deux filles de Madame d'Holbach. L'ainee est belle comme un cherubin; c'est un visage rond, de grands yeux bleus, des levres fines, une bouche riante, la peau la plus blanche et la plus animee, des cheveux cha tains qui ceignent un tres joli front. La cadette est un peloton d'embonpoint ou Ton ne distingue encore que du blanc et du vermillion." 15 Gazette de France, June 1, 1781. 14 BARON D'HOLBACH paroisse Saint-Sulpice. There was in Holbach's household for a long time an old Scotch surgeon, a homeless, misan- thropic old fellow by the name of Hope, of whom Diderot gives a most interesting account. 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 eglise philosophique met regularly to discuss its doctrines and publish its propa- ganda of radicalism. Holbach had a very pleasant country seat, the chateau of Grandval, now in the arrondisement of Boissy St. Leger 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 con- genial companions. To him we are indebted for our in- timate 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 cen- tury and the charming society of Paris and Grandval. 17 16 Holbach's intendant was 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 revolution, Paris, 1905, Vol. I- pp. 141, 261, 325, 689. 17 Avezac-Lavigne, Diderot, p. 5. THE MAN 15 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. 18 He was never an official personage. His entire life was spent in study, writ- ing and conversation with his friends. He travelled very little, the world came to him, to the Cafe de I'Europe, as Abbe Galiani called Paris. From time to time Holbach went to Contrexeville for his gout and once to England to visit David Garrick; but he disliked England very thor- oughly 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. 19 Holbach's most intimate and life-long friend among the great figures of the century was Diderot, of whom Rousseau said, "A la distance de quel- ques siecles du moment ou il a vecu, Diderot paraitra un homme prodigieux; on regardera de loin cette tete univer- sale avec une admiration melee d'etonnement, comme nous regardons aujourd'hui la tete des Platon et des Aristote." 20 All his contemporaries agr?d 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- Pres, 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. Hol- bach backed Diderot financially in his great literary and scientific undertaking and provided articles for the Ency- 18 Critica, Vol. I, p. 48, note. 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. 20 Collignon, Diderot, p. 1. 16 BARON D'HOLBACH clopedia on chemistry and natural science. Diderot had a high opinion of his erudition and said of him, " Quelque systeme que forge mon imagination, je suis sur que mon ami d'Holbach me trouve des faits et des autorites pour le justifier." 21 Opinions differ in regard to the intellectual influence of these men upon each other. Diderot was with- out doubt the greater thinker, but Holbach stated his athe- ism 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 1 78 1, "II faut sabrer la theologie," 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. 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 a la publication des con- fessions 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 ac- count, Holbach sought his friendship and for a few years he was one of Holbach's society. But, after the success of 21 Avezac-Lavigne, Diderot, p. 75, note. 22 Romilly, Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 179. 23 Diderot, Oeuvres, Vol. I, p. lxvi, note. THE MAN 17 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 eloquent s'est rendu ainsi l'homme le plus anti-litteraire, et 1'homme le plus sensible s'est rendu le plus anti-social." 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 25 he says some hard but true things about Rousseau, who on his part never really defamed Hol- bach but depicted him as the virtuous atheist under the guise of Wolmar in the Nouvelle Helo'ise. 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 him- self to Mile. Lespinasse and Mme. Geoffrin. Holbach and Helvetius were life-long friends and spent much time to- 24 Journal de Paris, Dec. 2, 1789. 25 See appendix, p. 73, p. 77. !8 BARON D'HOLBACH gether reading at Helvetius' country place at Vore. 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 con- tinued his and Helvetius' philosophical doctrines. Among the other Frenchmen of the day who were on intimate re- lations with Holbach and frequented his salon were La Con- damine, Condillac, Condorcet, Turgot, Morellet, Raynal, Grimm, Marmontel, Colardeau, Saurin, Suard, Saint-Lam- bert, Thomas, Duclos, Chastellux, Boulanger, Darcet, Roux, Rouelle, Barthes, Venel, Leroy, Damilaville, Naigeon, La- grange and lesser names, — but well known in Paris in the eighteenth century, — d'Alinville, Chauvelin, Desmahis, Gauf- fecourt, Margency, de Croismare, de Pezay, Coyer, de Val- ory, 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 Shel- burne, Gen. Barre, 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. 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 Hol- bach that he wrote first on the outbreak of his quarrel with Rousseau and they corresponded at length in regard to the publication of the Expose 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. 26 See appendix, p. 71. THE MAN 19 David Gar rick 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. 27 Hqlbach 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 betwen them. 28 Miss Wilkes, who spent much time in Paris, was a very good friend of Mme. Hol- bach and Mile. 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 Morel- let with whom he carried on a long and serious correspond- ence on economics. There seem to be no details of Hol- bach'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 Abbe Gali- ani, secretary of the Neapolitan Embassy, who spent ten 27 See appendix, p. 72. 28 See p. 6 sq. and appendix pp. 75 sq. 20 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 in- vitation of the translator of his Crimes and Punishments, Abbe 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 French- men found much to admire in Beccaria's book. One avocat general, 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 corre- spondence 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 ac- quaintances of Holbach were his fellow countrymen, Fred- erich Melchon Grimm, like himself a naturalized French- man and the bosom friend of Diderot; Meister, his collabo- rator in the Literary Correspondence; Kohant, a Bohemian musician, composer of the Bergere des Alpes and Mme. Holbach's lute-teacher; Baron Gleichen, Comte de Creutz, Danish and Scandinavian diplomats; and a number of Ger- man 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 THE MAN 21 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 Rem- brandt. He was also a friend of Mme. Geoffrin, attended her salon, and knew Mile, de Lespinasse, Mme. Houderot and most of the important women of the day. There are excellent sources from which to form an esti- mate 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 Correspondence Litter aire for March contains a long account of him by Meister, and there are other notices in contemporary memoirs such as Morellet's and Marmon- tel'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 de- vote 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 pub- lished 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 22 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 eigh- teenth century. Holbach was also very widely read in English theology and philospohy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and derived his anti-theological inspira- tion 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'etait plus communicatif que M. le baron d'Hol- bach; personne ne prenait aux progres de la raison un interet plus vif, plus sincere, et ne s'occupait avec plus de zele et l'ac- tivite des moyens de les accelerer. Egalement verse dans la plupart des matieres sur lesquelles il importe le plus a des etres raisonnables d'avoir une opinion arretee, M. le boron d'Holbach portait dans leur discussion un jugement sain, une logique severe, et une analyse exacte et pre- cise. Quelque fut l'objet de ses entretiens avec ses amis, ou meme avec des indifferens, tels qu'en offrent plus ou moins toutes les societes ; il inspirait sans effort a ceux qui l'ecoutaient l'en- thousiasme de l'art ou de la science dont il parlait ; et on ne le quittait jamais sans regretter de n'avoir pas cultive la branche particuliere de connaissances qui avait fait le sujet de la con- versation, sans desirer d'etre plus instruit, plus eclaire, et sur- THE MAN 23 tout sans admirer la clarte, la justesse de son esprit, et l'ordre dans lequel il savait presenter ses idees. This virtue of communicativeness, of sociabilite, Hol- bach 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 operer le bien plus promptement et plus efficacement." In fact Hol- bach'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 Heloise, " II fait le bien sans espoir de recom- pense, il est plus vertueux, plus desinteresse que nous. ,, There are many recorded instances of Holbach's gracious benevolence. As he said to Helvetius, " Vous etes brouille avec tous ceux que vous avez oblige, mais j'ai garde 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 per- mission to cede the picture to his profit, but Oudry refused, saying that he was only too happy that his best work be- longed to the man who was the first to appreciate it. In- stances 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 Cor- respondence. Only Rousseau was ungrateful enough to complain that Holbach's free-handed gifts insulted his pov- erty. 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 be- 24 BARON D'HOLBACH nevolence are his relations with the peasants of Contrexevlle, one of which was published in the Journal de Lecture, 177$, 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. Noth- ing 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'eloge funebre que M. Naigeon a consacre a la memoire de M. le Baron d'Holbach suffit pour donner une idee juste de ses lumieres, mais le hazard m'a mis a portee de les juger encore mieux. J'ai vu M. le Baron d'Holbach dans deux voyages que j'ai faits aux eaux de Contrexeville. S'occuper de sa souffrance et de sa guerison, e'est le soin de chaque malade. M. le Baron d'Holbach devenait le medecin, l'ami, le consolateur de quicon- que venait aux eaux et il semblait bien moins occupe de ses in- firmites que de celles des autres. Lorsque des malades indigens manquaient de secours, ou pecuniaires 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 pres duquel s'eleve un petit Hermitage. La, demeure un cenobite qui n'a de revenu que les aumones de ceux dont il regoit les visites. Nous acquit- tames chacun notre dette hospitaliere. En prenant conge de l'Hermite, M. le Baron d'Holbach me dit de le preceder un instant et qu'il allait me suivre. Je le precedai, et comme il ne me suivait pas je m'arretai, pour l'attendre sur un terte ex- hausse d'ou Ton decouvre tout le pays. Je contemplais le canton que je dominais, plonge dans une douce reverie. J'en fus tire par des cris et je me retournai vers l'endroit d'ou ils partaient. Je vis M. le Baron d'Holbach environne d'une vieille femme et de deux villageois, Tun vieux comme elle et l'autre jeune. Tous trois, les larmes aux yeux, l'embrassaient hautement. Allez- THE MAN 25 vous-en done, s'ecrait M. le Baron d'Holbach; laissez moi, on m'attend, ne me suivez pas, adieu ; je reviendrai l'anne pro- chaine. En me voyant arriver vers eux, les trois personnes reconnaissantes disparurent. Je lui demandai le sujet de tant de benedictions. Ce jeune paysan que vous avez vu s'etait engage, j'ai obtenu de son colonel sa liberte en payant les cents ecus presents par l'ordonnance. II est amoureux d'une jeune paysanne aussi pauvre que lui, je viens d'acheter pour eux un petit bien qui m'a coute huit cent francs. Le vieux pere est perclus, aux deux bras, de rhumatismes, je lui ai fourni trois boites du baume des Valdejeots, si estime en ce pays-ci. La vieille mere est sujette a des maux d'estomac, et je lui ai ap- porte un pot de confection d'hyacinthe. lis travaillaient dans le champ, voisin du bois, je suis alle les voir tandis que vous marchiez en avant. lis m'ont suivi malgre moi. Ne parlez de cela a personne. On dirait que je veux faire le genereux et le bon philosophe, mais je ne suis que humain, et mes charites sont la plus agreable depense de mes voyages. This humanity of Holbach's is the very keynote of his character and of his intellectual life as well. As M. Wal- ferdin has said, the denial of the supernatural was for him the base of all virtue, and resting on this principle, he exem- plified 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., trans- lations of German scientific works, translations of English deistical writings, and his own works on theology, philos- ophy, politics and morals. Those which fall into none of these categories can be dealt with very summarily. They are: i. Two pamphlets on the musical dispute of 1752; Lettre a une dame d'un certain age sur Vetat present de V Opera, (8vo, pp. n,) and Arret rendu a V amphitheatre de V Opera, (8vo, pp. 16,) both directed against French music and in line with Grimm's Petit Prophet and Rousseau's Lettre sur la musique francaise. 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, i2mo, pp. xxiv + 416). 4. Translations of an Ode on Human Life and a Hymn to the Sun in the Varietes litter aires (1768). 5. Articles on natural science in the Encyclopedic and article Prononciation dcs langues in the Dictionnaire de Grammaire of the Encyclopedic methodique. 6. Translation of Waller ius' Agriculture reduced to its true principles (Paris, 1774, i2mo). 7. Two Faceties philosopJtiques published in Grimm's 26 HOLBACH'S WORKS 27 Correspondence Litter aire. L'Abbe et le Rabbin, and Essai sur Vart de ramper, a V usage des courtisans. 8. Parts of Raynal's Histoire philosophique des deux Indes. 9. Notes to Lagrange's Vie de Seneque. 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 Lowenstern. 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 ded- icated to Malesherbes who had desired to see the best Ger- man scientific works published in French. In his Preface du Traducteur Holbach writes : — L'envie de me rendre utile, dont tout citoyen doit etre anime, m'a fait entreprendre l'ouvrage que je presente au Public. S'il a le bonheur de meriter son approbation, quoiqu'il y ait peu de gloire attachee au travail ingrat et fastidieux d'un Traducteur, je me determinerai a donner les meilleurs ouvrages allemands, sur l'Histoire Naturelle, la Mineralogie, la Metallurgie et la Chymie. Tout le monde sgait que l'Allemagne possede en ce genre des tresors qui ont ete jusqu'ici comme enfouis pour la France. 2. Mineralogie ou Description generale du regne 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, 28 BARON D'HOLBACH Stargard, Pomerania. Holbach's translation was made from the German edition which Wallerius considered prefer- able 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 Mon- tamy, 3. Introduction a la Miner alogie . . . oeuvre posthume de M. J. F. Henckel, Paris, Cavelier, 1756, first published under title Henckelius in Miner alogia redivivus, Dresden, 1 747, by his pupil, M. Stephani, as an outline of his lectures. Hol- bach's translation made from a German edition, corrected, with notes on new discoveries added. 4. Chimie metallurgique . . . par M. C. Gellert. Paris, Briasson, 1758, translated earlier. Approbation May 1, 1753, Privelege Dec. 21, 1754. Originally a text written by Gellert for four artillery officers whom the King of Sar- dinia sent to Freyburg to learn mining-engineering. 5. Traites de physique, d'histoire naturelle, de miner alogie et de metallurgie. Paris, Herrissant, 1759, by J- G. Leh- mann, three vols. I. L'Art des Mines, II. Traite de la for- mation des metaux, 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 Theologie. " La description si precise et si detaillee que Moise fait du Deluge dans la Genese, ayant une autorite inf aillible, puis qu'elle n'est autre que celle de Dieu meme, nous rend cer- tains de la realite et de l'universalite de ce chatiment terrible. II s'agit simplement d'examiner si les naturalistes, tels que Woodward, Schenchzer, Buttner et M. Lehmann lui-meme ne se sont points trompes, lorsqu'ils ont attribue a cet evene- ment seul la formation des couches de la terre et lorsqu'ils s'en sont servis pour expliquer l'etat actuel de notre globe. HOLBACH'S WORKS 29 II semble que rien ne doit nous empecher d'agiter cette ques- tion; 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 senti- ments des naturalists sur les autres efTets physiques que le deluge a pu produire. C'est une matiere qu'elle paroit avoir abandonnee aux disputes des hommes." He then proceeds to question whether the deluge could have produced the re- sults 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 siecles les efTets les plus grands, surtout lorsqu'elles agissent incessament; et nous voyons toutes ces causes reunies agir perpetuellement sous nos yeux. Concluons, done, de tout ce qui precede, que le deluge seul et les feux souterrains seuls ne suffisent point pour expliquer la formation des couches de la terre. On risquera tou jours de se tromper, lorsque par Fenvie de simplifier on voudra deriver tous les phenomenes 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 Miner alogiques and other treatises. Original editions : Pyritologia, Leipzig, 1725, 1754; Flora Saturnizans, Leipzig, 1721 ; De Appropriation 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. Hol- bach's translations seem to have been well received because he writes in this preface : " Je m'estimerai heureux si mon travail peut contribuer a entretenir et augmenter le gout universel qu'on a congu pour le saine physique. 7. Oeuvres metallurgiques de M. J. C. Orschall, Paris, 3 o BARON D'HOLBACH Hardy, 1760. Orschall still accepted the old alchemist tradition but was sound in practice and was the best author- ity 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 memoir es des Academies d'Upsal et de Stockholm, Paris, Didot, 1764. These records of experi- ments 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. Traite du Sonfre by G. E. Stahl, Paris, Didot, 1766. In speaking of Stahl's theories Holbach says : " II ne faut pas croire que ces connaissances soient des verites steriles propres seulement a satis f aire une vaine curiosite, elles ont leur application aux travaux de la metallurgie qui leur doivent la perfection ou on les a portes depuis quelques terns." 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 Bibliotheque Nationale to M. Malesherbes, then Administrateur de la Librairie Royale, suggesting other German treatises that might well be translated. 1 (Mss. 22194). 1 Holbach to Malesherbes Monsieur J'ai l'honneur de vous envoyer ci-joint la liste des ouvrages dont M. Liege fils pourrait entreprendre la traduction. Je n'en connais actuelle- ment point d'autres qui meritent l'attention du public. M. Macquer m'a ecrit une lettre qui a pour objet les memes choses dont vous m'avez fait l'honneur de me parler, et je lui fais la meme reponse. J'ai l'honneur d'etre avec respect, Monsieur, Votre tres obeissant serviteur ' Po • , ,, ., , D'Holbach a Fans ce 6 d avnl 1761 HOLBACH'S WORKS 31 The list of books was as follows : 1. Johann Kunckel's Labor atorium Chymicum, 8vo. 2. Georg Ernest Stahl's Commentary on Becker's Metal- lurgy, 8vo. 3. Concordantia Chymica Becheri, 4 , 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 transla- tions of English deistical writers. They are in chronolog- ical order. 1. Esprit du clerge, ou le Christianisme primitif venge des entreprises et des exces de nos Pretres 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 character- ized the Christian priesthood at that time. 2. De U imposture sacerdotale, ou Recueil de Pieces sur le clerge, Londres (Amsterdam), 1767. Another edition 1772 under title De la Monstruosite pontificate etc. 32 BARON D'HOLBACH 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, 1 7 19; Gordon, The Creed of an Independent Whig, 1720. 3. Examen des Propheties qui servent de fondement a la religion Chretienne, Londres (Amsterdam), 1768. Trans- lation of Anthony Collins, A Discourse on the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, London, 1724. Con- tains also The Scheme of literal Prophecy considered, 172J, 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 Vhistoire de Vhomme selon le coeur de Dieu. Londres (Amsterdam), 1768. This work appeared in Eng- land in 1 76 1 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 Mart after God's Own Heart, which formed the basis of Hol- bach's translation. 5. Les pretres demasques ou des iniquites du clerge Chre- tien. Londres, 1768. Translation of four discourses pub- lished 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, HOLBACH'S WORKS 33 1768). Translation of J. Toland's Letters to Serena, Lon- don, 1704. The book which had become very rare in Hol- bach'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 Spinosa and the origin of movement in matter. Diderot said of these works, in writing to Mile. Volland Nov. 22, 1768 (Oeuvres, Vol. XVIII, p. 308) : "II pleut des bombes dans la maison du Seigneur, Je tremble tou jours que quelqu'un de ces temeraires artilleurs-la ne s'en trouve mal. Ce sont les Lettres philosophiques traduites, ou sup- posees traduites, de l'anglais de Toland ; c'est VExamen des propheties; c'est la Vie de David ou de Vhomme selon 16, coeur de Dieu, ce sont melle diables dechaines. — Ah! Madame de Blacy, je crains bien que le Fils de l'Homme ne soit a la porte; que la venue d'Elie ne soit proche, et que nous ne touchions au regne de l'Anti-christ. Tous les jours, quand je me leve, je regarde par ma fenetre, si la grande prostituee de Babylone ne se promene point deja dans les rues avec sa grande coupe a la main et s'il ne se fait aucun des signes predits dans le firmament." 7. De la Cruaute religieuse, Londres (Amsterdam). Con- siderations upon war, upon cruelty in general and religious cruelty in particular, London, printed for Thomas Hope, 1761. 8. Dissertation critique sur les tourmens de Yenfer printed in an original work, L'Enfer detruit, Londres (Amsterdam), 1769. A translation of White foot's The Torments of Hell, the foundation and pillars thereof discovered, searched, shaken and remoifd. London, 1658. 34 BARON D'HOLBACH 9. In the Recueil philosophique edited by Naigeon, Lon- dres (Amsterdam), 1770. I. Dissertation sur l'immortalite de l'ame. Translated from Hume. II. Dissertation sur le suicide (Hume). III. Extrait d'un livre Anglais qui a pour titre le Chris- tianisme aussi ancien que le monde. (Tindal, Christianity as old as Creation.) 10. Esprit de Judaisme, ou Examen raisonne 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 in- spiration 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, done enfin, 6 Europe! secouer le joug insupportable des prejuges qui t'affligent. Laisse a des Hebreux stupides, a des frenetiques imbeciles, a des Asiatiques laches et degrades, ces superstitions aussi avilissantes qu'insensees : elles ne sont point faites pour les habitans de ton climat. Occupe-toi du soin de perfectionner tes gouvernemens, de corriger tes lois, de reformer tes abus, de regler tes moeurs, et ferme pour tou jours les yeux a ces vraies chimeres, qui depuis tant de siecles n'ont servi qu'a retarder tes progres vers la science veritable et a t'ecarter 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 Boulan- HOLBACH'S WORKS 35 ger," London, R. Carlile, 1823. A rather unsympathetic account, but with flashes of real insight into "le systeme religieux des Chretiens dont S. Paul fut evidemment le veri- table architecte." (Epitre dedicatoire.) 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 etre l'enthousiasme de S. Paul, il sentait tres bien que la doctrine qu'il prechait devait paraitre bizarre et insensee a des etres raisonnables " (p. I4 1 )- 12. De la nature humaine, ou Exposition des facultes, des actions et des passions de Vame, Londres (Amsterdam), 1772. (Thomas Hobbes) Reprinted in a French Edition of Hobbes' works by Holbach and Sorbiere, 1787. Appeared first in English in 1640, omitted in a Latin Edition of Hobbes printed in Amsterdam. In spite of its brevity, Hol- bach considered this one of Hobbes' most important and luminous works. 13. Disc ours sur les Miracles de Jesus Christ (Amster- dam, 1780?) Translated from Woolston, whom Holbach admired very much for his uncompromising attitude to- ward 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 beucoup de f ermete . . . il se ferma les yeux et la bouche de ses propres mains et rendit l'esprit." This work exists in a manu- script book of 187 pages, written very fine, in the Biblio- theque Nationale (Mss. frangais 15224) and was current in France long before 1780. In fact it is mentioned by Grimm before 1770, but the dictionaries (Barber, Querard) gener- ally date it from 1780. Before turning to Holbach's original works mention 36 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 U Antiquite devoilee par ses usages, ou Examen critique des principales Opinions, Ceremonies et Institutions religieuses et politiques des dif- fer ens Peuples de la Terre. Par feu M. Boulanger, Am- sterdam, 1766. This is a work based on an original manu- script by Boulanger, who died in 1759, preceded by an ex- cellent letter on him by Diderot, published also in the Gazette Litteraire. 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 ex- amples d'enfans, rendus ineptes entre les mains des Pedans qui les abrutissent en depit 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 out-door work but at the same time his active intellect played over a large range of human interests. He became espe- cially 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 "II lisait et etudiait partout, je l'ai moi-meme rencontre sur les grandes routes avec un auteur rabinnique a la main." He made a mappemonde in which the globe is divided in two HOLBACH'S WORKS 37 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 moden geography. He furnished such articles as, Deluge, Corvee, Societe for the Encyclopedia and wrote several large and extremely learned books, among them Recherches sur I'origine du Despotisme oriental and Antiquite devoilee. He died from overwork at the age of thirty-seven. Boulanger's ideas on philosophy, mythology, anthropol- ogy and history are of extraordinary interest today. Did- erot relates his saying — " Que si la philosophic avait trouve tant d'obstacles parmi nous c'etait qu'on avait commence par ou il aurait fallu finir, par des maximes abstraites, des rais- onnemens generaux, des reflexions subtiles qui ont revoke par leur etrangete et leur hardiesse et qu'on aurait admises sans peine si elles avaient ete precedees 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 lumieres de la raison " (p. 8). He continues, " j'ai pense qu'il devait y avoir quel- que circonstances particulieres. Un fait et non une specula- tion metaphysique m'a tou jours semble devoir etre et tribut naturel et necessaire 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, how- ever, 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 38 BARON D'HOLBACH uni forme, la plus inutile, quoi qu'elle soit la plus connue. La veritable histoire est couvert 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 univer- sal 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 lobes. " Son premier pas fut un faux pas, so premiere 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 revolutions physiques de notre globe sont les veritables epoques de l'histoire des nations" (p. 9). Hence have arisen the vari- ous psychological states through which mankind has passed. Contemporary savages are still in the primitive state, — Bou- langer properly emphasizes the relation of anthropology to history — " On appercoit qu'il y a une nouvelle maniere de voir et d'ecrire l'histoire des homines" (p. 12) and with a vast store of anthropological and folklorist learning he writes it so that his assailant, Fabry d'Autrey, in his Antiquite jus- tifiee (Paris, 1766) is obliged to say with truth, "Ce n'est point ici un tissue de mensonges grossiers, de sophismes rebattus et bouffons, appliques d'un air meprisant aux objets les plus interessans pour l'humanite. C'est une entreprise serieuse et reflechie" (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 devoile on Ex amen des prin- cipes et des effets de la religion Chretienne. Par feu M. Boulanger. Londres (Amsterdam), 1767. There were HOLBACH'S WORKS 39 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 de- signed 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 state- ment of Voltaire who was in the habit of attributing anonymous works to whomever he pleased. 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 Systeme 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 manu- scripts on to a Madame Loncin in Liege, who in turn was a correspondent of Marc-Michel Rey, the printer in Amster- dam. Sometimes they were sent directly by the diligence 2 Barbier, Diet., Vol. I, p. 175 sq. 4 BARON D'HOLBACH or through travellers. This account agrees perfectly with information given M. Barbier orally by Naigeon aine. After being printed in Holland the books were smuggled into France sous le manteaux, as the expression is, and sold at absurd rates by colporters. 3 Diderot writing to Falconet early in 1768 4 says: "II pleut des livres incredules. C'est un feu roulant qui crible le sanctuaire de toutes parts. . . . L'intolerance du gouvern- ment s'accroit de jour en jour. On dirait que c'est un projet forme d'eteindre ici les lettres, de ruiner le com- merce de librairie et de nous reduire a la besace et a la stupidite. . . . Le Christianisme devoile s'est vendu jusqu'a quatre louis." When caught the colporters were severely punished. Diderot gives the following instance in a letter to Mile. Vol- land Oct. 8, 1768 (Avezac-Lavigne, Diderot, p. 161) : "Un apprenti avait regu, en payment ou autrement, d'un col- porteur appele Lecuyer, deux exemplaires du Christianisme devoile, et il avait vendu un de ces exemplaires a son patron. Celui-ci le defere au lieutenant de police. Le colporteur, sa femme et l'apprenti sont arretes tous les trois; ils viennent d'etre pilories, fouettes et marques, et l'apprenti condemne a neuf ans de galeres, le colporteur a cinq ans, et la femme a l'hopital pour toute sa vie." There are two very interesting pieces of contemporary criticism of Le Christianisme devoile, 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. Gamier) : " Vous m'apprenez que, dans votre societe, on m'attribue Le Christianisme devoile par feu M. Bou- langer, mais je vous assure que les gens au fait ne m'at- 3 Barbier, Vol. I, p. xxxiii, note. 4 Oeuvres, Vol. XVIII, p. 265. HOLBACH'S WORKS 4 1 tribuent point du tout cet ouvrage. J'avoue avec vous qu'il y a de la clarte, de la chaleur, et quelque f ois de l'eloquence ; mais il est plein de repetitions, de negligences, de fautes contre la langue et je serais tres-fache de l'avoir fait, non seulement comme academicien, mais comme philosophe, et encore plus comme citoyen. "II est entierement oppose a mes principes. Ce livre conduit a l'atheisme que je deteste. J'ai toujours regarde l'atheisme comme le plus grand egarement de la raison, par- ce qu 'il est aussi ridicule de dire que l'arrangement du monde ne prouve pas un artisan supreme qu'il serait impertinent de dire qu'une horloge ne prouve pas un horloger. "Je ne reprouve pas moins ce livre comme citoyen; l'auteur parait trop ennemi des puissances. Des homines qui penseraient comme lui ne f ormeraient qu'une anarchie : et je vois trop, par l'example de Geneve, combien l'anarchie est a craindre. Ma coutume est d'ecrire sur la marge de mes livres ce que je pense d'eux, vous verrez, quand vous daignerez venir a Ferney, les marges de Christianisme devoile charges de remarques qui montrent que l'auteur s'est trompe sur les faits les plus essentiels." These notes may be read in Voltaire's works (Vol. XXXI, p. 129, ed. Gamier) and the original copy of Le Christianisme devoile 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 Correspondence Litteraire of August 15, 1763 (Vol. V, p. 367). "II existe un livre intitule le Christianisme devoile ou Examen des principes et des effets de la religion Chretienne, par feu M. Boulanger, volume in 8°. On voit d'abord qu'on lui a donne ce titre pour en faire le pendant de VAntiquite devoilee; mais il ne faut pas beucoup se connaitre en maniere pour sentir que 42 BARON D'HOLBACH ces deux ouvrages ne sont pas sortis de la meme plume. On peut assurer avec la meme certitude que celui dont nous parlons ne vient point de la fabrique de Ferney, parceque j'aimerais mieux croire que le patriache eut pris la lune avec ses dents; cela serait moins impossible que de guetter sa maniere et son allure si completement qu'il n'en restat aucune trace quelconque. Par la meme raison, je ne crois ce livre d'aucun de nos philosophes connus, parceque je n'y trouve la maniere d'aucun de ceux qui ont ecrit. D'ou vient-il done? Ma foi, je serais fache 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 paru dans aucun lieu du monde. La preface consiste dans une lettre ou l'auteur examine si la religion est reelement necessaire ou seulement utile au maintien ou a la police des empires, et s'il convient de la respecter sous ce point de vue. Comme il etablit la negative, il entreprend en consequence de prouver, par son ouvrage, l'absurdite et l'incoherence du dogme Chretien et de la mythologie qui en resulte, et rinfluence de cette absurdite sur les tetes et sur les ames. Dans la seconde partie, il examine la morale chretienne, et il pretend prouver que dans ses principes generaux elle n'a aucun avantage sur toutes les morales du monde, parce que la justice et la bonte sont recommandees dans tous les catechismes de l'univers, et que chez aucun peuple, quelque barbare qu'il fut, on n'a jamais enseigne qu'il fallut etre injuste et mediant. Quant a ce que la morale chretienne a de particulier, l'auteur pretend demon- trer qu'elle ne peut convenir qu'a des enthousiastes peu propres aux devoirs de la societe, pour les quels les hommes sont dans ce monde. II entreprend de prouver, dans la troisieme partie, que la religion chretienne a eu les effets politiques les plus sinistres et les plus funestes, et que le HOLBACH'S WORKS 43 genre humain lui doit tous les malheurs dont il a ete accable depuis quinze a dixhuit siecles, sans qu'on en puisse encore prevoir la fin. Ce livre est ecrit avec plus de vehemence que de veritable eloquence; il entraine. Son style est chatie 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 interesse. Malgre son incroyable temerite, on ne peut refuser a l'auteur la qualite d'homme de bien fortement epris du bonheur de sa race et de la prosperite des societes ; mais je pense que ses bonnes intentions seraient une sauve- garde bien faible contre les mandements et les requisitions." 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. Abbe Bergier, a heavy person, triumphantly refuted Holbach in eight hundred pages in his Apologie de la Religion Chretienne contre VAuteur du Christianisme devoile, Paris, 1769, which finishes with the fatal prophecy, " Nous avons de surs garans de nos esperances : tant que le sang auguste de S. Louis sera sur le trone, il n'y a point de revolutions a craindre ni dans la Religion ni dans la politique. La religion Chretienne fondee sur la parole de Dieu. . . . triomphera des nouveaux Philosophes. Dieu qui veille sur son ouvrage n'a pas besoin de nos foibles mains pour le soutenir" (Psaume 32, vs. 10, n). 2. There already existed in 1767 another work by Hol- bach entitled Theologie portative ou Dictionnaire Abrege de la Religion Chretienne. Par M r VAbbe Bernier. Lon- dres (Amsterdam), 1768 (1767). This book went through many editions and was augmented by subsequent authors 44 BARON D'HOLBACH and editors. Voltaire was already writing to d'Alembert about it August 14, 1767. 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 liberte extreme, imprimes en Hollande. La Theologie portative n'est nullement theologique: ce n'est qu'une plaisanterie continuelle par ordre alphabetique ; mais il f aut avouer qu'il y a des traits si comiques que plusieurs theologiens memes ne pourront s'em- pecher d'en rire. Les jeunes gens et les femmes lisent cette folie avec avidite. Les editions de tous les livres dans ce gout 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 defendre. Y a-t-il de plus sale, que la plupart des traits qui se trouvent dans la Theologie portative? Y a-t-il rien de plus vigoreux, de plus profonde- ment raisonne, d'ecrit avec une eloquence plus audacieuse et plus terrible, que leMilitaire philosophe, ouvrage qui court toute l'Europe? [by Naigeon and Holbach] Lisez la Theologie por- tative, et vous ne pourrez vous empecher de rire, en condam- mant la coupable hardiesse de l'auteur. Lisez Y Imposture sacerdotal — vous y verrez le style de Demosthene. Ces livres malheuresement inondent l'Europe ; mais quelle est la cause de cette inondation? II n'y en a point d'autre que les querelles theologiques qui ont revoke les laiques. // sest fait une revo- lution dans V esprit humain que rien ne pent plus arreter: le3 persecutions ne pourraient qu'irriter le mal. Q 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, 5 Oeuvres, Vol. XIV, p. 352. 6 The italics are mine. HOLBACH'S WORKS 45 1769 (Vol. LXV, p. 453), he calls the Theologie portative, un ouvrage a mon gre, tres plaisant, auquel je n'ai assure- ment nulle part, ouvrage que je serais tres fache d'avoir fait, et que je voudrais bien avoir ete capable de faire. But in a letter to the Bishop of Annecy June, 1769, he writes (VoLXXVIII, p. 73) : " Vous lui [M. de Saint Florentin] imputez, a ce que je vois par vos lettres, des livres miserables, et jusqu'a la Theologie portative, ouvrage fait apparemment dans quelque cabaret ; vous n'etes pas oblige d'avoir du gout, mais vous etes oblige d'etre juste" (Vol. XXVIII, p. 73). Diderot even said of the book : " C'est un assez bon nombre de bonnes plaisanteries noyees 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 a sa f emme eut la betise de mordre dans une pomme que ses descendans n'ont point encore pu digerer. Idees Innees: Notions inspirees des Pretres de si bonne heure, si souvent repetees, que devenu grand Ton croit les avoir eu toujours ou les avoir regus des le ventre de sa mere. Jonas: La baleine fut a la fin obligee de le vomir tant un Prophete est un morceau difficile a digerer. Magie: II y en a de deux sortes, la blanche et la noire. La premiere est tres sainte et se pratique journellement dans l'eglise. Protestants: Chretiens amphibies. Vierge: C'est la mere du fils de Dieu et belle-mere de l'eglise. Visions: Lanternes magiques que de tout temps le Pere Eternel s'est amuse a montrer aux Saintes et aux Prophetes. 3. Holbach furnished the last chapter of Naigeon's book Le Militaire philosophe, ou Difficulties sur la religion, Lon- dres (Amsterdam), 1768. Voltaire ascribed the work to 4 6 BARON D'HOLBACH 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] entraine dans I'irreligion par un libelle intitule Le Militaire philosophe (1770, i2mo). 4. Holbach's next book was La Contagion sacree oil I'Histoire naturelle de la Superstition, Londres (Amster- dam), 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 manu- scripts 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. 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 affec- tion 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 HOLBACH'S WORKS 47 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." 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. Freret's were preventive, Holbach's curative, but appear to be rather strong dose for a devote, Other examples are Voltaire's Epitre a Uranie and Diderot's Entretien d'un Philosophe avec la Marechale de. . . . 6. In 1769 Holbach published two short treatises on the doctrine of eternal punishment which claimed to be transla- tions from English but the originals are not to be found. The titles are De I' intolerance convaincue de crime et de folie as it is sometimes given, and 7. L'Enfer detruit ou Ex amen raisonne du Dogme de VEternite des Peines. Londres, Amsterdam, 1769. This letter was translated into English under the title Hell De- stroyed! "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 pub- lishers attribute this awfully sounding work to the cautious, not to say timid d'Alembert. It was followed by White- foot's 'Torments of Hell/ now first translated from the French." 8 Of Holbach's remaining works on religion two, Histoire 7 Micldleton's translation, preface. 8 Cf. p. 94. 4 8 BARON D'HOLBACH critique de Jesus Christ and Tableau des Saints, date from 1770 when he began to publish his more philosophical works. 8. The Histoire critique de Jesus Christ ou Analyse rai- sonnee des Evangiles was published without name of place or date. It was preceded by Voltaire's Epitre a Uranie. It is an extremely careful but unsympathetic analysis of the Gospel accounts, emphasizing all the inconsistencies and in- terpreting 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 connait qu'une mesure pour juger et les hommes et les choses, c'est l'utilite reele et permanente, qui en resulte pour notre espece," (p. 111.) Judged by this standard, the saints with their eyes fixed on another world have fallen far short. " lis se flatterent de meriter le ciel en se rendant parfaitement inutile a 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 contem- porary defenders of the faith. After a rather one-sided account of the most dreary characters and events in Chris- tian history, Holbach concludes : " Tel fut, tel est, et tel sera toujours l'esprit du Christianisme : il est aise de sentir qu'il est incompatible avec les principes les plus evidens de la morale et de la saine politique " (p. 208). 10. In Recueil philosophique, Londres (Amsterdam), 1770, edited by Naigeon. Reflexions sur les craintes de la HOLBACH'S WORKS 49 Mort. Probleme important — La Religion est-elle necessaire a la morale et utile a la Politique. Par M. Mirabaud. 11. Essai sur les prejuges, ou De V 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 liberies de penser, 1750. The special interest connected with it was the refutation Frederick the Great published under the title Examen de I' Essai sur les prejuges, 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. " II l'outrage avec au- tant de grossierete que d'indecence, il force le gouvernement de prendre fait et cause avec l'eglise pour s'opposer a l'ennemi commun. Mais, quand avec un acharnement violent et les traits de la plus acre satire, il calomnie son Roi et le gouv- ernement de son pays, on le prend pour un frenetique echappe de ses chaines, et livre aux transports les plus violens de sa rage. Quoi, Monsieur le philosophe, pro- tecteur des moeurs et de la vertu, ignorez vous qu'un bon citoyen doit respecter la forme de gouvernement sous la- quelle il vit, ignorez vous qu'il ne convient point a un par- ticulier d'insulter les Puissances ... (p. 28). " Non content d'insulter a toutes les tetes couronnes de l'Europe, notre philosophe s'amuse, en passant, a repondre 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 ei de la paix ira plus loin a la posterite que V Essai sur les prejuges" (p. 39). Holbach in his anti-militaristic enthusiasm had used the words " bourreaux mercenaires " " epithete elegante," con- 5 BARON D'HOLBACH tinues Frederick, " dont il honore les guerriers. Mais souf- frions nous qu'un cerveau brule insulte au plus noble emploi de la Societe ? " p. 49. He goes on to defend war in good old fashioned terms. " Vous declamez contre la guerre, elle est funeste en elle-meme; mais c'est un mal comme ces autres fleaux du ciel qu'il faut supposer necessaire c dans l'arrange- ment de cet univers parce qu'ils arrivent periodiquement et qu'aucun siecle n'a pu jusqu'a present d'en avoir ete exempt. J'ai prouve que de tout temps l'erreur a domine dans ce monde; et comme une chose aussi constante peut etre en- visaged comme une loi general de la nature, j'en conclus que ce qui a ete toujours sera tou jours le meme " (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 envoye, sans doute, son petit ecrit contre un livre imprime cette annee, intitule Essai sur les pre- juges, 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 majeste prussienne s'amuse a ecrire un peu durement. Serait-il de Diderot? serait-il de Damilaville? serait-il d'Helvetius? peut-etre ne le connaissez-vous point, je le crois imprime en Hollande (Vol. LXVI p. 304) d' Alembert answered : Oui, le roi re Prusse m'a envoye son ecrit contre I' Essai sur les prejuges. Je ne suis point etonne que ce prince n'ait pas goute l'ouvrage; je l'ai lu depuis cette refutation et il m'a paru bien long, bien monotone et trop amer. II me semble que ce qu'il y de bon dans ce livre aurait pu et du etre noye dans moins de pages et je vois que vous en avez porte a peu pres le meme 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, HOLBACH'S WORKS 5 1 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 Systeme de la Nature, the only book that is connected with his name in the minds of most historians and philoso- phers. It seems wiser, however, to deal with this work in a chapter apart and continue the account of his later pub- lications. 13. The next of which was " Le bon-sens, ou idees natur- elles oppose es aux idees surnaturelles. Par VAuteur du Systeme 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 cure Jean Meslier d'Etrepigny, 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, 19 10. The book is nothing more or less than the Sys- teme de la Nature, in a greatly reduced and more readable form. Voltaire, to whom it was attributed by some, said to d'Alembert, " II y a plus que du bon sens dans ce livre, il est terrible. S'il sort de la boutique du Systeme de la Nature, l'auteur s'est bien perfectionne." d'Alembert answered: " Je pense comme vous sur le Bon-sens qui me parait un bien plus terrible livre que le Systeme de la Nature/' These re- marks were inscribed by Thomas Jefferson on 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 52 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 proprieta dedotte da soli principj de ragione, dal P. lettore D. Antonmaria Gardini, monaco camaldalese, contro i mate- rialisti e specialmente contro I' opera intitulata, le Bon-Sens, ou Idees Naturelles opposees aux idees Surnaturelles. In Padova MDCCLXXXI Nella stamperia del Seminario. Ap- presso Giovanni Manfre, Con Licenza de Superiori e Privi- legio (8vo, p. xx + 284). 14. In 1773 Holbach published his Recherches sur les Miracles, a much more sober work than his previous writ- ings on religion. In this book he raises the well known dif- ficulties with belief in miracles and brings a great deal of real learning and logic to bear on the question. The en- tire work is in a reasonable and philosophic spirit. His con- clusion is that "une vraie religion doit avoir au defaut de bonnes raisons, des preuves sensibles, capables de faire im- pression sur tout ceux qui la cherchent de bonne foi. Ce ne sont pas les miracles." The same vear he published two serious but somewhat tiresome works on politics. 15. La politique naturelle. 16. Systeme social in which he attempts to reduce gov- ernment 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 Systeme Social by Mme. d'Epinay in a letter to Abbe Gali- ani Jan. 12, 1773 (Gal. Corresp., Vol. II, p. 167). But the most interesting reaction upon it was that of the Abbe Richard who criticized it from point of view of the divine right of kings in his long and tiresome work entitled HOLBACH'S WORKS 53 La Defense de la religion, de la morale, de la vertu, de la politique et de la societe, dans la refutation des ouvrages qui ont pour titre, Vun Systeme Social etc. V autre La Politique Naturelle par le R. P. Ch. L. Richard, Professor de Theol- ogie, etc., Paris, Moulard, 1775. In a preface of forty-seven pages the fears of the conserv- ative old Abbe are well expressed. The aim of these mod- ern philosophers who are poisoning public opinion by their writings is to "demolir avec l'antique edifice de la religion chretienne, 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 neant, y introduire l'impiete la plus complete, la licence la plus consomnee, l'anarchie la plus entire, la confusion la plus horrible." 17. Holbach's next work, Ethocratie ou Gouvernement fonde sur la Morale, Amsterdam, Rey, 1776, is interesting mainly for its unfortunate dedication and peroration, in- scribed 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 Vhomme fondes sur la nature, Amsterdam, 1771, and 19. A posthumous work, Elements de la Morale univer- selle, 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 atti- tude towards morals is indicated by his Avertissement — " La morale est une science dont les principes sont suscepti- bles d'une demonstration aussi claire et aussi rigoureuse que ceux du calcul et de la geometric CHAPTER III THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE Early in 1 770 appeared the famous Systeme de la Nature, ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Morale, Par M. Mirabaud, Secretaire Perpetuel et Vun des Qua- rante de VAcademie Francaise, 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 preliminaire de VAu- teur of sixteen pages which Naigeon had printed separately in London. The Abrege du Code de la Nature, which ends the book, was also published separately and is sometimes attributed to Diderot, 8vo, 16 pp. 1 There is also a book entitled Le vrai sens du Systeme 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 Systeme de la Nature in a shortened form in Bon-sens, 1772, and Pay- rard plagiarized it freely in De la Nature et de ses Lois, Paris, 1773. The book has been attributed to Diderot, Hel- vetius, 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 1 Morley, Diderot, Vol. II, p. 155. 54 THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE 55 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 ap- proached it in its open and unequivocal insistence on points of view commonly held, if at all, with reluctance and re- serve. It is impossible in a study of this length to deal fully with the attacks and refutations that were pub- lished immediately. We way mention first the condemna- tion 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 Homnes, and Holbach's Discours sur les Miracles, La Contagion sacree and le Christianisme devoile, which had already been condemned on September 24, 1 769.2 The Requisitoire of Seguier, avocat general, on the occa- sion of the condemnation of the Systeme 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. 3 Le poison des nouveautes profanes ne peut corrompre la sainte gravite des moeurs qui caracterise les vrais Magistrats: tout peut changer autour d'eux, Us restent immuables avec la loi (page 496). Nest-ce pas ce fatal abus de la liberte de penser, qui a en- 2 Later Bon-sens and Theologie portative were doomed to the flames by the condemnations of Jan. 10, 1774, and February 16, 1776. 3 Systeme de la Nature, ed. 1771, Vol. II, p. 496. 5 6 BARON D'HOLBACH fante cette multitude de sectes, d'opinions, de partis, et cet esprit d'independence dont d'autres nations ont eprouve les sinstres revolutions. Le meme abus produira en France des effets peut-etre plus funestes. La liberte indefine trouveroit, dans la caractere de la nation, dans son activite, dans son amour pour la nouveaute, un moyen de plus pour preparer les plus affreuses revolutions (p. 498). The most interesting private attacks on the Systeme 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 count- less letters on the subject. Grimm attributed his hostility to jealousy, and the fear that the Systeme de la Nature might "renverse le rituel de Ferney et que le patriarcat ne s'en aille au diable avec lui. 4 George Leroy went so far as to write a book entitled Reflexions sur la jalousie, pour servir de commentaire aux dernier s outrages de M. de Vol- taire, 1772. Frederick II naturally felt bound to defend the kings who, as Voltaire said, were no better treated than God in the Systeme de la Nature? Voltaire's correspondence during this period is so inter- esting that it seems worth while to quote at length, espe- cially from his letters to Fredrick the Great. In May 1770, shortly after the publication of the Systeme de la Nature Voltaire wrote to M. Vernes: 6 "On a tant dit de sottises sur la nature que je ne lis plus aucun de ces livres la." But by July he had read it and wrote to Grimm : 7 " Si l'ouvrage eut ete plus serre il aurait fait un effet terrible, mais tel qu'il est il en a fait beaucoup. II est bien plus eloquent que Spinosa. . . . J'ai une grande 4 Grimm, Cor. Lit., Vol. IX, p. 167. 5 Voltaire, Oeuvres, ed. Beuchot, Vol. LXVI, p. 404. Subsequent references to Voltaire are from this edition. 6 Vol. LXVII, p. 265. 7 Grimm, Cor. Lit., Vol. IX, p. 90. THE SYSTEME BE LA NATURE 57 curiosite de savoir ce qu'on en pense a Paris." In writing to d'Alembert about this time he seemed to have a fairly favorable impression of the book. "II m'a paru qu'il y avait des longueurs, des repetitions et quelques inconse- quences, mais il y a trop de bon pour qu'on n'eclate avec fureur contre ce livre. Si on garde le silence, ce sera une preuve du prodigieux progres que la tolerance fait tous les jours." 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'Alem- bert about his own and the king of Prussia's refutations of it, and the same day wrote to Frederick : " II me semble que vos remarques doivent etre imprimees ; ce sont des lecons pour le genre humain. Vous soutenez d'un bras la cause de Dieux et vous ecrasez de l'autre la superstition." 9 Later Voltaire confessed to Frederick that he also had undertaken to rebuke the author of the Systeme de la Nature. " Ainsi Dieu a pour lui les deux hommes les moins superstitieux de l'Europe, ce que devait lui plaire beaucoup" (p. 390). Frederick, however, hesitated to make his refutation pub- lic, and wrote to Voltaire : " Lorsque j'eus acheve mon ouvrage contre l'atheisme, je crus ma refutation tres orthodoxe, je la relus, et je la trouvai bien eloignee de l'etre. II y a des endroits qui ne saurait paraitre sans effaroucher les timides et scandaliser les devots. Un petit mot qui m'est echappe sur l'eternite du monde me ferait lapider dans votre patrie, si j'y etais ne particulier, et que je l'eusse fait imprimer. Je sens que je n'ai point du tout ni Fame ni le style theo- logique." 10 Voltaire, in his "petite drolerie en faveur de la Divinite" (as he called his work) and in his letters, could s Vol. LXVI, p, 432. 9 Vol. LXVI, p. 563. 10 Vol. LXVI, p. 386. 58 BARON D'HOLBACH not find terms harsh enough in which to condemn the Sys- teme de la Nature. He called it " un chaos, un grand mal moral, un ouvrage de tenebres, un peche contre la nature, un systeme de la folie et de l'igmorance," and wrote to De- lisle de Sales : " Je ne vois pas que rien ait plus avili notre siecle que cette enorme sottise." 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." 12 M. Avenel believed that he suspected Holbach himself of making these accusations. Voltaire's letter to the Due de Richlieu, Nov. i, 1770, 13 seems to give them foundation. A very different reaction was that of Goethe and his uni- versity circle at Strasburg to whom the Systeme de la Nature appeared a harmless and uninteresting book, " grau," " cim- merisch," "totenhaft," "die echte Quintessenz der Greisen- heit." 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 re- action which set in so soon and so obscured the clarity of the issues at stake in the eighteenth century thought. 14 11 Vol. LXVI, p. 394- 12 Vol. XXVIII, p. 493- 13 Vol. LXVI, p. 469. 14 Goethe, Wahrheit und Dichtung, nth Book, Goethe's Werke, Stuttgart, Vol. 19, p. 55. Auf philosophische Weise erleuchtet und gefodert zu werden, hatten wir keinen Trieb noch Hangiuber religiose Gegenstande glaubten wir uns selbst aufgeklart zu haben, und so war der heftige Streit franzo- THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE 59 The leading refutations directed explicitly against the Systeme de la Nature are : 1. 1770, Rive, Abbe J. J., Lettres philosophiques contre le Systeme de la Nature. (Portefeuille hebdomadaire de Bruxelles.) 2. Frederick II., Examen critique du iivre intitule, Sys- teme de la Nature. (Political Miscellanies, p. 175.) 3. Voltaire, Dieu, Reponse de M. de Voltaire au Systeme de la Nature. Au chateau de Ferney, 1770, 8 vo, PP- 34- sischer Philosophen mit dem Pfafftum uns ziemlich gleichgiiltig. Verbotene, zum Feuer verdammte Biicher, welche damals grossen Larmen machten, iibten keine Wirkung auf uns. Ich gedenke statt aller des Systeme de la Nature, das wir aus Neugier in die Hand nahmen. Wir begriffen nicht, wie ein solches Buch gefahrlich sein konnite. Es kam uns so grau, so cimmerisch, so totenhaft vor, das wir Miihe hatten, seine Gegenwart auszuhalten, dass wir davor wie vor einem 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 verkiinden wolle. Wir lachten ihn aus : denn wir glaubten bemerkt zu haben, dass von alten Leuten eigentlich an der Welt nichts geschatzt werde, was liebenswiirdig und gut an ihr ist. " Alte Kirchen haben dunkle Glaser " " 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. " Konnte es denn aber nicht auch notwendig einen Gott geben?" fragten wir. Dabei gestanden wir freilich, das wir uns den Notwendigkeiten der Tage und Nachte, der Jahrszeiten, der klimatischen Einflusse, der physichen und animalischen Zustande nicht wohl entziehen konnten : doch fuhlten wir etwas in uns, das als vollkommene Willkiir erschien, und wieder etwas, das sich mit dieser Willkiir ins Gleichgewicht zu setzen suchte. Die Hoffnung, immer verniinftiger zu werden, uns von den aussern Dingen, ja von uns selbst immer unabhangiger zu machen, konnten wir nicht aufgeben. Das Wort Freiheit klingt so schon, dass mann es nicht entbehren konnte und wenn es einen Irrtum bezeichnete. Keiner von uns hatte das Buch hinausgelesen ; denn wir fanden uns in der Erwartung getauscht, in der wir es auf geschlagen hatten. 60 BARON D'HOLBACH 4. 1 77 1, Bergier, Abbe N. F., Examen du materialisme, ou Refutation du Systeme de la Nature. Paris, Hum- bolt, 1 77 1, 2 vols., i2mo. 5. Camuset, Abbe J. N., Principes contre 1'incredulite, a roccasion du Systeme de la Nature. Paris, Pillot, 1 771, i2mo, pp. viii + 335. 6. Castillon, J. de (Salvemini di Castiglione), Observa- tions sur le livre intitule, Systeme de la Nature. Ber- lin, Decker, 1771, 8vo. (40 sols broche.) System der Natur ward angekiindigt und wir hofften also wirklich etwas von der Natur, unsere Abgotten, zu erfahren. Physik und Chemie, Himmels- und Erdbeschriebung, Naturgeschichte und Ana- tomie und so manches andere hatte nun zeit Jahren und bis auf den letzten Tag uns immer auf die geschmuchte grosse Welt hingeweisen, und wir hatten gern von Sonnen und Sternen, von Planeten und Monden, von Bergen, Thalern, Fliissen und Meeren und von allem, was dann lebt und webt, das Nahere sowie das Allgemeinere erfahren. Das hierbei wohl manches vorkommen miisste, was dem gemeinen Men- schen als schadlich, der Geistlichkeit als gefahrlich, dem Staat als un- zulassig erschienen mochte, daran hatten wir keinen Zweifel, und wir hofften, dieses Biichlein sollte nicht unwiirdig die Feuerprobe be- stauden haben. Allein wie hohl und leer ward uns in deiser tristen Atheistischen Halbnacht zu Mute, in welcher die Erde mit alien ihren Gebilden, der Himmel mit alien 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 alien Seiten ohne weiteres die unendlichen Phanomene des Daseins hervorbringen. Dies alles waren wir sogar zufrieden gewesen, wenn der Verfasser wirklich aus seiner bewegten Materie die Welt vor unsern Augen auf- gebaut hatte. Aber er mochte von der Natur so wenig wissen als wir ; denn indem er einige allgemeine Begriffe hingepfahlt, verlasst er sie sogleich, um dasjenige, was hoher als die Natur oder als hohere 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 alien Philosophic, 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 hin- warfen. THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE 6l 7. Rochford, Dubois de, Pensees diverses contre le systeme des materialists, a l'occasion d'un ecrit intitule; Sys- teme de la Nature. Paris, Lambert, 1771, i2mo. 8. 1773, L'Impie demasque, ou remontrance aux ecrivains incredules. Londres, Heydinger, 1773. 9. Holland, J. H., Reflexions philosophiques sur le Sys- teme de la Nature. Paris, 1773, 2 vols., 8vo. 10. 1776, Buzonniere, Nouel de, Observations sur un ouv- rage intitule le Systeme de la Nature. Paris, Debure, pere, 1776, 8vo, pp. 126. (Prix 1 livre, 16 sols broche. ) 11. 1780, Fangouse, Abbe, La religion prouvee aux incre- dules, avec une lettre a l'auteur du Systeme de la Na- ture par un homme du monde. Paris, Debure l'aine, i2mo, p. 150. Same under title Reflexions impor- tantes sur la religion, etc., 1785. 12. 1788, Paulian, A. J., Le veritable systeme de la nature, etc., Avignon, Niel, 2 vols., i2mo. 13. 1803, Mangold, F. X. von, Unumstossliche Wider le- gung des Mater ialismus 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 verite, Dupont de Nemours' Philosophie de Vunivers, Delisles de Sales Phi- losophic de la nature, etc., which are not directed explicitly against the Systeme 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 Vol- taire 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 62 BARON D'HOLBACH mere dreams but he continues to insist with a dogmatism equal to Holbach's on the validity of his dream. He re- peatedly 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 Etre su- preme, rien ne nous dit ce qu'il est." God himself seems to be a kind of fatalistic necessity. " C'est ce que vous appel- lerez 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. 2j). 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 inde- pendence of it. Hence the Systeme de la Nature is a " long and wicked error." Holland's is a still more serious work, which the Sorbonne THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE 63 recommended strongly as an antidote against Holbach's Systeme which it qualified as "une malhereuse production que notre siecle doit rougir d'avoir enfantee." 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 Systeme de la Na- ture he recognized the hand of the author of La Contagion sacree and the Essai sur les prejuges and dealt with it as he did the Christianisme devoile. Buzonniere, Rochfort and Fangouse are milder and more naive in their demonstrations and their works are of no weight or interest. L'Impie demasque is a brutal work which qualifies Holbach as a "vile apostle of vice and crime," and the Systeme 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 com- paratively late, it attempted to review the hostile opinions of many years and then mass them in an overwhelming final attack on the Systeme 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 Systeme de la Nature in such works as the Lettres Helviennes, of Abbe Barruel, Diet, des Philoso- phes, Diet, anti-philosophe, his own Diet, theologique, etc., besides many other writings against the new philosophy in general. He then reviews articles by members of the philos- ophic school against materialism and then goes back to Hol- bach's sources, Diderot, Bayle, Spinoza, Lucretius, Epicurus, 64 BARON D'HOLBACH etc. The work is not scholarly but comprehensive and evi- dently discouraged further formal refutations. The Systeme de la Nature had many critics in the stormy days that followed 1789. Delisle de Sales found it a mon- strosity, — a fratras; La Harpe called it an infamous book, "un amas de betises qu' on ose appeler philosophic, incon- cevables inepties, une immense echafaudage de mensonge et d' invective " ; M. Villemain is much more calm and fair; Lord Brougham, like Damiron, Buzonniere, and many others, found it seductive but full of false reasoning; Ler- minier 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 gen- erally been men who were often over-enthusiastic. For example, Mr. Wilkinson says of the Systeme de la Nature, 1 * "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 Theol- ogy. — The republic of letters has never produced another author whose pen was so well calculated to emancipate man- kind 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 reason- ing and judging for themselves." It seems unnecessary to analyze the Systeme 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. 15 Vol. II, p. 261, ed. 1820. THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE 65 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 : " II est d'heureux esprits, des ames fortes et saines, que n'effraie point le silence eternel des espaces infinis ou s'aneantissait la raison de Pascal. Naives et robustes natures, males et vigoureux penseurs, qui gardent toute la vie quelque chose des dons charmants de la jeunesse et de enfance meme, une foi vive dans le temoinage immediat de nos sens et de notre conscience, une humeur alerte, toute de joyeuse ardeur, et comme une intrepidite d'esprit que rien n'arrete. Pour eux tout est clair et uni ; ou a peu pres, et la ou ils soupgonnent quelque bas-bond insondable, ils se detournent et poursuivent fierement leur chemin. Comme cet Epicurien dont parle Ciceron au commencement du De natura deorum, ils ont toujours l'air de sotir de l'assemblee 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 Hol- bach'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 cos- mologies and a scientific interpretation of the terrestrial globe and the forms of life which flourish upon it. Find- ing the supposed sacred and infallible records untrustworthy in one regard, he began to question their veracity at other 66 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 ex- perience (application reiteree des sens) and reason are trust- worthy guides to knowledge. By them we become con- scious of an external objective world, of which sentient beings themselves are a part, from which they receive im- pressions through their sense organs. These myriad im- pressions when compared and reflected upon form reasoned knowledge or truth, provided they are substantiated by re- peated experiences carefully made. That is, an idea is said to be true when it conforms perfectly with the actual ex- ternal object. This is possible unless one's senses are de- fective, 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 assem- blage de tout ce qui existe"; it reveals a single objective THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE 67 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 neces- sity. 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 differ- entiated faculties is but a function of matter and motion in extraordinary complex and involved relations. Man's im- putation 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 im- putation 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 morale) 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, how- ever that his chief desires are to survive and render his existence happy. By happiness Holbach means the pres- 68 BARON D'HOLBACH ence 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 begin- ning of his career he has been the dupe of false ideas, espe- cially 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 in- troduction 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 unwel- come results. Holbach's theory was that religion was worse than useless in that it had inculcated false and per- nicious 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 in- evitable inclination toward survival and the highest degree of well-being, "L'objet de la morale est de faire connaitre aux hommes que leur plus grande interet exige qu'ils prati- querent la vertu ; le but du gouvernement doit etre de la leur faire pratiquer. Government then assumes the functions of moral re- straint formally delegated to religion ; and punishments ren- der 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 THE SYSTEME DE LA NATURE 69 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 sys- tem. 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 aban- doned. 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. " II est tempts que cette raison injustement degrade quitte un ton pusillamine qui la rendront complice du mensonge et du delire." 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 detruit des chimeres nuisibles au genre humain, pour ramener les hommes a la nature, a l'experience, a la raison. C'est un penseur qui, ayant medite la matiere, ses proprietes et ses fagons d'agir, n'a pas besoin, pour expliquer les phenomenes de l'univers et les operations de la nature, d'imaginer des puissances ideales, des intelli- gences imaginaire, des etres de raison; qui loin de faire mieux connaitre cette nature, ne font que la rendre capri- cieuse, inexplicable, et meconnaissable, 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 frangais. Paris, 191 1, 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). 70 HOLBACH'S CORRESPONDENCE 71 Holbach to Wilkes, Mar. 19, 1770 (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30871, p. 16). Holbach to Wilkes, April 27, 1775, 9 (Wilkes, Corre- spondence, London, 1804, Vol. IV, p. 176). The first seven of these letters are published for the first time in the present volume, pp. 6-1 1 and pp. 75-80. Holbach to Galiani, Aug. 11, 1769 (Critica, Vol. I, pp. 488 sq.). Galiani to Holbach, April 7, 1770 (Galiani, Corre- spondence, Paris, 1890, Vol. I, p. 92). Galiani to Holbach, July 21, 1770 (Galiani, Corre- spondence, 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, 19 10, p. 146. Holbach to Malesherbes, April 6, 1761 (hitherto un- published). 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 in- spired me with the strongest admiration for your genius and amiable parts, but gave me the highest idea of your person and 72 BARON D'HOLBACH the strongest desire of getting acquainted with one of the greatest philosophers of my age, and of the best friend to man- kind. 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 ex- press 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. Helvetius 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, a Paris. HOLBACH TO GARRICK (Coll. Forster, Vol. XXI; pub. Hedgcock, p. 253) Paris, Feb y e 9 th. 1766. I received, my very Dear Sir, with a great deal of pleasure, HOLBACITS CORRESPONDENCE 73 your agreeable letter of y e 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 M rs Garrick, whose sweet- ness of temper and care must be a great comfort in you cir- cumstances. I beg leave to present her with my respects and y e compliments of my wife, that has enjoyed but an indifferent state of health, owing to the severity of the winter. M r and Mad e 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. Abbe 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 delits et des peines. and the compliments of our friend D r 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 knowl- edge I have had of him I look on that man as a mere philo- sophical 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 M r 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. 74 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 M r Diderot, and being refused that favor, he pretended that Diderot en- deavoured to see him, but that himself had refused premptorily 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 M r 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 M r Hume's company but rather among the bears, of there are any in the mountains of Wales. I am surprized you have not receiv'd yet the Encyclopedie, 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 Bergere 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 M r Cohaut who teaches my wife to play on the luth. We expect a tragedy of the Dutch Barnvelt. M r 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 M r 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 S r James Macdonald has been ill at Parma, but is now recovered and in Rome. Abbe 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'S CORRESPONDENCE 75 Holbach to Wilkes (Brit. Mus. Mss., Vol. 30869, p. 39) Paris the 22 d of May (1766) My dear Sir I am extreamely 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 Mad e 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 extrememly 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 prin- ciples 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, ex- perience 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. 7 6 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 9 ber 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 Mile 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 M r 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 Bas- kervilles' virgil in octavo. HOLBACH'S CORRESPONDENCE 77 Tho M r Davemport 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) Sear 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 elec- tions; 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 throug 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 traveller to whom my wife and I desire our best compliments. Such a scheme will be more advantagious for you both and more con- formable to the wishes of your friends in this place. I hope your arrival in London will contribute to reconcile abbe 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 Abbe must be overjoy'd at the news of the Jesu- its being expell'd from his Native country for now he may say 78 BARON D'HOLBACH 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 Theologie 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 ioth 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 agreable 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 dis- couragements you have met with lately. I need not tell you how much your friends in Paris and I in particular interest our- selves 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 undertak- ings. 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 porpose. HOLBACH'S CORRESPONDENCE 79 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 M r Suard to bring over a few books lately published in your me- tropolis. 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 epreuves) were very indifferent and they wanted to sell them excessively dear ; in general 200 guineas would pro- cure 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 senti- ments 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 as 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 be- 80 BARON D'HOLBACH loved 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 M r 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 pere temp or el } 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 some- thing 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 americains le Systeme 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. >. 1 am, Dear Sir, for ever your most affectionate friend and humble servant D'Holbach P. S. Ill be very much oblig'd to you for sending over to me in 2 vol. small ovtavo. 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 HOLBACH'S CORRESPONDENCE 8 1 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 per- mit 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 out best compliments to your very amiable lady-mayoress : who acted so well her part lately in the Egyp- tian 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 friend- ship 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 Systeme de la Nature. C'est la ligne ou finit la tris- tesse de la morne et seche verite, au-dela commence la gaite du roman. II n'y a rien de mieux que de se persuader que les des sont pipes: cette idee en enfante milles autres, et un nouveau monde se regenere. Le M. Mirabaud est un vrai abbe Terray de la metaphysique. II fait des reductions, des suspensions, et cause la banqueroute du savoir, du plaisir et de l'esprit hu- main. Mais vous allez me dire qu'aussi il y avait trop de non- valeurs: on etait trop endette, il courait trop de papiers non 82 BARON D'HOLBACH reels sur la place. C'est vrai aussi, et voila pourquoi la crise est arrivee. Adieu, mon cher baron. Ecrivez-moi de longues lettres, pour que le plaisir en soit plus grand. Embrassez moi longue- ment la baronne, et soyez longue dans tout que vous faites, dans tout ce que vous patientez, dans tout ce que vous esperer. La longanimite est une belle vertu; c'est elle qui me fait esperer de revoir Paris. Adieu. HOLBACH TO GALIANI (Critica, Vol. I, 1903, p. 489) Grandval, le 25 d'aout 1770 Bonjour, mon tres delicieux abbe, J'ai bien regu votre tres -precieuse lettre du 21 de juillet qui m'accuse la reception de celle que je vous avais ecrite le 3 de juin. Je vois que celle-ci a ete longtemps en route, attendu que M. Torcia a qui M. Diderot s'etait charge de la remettre, a encore trainasse quelque temps a Paris, suivant la louable cou- tume 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'abbe Bergier l'a deja refute tres-longuement et sa reponse paraitra cet hiver. La Sorbonne est, dit-on, occupee a detruire ce maudit Systems qui lui parait au moins heretique. Voltaire lui-meme se prepare a le pulveriser; en attendant nos seigneurs du Parlement y viennent d'y repondre par des fagots, ainsi qu'a quelque autres ouvrages de meme trempe. Ce qu'il -y a de f adieux c'est que l'ouvrage de V. qui a pour titre Dieu et les hommes a ete enve- loppe dans la meme condamnation, ce qui doit deplaire souve- rainement a l'auteur. Je me rappelle a cette occasion ce que M. Hume dit d'un catholique que Henri VIII fit conduire au bucher avec quelques heretiques, et dont le seul chagrin etait d'etre brule en si mauvaise compagnie. Nonobstant toutes ces refutations, il parait tous les jours quelques nouveaux ouvrages impies, au point que je suis tres surpris que la recolte ait ete si HOLBACH'S CORRESPONDENCE 83 bonne dans le royaume. En dernier lieu on vient de publier un ouvrage sous le titre de Droit des souverains sur les biens du clerge, qui, sans contenir des impietes n'en est pas moins de- plaisant pour cela: II va droit a la cuisine, et veut que pour liquider la dette nationale on vende tous les biens ecclesiasti- ques et que Ton met nos pontifes a la pension. Vous sentez qu'une proposition si mal sonnante n'a pu manquer de mettre le ciel en courroux; sa colere s'est decharge sur cinq ou six libraires et colporteurs qui ont ete mis en prison. BIBLIOGRAPHY— PART I EDITIONS OF HOLBACH'S WORKS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER As the works of Holbach are not yet cataloged in the Bibliotheque Nationale, the following list is doubtless incomplete. The numbers given are those of the Bibliotheque 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., Bibliotheque 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. 1. There are 20 or more editions in existence that were not to be found in the library catalogs consulted. 1752. Lettre a une dame d'un certain age sur l'etat present de l'Opera. En Arcadie aux depens de l'Academie Royale de Musique, 1752. (Paris, 8vo, pp. 11.) B. M. 1103 b 21 (2). 1752. Arret rendu a l'amphitheatre de l'Opera, 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 ajoute 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 Vitrifica- tion des Vegetaux; Un Memoire sur la maniere de faire le 85 86 BARON D'HOLBACH Saffre; Le Secret des vraies Porcelaines de la Chine et de Saxe ; Ouvrages ou Ton trouvera la maniere de f aire le Verre et le Crystal, d'y porter des Couleurs, d'imiter les Pierres Pre- tieuses, de preparer et colorer les Emaux, de faire la Potasse, de peindre sur le Verre, de preparer des Vernis, de composer de Couvertes pour des Fayances et Poteries, d'extraire la Cou- leur 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, a la Sagesse. Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roi (in quarto). B. N. V. 1 1028. C. U. A n H 35 (Avery Library). 1753. Mineralogie, ou description generate des substances- du regne mineral. Par Mr. Jean Gotshalk Wallerius, Professeur Royale de Chymie, de Metallurgie et de Pharmacie dans l'Universite d'Upsal, de l'Academie Imperiale des Curieux de la Nature. Ouvrage traduit de l'Allemand, A Paris, Chez Durand, rue S. Jacques, au Griffon. Pissot, Quai de Conti, a la Croix d'Or, MDCCLIII. Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roi (2 vols., 8vo, pp. xlvii + 569 + 284) . Followed by (second title page) Hydrologie, ou description du regne aquatique, divises par classes, gendres, especes et varietes, avec la maniere 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 a la Mineralogie; ou connoissance des eaux, des sues terrestres, des sels, des terres, des pierres, des mineraux, et des metaux : avec une description abregee des operations de metallurgie. Ouvrage posthume de M. J. F. Henckel, publie sous le titre de Henckelius in Mineralogia redivivus et traduit de l'Allemand. A Paris, Chez Guillaume Cavelier, Libraire, rue S. Jacques, au Lys d'Or. MDCCLVI. Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roi. (2 vols., i2vo, pp. lxxi + 204 + 371.) B. N. 19930 (1). 1758. Chimie metallurgique, Dans laquelle on trouvera la Theorie et la Pratique de cet Art. Avec des Experiences sur la Densite des Alliages des Metaux, et des demi-Metaux; et un Abrege de Docimastique. Avec Figures. Par M. C. E. Gellert, Conseiller BIBLIOGRAPHY 87 des Mines de Saxe et de l'Academie Imperiale de Petersbourg. Ouvrages traduits de l'Allemand. A Paris, Chez Briasson, rue Saint Jacques; Avec Approbation et Privelege. (2 vols., i2mo, pp. xii + 296 + xvii + 351.) B. N., R. 37032 (3). I 7S9- Traites de physique, d'histoire naturelle, de mineralogie et de metallurgie. (Paris, 1759, 3 vols., i2mo.) (General title.) Tome I. L'Art des Mines, ou Introduction aux connoisances neces- saires pour l'exploitation des mines metalliques avec une traite des exhalaisons minerals ou moufettes, et plusieurs memoires sur differens sujects d'Histoire Naturelle- Avec figures. Par M. Jean Gotlob Lehmann, Docteur en Medecine, Conseiller des Mines de Sa Majeste Prussienne, de l'Academie 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 Privilege du Roi. Tome II. Traite de la formation des metaux et de leurs matrices ou minieres, ouvrage fonde sur les principes de la physique et de la mineralogie et confirme par des experiences 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 mineraux, des metaux et des fossiles qu'elles contiennent. Avec des considerations physiques sur les causes des Tremble- ments de Terre et de leur propagation. Ouvrages traduits de l'Allemand, et augmentes de Notes du Traducteur etc. H. U, M. Z. B. M. 900 c. 16-18. 1759. Les plaisirs de l'imagination, poeme en trois chants, par M. Akenside. Traduit de l'anglais. A Amsterdam, Arkstee et Merkus, et se trouve a Paris chez Pissot, Quai de Conti MDCCLIX (8vo). B. N. 2 ex. Yk 2362 et 2498. B. M. 1 162 f 20. . Ibid. Les plaisirs de l'imagination, poeme en trois chants, Par Akenside, traduit de l'Anglais par le baron d'Holbach, aug- mente de Notes historiques et litteraires, de la vie de l'auteur et du Traducteur, par Pissot.— Paris, Hubert MDCCCVI (i8o6-i8vo). B. N. Yk 2363. B. M. 1065 b 20(2). 88 BARON D'HOLBACH 1760. Pyritologie, ou Histoire Naturelle de la Pyrite, ouvrage dans lequel on examine l'origine, la nature, les proprieties et les usages de ce Mineral important, et de la plupart des autres Substances du meme Regne: on y a joint le Flora Saturnisans ou L'Auteur demontre 1' Alliance qui se trouve entre les Vege- taux et les Mineraux; et les Orpuscules Mineralogiques, Qui comprennent un Traite de l'Appropriation, un Traite de L'Origine des Pierres, plusieurs Memoires sur la Chymie et l'Histoire Naturelle, avec un Traite des Maladies des Mineurs et des Fondeurs. Par M. Jean-Frederic Henkel, Docteur en Medicine, Conseiller des Mines du Roi de Pologne, Electeur de Saxe; de TAcademie Imperiale des Curieux de la Nature et de celle de Berlin. Ouvrages Traduit de l'Allemand [by Baron d'Holbach and M., Charas] a Paris, Chez Jean Thomas Heris- sant, Libraire, Rue S. Jacques, a S. Paul et a S. Hilaire. MDCCLX Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roi. (Paris, 1760, quarto, pp. xvi + 524.) B. N. 5324. B. M. 34 c 15. 1760. Oeuvres Metallurgiques de M., Jean-Christian Orschall, In- specteur des Mines de S. A. S. le Land-grave de Hesse-Cassel. Contenant I. L'Art de la Fonderie; II. Un Traite de la Siqua- tion; III. Le Traite de la Maceration des Mines; IV. Le Traite des Trois Merveilles; (Traduit de l'Allemand) Le prix est de 50 sols broche et de 3 liv. relie. A Paris, Chez Hardy, Libraire, rue S. Jacques au dessus de celle de la Parcheminerie a la Colonne d'Or. MDCCLX. Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roi. (i2mo, pp. + 394) B. N., S 19,992. 1764. Recueil des memoires les plus interessants de chymie, et d'his- toire naturelle, contenus dans les actes de l'Academie d'Upsal, et dans les Memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences de Stockholm; Publies depuis 1720 jusqu'en 1760. Traduits du Latin et de l'Allemand. A Paris, Chez Pierre-Fr. Didot, le jeune, Quai des Augustins, a S. Augustin. MDCCLXIV. Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roi. (2 vols., i2mo, pp. viii + 687.) B. N. R 15483 (4). 1765. Histoire du regne de la Reine Anne d'Angleterre, contenant Les Negociations de la paix d'Utrecht, et les demeles qu'elle occa- sionna en Angleterre. Ouvrage posthume du Docteur Jonathan Swift. Doyen de S. Patrice en Irelande: Publie sur un Manu- scrit corrige de la propre main de l'Auteur, et traduit de l'Anglais par M. . . [d'Holbach and Eidous]. A Amsterdam, BIBLIOGRAPHY 89 Chez Marc-Michel Rey, et Arkstee et Merkus. MDCCLXV. (i2mo, pp. xxiv + 416.) B. N. 8vo Nc 1718. 1766. Traite du Soufre, ou Remarques sur la dispute qui s'est elevee entre les chymistes, au sujet du Soufre, tant commun, combus- tible ou volatil, que fixe, etc. Traduit de l'Aliemand de Stahl. A Paris, Chez Pierre-Francois Didot, le jeune. Quai de Augustins a Saint-Augustin. MDCCLXVI. Avec Approbation et Privilege du Roi. (i2mo, pp. 392.) B. N., R 51709- B. M. 233 b 15. 1766. L'Antiquite devoilee par ses usages, ou Examen critique des principales Opinions, Ceremonies et Institutions religieuses et politiques des differens Peuples de la Terre. Par feu M., Boulanger. Homo, quod rationis est particeps, consequentiam cernit causas rerum videt, earumque progressus et quasi ante- cessiones non ignorat, similitudines comparat, rebus praesenti- bus 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., i2mo.) B. N. *E 2446-2448. . Ibid. (1772, 3 vols., i2mo.) B. N. *E 2445 (VIII). B. M. 4506 a 1. — — . Ibid. (Amsterdam, 1777, 3 vols., i2mo, pp. lx + 355 + 391 + 396.) B. M. 696 b 35. . Ibid. In Oeuvres de Boulanger T. I-IV En Suisse. De l'lm- primerie Philosophique MDCCXCI. (4 vols., i2mo.) B. N., Z 24316-243 19. . Ibid. In Oeuvres de Boulanger T. I— II Amsterdam. (Paris, 2 vols., 8vo.) (Querard.) 1767. Le Christianisme devoile, ou Examen des principes et des effets de la religion Chretienne. 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). 90 BARON D'HOLBACH . 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. 611. . Ibid. (A Paris, Chez les Libraires Associes, 1767, 8vo, pp. xvii-f' 218.) B. N., D2 8364. . Ibid. (Londres [Amsterdam], 1767, i2mo.) B. M. 696 b 34- . Ibid. Oeuvres de Boulanger T. VII. (En Suisse de l'lmpri- merie philosophique, 1791, i2mo.) 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. (i2mo, 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 T. 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, 6 examen de los principios y efectos de la religion cristiana. Escrito en Frances por Bou- langer y traducido al castellano por S. D. V. . . . Londres en la emprenta de Davidson, 1821. (i2mo, pp. xxvi + 246.) B. M. 4016 df 6. 1767. L'Esprit du clerge, ou Le Christianisme primitif vonge des entre- prises et des exces de nos Pretres modernes. Traduit de l'Anglois a Londres (Amsterdam) MDCCLXVII (2 vols. 8vo, pp. 2 + 10 + 240). B. M. Pp. 54- 1767. De l'imposture sacerdotale, ou Recueil de Pieces sur le Clerge. BIBLIOGRAPHY 91 Traduites de l'Anglois. Londres (Amsterdam) MDCCLXVII. (i2mo, pp. 144- ) B. N., D2 8368 (7). Contains. Tableau fidele 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 Pretentions ridicules du Pape et des Flatteurs de la Cour de Rome. Extrait de la Pro- fession de Foi du celebre Giannone, par. M. Davisson, pp. 36-54. Sermon. Sur les fourberies et les impostures du Clerge Romain, Traduit de l'Anglois sur une Brochure publiee a Lon- dres en 1735 par M. Bourn Birmingham, Sous le titre de Popery a Craft, pp. 55-^4- Le Pretrianisme oppose au Christianisme. Ou la Religion des Pretres comparee a celle de Jesus-Christ, ou examen de la difference qui se trouve entre les Apotres et les Membres du Clerge moderne. Publie 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 Publiee en 1719. Par M., Thomas Gordon, Sous le titre d' Apology for the danger of the Church, etc., pp. 109-128. Le Simbole d'un Laique, ou Profession de Foi d'un homme desinteresse. Traduit de l'Anglois de M., Gordon, Sur une brochure publiee en 1720. Sous le titre de the creed of an independent Whig, pp. 129-144. . Ibid. Published under title De La Monstruosite pontificale, ou Tableau fidele des Papes. Traduit de l'Anglois Londres MDCCLXXII. (i6vo, pp. 55-) B. N., H. 19859. 1768. Examen des Proprieties qui servent de fondement a la religion chretienne, avec un Essai de critique sur les Prophetes et les Proprieties en general. 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 chre- tienne, pp. i-iii. Extrait De l'Ouvrage qui a pour titre: Examen du Septeme de ceux qui pretendent que les Proprieties se sont accomplies a 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 7 92 BARON D'HOLBACH traduit de l'Anglois. Saul, et David, tragedie en 5 actes d'apres l'Anglois. . . . (Londres, 1768, 8vo.) B. N. 3 ex. LD 2 5194, Hz 1542, et Res Z. Beuchot 798 (2). B. M. 4014 a 67 (1). 1768. Les Pretres demasques, ou des iniquities du clerge chretien. Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois. Londres. MDCCLXVIII. (i6vo, pp. 180.) B. N., D 2 4639- B. M. 4017 de 29. 1768. Lettres philosophiques, sur l'origine des Prejuges, du Dogme de rimmortalite de l'Ame, de l'ldolatrie et de la Superstition; sur le Systeme de Spinosa et sur l'origine du mouvement dans la matiere. Traduites de l'Anglois de J. Toland. Opinionum commenta delet dies, naturae judicia confirmat. Cicero, de Nat. Deor. lib. II. A Londres (Amsterdam). MDCCLXVIII. (8vo, pp. 267.) B. N., D 2 5203. B. M. 4015 de 48. Containing, Preface ou Lettre a un ami, en lui envoyant les Dissertations suivantes, dans laquelle 1'Auteur rend compte des motifs qui les ont fait ecrire. (pp. 12-26.) Premiere Lettre. De L'origine et de la Force de ces Prejuges. (pp. 27-44.) Seconde Lettre. Histoire du dogme de l'lmmortalite de l'Ame Chez les Payens. (pp. 45-93.) Troisieme Lettre. Sur l'origine de l'ldolatrie et sur les fon- dements de la Religion Payenne. (pp. 94-152.) Quartrieme Lettre. A un Gentilhomme Hollandois pour lui prouver que le systeme de Spinoza est deporvu de fondements et peche dans ses principes. (pp. 154-186.) Cinquieme Lettre. Dans laquelle on prouve que le mouve- ment est essentiel a la Matiere; en reponse a quelques remar- ques qui ont ete faites a 1'Auteur au sujet de sa refutation du Systeme de Spinoza. Nunc quae mobilitas fit reddita Materiae Corporibus paucis licet hinc cognoscere, Memmi. Lucret, lib. II, vers 142. (pp. 187-267.) 1768. Theologie portative, ou Dictionnaire Abrege de la Religion Chretienne. Par Mr. l'Abbe Bernier, Licencie en Theologie. Audite hoc Sacerdotes, et attendite Domus Israel, et Domus Regis auscultate; quia vobis Judicium est, quoniam Laquens facti estis Speculationi et rete expansum super Thabor. Osee, BIBLIOGRAPHY 93 Chap. V, Vers. I. Londres (Amsterdam), MDCCLXVIII (1767), (i2mo 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. Augmentee d'un Volume. A Rome, avec permission et privilege du Conclave. (2 vols., i2mo (1776).) B. N., D 2 8371. — — . Ibid. Under title. Manuel Theologique, en form de Diction- naire. Ouvrage tres utile aux personnes des deux sexes pour le salut de leurs ames, par l'abbe Bernier etc. Rome, 1785 Au Vatican de l'lmprimerie du Conclave. (2 vols., 8vo.) . Ibid. 1802. 1768. Le Militaire philosophe, ou Difficultes sur la Religion, proposees au R. P. Malebranche, Pretre 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 sacree, ou Histoire Naturelle de la Superstition. Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois. Prima mali lobes. ' Londres (Amsterdam), MDCCLXVII. (2 vols, in I, 8vo.) B. N, D 2 5195. C. U. 194 H 69 P. . Ibid. Avec des notes relatives aux Circonstances. Nouvelle Edition. A Paris, de l'lmprimerie 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, 6 Historia natural de la supersticion. Paris, Rodriguez, 1822. (2 vols., 8vo.) (Querard.) 1768. Lettres a. Eugenia, ou Preservatif contre les prejuges . . . 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 Freret, T. I, pp. 1-359. Paris, 1792. (8vo.) H. U. 19-30, vol. I. 94 BARON D'HOLBACH . Cartas a 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 demoraliz- ing Dogmas and Mysteries of the Christian Religion. Now first translated from the French of Freret, 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 a Eugenia. Madrid, 1823, por Don Benito Cano. 2v. N. Y, Z F F. . Letters to Eugenia on the absurd, contradictory and demoraliz- ing Dogmas and Mysteries of the Christian Religion, by Baron d'Holbach, New York, published by H. M. Dubecquet, No. 190 William Street, 1833. (i2vo, 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 Cruaute religieuse. A Londres, MDCCLXIX. (i6vo, pp. 228.) B. N, D 2 8365. B. M. 4017 aa 25. U. T. S. H 723. . Ibid. Amsterdam, 1775, i2vo. 1769. Le la Tolerance dans la Religion, ou de la Liberte de conscience par Crellius. LTntolerance convaincue de crime et de folie. Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois, Londres, MDCCLXIX. (i2vo, pp. 174.) Contains De la Tolerance dans la religion, ou de la liberte de conscience (Crellius). De l'lntolerance dans la Religion (d'Holbach), p. 88. Enfer detruit ou Examen Raisonne du Dogme de l'Eternite des peines. Ouvrages, tr. de L'Anglois a Londres, MDCCLXIX, p. 1. Dissertation critique sur les tourmens de l'enfer. Traduit de L'Anglois, p. 96 (by Whitefoot). B. N., D 2 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.) BIBLIOGRAPHY 95 (Followed by Whitefoot's Torments of Hell, " now first trans- lated from the French," to p. 83.) 1770. L'Esprit du Judaisme, ou Examen raisonne de la Loi de Moyse, et de son influence sur la Religion Chretienne. 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. (i2mo, pp. xxii + 201.) B. N„ D 2 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. [D 2 5349 (2) 8367 et H. 7551]. B. M. 4808 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 Jesus-Christ, ou Analyse raisonne des Evan- giles. Ecce Homo. Pudet me humani generis, cuius mentis et aures talia ferre potuerunt. S. Augustin. (No date [Amsterdam, 1770?], i6mo, 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. . Histoira critica de Jesus Christo, 6 analisis 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, 96 BARON D'HOLBACH v. 5. Londres, en la imprenta de Davidson, 1822. (2 vols., i2mo, pp. xiii +'200 + 280.) Contains Advertencia del Traductor. 1770. Tableau des Saints, ou examen de l'esprit, de la conduite, des maximes, et du merite des personnages que le Christianisme revere et propose pour modeles. Hoc admonere simplices etiam potest, Opinione alterius ne quid ponderent; Ambitio namque diffidens mortalium Aut gratiae subscribunt, aut odio suo; Erit ille notus, quern per te cognoveris. Phaed., Lib. Ill, Fab. 10. A Londres, MDCCLXX. (2 vols., i2mo, pp. xxviii + 280 + 286.) B. N., H 7,552. B. M. 4,824 a a a a 27. 1770. Recueil philosophique, ou Melange de Pieces sur la Religion et la Morale. Par differents 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., i2mo.) B. N, D2 5309. Vol. I, p. 129 (VI), Reflexions sur les Craintes de la Mort. Vol. II, p. 34 (IX), Dissertation sur l'lmmortalite de 1'ame. Traduite de l'Anglais. Vol. II, p. 50 (X), Dissertation sur le suicide. Traduit de l'Anglais. Vol. II, p. 70 (XI). Probleme important. La Religion est elle necessaire a la Morale et utile a 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 prejuges, 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.) BIBLIOGRAPHY 97 . Ijfrid. 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 6 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. . (Bibliotheque Nationale. Collection des meilleurs auteurs anciens et modernes.) Dumarsais. Essai sur les Prejuges. Precede d'un Discours preliminaire et d'un Precis historique de la vie de Dumarsais par le citoyen Daube. Paris. Librairie de la Bibliotheque Nationale. Rue de Richelieu 8, Pres le Theatre Francais. Ci-devant rue de Valois 1886. Tous droits reserves (25 centimes). B. N. 8vo R. 15952. 1770. Systeme de la Nature, ou Des Loix du Monde Physique et du Monde Moral. Par M. Mirabaud, Secretaire Perpetuel et Tun des Quarante de l'Academie Frangaise. Natura rerum vis atque majestas in omnibus momentis fide caret, si quis mode partes ejus, ac non totam complectatur animo.— Plin. Hist., Lib. VII. Londres, MDCCLXX. (2 vols., 8vo, pp. 370 + 4!2.) 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., D 2 5166-5167. Contains Discours preliminaire de l'Auteur (pp. 16) Avis de l'Editeur. Preface de l'Auteur, etc. . Abrege du Code de la Nature, par M., Mirabaud, Secretaire Perpetuel et Tun des Quarante cle 1' Academe Frangaise. Lon- dres. MDCCLXX. (8vo, 16 p.) . Ibid. Nouvelle Edition augmentee par l'auteur a laquelle on a joint plusieurs pieces des meilleurs Auteurs relatives aux memes objets, etc. (Ed. Naigeon.) Londres, MDCCLXXI. (2 vols, in 8vo, pp. 397-500.) Contains Vol. II, p. 455, Requisitoire, sur lequel est inter- venu l'Arret du Parlement du 18 Aout 1770 qui condamne a etre brules, differens Livres ou Brochures, intitules. 98 BARON D'HOLBACH 1. La Contagion sacree. . . . 2. Dieu et les hommes. 3. Discours sur les Miracles. 4. Examen des Apologists. 5. Examen impartial des principaes religions du Monde. 6. Christianisme devoile. 7. Systeme de la Nature. Imprime par ordre expres du Roi. B. M., D2 5168. Reprinted in 1774, 1775-1777. . Ibid. Nouvelle Edition. Londres, 1780, 8vo, pp. xii + 371 + 464. Contains Sentiments de Voltaire sur le Systeme de la Nature. Siguier's Requisitoire and Holbach's Replique. B. M. 528 1. 2526. . Ibid. Nouvelle Edition. Londres, 1781. (2 vols, in 8vo, pp. 3i6 + 385.) B. N., D 2 5169. . Ibid. German Translation, Schreiter. Leipzig and Frankfort, 1783. . Ibid. Paris, An. Ill (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. 32053-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. . Systeme de la Nature, . . . Avec notes de Diderot. Nouvelle edition. 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. BIBLIOGRAPHY 99 Systeme 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., D 2 5170. B. M. 124 g i. 26. C. U. TQ4 H 69. R. N. Y., Y C O. Contains extract of Grimm's Literary Correspondence, Aug. 10, 1789. Systeme de la Nature, ou des lois du monde physique et du monde morale, par le Baron d'Holbach. Nouvelle Edition avec des notes et des corrections par Diderot etc. Paris, Domere, 1822. (4 vols, in i2tno.) Contains Avis de Naigion. Avertissement du nouvel editeur, pp. 11-29. Pieces 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 i8mo. B. N., D 2 5172. Selections from Mirabaud's System of Nature in the Law of Reason, etc. London, 1831. (i6mo, 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 Wat- son. London, 1834. (2 vols, in i2mo, pp. xxiv + 287 + 320.) Sold for 7 s. 6 d. B. M. 1 133 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 100 BARON D'HOLBACH Anmerkungen versehen von Biedermann. Leipzig, 1841. (8vo, pp. 604.) Georg. Wigands Verlag. A. 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,YCO n-15957- L. of C, B. 2053- S g 3 E 6. The System of Nature; or, The Laws of the Moral and Phys- ical World, by the baron d'Holbach, originally attributed to M, de Mirabaud with memoir by Charles Braglaugh. 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 idees naturelles opposees aux idees sur- naturelles. Detexit quo doloso vaticinandi furore Sacerdotes mysteria, illis saepe ignota, audacter publicant. Petronii Satyricon. Londres (Amsterdam) 1772, 8vo, pp. xii-515. . Ibid. Another edition, 1772, 8vo, pp. x-250. . Ibid. Londres (Amsterdam), 1774, i6mo, pp. xii-302. U. T. S. 321 H. 7236. . Ibid. Le Bon-sens du cure J. Meslier d'Etrepigny. Rome (Paris), 1791, 8vo. . Ibid. Nouvelle edition, suivi du Testament du cure Meslier. Paris, Bouqueton, Tan I de la Republique. (1792, 2 vols., i2mo.) . Ibid. Le Bon-sens du cure 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), i2mo. ■ . Ibid. Paris, Guillaumin, 1830, i2mo. . Ibid. Paris, Guillaumin, 1831, i2mo. . Common Sense, H. D. Robinson, New York, circa 1833. . Le Bon-sens du cure J. Meslier, etc. Paris, Bacquenois, 1833, i2mo. . Ibid. Paris, Guillaumin, 1834, i2mo. . Ibid. Nancy, Haener, 1834, i2mo. BIBLIOGRAPHY I0 I . 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 cure J. Meslier, Paris, Palais des Thermes de Julien, 1802. (Gamier Freres, 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, 111., 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 facultes, des actions et des passions de Fame, et de leurs causes, deduites d'apres des principes philosophiques qui ne sont communement ne recus ni connus. Par Thomas Hobbes : Ouvrage traduit de TAnglois. 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 Hobbs. 1787. (2 vols., 8vo.) (Tr. by Sorbiere and Holbach.) B. M. 528 2222. 1773. Recherches sur les Miracles. Par l'auteur de l'Examen des Apologistes de la Religion Chretienne. 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 sua. Horat, Ode IV, lib. Ill, 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 Beligique). C. U. 320 H. 691. (Ascribed also to C. G. Lamoignon de Malesherbes.) 102 BARON D'HOLBACH . 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- Systeme 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 Systeme de la Nature, Londres, 1774. (3 vols., 8vo, pp. 208+174 + 167.) B. M. 8403. h 23. . Ibid. A Paris, Serviere, 1795. (2 vols., 8vo, pp. 472 + 403.) B. M. 8404 dc. 25 (ex libris J. Gomez de la Cortina et ami- corum. Fallitur hora legendo). . Ibid. . . . par le baron d'Holbach. Paris, Niogret, 1882. (2 vols, 8vo.) C. U. 320. H. 690. 1774. Agriculture reduit a ses vrais principes par Jean Gottschalk Wallerius, Paris, Lacombe, 1774. (i2mo.) 1776. Ethocratie ou le gouvernement fonde 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 fondes sur la nature. Natura. duce utendum est: hanc ratio observat, hanc con- sulit, idem est ergo beate 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, BIBLIOGRAPHY 103 De l'lmprimerie de Jahyer et Geslin. Imprimeurs-Libraries, rue Milton, 1792. (8vo.) B. M. 527- K. 1-3. H. 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. 841 1 k 7. . Moral universal odeberes del hombre, fundatos en su natur- aleza. Obra escrita en frances por el baron de Holbach y tra- ducida 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 academies de Petersbourg de Mahheim 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, 6 catecismo de la naturaleza, por el baron de Holbach. Madrid, 1820, imp. que fue de Fuen- tenebro, lib de Sanchez en 8vo past. . Principios de moral, 6 manuel de los deberes del hombre fun- dados en la naturaleza. Obra postuma de baron de Holbach. Traducida al espanol por D. L. M. 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Instructor in English, Robert College, Con- stantinople, 1909-1911; Graduate Student in History, Col- umbia University, 1911-1913; A.M. Columbia, 1912, In- structor in History, Reed College, Portland, Oregon, 19 13- , .4 . v '+* "•/■ V. ', ^°°x «5 '<*- - ^ Ok ! \° °x. * s ^ "<,C $ % - - ; S 5 " , .v . .s -^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proos^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: August 2004 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIO* 1 1 1 Thomson Park Dnve Crane. A 16066 ~

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