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Voltaire's Convincement Quaker Studies Volume 4 Issue 1 Article 2 1999 Voltaire's Convincement Raymond Ayoub Penn State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/quakerstudies Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, and the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Ayoub, Raymond (1999) "Voltaire's Convincement," Quaker Studies: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/quakerstudies/vol4/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quaker Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Quaker Studies 4 (1999):1-20 -------- 'On beauty, in the Creation and in the mind.' Th e Yorkshireman 4 (1835): 79-80. Hutchinson, H. Jo nathan Hutchinson. Life and Letters. London: Heinemann Medical, 1946. Miller, J.F. 'Micrometrical measurements of the binary star� Ursre Majoris, and the double star Struve 1263, made at the Observatory, Voltaire's Convincement Whitehaven.' Mo nthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 12 (1851-2): 170. Raymond Ayoub Newman, T.P. Memoir of Life of Edward Newman [1876]. London: FaringdonClassey, 1980. Penn State University Noblett, W. 'William Curtis's botanical library.' Th e Library 9 (1987): 1-22. Penn, W. Some Fruits of Solitude [1693]. London: Constable, 1926 Quaker Studies 4 (1999):21-56 Raistrick, A. Quakers in Science and Industry. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1968. Abstract Richardson, J. A Sp eech Delivered at a Meeting of the Literary Association, The aim of this essay is to trace theevolution of Voltaire's perspective Sunderland, 30th of 9th Mo nth, 1819; Containing many Useful toward Quakers and Quakerism during the course of his life. The record Remarks on Natural History, Botany, &c. Selected from the Most begins when in 1726 he was forced into exile and chose to go to England. In Eminent Wr iters. With Moral Re flections. Sunderland: G. Summers, the course of his three-year stay there, he wrote letters to his friend-letters 1819. which were published in 1733 in English under the title 'Letters Concerning the English Nation' and in French with the title 'Lettres Philosophiques'. Shteir, A. Cultivating Wo men, Cultivating Science: Flora's Daughters and Four of the 25 letters are devoted to Quakerism. We endeavour to depict, Botany in England, 1760-1860. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University through his writing, Voltaire's changing attitude toward Quakerism from one Press, 1996. of mild disdain� through ambivalence and fmally to outright admiration. This -------- 'Elegant recreations? Configuring science writing for women', in unfolding begins with a summary of his letters on Quakers and proceeds to a Lightman, B., ed., Vi ctorian Scie nce in Context. Chicago: University description of French attitudes toward Quakerism in the early 18thcentury. of Chicago Press, 1997: 236-55. The essay culminates in an account of miscellaneous reactions to Voltaire's Slaughter, T.P. The Natures of John and William Bartram. New York: letters and eventually to what we feel was his 'convincement', as this is Knopf, 1996. reflected in his later writings. Steele, B.D. 'Muskets and pendulums: Benjamin Robins, Leonard Euler and the ballistics revolution.' Te chnologyand Culture 35 (1994): 348-82 Key Words : Voltaire, Letters, Quakerism, Andrew Pitt, Penn, Deism Tauber, AI. editor. The Elusive Sy nthesis: Aesthetics and Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1996. Introduction Thackray, A. editor. John Dalton. Critical Assessments of his Life and Work. I was of the opinion that the doctrine and history of so extraordinary a Cambridge, MA.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1972. people, were worthy the attention of thecurious (Voltaire 1733:1). Wakefield, P. An Introduction to Botany, in a Series of Familiar Letters. 8th edn., London: Darnton& Harvey, 1818. So begins the first of four letters devoted to Quakers and the beginning of Voltaire's lifelong interest in the Religious Society of Friends. Sprinkled 20 21 Quaker Studies 4(1999):21-56 Quaker Studies 4(1999):21-56 throughout his voluminous writings on a wide variety of topics, we fmd a used as a sort of monitor. They are (i) the above-cited original English edition recurrent reference to Quakers. (Voltaire, 1733) which we shall refer to as E, (ii) our own translation of the Lanson edition( Lanson, 1964) which we refer to as L and (iii) as they appear In this essay we propose to trace the evolution of Voltaire's attitude towards in Voltaire's collected works in French in the 1785 edition. Quakers as it may be discerned in his writings. In the unfolding of this essay, we will also set Voltaire's attitude in the context of several French writers views Voltaire's preoccupation with Quakers has given rise to much speculation by of Friends. scholars. Some have surmised, for example, that Voltaire used Quakerism as a subtle tool for attacking the Catholic Church and its clergy. Other scholars see The four letters are part of a series of letters he wrote to a friendThierio t(l) Voltaire as a conftrmed opponent of various sects and religious views - while Voltaire was living in England. The most likely dates of the letters are Anabaptists, Jansenists etc.; he regarded these as radicals lacking in systematic 1726-1729 but most were written in 1728. Voltaire wrote them to his friend in rational analysis and bordering on atheism.(6) On the other hand, as we have the English language. The odyssey of the publication of the letters is an said, he appears to have been deeply affected by theQuaker movement and its interesting one. Under the supervision ofThieriot, they were ftrstpublished in followers but was critical of some of its charismaticfeatures. It is very likely that 1733 in England andin English under thetitle Letters Concerning the English he had read Barclay's Apolo gy ( 7) and he may have admired its systematic Nation. The ftrstfour are called On the Quakers. The following year they were analysis - an analysis worthy of any 'philosophe'. published in France in French under the title Lettres Philosophiques.(2) The volume consists of twenty-ftveletters on various topics but the noteworthy fact In a letter to Nicolas de Fremont, dated Dec. 1732, (Brooks 1973:22) he wrote: is that Voltaire devoted a disproportionate amount of space to Quakers. ' I read two letters about the Quakers to Cardinal de Fleury from which I very prudently eliminated anything that might excite his devout and wise eminence.' For example, only one letter deals with Anglicans, and one with Presbyterians. Again, in a letter to Jacob Vernte dated Sept 14, 1733, (Brooks 1973:28) he There are numerous editions of the letters in many languages and in several wrote: English translations. No authenticated manuscript exists and it is known that These letters merely struckreaders in London as philosophical, but Voltaire made constant revisions. We should interject here, that letter writing in Paris people are calling them impious ...and because a manhas th in the 18 century was elevated to a high literaryform of which Voltaire made spoken in jest ( italics ours) against the Quakers, our Catholics ample withgreat skill. He used it as a polemical device and as a substitute for conclude they do not believe in God. formalphilosophical treatises. Since Quakers were an object of ridicule, he may have used them as a Shortly after their publication in France, theletters were immediately banned smokescreen for his disparaging views of the Church. by theParlement (3) in Paris and a warrant for the arrest ofVoltaire was issued; he escaped to Cirey. ( 4) The reader will discern thereason for the outrage on Some Background to Vo ltaire the part of the authorities as we recount, in part, the content of those on the Franyois-Marie Arouet was born in 1694 and died in 1778. He was the son of a Quakers.The letters extolled freedom altogether too much for the tastes of the lawyer and was apprenticed to an advocatenamed Alain. It was herethat he met 'Ancien Regime.'( 5) theabovementioned Thieriot with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. The citations fromthe letters that we give are from two sources, with a third When he was twenty-ftve years old, Franyois-Marie Arouet decided to call 22 23 Quaker Studies4(1999):21-56 Quaker Studies 4(1999):21-56 himself 'Arouet de Voltaire'; he is often referred to as M. de Voltaire. (8) He On France. Nowhere in his writings does Voltaire mention Quakers before 1726. was a highly gifted writer and is acknowledged as one of the leading intellectual th the other hand, while in the Bastille in 1717, he may have made the acquaintance figuresof the18 century. Voltaire had associations and relations with themost of a Quaker who was imprisoned for engaging in missionary activities. The eminent of contemporaneous writers and scholars. After serving as a reluctant Friend in question was named Joseph Lacy. It is possible he and Voltaire apprentice in the law fmn of Alain from 1714 to 1716, he dropped out and discussed Quakers and their beliefs. Although there were several other reports engaged in his passion for writing. In 1717, however, he was imprisoned in the of missionary activitiesby British Friends in France , it does not appear that there Bastille for scurrilous political comments. He eventually worked actively as a was any settled meeting there. (11) creative writer and philosopher and made a very comfortable living doing so, acquiring fame and fortune in the process. He achieved wide reco�itio and � We owe to Gustave Lanson (Lanson 1964: viii-liii) and to Edith Philips (Philips indeed adulation. He made enemies though, for he often wrote w1th w1t and 1932:223-229) a partial record of the various reports about Quakers which pungent sarcasm - a sarcasm not always appreciated by the targets of his venom.
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