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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

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Voltaire

 

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Voltaire : Charles the Twelfth

"Under his instruction -while we read together part of Voltaire's 'Charles the Twelfth' and 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme' of Moliere - I caught hold of such good French pronunciation as would have enabled me soon to converse very pleasantly in the language, could I have found acompanion"

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Cooper      Print: Book

  

Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire : A Treatise on Toleration

[Marginalia]

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Taylor Coleridge      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : 

I usually when I had done with my french, read some book every night and having left the Corresponding Society I never went from home in the evening I always learned and read for three hours and sometimes longer, the books I now read were french; Helvetius, Rousseau and Voltaire. I never wanted books and could generally borrow those I most desired to peruse.

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Francis Place      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Oeuvres Completes de Voltaire. De L'Imprimerie de la Societe Litterarie Typographique

Byron to John Cam Hobhouse, 31 March 1817: 'I have bought several books ... among others a complete Voltaire in 92 volumes -- whom I have been reading -- he is delightful but dreadfully inaccurate frequently.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: George Gordon Lord Byron      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : unknown

Byron to John Cam Hobhouse, 14 April 1817: 'I have read a good deal of Voltaire lately ... what I dislike is his extreme inaccuracy ...'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: George Gordon Lord Byron      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : unknown

... [H. G.] Wells relearnt French by reading Voltaire for himself in the early 1880s and through visits to France ...'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: H. G. Wells      Print: Book

  

Francois-Marie Voltaire : Candide

'She began Candide but "threw it aside, and nothing, I believe, will tempt me ever to look into it again."'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Carter      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Histoire de Charles XII

?With this proposal I of course readily closed and accordingly the next day my father gave me the 1st vol of the "Universal History" (beginning with the life of Mohamed) and the 1st of Rapin?s "History of England", to begin with, an each of which in turn, I bestowed an hour in reading on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday mornings, allotting the other two mornings to a more amusing kind of reading such as Dryden?s "Virgil", "Telamachus", "Charles 12th". etc. I also began a translation of "Diable Boiteaux" & a prose one of Virgil?s "Eneid".?

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: John Marsh      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide

'On the next day (Saturday 9th) I went to Canterbury in the diligence, during w'ch I amused myself with reading part of Voltaire's "Candide", w'ch having read a great many years ago at Salisbury & almost forgot, I bought the day before in duodecimo. Having dined at the King's Head I went out & got "Caleb Williams" of w'ch I had heard much & of w'ch I read great part of the 1st vol. in the evening at the King's Head (where I also supp'd & slept) leaving the 2d. vol of "Candide" to read on my return to London.'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: John Marsh      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : unknown

?After having read the great champions for Christianity, I next read the works of Lord Hesbert, Tindal, Chubb, Morgan, Collins, Woolston, Annet, Mandeville, Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke, Williams, Voltaire, and many other Free-thinkers.?

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: James Lackington      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : unknown

Another great source of amusement as well as knowledge, I have met with in reading almost all the best novels (Cervantes, Fielding, Smollet, Richardson, Miss Burney, Voltaire, Sterne, Le Sage, Goldsmith and others).?

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: James Lackington      Print: Book

  

Voltaire (pseud.) : Candide

'Finished Voltaire's Candide again after many years' interval'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: George Eliot [pseud]      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Memoirs of the life of Voltaire written by himself

'In the evening read memoirs of Voltaire.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Zadigi ou la destinee

'Read Zadig.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire (pseud.) : [novels]

'Absorbed as always in books, Willie read seriously in both French and German literature. His favourites in French were the "Maximes" of La Rochefoucauld, "La Princesse de Cleves" (which inspired his play "Caesar's Wife"), the tragedies of Racine, the novels of Voltaire, Stendhal's "Le Rouge et le Noir" and "La Chartreuse de Parme", Balzac's "Pere Goriot", Flaubert's "Madame Bovary", the works of Anatole France, the exotic tales of Pierre Loti and the well-crafted stories of Maupassant'.

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Somerset Maugham      Print: Book

  

Voltaire (pseud.) : [shorter tales]

'Go to the tomb and read the essay on sepulchres there - Shelley is out all the morning at the Lawyers but nothing is done - read Voltaire's tales'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide

'After that I read Voltaire's "Candide", and at 12 o'clock adjourned for a pint to the local pub. Switched on the wireless again at 2.0 for the same reason as before, and off at 2.30. Reading Pat Sloan's "Soviet Democracy" all the afternoon.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group:      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Semiramis

'Mr de Regis read us "Semiramis" a fine trajedy of Voltaire what gave me great pleasure'.

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: [Mr] de Regis      Print: Unknown

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : La Pucelle d'Orleans

'But the most extraordinary production of any, I have seen these many days, is "La Pucelle d'Orleans" an Epic by Voltaire. This Mock-Heroic illustrates several things -First that the French held Voltaire a sort of demigod - secondly (and consequently) that they were wrong in so doing - and thirdly that the said Voltaire is the most impudent, blaspheming, libidinous blackgaurd [sic] that ever lived.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Carlyle      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : (possibly) The Philosophical Dictionary for the pocket, Written in French by a society of men of letters and translated into English

'A much greater man than Rousseau says, "The only remedy for the infectious disease of Fanaticism, is a philosophical temper, which spreading through society, at length softens manners, and obviates the excesses of the distemper; for whenever it get ground, the best way is to fly from it and stay till the air is purified. The laws and religion are no preservative against this mental pestilence; religion so far from being a salutary aliment in these cases, in infected brains becomes poison" (Lackington continues to quote 2 further paragraphs).

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: James Lackington      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Essay sur l?histoire du siecle de Louis XIV

'Finished Voltaire's "Siecle de Louis 14me.": a most entertaining and instructive work...'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Thomas Green      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Le Micromegas de M. de Voltaire, avec une histoire des croisades & un nouveau plan de l'histoire de l'esprit humain

'after dinner read l'esprit des nations 132 Shelley read[s] Italian - read 15 lines of Ovids metamo[r]phosis with Hogg - [italics to indicate Shelley's hand] The Assassins - Gibbon Chap. LXIV - all that can be known of the assassins is to be found in Memoires of the Acad[e]my of Inscriptions tom. xvii p127-170'.[end italics]

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Le Micromegas de M. de Voltaire, avec une histoire des croisades & un nouveau plan de l'histoire de l'esprit humain

'read Ovid with Hogg (fin. 2nd fable). Shelley reads Gibbon and pastor fido with Clary - in the evening read Esprit des Nations (72). S. reads Pastor Fido (102) and Gibbon (vol 12 - 364) and the story of Myrrha in Ovid'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Le Micromegas de M. de Voltaire, avec une histoire des croisades & un nouveau plan de l'histoire de l'esprit humain

'Read Voltaire before breakfast (87)'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Le Micromegas de M. de Voltaire, avec une histoire des croisades & un nouveau plan de l'histoire de l'esprit humain

'After tea read Ovid 83 lines - Shelley two or three cantos of Ariosto with Clary and plays a game of chess with her Read Voltaire's Essay on the Spirit of Nations'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Le Micromegas de M. de Voltaire, avec une histoire des croisades & un nouveau plan de l'histoire de l'esprit humain

'[italics to denote Shelley's hand] S. reads Ovid - Medea and the description of the Plague - After tea M. reads Ovid 90 lines - S & C. read Ariosto - 7th Canto. M. reads Voltaire p. 126.'[end italics]

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Le Micromegas de M. de Voltaire, avec une histoire des croisades & un nouveau plan de l'histoire de l'esprit humain

'Shelley reads Voltaire Essai sur des Nations'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Percy Bysshe Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Le Micromegas de M. de Voltaire, avec une histoire des croisades & un nouveau plan de l'histoire de l'esprit humain

'Jefferson reads Don Quixote - C. reads Gibbon - S. finishes the 17th canto of Orlando Furioso - Read Voltaire's Essay on Nations (203)'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire (pseud.) : Le Bible enfin explique

[Mary Shelley's Reading List for 1815. Only those titles not mentioned in journal entries are given separate database entries. xs denote books also read by Percy Shelley] 'Posthumous Works. 3. Sorrows of Werter Don Roderick - by Southey Gibbons Decline & fall. x Paradise Regained x Gibbons Life and Letters - 1st edition 2 x Lara New Arabian Nights 3 Corinna Fall of the Jesuits Rinaldo Rinaldini Fo[n]tenelle's Plurality of the Worlds Hermsprong Le diable boiteux Man as he is. Rokeby. Ovid's Meamo[r]phoses in Latin x Wordsworth's Poems x Spenser's Fairy Queen x Life of the Philipps x Fox's History of James II The Reflector Wieland. Fleetwood Don Carlos x Peter Wilkins Rousseau's Confessions. x Espriella's Letters from England Lenora - a poem Emile x Milton's Paradise Lost X Life of Lady Hamilton De l'Alemagne - by Made de Stael 3 vols. of Barruel x Caliph Vathek Nouvelle Heloise x Kotzebue's account of his banishment to Siberia. Waverly Clarissa Harlowe Robertson's Hist. of america x Virgil xTale of Tub. x Milton's speech on Unlicensed printing x Curse of Kehama x Madoc La Bible Expliquee Lives of Abelard and Heloise The New Testament Coleridge's Poems. 1st vol. Syteme de la Nature x Castle of Indolence Chattertons Poems. x Paradise Regained Don Carlos. x Lycidas. x St Leon Shakespeare's Play. Part of which Shelley reads aloud Burkes account of civil society x Excursion Pope's Homer's Illiad x Sallust Micromegas x Life of Chauser Canterbury Tales Peruvian letters. Voyages round the World Pluarch's lives. x 2 vols of Gibbon Ormond Hugh Trevor x Labaume's Hist. of the Russian War Lewis's tales Castle of Udolpho Guy Mannering Charles XII by Voltaire Tales of the East'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      

  

Voltaire (pseud.) : Histoire de Charles XII, Roi de Suede

[Mary Shelley's Reading List for 1815. Only those titles not mentioned in journal entries are given separate database entries. xs denote books also read by Percy Shelley] 'Posthumous Works. 3. Sorrows of Werter Don Roderick - by Southey Gibbons Decline & fall. x Paradise Regained x Gibbons Life and Letters - 1st edition 2 x Lara New Arabian Nights 3 Corinna Fall of the Jesuits Rinaldo Rinaldini Fo[n]tenelle's Plurality of the Worlds Hermsprong Le diable boiteux Man as he is. Rokeby. Ovid's Meamo[r]phoses in Latin x Wordsworth's Poems x Spenser's Fairy Queen x Life of the Philipps x Fox's History of James II The Reflector Wieland. Fleetwood Don Carlos x Peter Wilkins Rousseau's Confessions. x Espriella's Letters from England Lenora - a poem Emile x Milton's Paradise Lost X Life of Lady Hamilton De l'Alemagne - by Made de Stael 3 vols. of Barruel x Caliph Vathek Nouvelle Heloise x Kotzebue's account of his banishment to Siberia. Waverly Clarissa Harlowe Robertson's Hist. of america x Virgil xTale of Tub. x Milton's speech on Unlicensed printing x Curse of Kehama x Madoc La Bible Expliquee Lives of Abelard and Heloise The New Testament Coleridge's Poems. 1st vol. Syteme de la Nature x Castle of Indolence Chattertons Poems. x Paradise Regained Don Carlos. x Lycidas. x St Leon Shakespeare's Play. Part of which Shelley reads aloud Burkes account of civil society x Excursion Pope's Homer's Illiad x Sallust Micromegas x Life of Chauser Canterbury Tales Peruvian letters. Voyages round the World Pluarch's lives. x 2 vols of Gibbon Ormond Hugh Trevor x Labaume's Hist. of the Russian War Lewis's tales Castle of Udolpho Guy Mannering Charles XII by Voltaire Tales of the East'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Histoire de Charles XII, Roi de Suede

[Mary Shelley's Reading List for 1815. Only those titles not mentioned in journal entries are given separate database entries. xs denote books also read by Percy Shelley - again, only those not mentioned in journal entries are indicated separately in the database] 'Posthumous Works. 3. Sorrows of Werter Don Roderick - by Southey Gibbons Decline & fall. x Paradise Regained x Gibbons Life and Letters - 1st edition 2 x Lara New Arabian Nights 3 Corinna Fall of the Jesuits Rinaldo Rinaldini Fo[n]tenelle's Plurality of the Worlds Hermsprong Le diable boiteux Man as he is. Rokeby. Ovid's Metamo[r]phoses in Latin x Wordsworth's Poems x Spenser's Fairy Queen x Life of the Philipps x Fox's History of James II The Reflector Wieland. Fleetwood Don Carlos x Peter Wilkins Rousseau's Confessions. x Espriella's Letters from England Lenora - a poem Emile x Milton's Paradise Lost X Life of Lady Hamilton De l'Alemagne - by Made de Stael 3 vols. of Barruel x Caliph Vathek Nouvelle Heloise x Kotzebue's account of his banishment to Siberia. Waverly Clarissa Harlowe Robertson's Hist. of america x Virgil xTale of Tub. x Milton's speech on Unlicensed printing x Curse of Kehama x Madoc La Bible Expliquee Lives of Abelard and Heloise The New Testament Coleridge's Poems. 1st vol. Syteme de la Nature x Castle of Indolence Chattertons Poems. x Paradise Regained Don Carlos. x Lycidas. x St Leon Shakespeare's Play. Part of which Shelley reads aloud Burkes account of civil society x Excursion Pope's Homer's Illiad x Sallust Micromegas x Life of Chauser Canterbury Tales Peruvian letters. Voyages round the World Pluarch's lives. x 2 vols of Gibbon Ormond Hugh Trevor x Labaume's Hist. of the Russian War Lewis's tales Castle of Udolpho Guy Mannering Charles XII by Voltaire Tales of the East'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Percy Bysshe Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire (pseud.) : [possibly] Romans et contes

'Shelley goes alone to the Glacier of Boison - I stay at home - read several tales of Voltaire'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire (pseud.) : [possibly] Romans et contes

'I read Voltaires Romans. S. reads Lucretius ... talks with Clare'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Godwin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Louis XIV

'I have read since last October a good deal of the history relating to the East ...: not much of books not connected with India [but included] Voltaire's "Louis XIV", in English; ...'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mountstuart Elphinstone      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : [unknown]

'S. reads "France" - read Romans de Voltaire - Hume'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Zadig, ou la destinee

'Read Tristram Shandy - Sentimental Journey - Zadig and Clarke'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Zaire

'S. reads Electra and Ajax. Read the 8th Canto of Ariosto and the 4th Act of Phormio - Finish the Mille et une nuits. Read the Zaire and the Alzire of Voltaire'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Alzire

'S. reads Electra and Ajax. Read the 8th Canto of Ariosto and the 4th Act of Phormio - Finish the Mille et une nuits. Read the Zaire and the Alzire of Voltaire'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Mahomet

'Read 10th Canto of Ariosto - the Mahomet of Voltaire'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : La Merope

'Read 11th Canto of Ariosto & Merope & Simiramis [sic] of Voltaire'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : La Tragedie de Semiramis

'Read 11th Canto of Ariosto & Merope & Simiramis [sic] of Voltaire'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Tancrede

'Read 12 Canto of Ariosto - & L'orphelin de Chine & Tancrede of Voltaire'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : L'Orphelin de Chine

'Read 12 Canto of Ariosto - & L'orphelin de Chine & Tancrede of Voltaire'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : M?moires pour servir ? la vie de M. de Voltaire

'[Shelley] Reads & I also Voltaires memoires by himself'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : M?moires pour servir ? la vie de M. de Voltaire

'[Shelley] Reads & I also Voltaires memoires by himself'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Percy Bysshe Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : [unknown]

'Greek - Voltaire's Tales'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Shelley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide

'Her Royal Highness once read through the whole of 'Candide' to one of her ladies, who told me her opinion of it, which does her honour. She said, - "its character as a work of extreme cleverness has been so long established that to venture in the least to detract from it, is to encounter the ridicule of a multitude. I must say, however, that the persiflage which reigns throughout, and in which its whole essence consists, is not consonant to my taste or understanding. Vicious subjects ought not to be treated lightly; they merit the coarsest clothing, and ought to be arrayed in language which would create abhorrence and disgust. But the whole works [sic] seems designed to turn vice into virtue. Either it has no aim or end, or it has one which should be loathed. It must be confessed, however, that the tripping levity of its self-assurance, and the sarcastic drollery of its phrase, excite laughter; but it is a poor prerogative after all, to be the mental buffoon of ages". Though I, perhaps, have more indulgence for Voltaire, in consideration of his vast talents, than my friend, yet I admired the [italics] woman [end italics] who thought and spoke thus; and her Royal Highness is fortunate in having such a friend'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Princess Caroline Princess of Wales      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide

'Her Royal Highness once read through the whole of 'Candide' to one of her ladies, who told me her opinion of it, which does her honour. She said, - "its character as a work of extreme cleverness has been so long established that to venture in the least to detract from it, is to encounter the ridicule of a multitude. I must say, however, that the persiflage which reigns throughout, and in which its whole essence consists, is not consonant to my taste or understanding. Vicious subjects ought not to be treated lightly; they merit the coarsest clothing, and ought to be arrayed in language which would create abhorrence and disgust. But the whole works [sic] seems designed to turn vice into virtue. Either it has no aim or end, or it has one which should be loathed. It must be confessed, however, that the tripping levity of its self-assurance, and the sarcastic drollery of its phrase, excite laughter; but it is a poor prerogative after all, to be the mental buffoon of ages". Though I, perhaps, have more indulgence for Voltaire, in consideration of his vast talents, than my friend, yet I admired the [italics] woman [end italics] who thought and spoke thus; and her Royal Highness is fortunate in having such a friend'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: a lady in waiting to Princess Caroline      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide

'Her Royal Highness once read through the whole of 'Candide' to one of her ladies, who told me her opinion of it, which does her honour. She said, - "its character as a work of extreme cleverness has been so long established that to venture in the least to detract from it, is to encounter the ridicule of a multitude. I must say, however, that the persiflage which reigns throughout, and in which its whole essence consists, is not consonant to my taste or understanding. Vicious subjects ought not to be treated lightly; they merit the coarsest clothing, and ought to be arrayed in language which would create abhorrence and disgust. But the whole works [sic] seems designed to turn vice into virtue. Either it has no aim or end, or it has one which should be loathed. It must be confessed, however, that the tripping levity of its self-assurance, and the sarcastic drollery of its phrase, excite laughter; but it is a poor prerogative after all, to be the mental buffoon of ages". Though I, perhaps, have more indulgence for Voltaire, in consideration of his vast talents, than my friend, yet I admired the [italics] woman [end italics] who thought and spoke thus; and her Royal Highness is fortunate in having such a friend'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Charlotte Bury      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Letters

'Affectation is never more tiresome and ridiculous than in a letter. Madame de Sevigne was the best letter-writer that ever existed. I would rank Swift and Lord Chesterfield next. Voltaire to me is charming; but then I suspect he studied his epistles, as Lord Orford certainly did, and so had little merit. Heloise wrote beautifully in the old time; but we are very poor, both in England and Scotland, as to such matters'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Mr Sharpe      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide

'I understand from Mr. Bagguley that it is you who are the craftsman of the binding of the "Candide" which he has been so kind as to give me. Will you allow me to offer you my most sincere congratulations on your extraordinary art?'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Arnold Bennett      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Candide: Or, All for the Best

'This Tale ["Rasselas"], with all the charms of oriental imagery, and all the force and beauty of which the English language is capable, leads us through the most important scenes of human life, and shews us that this stage of our being is full of "vanity and vexation of spirit". [Boswell comments on its value] Voltaire's "Candide", written to refute the system of Optimism, which it has accomplished with brilliant success, is wonderfully similar in its plan and conduct to Johnson's "Rasselas"; insomuch, that I have heard Johnson say, that if they had not been published so closely one after the other that there was not time for imitation, it would have been vain to deny that the scheme of that which came latest was taken from the other. Though the proposition illustrated by both these works was the same, namely, that in our present state there is more evil than good, the intention of the writers was very different. Voltaire, I am afraid, meant only by wanton profanness to obtain a sportive victory over religion, and to discredit the belief of a superintending Providence: Johnson meant, by shewing the unsatisfactory nature of things temporal, to direct the hopes of man to things eternal'.

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: James Boswell      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Candide: Or, All for the Best

'This Tale ["Rasselas"], with all the charms of oriental imagery, and all the force and beauty of which the English language is capable, leads us through the most important scenes of human life, and shews us that this stage of our being is full of "vanity and vexation of spirit". [Boswell comments on its value] Voltaire's "Candide", written to refute the system of Optimism, which it has accomplished with brilliant success, is wonderfully similar in its plan and conduct to Johnson's "Rasselas"; insomuch, that I have heard Johnson say, that if they had not been published so closely one after the other that there was not time for imitation, it would have been vain to deny that the scheme of that which came latest was taken from the other. Though the proposition illustrated by both these works was the same, namely, that in our present state there is more evil than good, the intention of the writers was very different. Voltaire, I am afraid, meant only by wanton profanness to obtain a sportive victory over religion, and to discredit the belief of a superintending Providence: Johnson meant, by shewing the unsatisfactory nature of things temporal, to direct the hopes of man to things eternal'.

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : [books of history]

'When I talked of our [the Scots'] advancement in literature, "Sir, (said he,) you have learnt a little from us, and you think yourselves very great men. Hume would never have written History, had not Voltaire written it before him. He is an echo of Voltaire." Boswell "But, Sir, we have Lord Kames." Johnson. "You [italics] have [italics] Lord Кames. Keep him; ha, ha, ha! We don't envy you him. Do you ever see Dr. Robertson?" Boswell. "Yes, Sir." Johnson. "Does the dog talk of me ?" Boswell. "Indeed, Sir, he does, and loves you." Thinking that I now had him in a corner, and being solicitous for the literary fame of my country, I pressed him for his opinion on the merit of Dr. Robertson's "History of Scotland". But, to my surprise, he escaped.—" Sir, I love Robertson, and I won't talk of his book."'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Zadig

'While their [her daughters'] Father's Life preserv'd my Authority entire, I used it [italics] all & only [end italics] for their Improvement; & since it expired with him, & my Influence perished by my Connection with Piozzi - I have read to them what I could not force or perswade them to read for themselves. The English & Roman Histories, the Bible; - not Extracts, but the whole from End to End - Milton, Shakespeare, Pope's Iliad, Odyssey & other Works, some Travels through the well-known Parts of Europe; some elegant Novels as Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, Voltaire's Zadig &c. Young & Addison's works, Plays out of Number, Rollin's Belles Lettres - and hundreds of Things now forgot, have filled our Time up since we left London for Bath.'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Hester Lynch Thrale and her daughters Hester, Susanna and Sophia     Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide, ou l'Optimisme

Robert Southey to Thomas Phillips Lamb, 28 October 1792: 'If the Baron of Thundertentroncks castle had not been destroyd (said Dr Pangloss to Candidus) if Miss Cunegonda had not been ript up alive by the Bulgarian soldiers — if I had not been hung, if you had not killd an inquisitor & been burnt by the inquisition, we should not have been now eating pistachio nuts. alls for the best.'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Candide, ou l'Optimisme

Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 22 November - 2 December 1793: 'Do not imagine that I am vindicating the stile of Candide when I differ with you in judgement. no book perhaps is more subversive of morality — but has not the poignant ridicule many advantages? were ever the pride of birth & of heroism better held up to the contempt they merit? against these vices that have so long infected society ridicule is the best weapon. had Voltaires heart been equal to his head such a man might have reformd the world. to argue against the arrogance of hereditary honors — or the glory of military atchievements is labor lost. their absurdity & injustice are evident as noon-day light — ridicule shews them in their strongest colours. when you laugh at the Baron of Thundertentroach & Candides heroism do you feel a satisfaction superior to common merriment?'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Tancred

'On board the steamer between Marseilles and Malta, besides reading "Hypatia", which was "too highly coloured" for his taste, and re-reading "Tancred", and writing "more than half the preface" to his lectures, he found time to send home a long letter'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Arthur Penrhyn Stanley      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : [unknown]

'Find invaluable passage of Voltaire on Lucifer and Liberty; article in dictionary on "Abus des mots". The Lucifer is invaluable to me, because the devil being called Lucifer is such a prophetic intimation of Science!'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: John Ruskin      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : Histoire de Charles XII

'Wilde also excelled in French. His copy of Voltaire's "Histoire de Charles XII" bears the autograph and date "Oscar Wilde September 2nd 1865 [...] On page 171 the ten-year-old boy has written the words "Oscar 8 November 1865", no doubt to mark his remarkable progress with the demanding French text.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Oscar Wilde      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Zadig

'The subject of Voltaire was then taken. H. R. Smith gave an outline of his life. Mrs Robson read the Hermits Tale from Zadig. After refreshments F. E. Pollard gave us an idea of Voltaire's thought & influence Mrs Evans read from Letters From England & Mrs T. C. Eliott gave us some conception of his place in French literature some discussion closing an interesting evening.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Robson      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : Letters on England

'The subject of Voltaire was then taken. H. R. Smith gave an outline of his life. Mrs Robson read the Hermits Tale from Zadig. After refreshments F. E. Pollard gave us an idea of Voltaire's thought & influence Mrs Evans read from Letters From England & Mrs T. C. Eliott gave us some conception of his place in French literature some discussion closing an interesting evening.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Katherine Evans      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : 

'The subject of Voltaire was then taken. H. R. Smith gave an outline of his life. Mrs Robson read the Hermits Tale from Zadig. After refreshments F. E. Pollard gave us an idea of Voltaire's thought & influence Mrs Evans read from Letters From England & Mrs T. C. Eliott gave us some conception of his place in French literature some discussion closing an interesting evening.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Francis Pollard      Print: Book

  

Voltaire [pseud.] : 

'The subject of Voltaire was then taken. H. R. Smith gave an outline of his life. Mrs Robson read the Hermits Tale from Zadig. After refreshments F. E. Pollard gave us an idea of Voltaire's thought & influence Mrs Evans read from Letters From England & Mrs T. C. Eliott gave us some conception of his place in French literature some discussion closing an interesting evening.'

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: C. Elliott      Print: Book

  

François-Marie Arouet Voltaire : Candide

'It is years since I have read "Candide" of course in French. I must tell you I have been immensely pleased by the particular quality of this translation.'
[Hence follow five lines of further praise for the translation.]

Century: 1900-1945     Reader/Listener/Group: Joseph Conrad      Print: Book

  

Voltaire : The Age of Lewis XIV

'I have found Voltaire's ''Louis XIV. very pleasant and short, leaving out all the battles. Voltaire seems so impressed with his magnanimity and generosity ... V. seems really to forget where the money came from.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Emma Darwin      Print: Book

 

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