"_Le Compere Mathieu_" (Vol. vi., pp. 11. 111. 181.).--On the fly-leaf of
my copy (three vols. 12mo., Londres, 1766) of this amusing work, variously
attributed by your correspondents to Mathurin Laurent and the Abbe du
Laurens, is written the following note, in the hand of its former
possessor, Joseph Whateley:
"Ecrit par Diderot, fils d'un Coutelier: un homme tres licentieux, qui
ecrit encore plusieurs autres Ouvrages, comme La Religieuse, Les Bijoux
mechant (_sic_), &c. Il jouit un grand role apres dans la Revolution.
"J. W."
By the way, A. N. styles it "a not altogether undull work." May I ask him
to elucidate this phrase, as I am totally at a loss to comprehend its
meaning. "Not undull" must surely mean _dull_, if anything. The work,
however, is the reverse of dull.