Leyden, 1st January 1716.
[This letter was written by M. Pierre Frederick Arpe, of Kiel in
Holstein; the author of an apology for Vanini, printed in octavo at
Rotterdam, 1712]
COPY OF THE SECOND PART, VOL. I, ARTICLE IX. OF, "LITERARY
MEMOIRS." PUBLISHED AT THE HAGUE BY HENRY DU SAUZET, 1716.
It is impossible in the present day to doubt the existence of "The
Three Impostors," since we find several manuscript copies of it. If
M. de la Monnoye had observed the agreement of it with an extract
published at Leyden, 1st. Jan. 1716,--the same division into six
chapters--the same titles, and the same subjects of which they treat,
he would have exclaimed against the forgery of this work, improperly
attributed to Pierre des Vignes, the Secretary and Chancellor of
Frederick II. This judicious critic long ago observed the difference
between the Gothic style of Pierre des Vignes in his Epistles, and
that of the letter pretended to be addressed to the Duke of Bavaria,
"Otho the illustrious," when they sent him the work. A more important
point has not escaped the notice of the learned. This treatise is
written and argued in the method and upon the principles of the New
Philosophy, which was not introduced until about the middle of the
seventeenth century, after Descartes, Gassendi, Bernier, and some
others had explained its principles in a juster and clearer way than
did the ancient philosophers, who wished to preserve their secrets,
as they affected a mysterious obscurity in favor of the initiated. The
author himself, in the fifteen chapter of his work, names Descartes,
and combats the arguments of this great man on the subject of the
soul. Neither Pierre des Vignes, nor any of those whom they have
attempted to pass off as the author of this book, could have reasoned
according to the principles of the new Philosophy, which was not
introduced till after they had written. To whom then must the work
be attributed? We must conclude that it cannot be of the same date
as the short letter printed at Leyden, 1717. But another difficulty
occurs. Tentzelius, who wrote in 1689, also gives an extract from
this book upon the credit of a pretended ocular witness. But without
attempting to fix the date of this book, which is said to have been
composed in Latin and printed; the small French manuscript treatise,
whether it had ever been written in that language or whether it is
translated from the Latin, (which is difficult to believe,) cannot
be of a very ancient date.
This is not the only book composed under this title and upon the same
subject. A man whose character and profession ought to have led him
to engage in matters more decorous, composed a great work (in French)
under the same title. In his preface he says that it is long since he
had heard of "The Three Impostors," but that he had never found any
part of it, whether there had never existed such a work, or whether
it be lost; therefore he attempts to restore it by writing on the
same subject. His work is very long, very wearisome, and very badly
written; with little principles and less argument. It is a confused
jumble of all the invectives and calumnies circulated against the
Three Legislators. The manuscript was in two volumes folio, thick,
and legible enough, although in small characters--the book is divided
into a great many chapters. Another similar manuscript was found after
the death of a nobleman. This gave rise to an attempt to seize the
author who having been informed of it took care that nothing should
be found among his papers to convict him. Afterwards he lived in a
monastery under penance. In 1733 he recovered his liberty and enjoyed
a revenue of 250 livres from the Abbey of St. Liquarie, in addition
to a reserved one of 350 livres from his benefice. His name was
Guillaume, Cure of Fresne-sur-Berny, and the brother of a labourer in
the Netherlands. He was at one time Regent of the College of Montaigu;
in his youth he had been a dragoon, and then he became a Capuchin.