STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 27, 1768.
One can never, Sir, be sorry to have been in the wrong, when one's
errors are pointed out to one in so obliging and masterly a manner.
Whatever opinion I may have of Shakspeare, I should think him to blame,
if he could have seen the letter you have done me the honour to write to
me, and yet not conform to the rules you have there laid down. When he
lived, there had not been a Voltaire both to give laws to the stage, and
to show on what good sense those laws were founded. Your art, Sir, goes
still farther: for you have supported your arguments, without having
recourse to the best authority, your own Works. It was my interest
perhaps to defend barbarism and irregularity. A great genius is in the
right, on the contrary, to show that when correctness, nay, when
perfection is demanded, he can still shine, and be himself, whatever
fetters are imposed on him. But I will say no more on this head; for I
am neither so unpolished as to tell you to your face how much I admire
you, nor, though I have taken the liberty to vindicate Shakspeare
against your criticisms, am I vain enough to think myself an adversary
worthy of you. I am much more proud of receiving laws from you, than of
contesting them. It was bold in me to dispute with you even before I had
the honour of your acquaintance; it would be ungrateful now when you
have not only taken notice of me, but forgiven me. The admirable letter
you have been so good as to send me, is a proof that you are one of
those truly great and rare men who know at once how to conquer and to
pardon.
I have made all the inquiry I could into the story of M. de Jumonville;
and though your and our accounts disagree, I own I do not think, Sir,
that the strongest evidence is in our favour. I am told we allow he was
killed by a party of our men, going to the Ohio. Your countrymen say he
was going with a flag of truce. The commanding officer of our party said
M. de Jumonville was going with hostile intentions; and that very
hostile orders were found after his death in his pocket. Unless that
officer had proved that he had previous intelligence of those orders, I
doubt he will not be justified by finding them afterwards; for I am not
at all disposed to believe that he had the foreknowledge of your
hermit,[1] who pitched the old woman's nephew into the river, because
"ce jeune homme auroit assassiné sa tante dans un an."
I am grieved that such disputes should ever subsist between two nations
who have everything in themselves to create happiness, and who may find
enough in each other to love and admire. It is your benevolence, Sir,
and your zeal for softening the manners of mankind; it is the doctrine
of peace and amity which you preach, that have raised my esteem for you
even more than the brightness of your genius. France may claim you in
the latter light, but all nations have a right to call you their
countryman _du côté du coeur_. It is on the strength of that connection
that I beg you, Sir, to accept the homage of, Sir, your most obedient
humble servant.[2]
[Footnote 1: The idea of Voltaire's fable in "Zadig," c. 20, is believed
to have been borrowed from Parnell's "Hermit," but Mr. Wright suggests
that it was more probably taken from one of the "Contes Devots, de
l'Hermite qu'un ange conduisit dans le Siècle," which is published in
the "Nouveau Recueil de Fabliaux et Contes."]
[Footnote 2: The letter of Voltaire to which the above is a reply,
contained the following opinion of Walpole's "Historic Doubts";--"Avant
le départ de ma lettre, j'ai eu le tems, Monsieur, de lire votre Richard
Trois. Vous seriez un excellent attornei général; vous pesez toutes les
probabilités; mais il paroit que vous avez une inclination secrete pour
ce bossu. Vous voulez qu'il ait été beau garçon, et même galant homme.
Le bénédictin Calmet a fait une dissertation pour prouver que Jesus
Christ avait un fort beau visage. Je veux croire avec vous, que Richard
Trois n'était ni si laid, ni si méchant, qu'on le dit; mais je n'aurais
pas voulu avoir affaire à lui. Votre rose blanche et votre rose rouge
avaient de terribles épines pour la nation.
"Those gracious kings are all a pack of rogues. En lisant l'histoire des
York et des Lancastre, et de bien d'autres, on croit lire l'histoire des
voleurs de grand chemin. Pour votre Henri Sept, il n'était que coupeur
de bourses. Be a minister or an anti-minister, a lord or a philosopher,
I will be, with an equal respect, Sir, &c."]
_ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF DENMARK--HIS POPULARITY WITH THE MOB._