191 1] ROBINSON— THE NEW HISTORY. 183 



but \'oltaire devoted his " Philosophie de I'histoire " (1765) mainly 

 to discrediting religion as commonly accepted ; and instead of offer- 

 ing any particular theory of the past he satisfied himself with pick- 

 ing out what he calls Ics vcrites utiles. He addresses Madame du 

 Chatelet in the opening of his " Essai sur les ]Moeurs et I'esprit des 

 nations " as follows : \'ous ne cherchez dans cette immensite que ce 

 qui merite d'etre connu de vous ; I'esprit, les moeurs, les usages des 

 nations principales, appuyes des faits qu'il n'est pas permis d'ignorer. 

 Le but de ce travail n'est pas de savoir en quelle annee un prince 

 indigne d'etre connu succeda a un prince barbare chez une nation 

 grossiere. Si Ton pouvait avoir le malheur de mettre dans sa tete 

 la suite chronologique de toutes les dynasties, on ne saurait que des 

 mots. Autant il faut connaitre les grandes actions des souverains 

 qui ont rendu leurs peuples meilleurs et plus heureux, autant on 

 pent ignorer le vulgaire des rois, qui ne pourrait que charger la 

 memoire. . . . Dans tons ces recueils immenses qu'on ne peut em- 

 brasser, il faut se borner et choisir. C'est un vaste magazin ou vous 

 prendrez ce qui est a votre usage.'' Voltaire's reactions on the past 

 were naturally just what might have been expected from his attitude 

 toward his own times. He drew from " le vaste magazin " those 

 things that he needed for his great campaign, and in this he did well, 

 however uncritical his criticism may at times seem to a modern 

 historical student. 



Herder in his little work, " Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte 

 zur Bildung der Alenschheit. Beitrag zur vielen Beitragen des Jahr- 

 hunderts " (1774), condemns the general lightheartedness and super- 

 ficiality of A'oltaire and other contemporary writers who were, he 

 thought, vainly attempting to squeeze the story of the universe and 

 man into their puny philosophic categories. Ten years later he 

 wrote his larger work, " Ideen zur Geschichte der ]^Ienschheit," in 

 which he strove to give some ideal unity and order to the vast 

 historic process, beginning with a consideration of the place of the 

 earth among the other heavenly bodies, and of man's relations to the 

 vegetable and animal kingdoms. " H'," he says, " there be a god in 

 nature, there is in history too; for man is himself a part of creation, 

 and in his wildest extravagances and passions must obey laws not 



^ "Avant propos." 



