condorcet: a biography. 191 



great sensibility in regard to the follies of Fr^ron did not prove him to be 

 human." With reference to some articles in the Dictionnaire philoso- 

 phique {then unpublished), articles the importance and originality of which 

 may be a matter of doubt, Condorcet says: "Voltaire works less for 

 reputation than for the good of his cause. He should not be judged as 

 a philosopher but as an apostle." Could there be an appreciation of 

 certain works of Voltaire of greater delicacy and taste ? 



Voltaire became a sort of Dalai-Lama of the intellectual world. His 

 friends were undignified courtiers, blindly devoted to the caprices of 

 their master, and endeavoring to obtain, by outrageous flattery and un- 

 limited complaisance, one of those letters from Ferney, which then 

 seemed in the eyes of the world a certain token of immortality. As for 

 Condorcet, a few words will show his opinion of this foolish adulation. 



Madame Necker received in 177G some very flattering verses from Vol- 

 taire. Her husband, successor of Turgot as comptroller-general of finances, 

 received a large meed of praise also in these verses. All this was un- 

 doubtedly a matter of little consequence, but Condorcet's rigid sense of 

 propriety was disturbed; he considered it an act of weakness, and feared 

 that the reputation of the philosopher would suffer by it; his uneasiness 

 and displeasure were vented in expressions of considerable severity. " I 

 am sorry for these verses. You do not consider the weight of your name. 

 * * * You are like that class of people who would leave a Jupiter to 

 applaud a harlequin. * * * I know your piece only by hearsay, but 

 those who have read it tell me that apropos of Mme. Euveloppe (M. 

 and Mme. Necker) you speak of Cato. This reminds me of a young for- 

 eigner who once said to me, ' I have seen three great men in France, Vol- 

 taire, d'Alembert, and the Abb6 de Voisenou.'" 



One more example of his independence and loyal frankness: Voltaire 

 was desirous of committing to the stage, at Paris, the tragedy he had 

 composed in his old age, Irene. Condorcet, dreading a failure, resisted 

 the pressing request of Voltaire to assist him in this step, with judicious 

 and firm criticisms, couched in respectful language, however, in which 

 is never lost the disciple addressing the master. Thus, for example, in 

 a letter at the end of 1777 : " See, sir ! See ! you have accustomed us 

 to perfection in action and in character, as Racine has accustomed us to 

 perfection in style. * * * If we are severe it is your own fault." 



Condorcet was a profound geometer. He belonged to that class of 

 intellectual men who, even when witnessing the most beautiful tragedies 

 of Corneille and Eacine, would mentally ask at each scene, what does 

 that i)rove? Voltaire surely ought to have cared little for the criticism 

 of a judge so incompetent. Listen and decide : 



" Ferney, January 12, 1778. 



" My Universal Philosopher : Your discretion is astonishing and 

 your friendship day by day more dear to me. I am grieved and ashamed 

 to have differed from you in regard to the last effort of an old man of 

 eighty-four years. I believed, upon the faith of a few tears shed in my 



