18 PROLOGUE I 



two centuries later. By this time, those in whom 

 the movement of the Renascence was incarnate 

 became aware what spirit they were of; and they 

 attacked Supernaturalism in its Biblical strong- 

 hold, defended by Protestants and Romanists 

 with equal zeal. In the eyes of the " Patriarch," 

 Ultramontanism, Jansenism, and Calvinism were 

 merely three persons of the one " Infame " which 

 it was the object of his life to crush. If he 

 hated one more than another, it was probably the 

 last ; while D'Holbach, and the extreme left of 

 the free-thinking host, were disposed to show no 

 more mercy to Deism and Pantheism. 



The sceptical insurrection of the eighteenth 

 century made a terrific noise and frightened not 

 a few worthy people out of their wits ; but cool 

 judges might have foreseen, at the outset, that 

 the efforts of the later rebels were no more likely 

 than those of the earlier, to furnish permanent 

 resting-places for the spirit of scientific inquiry. 

 However worthy of admiration may be the acute- 

 ness, the common sense, the wit, the broad 

 humanity, which abound in the writings of the 

 best of the free-thinkers ; there is rarely much to 

 be said for their work as an example of the 

 adequate treatment of a grave and difficult in- 

 vestigation. I do not think any impartial judge 

 will assert that, from this point of view, they are 

 much better than their adversaries. It must be 

 admitted that they share to the full the fatal 



