464 D'ALEMBERT. 



day after the sentence, for having offered a bookseller 

 a book which he knew nothing of and had received in 

 payment of a debt: these were the scenes that passed 

 before the eyes of D'Alembert and Voltaire ; nor let 

 us, who have no such excuse for hating the establish- 

 ment, visit too severely the sentiments which scenes 

 like these not unnaturally raised in generous minds, 

 how much soever we may be disposed to admit that 

 they carried their indignation beyond just bounds when 

 they confounded the use with the abuse, and made 

 religion answerable for the faults of its professors.* 



* The character given of D'Alembert by Grimm, is certainly more 

 remarkable for its epigrammatic composition than its truth ; though it may 

 contain an approximation to some features. " Les personnes qui ont vecu 

 le plus avec D'Alembert le trouvaient bon sans bonte, sensible sans sensi- 

 bilite, vain sans orgueil, chagrin sans tristesse ;" all this he explains by 

 ascribing to him a combination of " roideur, faiblesse, et activite." He 

 allows his conversation to have been admirable, that he could lend attrac- 

 tion to the most dry and forbidding subjects, and gave his sallies with a 

 grace and a readiness not easily surpassed. 



