418 LIFE OF HORACE BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE 



Haller in response is far less cordial. ' I do not care,' he replied, 

 ' for tolerance as Voltaire offers it me. These philosophers, no 

 sooner tolerated, would become our persecutors.' In formal com- 

 munications he could sermonise his rival with a pulpit air : ' Pro- 

 vidence is bound to keep an equal balance for all mortals. It has 

 heaped you with benefits, it has crowned you with glory. You 

 needed misfortune, it has found a compensation in making you 

 sensitive. Had wishes any power, I would add one more to your 

 gifts. I would give you peace of mind, which flies before genius, 

 which as far as society goes is no match for it, but which is worth 

 far more to the owner ; granted this, the most famous man in 

 Europe would also be the happiest.' In private talk Haller was 

 wont to denounce the arch-heretic more roundly. Voltaire, in fact, 

 became a red rag to him. He writes to de Saussure in 1765 : 'He 

 is born and will die a mischief-maker ; he cares for nothing but his 

 own glory. Vanity will lead him to anything. I view with horror 

 men who employ their talent for the destruction of their country 

 and society in general. At one instant he is working for Servin 

 and benefiting a family ; at the next he is troubling a whole city, 

 or vexing right-thinking folk by the shocking impiety of his 

 writings.' There remained for Haller a consolatory reflection ; he 

 finds relief in an exclamation, which is very like swearing writ 

 large 'What a moment will be that of his arrival before the 

 Judge ; and that moment will be eternal ! ' But if Haller's 

 temperament and his language were at times ecclesiastic, his rage 

 did not last long. The patriarch of Ferney is condemned one 

 day as a ' mischief-maker, vindictive and false,' but the next Haller 

 writes : ' I do not want to vex Voltaire ; I detest his passion for 

 maligning Jesus, and even God, but he remains a man, and as 

 such my brother.' 



To Haller's qualities of heart, and also to the charm of his con- 

 versation, we have the strongest contemporary evidence. De 

 Saussure may not be an impartial witness, but he is one it is diffi- 

 cult to question when he writes : 



' It is impossible to express the admiration, the respect, I had 

 almost said the sentiment of adoration, which were inspired in me 

 by this great man. What variety, what richness, what depth, what 

 clearness were in his ideas ! His conversation was animated, not 

 with the spurious fire which at once dazzles and fatigues, but with the 



