438 D'ALEMBERT. 



trines, or even to any felicity with which these were 

 illustrated, is, I believe, now the opinion of all who im- 

 partially consider the subject. 



No sooner did the great work appear, to which this 

 Discourse formed the introduction, than the freedom 

 which marked some of the opinions delivered, perhaps the 

 omission of certain subjects altogether, but certainly 

 much more than either of these circumstances, the well- 

 known sentiments upon religious questions of many con- 

 tributors, though that subject was in general avoided 

 with care, raised a great opposition among the friends 

 of the Church, who were soon joined by those of the 

 temporal government ; and this hostility was encouraged 

 by all who made a trade of literature, the professed 

 authors not belonging to the circle of the Encyclopedists, 

 a name soon applied not only to the authors of the work 

 but to the whole free-thinking part of the community. 

 The storm soon became general, but the article 'Geneve' 

 was the first cause of attack. The free constitution of 

 that little republic was praised, the conduct of its magis- 

 trates commended, the character of its people extolled, 

 but there were doubts thrown upon the orthodoxy of its 

 pastors, and a distinct condemnation was pronounced of 

 Calvin's prohibition of the drama being still maintained 

 in force. 



Rousseau, though himself the author of plays and 

 operas, attacked this article. His 'Letter' had extra- 

 ordinary success, and D'Alembert's reply is on all hands 

 allowed to have been a failure. Even his indiscriminate 

 panegyrist, Condorcet, is fain to confess " Nous avouons 

 sans peine que sa reponse eut moins de succes." (' Hist. 

 Ac/ 1783, p. 102.) The attack on the Encyclopedists 



