THE CENTENNIAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 721 



Lespinasse, Mme. Geoffrin, and Mme. Du Chatelet received their 

 inspiration from him. He was the (intermittent) friend of the King of 

 Prussia and the correspondent (and flatterer) of the great Catherine. 

 He had treated Corneille with arrogance. He believed himself to be 

 more pathetic than Eacine. In philosophy he defied the clergy, whilst 

 observing his Easter duties at Ferney and dedicating his "Mahomet" 

 to the Pope. 



Judging him at the present time we can not help seeing in him a 

 precursor of the revolution. Voltaire and the whole army he com- 

 manded had, in fact, served revolutionary ideas, but they had thought 

 they were invoking a good genius, and when they found themselves 

 face to face with it (I speak of Voltaire's lieutenants, for he died in 

 1778), it seemed to them they had invoked the devil. They hesitated 

 on the way and they became by this simple fact the greatest enemies of 

 their former friends. We could here make a parody on that grand 

 saying: "There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that 

 repenteth - - - "and say: "There is more wrath in the revolu- 

 tionary arm y over a friend who stops on the road - - - ." 



The academies, whose services were forgotten, shared the fate of the 

 parliaments and of the clergy. Gregoire, in a ridiculously emphatic 

 report, proposed the suppression of the academies, at the same time 

 asking that "from amid the ruins" the sanctuary of arts, rising under 

 the auspices of liberty, should represent the organized reunion of all 

 the scientists and all the means of science. "After to morrow," he said, 

 "the French Republic will make its entrance into the world. On that 

 day, on which the sun will shine upon a single nation of brothers, there 

 should no longer be found on French soil any institution which might 

 detract from the eternal principles which we have consecrated; and 

 yet some which still bear the stamp of despotism, or have an organi- 

 zation incompatible with equality, have escaped the general rule: 

 These are the academies." 



Two years after having disbanded the academies in this polite 

 manner the convention did a great thing — a very great thing. It 

 reestablished them, and in so doing it subjected them to a thorough 

 modification. The dream of one unique assembly of all scholars and 

 artists, of poets and philosophers, already conceived by the Consti- 

 tuent Assembly, became a reality. Never had the fraternity of letters, 

 sciences, and arts been affirmed with such emphasis. The new institu- 

 tion united in one body all the forces of passion and of thought. It 

 created above the ordinary society, occupied with the cares of life, a 

 sort of special world, which should unceasingly send forth new truths 

 and masterpieces, in order to enlighten humanity and to fortify and 

 charm it. The institute should take no part in the Government; it 

 was not to be burdened with teaching. Its work was to be of a higher 

 nature, it was to teach by example. In the same way that the God of 

 Aristotle moved without being moved, and could ignore the world to 

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