458 
On arriving there, the body was taken from 
the hearse and conveyed to the choir, the 
noblemen and baronets from the three first 
coaches supporting the pall. 
When the funeral service. was performed, 
the body was remoyed to the vault, and de- 
posited near the remains of Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds. 
EEE 
LITERARY CONFESSIONS OF 
VOLTAIRE.— Concluded. 
[The Soiré.s de Ferney, printed at Paris in 
1802, has not received an Englith dref. 
It eye to be the work of fome French 
Bofwell, who has been as fuccefsful in ex- 
ey Voltaire in converfation with his 
friends, as ouy Bofwell has been, in the 
fame refpe€t with regard to his friend 
Johnfon. 
From this publication, which may be called 
Voltaire’s Table Talk, have been feleéted: 
fuch articles - cannot fail to be interefting 
to our readers. | 
Friend. W iiito do you think of your 
Hiftory of Peter the Great? 
It proves, in my opinion, that you do not 
yet feel the effects of age. 
Volt-—Many have thought that I flat- 
tered the Czar in it; and that is not to 
ye wondered at, for my materials were 
furnifhed me from Rufia. You take no 
notice-of my tranflation of Eceletiattes, 
It is no \capital performance, but it is 
equal to Corneille’s imitation of it. By 
the bye, my friends, Lam now making 
my confeflions, but do not enjoin me for 
penance to Rigen? works of piety. 
But come, let'me fum up my conte 
fions, according to rule. <As I told yor 
before, my firft literary iquabble was 
with Rouffeau. I was much hurt | by the 
contempt he fhewed me; I wwade a fu- 
rious attack, and f added to his mortifi- 
cations. 
The Abbé Desfontaines was: lkewife 
one of my enemies. I was avreat meaiis 
of delivering him from his confinement 
in the Bicétre, though he merited im- 
prifonment for life. 
You remember my ibe antries upon 
Maupertuis. I lott my penfion, my ‘ho- 
nours, and’ the gracious favour of Fre- 
deric the Great. Iwas obliged to quit 
Pruffia. eee ttood near Jupiter, 
and he opened the phial of his wrath, 
and the implacable- Beaumelle—ah! his 
name ronufes all my refentment :—with 
what rage, with what fury did he burft 
upon me! He fwore, in one of his let- 
ters, that he would follow me to the 
verv jaws of hell; and that he would 
profecute his malice with his laft breath. 
‘His libels caufed me to thed tears of 
a 
ee 
‘ 
Literary Confessions.of Voltaire. 
‘fnap, fiarl, : 
[June I, 
blood—Far goodnefs fake, my friends, 
do not expect [ thould pardon him. 
All his Friends —Oh! by all means. 
You mutt indeed pardon him. 
Voltaire (brifkly )—Then I do pardon 
him; and may he enjoy a long and 
happy life, and continue railing: without 
moleiiation! _ 
Ah,-gracious heaven! what a hoft ‘of 
enemies have I had to encounter with! 
T do not hate men of real learning, it is 
that cloud of infignificants that i defpife : 
men who, without refolution or abilities 
to follow the mechanical occupations of 
their fathers, have taken up the more 
infamous, becaufe more ealy, employ- 
ment of decrying the purfuits of others ; 
ob{cure vermin, whofe exiftence ‘is only 
noticed by the mifchief they are capable 
of doing; the Cerberi of literature, who 
and yelp, to gain a liveli- 
hood ; manufacturers of lampoons, hire- 
ling feribblers, literary paralites, com- 
pilers S, editors, a {warm of infeétious 
infects that— 
Frigid.—I muft interrupt you in this 
violent declamation. Do you forget that 
thefe are fatirifis, and that all the fa- 
tirifts are your brethren? But do not 
rail at the journalifts; there are many 
amongit them who are men of very re-- 
fpeCtable characters. If you are dif- 
pofed to cenfure, rail at college pedants, 
who fet up for Critics 5 and fay, if you 
pleafe, by way of drawing a comparifon, 
that an ‘af might compile a Literary 
Journal, if he conld be taught to read 
and write. 
Volt.—I thank you, my frend, you 
have furnifhed me with an ex xcellent far- 
cafm, drawn from the converfation of the 
fervants-hall, and I fhall be fure to re- 
member and make ufe of it upon a 
fitting occafion, But it is in vain that 
you recommend moderation to me, wh. Ht 
TY am furrounded by troops of envious 
poets, with budgets of lampoons; by 
coffee-houle orators, perpetually declaini- 
ing feandal ; by tale-bearers and retail- 
ers of f{currilous anecdotes and. Tews, 
‘who go about {preading their hes abroad ; 
by the prefidents of Tuburb-academies 
of wits, the eleaners from Monthly Jour- 
nals; by Jearned idiots, who call them- 
felves theologifts, the {pawn of convents, 
bloated with pride and meannefs ; by 
melancholy deyotees, who hate all mai- 
kind, and think they ferve God by it ; 
by fapercilious Janfenifts, ftupid_ fana- 
tics, jenfelefs vifionaries who fuppofe 
themfelves Patcals; deferters from mo- 
natteries, conventual Feta Ke 
au 
