Book xii
. Chap. viii._
FOOTNOTES:
[800-2] See Sheridan, page 443.
[800-3] See Rabelais, page 773.
[800-4] See Smollett, page 392.
[800-5] See Middleton, page 172.
FRANCIS M. VOLTAIRE. 1694-1778.
If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.[800-6]
_Epître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs. cxi._
The king [Frederic] has sent me some of his dirty linen to wash; I will wash yours another time.[800-7]
_Reply to General Manstein._
Men use thought only as authority for their injustice, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts.[800-8]
_Dialogue xiv. Le Chapon et la Poularde_ (1763).
History is little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes.[801-1]
_L'Ingénu. Chap. x._ (1767.)
The first who was king was a fortunate soldier: Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.[801-2]
_Merope. Act i. Sc. 3._
In the best of possible worlds the château of monseigneur the baron was the most beautiful of châteaux, and madame the best of possible baronesses.
_Candide. Chap. i._
In this country [England] it is well to kill from time to time an admiral to encourage the others.
_Candide. Chap. xxiii._
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
_Le Mondain. Line 21._
Crush the infamous thing.
_Letter to d'Alembert, June 23, 1760._
There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.
_Letter to Cardinal de Bernis, April 23, 1761._
The proper mean.[801-3]
_Letter to Count d'Argental, Nov. 28, 1765._
It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions.[801-4]
_Letter to M. le Riche, Feb. 6, 1770._
Love truth, but pardon error.
_Discours sur l'Homme. Discours 3._
FOOTNOTES:
[800-6] See Tillotson, page 266.
[800-7] Voltaire writes to his niece Dennis, July 24, 1752, "Voilà le roi qui m'envoie son linge à blanchir."
[800-8] See Young, page 310.
[801-1] See Gibbon, page 430.
[801-2] See Scott, page 494.
Borrowed from Lefranc de Pompignan's "Didon."
[801-3] See Cowper, page 424.
[801-4] See Gibbon, page 430.
BUSSY RABUTIN: _Lettres, iv. 91._ SÉVIGNÉ: _Lettre à sa Fille, p. 202._ TACITUS: _Historia, iv. 17._ TERENCE: _Phormio, i. 4. 26._
MADAME DU DEFFAND. 1697-1784.
He [Voltaire] has invented history.[801-5]
It is only the first step which costs.[801-6]
_In reply to the Cardinal de Polignac._
FOOTNOTES:
[801-5] FOURNIER: _L'Esprit dans l'Histoire, p. 191._
[801-6] Voltaire writes to Madame du Deffand, January, 1764, that one of her bon-mots is quoted in the notes of "La Pucelle," canto 1: "Il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte."
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU. 1712-1778.
Days of absence, sad and dreary, Clothed in sorrow's dark array,-- Days of absence, I am weary: She I love is far away.
_Days of Absence._
GESTA ROMANORUM.[802-1]
We read of a certain Roman emperor who built a magnificent palace. In digging the foundation, the workmen discovered a golden sarcophagus ornamented with three circlets, on which were inscribed, "I have expended; I have given; I have kept; I have possessed; I do possess; I have lost; I am punished. What I formerly expended, I have; what I gave away, I have."[802-2]
_Tale xvi._
See how the world rewards its votaries.[802-3]
_Tale xxxvi._
If the end be well, all is well.[802-4]
_Tale lxvii._
Whatever you do, do wisely, and think of the consequences.
_Tale ciii._
FOOTNOTES:
[802-1] The "Gesta Romanorum" is a collection of one hundred and eighty-one stories, first printed about 1473. The first English version appeared in 1824, translated by the Rev. C. Swan. (Bohn's Standard Library.)
[802-2] Richard Gough, in the "Sepulchral Monuments of Great Britain," gives this epitaph of Robert Byrkes, which is to be found in Doncaster Church, "new cut" upon his tomb in Roman capitals:--
Howe: Howe: who is heare: I, Robin of Doncaster, and Margaret my feare. That I spent, that I had; That I gave, that I have; That I left, that I lost. A. D. 1579.
The following is the epitaph of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, according to Cleaveland's "Genealogical History of the Family of Courtenay," p. 142:--
What we gave, we have; What we spent, we had; What we left, we lost.
[802-3] Ecce quomodo mundus suis servitoribus reddit mercedem (See how the world its veterans rewards).--POPE: _Moral Essays, epistle 1, line 243._
[802-4] Si finis bonus est, totum bonum erit.--Probably the origin of the proverb, "All 's well that ends well."
VAUVENARGUES (MARQUIS OF). 1715-1747.
Great thoughts come from the heart.[803-1]
_Maxim cxxvii._
FOOTNOTES:
[803-1] See Sidney, page 34.
MICHEL JEAN SEDAINE. 1717-1797.
O Richard! O my king! The universe forsakes thee!
_Sung at the Dinner given to the French Soldiers in the Opera Salon at Versailles, Oct. 1, 1789._
PRINCE DE LIGNE. 1735-1814.
The congress of Vienna does not walk, but it dances.[803-2]
FOOTNOTES:
[803-2] On of the Prince de Ligne's speeches that will last forever.--_Edinburgh Review, July 1890, p. 244._
GOETHE. 1749-1832.
Who never ate his bread in sorrow, Who never spent the darksome hours Weeping, and watching for the morrow,-- He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.
_Wilhelm Meister.