CONTENT S.

A
N original letter from M. de Vol-
fociety of Jefus

347

-His charge against the authors of

ib

the Ecclefiaftical Gazette -His account of the feminary of the Jefuits

-His confeffion of faith

348

ib

Their behaviour on the revolution ib Account of the political papers 367 -The minifterial fyftem how form'd ib Lofs of Newfoundland a fpecimen of new adminiftration

368 An account of the murder of Anne Nailor, by Sarah Metyard and her daughter

ib

-Their reafons for ill treating the deceafed

369

-Their cruel manner of confining

her

-Her miferable death

370

ib

-Measures to conceal the murder ib -Mother and daughter quarrel 371 -Remarkable words that led to the discovery

372

-Their examination, trial, and execution 373

ib

A voyage to India by M, du Perron, to
difcover and tranflate the works of
Zoroafter
-Remarks on the labours of Dr Hyde
and English travellers
-Difficulties Perron met with in his

374

-Epistle to a friend in town-Ode on feparation-A fable 382 Foreign Hiftory. Revolution in Ruffia; Defeat of the Auftrians; fiege of Scbweidnitz; fuccefs of the allies 383 Hiftorical Chronicle. Measures taken to fettle the affairs of the Dutch and English Eaf India companies 386 Birth of a Prince of Wales; proceffion of Spanish teeafure

387

City addrefs on the birth of a Prince;
Reward for difcov. the longitude 388
Difference between the British contul
and Maltefe court

389

Lift of births, deaths, &c.

390 91

THE

Gentleman's Magazine:

For AUGUST 1762.

A Tranflation of an original Letter from the celebrated M. de Voltaire to Father de la Tour, of the Society of Jefus, and Principal of the College of Louis

le Grand.

Mof Reverend Father,

following occafion.

A

S I had the advan-
tage of being edu-
cated in the house
which is under your
government, I tho't
myfelf entitled to
the liberty of ad- B
dreffing you on the

The author of the Ecclefiaftical Gazette has done me the honour of joining me with his Holiness the Pope, and of calumniating the firft Pontiff of the world, and the leaft of his fubjects, in the fame page: And the author of another libel, printed in Holland, upbraids me with my attachment to my preceptors, to whom I am indebted for the love I bear to literature and to virtue.

to incur, week after week, the guilt of
fedition and defamation; and to be-
come, at the fame time, both a tedious
and flanderous fcribbler.

I would ask him, with what zeal he would blame in others this wretched and idle attempt, to difquiet that realm, which the king protects at the head of his armies, and endeavour to apprize him of the indignation and contempt with which fuch proceedings are regarded by all well meaning people; and how ill it becomes him to be ever bufied in an affected lamentation over the pretended mifdemeanors of the church; while othe.s fee no other evil than that of thofe artifices by which a few mifcreants, who are defpifed even by their own people, have attempted to impofe upon the unthinking multitude, and who Care at laft become the fcorn of thofe very perfons whom they intended to impofe upon.

It is certainly much to be lamented, as a fore evil, that any perfons fhould be fo void both of reafon and fhame, as to train up young girls to practife contortions and poftures, which tumblers and pofture-mafters would blufh at; that they fhould pretend thefe infamous tricks are miracles performed by the Almighty; that they thould, for lucre, exhibit fo abominable a farce as a proof of the coming of EElias; that one of thefe wretches fhould have gone about from town to town, hanging himself from the cielings of houfes, counterfeiting himfelf to be ftrangled, and dead, and then coming to life, again; and at laft finish his knavery effectually at Utrecht, the 17th of June, 1743, on the gallows which he had made for himself, and from which he doubted not to efcape, as he If these had fo often done before.

It is furely strange, that whilft this Pontiff is endearing himself not only D to his fubjects, but to the whole Chrif tian world, he fhould be defamed by an obfcure writer of the fuburbs of St Marceau; and it muft at once appear needlefs to refute him. What is faid by the little wretches who grovel in obfcurity, at a remote diftance, reaches not the heights on which thofe are placed who give laws to mankind. However, if the fpirit of party could for a moment be charmed into quietnefs, and the ftormy paffion could admit but for a moment the benign inAuence of reafon, I would intreat that F author, and all his affociates, to confider what it is to be for ever defiling paper with flanders and invectives against thofe, who are appointed by God to preferve the little that remains of peace upon the earth; what it is

are not evils of the church, it is only becaufe fuch men cannot be deemed members either of church or state.

348

Original Letter of M. de Voltaire to

notion of their morals from the witty fatires of the provincial letters, rather than from Bourdaloue, Cheminais, and their other preachers and miffiona

It fuits well with fuch characters to afperfe the fovereign Pontiff, by quotations from Scripture and the Fathers; and thefe are well qualified to decry the laws of Chriftianity, who A ries? trample on the firit of all laws, Charity.

B

As to the Dutch libel, which reproaches me with being attached to the Jefuits, I will not fay it is guilty of flander; on the contrary, I confefs it has afferted a truth. I was feven years under the tuition of men, who take indefatigable pains to cultivate the manners and minds of youth, without any other regard than the confcioufnefs of doing good; and am I to divest myself of gratitude to fuch mafters? Shall it be thought natural to vifit the house that gave us birth, or the village where we were nurfed by a mercenary beldame for hire? C

Let a parallel be drawn between the Provincial Letters and Pourdaloue's fermons: By the Letters we may learn the art of railery, of exhibiting things indifferent in a criminal light; the art of fneering and infulting with eloquence: By the Sermons we fhall learn feverity to ourselves and indulgence to others; and it is needless to afk, on which fide is true morality, or which of the books is most useful to mankind.

I dare venture to fay, that there is nothing more inconfitent, nothing more unjust, nothing more fhameful, than to accufe of corrupt morals perfons who lead the molt rigid lives in Europe, and who penetrate the moft remore recelles of Afia and America in quest of death.

I could with that the author of thefe libels was one day to make fome Jefuit his confefior, when he is difpofed to a fincere declaration of his Dconduct, as in the prefence of God;

and fhall we not be allowed to love
those who have been the guardians
and the guides of our youth, from mo-
tives wholly generous and difinterest-
ed? If the Jefuits are at law in Ma-
labar with a Capur hin, about matters
of which I am totally ignorant, and
in which I have no concern, is this a
reafon why I should be ungrateful to
thofe who gave me a tafte for polite
learning, and infpired me with lenti-
ments from which my life derives all
its value? Nothing will ever root out
of my heart the memory of Father
Poree, who never had a pupil that did
not love and reverence him as a pa- E
rent. No man ever rendered learn-
ing and virtue fo amiable. The hours
of inftruction, when he was the pre-
ceptor, were always hours of delight.
I had the happiness of being taught
by more than one Jefuit, of the cha-
racter of Father Porec, and I know he
has fucceffors that are worthy to fuc- F
ceed him. The time I pafled in your
houfe, I had perpetually before me
examples of the utmoft diligence, fru-
gality, and order; men whofe whole
time was divided between the fuper-
intendance of our morals and in-

ftruction, and the functions of their
rigid profeffion; and to this truth
every individual of the thousands e-
ducated by them will bear witness.

It is impoffible to exprefs my aftonishment, when I hear them taxed with teaching a lax morality. They have had, in times lefs knowing, like other bodies of religious men, fome cafuifts, who have held different fides of questions that are now cleared up and fettled. But is it just to form a

his confeflion mutt then be to this effect: I have dared to treat as a perfecutor, a king who is adored by his fubjects, and I have many times called his minifters, Minifiers of Iniquity: I have published the worst of calumnies againit a cardinal, who, in embasfies to three Popes, has been highly ferviceable to mankind: I have had no regard either to the names, facred authority, unblemished manners, generofity of foul, or the venerable age of my Archbithop. The Bishop of Longres, in an epidemical fickness that raged at Chaumont, haftened thither with both medicines and money, and ftopt the contagion. He fignalized each year of his epifcopacy with deeds of the moft generous charity; yet thefe very deeds I have not fcrupled to mifreprefent and calumniate. The Bishop of Marfeilles, when the plague depopulated that city, and when perfons could not be found to bury the dead, or comfort the dying, went a bout night and day, difpenfing temporal and fpiritual fuccours from houfe to houfe, expofed to dangers far greater than thofe of the foldier when Hhe mounts the breach: He faved the poor remains of his diocefans by a zeal the most ardent, affiduous, and tender, and by an intrepidity that is not fufficiently characterised by call-"

G