The Works of Voltaire Volume 37 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ... of A remarkable circumstance relating to literature. The principal end of our historical essays being to follow the human mind in the various progresses it has made, and the obstacles it has had to encounter, I cannot justly omit a kind of persecution which the learned have of late undergone. The body of literati begins to challenge much more attention than any of the religious orders, whose disputes we have related, as its members are spread throughout all nations. Those who are distinguished by their superior knowledge and understanding insensibly govern others almost without perceiving it themselves, or exercising the prerogatives of that empire they have acquired over the mind; prerogatives which are held so dear by all bodies in the state. This secret authority, which good writers obtain, has always been an eyesore to those who have in vain attempted to usurp it. A set of men, of great genius and true erudition, which cannot subsist without true philosophy, undertook, in 1652, to compile an immense dictionary of human knowledge, whose limits some among them had contributed greatly to enlarge. This undertaking met with the approbation and encouragement of all Europe, and the work itself became an important article of trade. Several volumes had already appeared, which had given great satisfaction to the public; especially those articles which were written by the persons who had the chief management of the work. The book was published with all the necessary forms that could insure its sale. The subscribers of all countries, who had advanced their money, thought it perfectly safe under the authority of the king's own seal, and expected to reap the profits of their subscription without any difficulty; for though the authors of this work...