Letters on England by Voltaire

I'm reading a lot of Voltaire these days, including The Age of Voltaire by Will & Ariel Durant, Voltaire: A Life by Ian Davidson, and the subject of this post, Letters on England by Voltaire himself.

An essay rather than a full book, Letters covers an amazing breadth of topics as only the truest "men of letters" could master.  Written following Voltaire's stay in England from 1726-1728, he treats such disparate topics as On Quakers, On Inoculation, On Sir Isaac Newton's Optics, On Trade, On Tragedy, and many more.

The range Voltaire's interests as evidenced in the Essay, is either impressive or oppressive, depending on your point of view.  Almost unquestionably the most gifted writer of 18th century Europe (a time when writing flourished), he was a leading poet, essayist, playwright, philosopher and historical writer.  And he achieved greatness in all of those fields.

The most incredible feature of the Essay for me is the quality of the English itself, penned by Voltaire within two years of first landing in England when he first began to learn the English language.  I've spoken the language for better than four decades and yet I found myself looking up some of his words in the dictionary.  Granted, there is some evidence that parts of the book were written in French, only later translated back into English.  But the largest part of the essay - in fact any part of the essay - is written in commanding, elegant English.  Quite humbling.

On its surface the Essay lauds England as the most advanced society in 18th century Europe, perhaps in the world.  Voltaire was obviously quite taken with what he saw of England during those two years.

But just below the surface - thinly veiled - is a diatribe against the backwardness of contemporary France.  Letters on England rages against the ancien regime of France and its attempts to shun advancement and learning.  Yes, Louis XIV had cultivated the arts and literature like few before him.  But Voltaire envisioned a future that brought society along with it, to the detriment of the Catholic Church.

Letters was one of Voltaire's earliest forays against the French modus operandi, and that's why he couched his ideas outwardly towards England.  It represents one of the first thunderbolts of the Enlightenment, and one can follow its direct path to the French Revolution of 1789.