The Sun.
London, England, 1821-09-29 00:00:00

FOREIGN LITERATURE-

(No. XLIII.) , •
MEMOIRES DE L'ABBE MORELLET, &c. is e. Memoirs
of the Abhe Mo ILE L LET, a Member of the French Academy,
on the Eighteenth Century, and on the French Revolution.
&b. Paris, 1821.

[Continued from Wednesday's Paper.]
A new existence was about to commence for
the author of these Memoirs. lie quitted the
Bastile. it would be diffiCult, in the present
day, to form a just idea of the consideration it
gave those writers whom the French Government
had the kindness to imprison there. If I were
to say that they might, with confidence, trust to
such an event for the establishment of their re-
putation, and evcti tWmaking of their fortune,
no person would. believe me, and yet nothing can
be more true.

The Abbe IViorellet was aware of it; and he
also admits, with amiable candour, that during
his detention, this thought supported his spirits
more than his little courage, and that it rendered
his sad abode pleasant in his eyes. A martyr to
philosophy, he would infallibly be cried up by
all the philosophers ; a satiric author, men of
the world who love satire, would receive him with
distinction. " This Bastile," he said, 44 will
make my fortune ;" and he now informs us that
"he was not deceived in his expectations, and " that
he bad not badly calculated the consequences of
this event of his literary life." Happy times,
when to be put into prison was quite enough to
advance a man:• in the world, when six months'
confinement in the Bastile gave pensions to men
of letters and benefices to Abbes ! The French
have other advantages in their present Represen-
tative Government: but they have not the one
justmentioned, which is rather to be regretted.

J. J. Rousseau says, in his Confessions, that,
grieved at the detention of the Abbe Morellet,
he implored Madame de Luxembourg, ou
knees, to procure his liberty. " The Abbe,"
he adds," wrote me a letter of thanks which ap-
peared to me not to breathe a certain effusion of
the heart." The Abbe does more in his Me-
moirs, he denies a part of the debt, and to dis-
charge the remainder.he cries down as much as
he can, following the example of his friends the
philosophers, this'poor Jean Jacques, who, every
body knows, was the scape-goat of the party.
Nearly a whole chapter is devoted to this good
Work, and, at all events, we cannot apply to this
chapter the same reproach as to the letter of
thanks. It does breathe a certain effusion of the
heart; and perhaps it may be thought by some a
little too rancorous.

'However this
.may be, the Abbe Morellet was
not long before he discovered all his calculations
were right. He found, on the part Of Turgot,
Trudaine, Diderot, D'Alembert, &c. a violent
increase of friendship. They introduced him to
`all their acquaintance. D'Alembert presented
him to his friends with confidence, repeating,
doubtless, what he had written to the King of
Prussia :—" This is an honest priest, who says
little about masses." It was impossible to reject,
such a good certificate, backed by a few weeks'
lodging in the b'astile. " Many houses," says
the Abbe Morellet, " those of the Baron d'Hol-
barb, of Helvetius, of Madame de Boufflers, of
Madame de Necker, &c. were open to me." I
add, and many tables; one seldom goes without
the other.

. Ths Abbe Morellet in 'consequence passed his
life more agreeably, but his literary labotirs suf-
fered. much. 'What distractions ! what a number
of lost moments! We are surprised that some
French writers of the last century, who certainly
were not deficient in Wit or talent, should only
have written 'works which are already forgotten or
nearly becoming so : but the reason is obvious
they loved too much the vanities of the world,
they attended too willingly the brilliant circles
of the French capital : in short, they dined too
often in town. When people do so _much for
their pleasures and their appetites, it is difficult
to do enough for their literary faMe.
The gastronomic .week of the Abbe Morellet,
and I take it as it is given in his Memoirs,' pre-
sents a problem, the solution of which I leave to
persons of more experience and abilities' than I
possess. I find more dinner-partieS than days.
Mondays and \Vednesdays.at Madame Geoffrin's,
Tuesdays at Ilelvetius', Thursdays and Sundays
at M. de HOlbach's, and Friday at Madame
Necker's. There yet remains one day, but tb
whom was he to give it ? A dozen claimants pre-
sent themselves—M. d'lnvanx, M, de Trudaine,
Clairault, &c. How was he to satisfy them all ?
This appears to me so much the more, difficult,
because the Abbe Morellet, who loved peace,
bad ,the good sense when his friends quarrelled
not to take part in any of their disputes.

Clairault had a very serious difference wits
d'Alembert. It was, if I recollect right, respect-
ing the comet of 1759, which was the subject of
general discussion. The queStion was, when it
would return. , Clairault and d'Alembert differ-
ed on thiS point. The. self-love of the . Savant
was concerned in it, and they left off seeing and
even bowing to-each other. 44 had nothing to
do with their dispute,". says the Abbe 11!o 'end,
".and on leaving the house of d'Alembert, who Eli-
ed only a few yards from his antagonist, in Rue
Alichel Le Comte, at Paris, I went to dine with.
Clairault, and I wrote songs for the geometrician
and his Company." I like much this.neutrality.
FriendShipwould exact too much if it prohibit-
ed you from dining with those whom our friends
do- .not like.
. ,The Economists flourished at that time ; their
dogmas were obscure, and their language quite
barbarous. One Understood them With difficulty,
and itis probable they did hot always understand