The hostility of Voltaire to the _Christian dispensation_ has been compared to the enmity rather of a rival than of a philosopher. He is thought to have wished its overthrow, not so much because he entertained any solid objections to its sublime theories, or had real doubts as to the miracles by which it is attested; as because his _vanity_ led him to think, that if he once could persuade men to the abolition of Christianity, he might himself become the founder of a new system of _moral indulgence_. The Abbé Raynal, in 1791; _already repented_ of the philosophic principles, which he had so sedulously inculcated, and expressed his conviction, that the consequence of the theories then so finely fancied, would be a general pillage, for that their authors wanted experience, to reduce their speculations to a practical system. The Abbé was right in _this last_ expectation, and from the French Revolution, so destructive in most respects, there has at least resulted this advantage; it has furnished the most satisfactory comment upon the _grand experiment_ of the philosophers, and proved most folly that it is _religion alone_ that possesses authority to silence the clamours of interest, to control the passions, and to fetter the ambition of mankind. The same year (1778) is memorable for the deaths both of Voltaire and Rousseau; the first is represented as exhibiting on his _death bed_ the most melancholy spectacle of horror and remorse that can be possibly conceived; the latter is thought to have committed _suicide_ at Ermenonville, where he found an asylum, after having been banished successively from many states. This opinion is founded chiefly on the authority of Madame de Staël; it is related, that he rose in the morning in perfect health, and returned after his usual walk; that soon after, he desired his wife to open the window, that he might, as he expressed it, _contemplate nature for the last time_ and that being presently taken ill, he refused to receive any assistance, and died in a few hours. Those who have seen both those celebrated characters (who long attracted persons from all parts of Europe to this country) have remarked, that _Voltaire_ at first sight was acknowledged to be a man of genius; but that _Rousseau_ was only suspected of possessing superior abilities. I have perhaps said too much on this subject, into which I have been led insensibly, by reflecting on what I had read of these philosophers, and shall therefore conclude with inserting the remark of a Savoyard peasant, who, according to M. Lantier, being asked his opinion of them, answered, "_I think that Voltaire has done a great deal of mischief in the age in which he lived; and that Rousseau will not do less to posterity_."