Much discretion was required, that no separate species of warfare should be overdone, lest a nausea of sentiment should revert upon the authors, and thus lead to a reaction more sanguinary than the force of the philosophers could control. In all those cases Condorcet was the prime mover and the agent concerned. He communicated with Voltaire on every new theory, and advised him when and how to strike, and when to _rest_. In all those matters Condorcet was obeyed. There was a smaller section of the more serious philosophers who sympathized with, yet did not labor simultaneously for the common cause--those men, the extreme Atheists--clever but cautious--men who risked nothing--Mirabeau and D'Holbach were the types of this class. It is well known that both Frederick, Voltaire, and Condorcet opposed those sections, as likely to be aiming at too much for the time. When it was considered prudent to take a more decided step, the Encyclopædia was formed. Condorcet had a principal part in this work, which shook priestcraft on its throne; it spread consternation where-ever it appeared, and was one of the main causes of the great outbreak. No one can sufficiently praise a work of such magnitude; nor can any one predicate when its effects will cease. In the "Life of Condorcet," by Arago, there is a curious extract copied from a collection of anecdotes, said to be compiled from his note-books, and dignified with the title of "Mémoires de Condorcet." It relates to a conversation between the Abbe Galiana and Diderot, in which it is said Condorcet acquiesced. The subject is the fair sex:-- Diderot.--How do you define woman? Galiana.--An animal naturally feeble and sick. Diderot.--Feeble? Has she not as much courage as man? Galiana.--Do you know what courage is? It is the effect of terror. You let your leg be cut off, because you are afraid of dying. Wise people are never courageous--they are prudent--that is to say, poltroons. Diderot.--Why call you woman naturally sick! Galiana.--Like all animals, she is sick until she attains her perfect growth. Then she has a peculiar symptom which takes up the fifth part of her time. Then come breeding and nursing, two long and troublesome complaints. In short, they have only intervals of health, until they turn a certain corner, and then _elles ne sont plus de malades peut-être--elles ne sont que des reilles_. Diderot.--Observe her at a ball, no vigor, then, M. l'Abbe? Galiana.--Stop the fiddles! put out the lights! she will scarcely crawl to her coach. Diderot.--See her in love. Galiana.--It is painful to see anybody in a fever. Diderot.--M. l'Abbe, have you no faith in education?