Diderot and the Encyclopædists (Vol. 1 of 2)Morley, John
History
Diderot and the Encyclopædists (Vol. 1 of 2)
Morley, John
Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784; Encyclopedists
One of the loudest cries in 1789 was for the destruction of game and the
great manorial chases or capitaineries. "By game," says Arthur Young,
"must be understood whole droves of wild boars, and herds of deer not
confined by any wall or pale, but wandering at pleasure over the whole
country to the destruction of crops, and to the peopling of the galleys
by the wretched peasants who presumed to kill them, in order to save
that food which was to support their helpless children."[165] In the
same place he enumerates the outrageous and incredible rules which
ruined agriculture over hundreds of leagues of country, in order that
the seigneurs might have sport. In most matters the seven volumes of the
Encyclopaedia which were printed before 1757, are more reserved than the
ten volumes which were conducted by Diderot alone after the great schism
of 1759. On the subject of sport, however, the writer of the article
_Chasse_ enumerates all the considerations which a patriotic minister
could desire to see impressed on public opinion. Some of the paragraphs
startle us by their directness and freedom of complaint, and even a very
cool reader would still be likely to feel some of the wrath that was
stirred in the breast of our shrewd and sober Arthur Young a generation
later (1787). "Go to the residence of these great nobles," he says,
"wherever it may be, and you would probably find them in the midst of a
forest, very well peopled with deer, wild boar, and wolves. Oh! if I
were the legislator of France for a day, I would make such great lords
skip!"[166]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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