I must not omit to mention another book, which together with _Télémaque_, I for a long time regarded as the highest expression of literature. M. Gosselin one day called me aside, and after much beating about the bush, told me that he had thought of letting me read a book which some people might regard as dangerous, and which, as a matter of fact, might be in certain cases on account of the vivacity with which the author expresses passion. He had, however, decided that I might be trusted with this book, which was called the _Comte de Valmont_. Many people will no doubt wonder what could have been the book which my worthy director thought could only be read after a special preparation as regards judgment and maturity. _Le Comte de Valmont; ou, Les Egarements de la Raison,_ is a novel by Abbé Gérard, in which, under the cover of a very innocent plot, the author refutes the doctrines of the eighteenth century, and inculcates the principles of an enlightened religion. Sainte-Beuve, who knew the _Comte de Valmont_, as he knew everything, was consumed with laughter when I told him this story. But for all that the _Comtede Valmont_ was a rather dangerous book. The Christianity set forth in it is no more than Deism, the religion of _Télémaque_, a sort of sentiment in the abstract, without being any particular kind of religion.[5] Thus everything tended to lull me into a state of fancied security. I thought that by copying the politeness of M. Gosselin and the moderation of M. Manier I was a Christian. I cannot honestly say, moreover, that my faith in Christianity was in reality diminished. My faith has been destroyed by historical criticism, not by scholasticism nor by philosophy. The history of philosophy and the sort of scepticism by which I had been caught rather maintained me within the limits of Christianity than drove me beyond them. I often repeated to myself the lines which I had read in Brucker:-- "Percurri, fateor, sectas attentius omnes, Plurima qusesivi, per singula quaque cucurri, Nee quidquam invent melius quam credere Christo."