CHAPTER II. ENGLISH INFLUENCES. Significance of the journey to England 44 His birth and youthful history 45 Ninon de l’Enclos, Chaulieu, and the Regency 46 Manner of life from 1716 49 Affront from the Chevalier de Rohan 53 Leaves France 54 Had previously been no more than a vague _esprit fort_ 56 Le Pour et le Contre 57 Freethinking a reality in England 58 Condorcet’s account of the effect of England upon Voltaire 59 Social and political consequence of men of letters 59 Evil effect of this in France 60 Freedom of speech 61 Newton’s discoveries 65 Their true influence on Voltaire 67 Locke 67 Profound effect of Lockian common-sense on Voltaire 70 Contrast between social condition of England and France 73 Voltaire’s imperfect appreciation of the value and working of a popular government 76 Confounds two distinct conceptions of civil liberty 79 A confusion shared by most of his countrymen 79 The Church of England 82 The Quakers 84 Voltaire’s diligence in study of English literature 86 And in mastering one side of the deistical controversy 88 Through the influence of the deists on Voltaire, the genius of Protestantism entered France 91 Limited consistency of Voltaire’s philosophy 93 English deism contrasted with that of Leibnitz and with the atheism of D’Holbach 95 CHAPTER III. LITERATURE. Most just way of criticising character 98 Some traits in Voltaire 99 Acquaintance with the Marquise du Châtelet 101 Her character 103 Voltaire’s placableness 105 His money transactions 107 The life at Cirey 111 His attempts in physical science 116 Literature his true calling 117 Qualities of his style 119