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THOMAS CARLYLE ON EPICUREANISM IN THE FRENCH AND GERMAN ENLIGHTENMENTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2017

ALEXANDER JORDAN
ALEXANDER JORDAN*
Affiliation:
Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Turin, Italy
*
Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Via Principe Amedeo 34, 10123 Torino, ItalyAlexander.Jordan@eui.eu
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Abstract

The young Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) had perused many of the Epicurean writings of the French Enlightenment. According to Carlyle, such ‘Epicureanism’ consisted primarily in an emphasis upon pleasure and pain as the springs of human action, and a positing of self-interest as the foundation of sociability. However, Carlyle soon came to reject such notions, seeking salvation in the writings of Kant and Schiller, who stressed the possibility of disinterested virtue, and the importance of free, moral activity. Indeed, the Epicureanism debate continued to resonate in Carlyle's subsequent political writings, and particularly his notorious polemics against laissez-faire and ‘public opinion’. Finally, in Carlyle's last major work, Frederick the Great, he found himself faced with the unenviable task of painting an Epicurean into a patina of heroic virtue. Despite his best efforts, however, Carlyle's biography remained haunted by the spectre of Epicureanism. Nonetheless, as Carlyle's contemporaries recognized, his writings had done much not only to discredit the Epicureanism of the French eighteenth century, but also to shape the moral and political ideals of the British nineteenth.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 673 - 694
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

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19 Carlyle, ‘Montaigne’, in Montaigne and other essays, pp. 3, 6.

20 De vita et moribus Epicuri (1647) and Syntagma philosophiae Epicuri (1649). See generally Margaret J. Osler, ‘Fortune, fate, and divination: Gassendi's voluntarist theology and the baptism of Epicureanism’, in Osler, ed., Atoms, pneuma, and tranquillity, pp. 155–74.

21 Gassendi as cited (in English) by Vaughn, The tradition of political hedonism, pp. 47–8; and Wilson, Epicureanism at the origins of modernity, p. 181.

22 16 Jan. 1827, Two note books, p. 102.

23 Molière, Le médecin malgré lui (1666), cited in McKenna, Antony, ‘Molière und der Epikureismus am Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts’, in Schwarte, L., ed., Philosophien des Fleisches: Das Theater der Libertinage zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft (1680–1750) (Hildesheim, 2008), pp. 41–56, at p. 54Google Scholar. For Carlyle's early readings of Molière, see generally 15 Dec. 1814, CL, i, p. 35, 20 Dec. 1824, CL, iii, pp. 231–6, and 7 Apr. 1825, CL, iii, p. 312. Carlyle refers explicitly to ‘Médecin malgré lui’ in 21 Mar. 1825, CL, iii, pp. 302–6. Carlyle also owned a copy of Molière, Oeuvres (6 vols., Neuchatel, 1775), as revealed by Tarr, ‘Thomas Carlyle's libraries’, p. 260.

24 Molière, ‘Le misanthrope’ (1666), cited in McKenna, ‘Molière und der Epikureismus’, pp. 47–8; see also pp. 55–6.

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29 On La Rochefoucauld, see Lafond, ‘Augustinisme et épicurisme’, pp. 345, 354, 357.

30 19 Nov. 1817, CL, i, pp. 111–15.

31 Dictionnaire historique et critique (1695–7). Carlyle reports having bought and studied the Dictionnaire in 29 Mar. 1833, CL, vi, pp. 359–67, 7 Sept. 1833, CL, vi, pp. 431–6, and 24 Sept. 1833, CL, vi, pp. 444–50. Carlyle owned a copy of the 1740 Amsterdam edition, as revealed by Tarr, ‘Thomas Carlyle's libraries’, p. 260.

32 Cited (in English) by Force, Self-interest before Adam Smith, p. 53. See also Paganini, Gianni, ‘Tra Epicuro e Stratone: Bayle e l'immagine di Epicuro dal Sei al Settecento’, Revista critica di storia della filosofia, 33 (1978), pp. 72–115, at pp. 75–7Google Scholar; McKenna, ‘Pascal et Épicure’, p. 423; and Bonacina, Filosofia ellenistica e cultura moderna, pp. 19–22.

33 Carlyle, Thomas, ‘Burns’ (1828), in Critical and miscellaneous essays (CME) (People's edn, 7 vols., London, 1872), ii, pp. 1–53, at pp. 27–8Google Scholar. See also Carlyle, Thomas, ‘Faustus’ (1822), in Collectanea Thomas Carlyle, ed. Jones, S. A. (Canton, PA, 1903), pp. 59–92, at p. 78Google Scholar.

34 See Dagen, Jean, ‘Fontenelle et l'épicurisme’, Revue d'histoire littéraire de la France, 103 (2003), pp. 397–414CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 On 7 Jan. 1820, Carlyle borrowed vols. i, iii, and iv of the 1764 Amsterdam edition, as revealed by Finlayson, ‘Thomas Carlyle's borrowings’, p. 142. Vol. i consisted entirely of the ‘Dialogues’, and vol. iii contained ‘Du bonheur’ (pp. 144–58).

36 Cited in Dagen, ‘Fontenelle et l'épicurisme’, pp. 400, 410–11.

37 Carlyle, ‘Diderot’ (1833), CME, v, pp. 1–63, at pp. 25–6.

38 Voltaire, ‘Epître à Madame de G.’ (1716–17), cited in Cronk, Nicholas, ‘Arouet, poète épicurien: Les voix de l'épicurisme dans la poésie de jeunesse de Voltaire’, Dix-huitième siècle, 35 (2003), pp. 157–70, at pp. 165–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Voltaire, ‘Le Mondain’ (1736), cited in idem, ‘The Epicurean spirit: champagne and the defence of poetry in Voltaire's Le mondain’, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 371 (1999), pp. 53–80, at pp. 56–7Google Scholar.

39 Voltaire, Des singularités de la nature (1768), cited in Fusil, C.-A., ‘Lucrèce et les philosophes du XVIIIe siècle’, Revue d'histoire littéraire de la France, 35 (1928), pp. 194–210, at p. 209Google Scholar.

40 Carlyle owned an edition of Voltaire's Oeuvres complètes (97 vols., Paris, 1825–34)Google Scholar, as well as his Lettres inédites (Paris, 1826)Google Scholar, as revealed by Tarr, ‘Thomas Carlyle's libraries’, p. 261.

41 Carlyle, ‘Voltaire’ (1829), CME, ii, pp. 120–82, at pp. 143–4.

42 Diderot, ‘Epicuréisme’ (1755), cited variously in Paganini, ‘Tra Epicuro e Stratone’, p. 111; Bonacina, Filosofia ellenistica e cultura moderna, pp. 71–2; Holley, Jared, ‘The poison and the spider's web: Diderot and eighteenth-century French Epicureanism’, History of European Ideas, 41 (2015), pp. 1107–24, at pp. 1118–19 (in English)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Warman, Caroline, ‘Modèles violents et sensations fortes dans la genèse de l'oeuvre de Sade’, Dix-huitième siècle, 35 (2003), pp. 213–39, at p. 236CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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45 Froude, Thomas Carlyle, ii, p. 242. See also 21 Aug. 1832, CL, vi, pp. 204–7, and 28 Aug. 1832, CL, vi, pp. 209–13.

46 Carlyle, ‘Diderot’, CME, v, pp. 55, 59, 62.

47 Helvétius, De l'esprit (1758), cited variously in Force, Pierre, ‘First principles in translation: the axiom of self-interest from Adam Smith to Jean-Baptiste Say’, History of Political Economy, 38 (2006), pp. 319–38, at pp. 327–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Force, Self-interest before Adam Smith, p. 94 (in English); Force, ‘Helvétius as an Epicurean political theorist’, in Leddy and Lifschitz, eds., Epicurus in the Enlightenment, pp. 105–18 , at pp. 109, 116; Rosen, Classical utilitarianism from Hume to Mill, pp. 90–1 (in English); and Heydt, Colin, ‘Utilitarianism before Bentham’, in Eggleston, B. and Miller, D. E., eds., The Cambridge companion to utilitarianism (Cambridge, 2014), pp. 16–37, at pp. 31–3 (in English)Google Scholar.

48 Carlyle borrowed the 1764 Amsterdam edition, as revealed by Finlayson, ‘Thomas Carlyle's borrowings’, p. 141.

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50 See generally Gruner, Shirley A., Economic materialism and social moralism: a study in the history of ideas from the latter part of the eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century (The Hague, 1973), pp. 11–13, 61–5, 77–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Welch, Cheryl B., Liberty and utility: the French Idéologues and the transformation of liberalism (New York, NY, 1984), pp. 5–43, 135–53Google Scholar; and Saad, Mariana, ‘Cabanis, Destutt de Tracey, Volney: Science de l'homme et épicurisme’, Dix-huitième siècle, 35 (2003), pp. 101–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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52 Carlyle, ‘Goethe's Helena’ (1828), CME, i, pp. 126–71, at pp. 135–6, see also pp. 137–8, 169; Carlyle, Sartor resartus, p. 136.

53 Cabanis, Rapports du physique et du morale de l'homme (1802), cited in Saad, ‘Cabanis, Destutt de Tracey, Volney’, pp. 103–4.

54 Carlyle, Thomas, The life of Schiller (1825) (People's edn, London, 1872), p. 22Google Scholar. See also the reference to ‘Dr. Cabanis’, in Carlyle, ‘German playwrights’ (1829), CME, ii, pp. 85–119, at p. 104.

55 Carlyle, ‘Signs of the times’ (1829), CME, ii, pp. 230–52, at pp. 237–8.

56 Carlyle, ‘Wotton Reinfred’, pp. 23–4.

57 Laurent, P.-M., ‘Caractère de notre époque. 2ème article’, L'Organisateur, 36 (18 Apr. 1830), pp. 2–3Google Scholar. This was a review of Carlyle's essay ‘Signs of the times’. Having received a copy, Carlyle replied: ‘our real Governors in this age are…Helvetius, and the like’ (9 Aug. 1830, CL, v, pp. 134–9). On Carlyle and the Saint-Simonians, see generally Shine, Hill, Carlyle and the Saint-Simonians: the concept of historical periodicity (Baltimore, MD, 1941)Google Scholar; Pankhurst, R. K. P., The Saint-Simonians, Mill and Carlyle (London, 1957)Google Scholar; Fielding, K. J., ‘Carlyle and the Saint-Simonians (1830–1832): new considerations’, in Clubbe, J., ed., Carlyle and his contemporaries (Durham, NC, 1976), pp. 35–59Google Scholar; and Jordan, Alexander, ‘Noble just industrialism: Saint-Simonism in the political thought of Thomas Carlyle’ (European University Institute Ph.D. thesis, 2015)Google Scholar.

58 Wieland, Geschichte des Agathon (1766–7), cited in Kimmich, Epikureische Aufklärungen, pp. 158–60, 187–9, 198, 211–13, qu. pp. 187–9; and idem, ‘Christoph Martin Wielands Epikureismus’, Wieland-Studien, 3 (1996), pp. 47–74, at pp. 52–4, 60–4, qu. pp. 52–4Google Scholar.

59 Sauder, Gerhard, Der reisende Epikureer: Studien zu Moritz August von Thümmels Roman Reise in die mittaglichen Provinzen von Frankreich (Heidelberg, 1968), p. 188Google Scholar; Kimmich, Epikureische Aufklärungen, p. 182.

60 On 22 Nov. 1819, Carlyle borrowed vols. iv and v of Wieland's Sämmtliche Werke (45 vols., Leipzig, 1784–1811), as revealed in Finlayson, ‘Thomas Carlyle's borrowings’, p. 140. See also 12 July 1824, CL, iii, pp. 108–9.

61 Carlyle, Life of Schiller, pp. 95–6. On Wieland, see also Mar. 1823, Two note books, pp. 45–6; Carlyle, ‘Jean Paul Friedrich Richter’ (1827), CME, i, pp. 1–21, at p. 25; and Carlyle, ‘State of German literature’ (1827), CME, i, pp. 22–73, at p. 40. See also the highly similar remarks regarding German Rococo poetry in CME, i, p. 42. On Rococo and its debts to French Epicureanism, see Sauder, Der reisende Epikureer, pp. 189–94; and Kimmich, Epikureische Aufklärungen, pp. 168–72.

62 See generally Bonacina, Filosofia ellenistica e cultura moderna, pp. 48–50, 176–82; and also Beiser, Frederick C., Enlightenment, revolution and romanticism: the genesis of modern German political thought, 1790–1800 (Cambridge, MA, 1992), pp. 16–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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66 Aubenque, ‘Kant et l'épicurisme’, pp. 300–1; Düsing, ‘Kant und Epikur’, pp. 41, 52, 56; Adler, ‘Sensual idealism’, p. 201; Verde, ‘L'Epicuro di Kant’, pp. 190–1, 198–200.

67 Carlyle owned a copy of the 1818 Leipzig edition, as revealed by Tarr, ‘Thomas Carlyle's libraries’, p. 262. See also 27 Sept. 1826, CL, iv, pp. 137–9, and Mar. 1827, Two note books, p. 113.

68 See Wellek, René, Immanuel Kant in England, 1793–1838 (Princeton, NJ, 1931), pp. 183–202Google Scholar; Harrold, C. F., Carlyle and German thought, 1819–1834 (New Haven, CT, 1934), pp. 10–11, 68, 87–8, 95, 130–46Google Scholar; and Ashton, Rosemary, The German idea: four English writers and the reception of German thought, 1800–1860 (London, 1994), pp. 46–8, 71, 92Google Scholar.

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70 Carlyle, Life of Schiller, pp. 95–6.

71 Carlyle, ‘Wotton Reinfred’, pp. 23–4, 61–2, 69, 72–3.

72 Carlyle, ‘State of German literature’, CME, i, pp. 67–71. See also Carlyle, ‘Novalis’ (1829), CME, ii, pp. 183–229, at pp. 202–5.

73 See generally Ewen, Frederic, The prestige of Schiller in England, 1788–1859 (New York, NY, 1932), pp. 134–47Google Scholar.

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75 Carlyle, Life of Schiller, pp. 95–100.

76 Schiller, Letters on the aesthetic education of man, cited in ‘State of German literature’, CME, i, p. 49.

77 Carlyle, ‘Schiller’ (1831), CME, iii, pp. 65–110, at pp. 89–90.

78 Carlyle, Thomas, Lectures on the history of literature (1838), ed. Greene, J. Reay (London, 1892), pp. 52, 162–3, 190, 194Google Scholar.

79 Carlyle, Past and present, pp. 261, 147–8, 150.

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81 26 Apr. 1840, CL, xii, p. 118, and 15 June 1840, CL, xii, pp. 163–6.

82 Carlyle, Past and present, pp. 173, 265. See also Carlyle, On heroes, p. 92.

83 See generally Hirschman, Albert O., The passions and the interests: political arguments for capitalism before its triumph (Princeton, NJ, 1977), p. 16Google Scholar; and Gordon, Daniel, Citizens without sovereignty: equality and sociability in French thought, 1670–1789 (Princeton, NJ, 1994), pp. 43–85Google Scholar.

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86 See variously Janko Zagar, ‘Bentham et la France’ (Univ. of Paris Ph.D. thesis, 1958), pp. 212–16, 241–3; Gruner, Economic materialism and social moralism, pp. 73–83; Vaughn, The tradition of political hedonism, pp. 76–7; Force, ‘First principles in translation’, p. 335; Sonenscher, Michael, Before the deluge: public debt, inequality, and the intellectual origins of the French revolution (Princeton, NJ, 2007), p. 345Google Scholar; and Faccarello, Gilbert and Steiner, Philippe, ‘Interest, sensationism and the science of the legislator: French “philosophie économique”, 1695–1830’, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 15 (2008), pp. 1–23, at pp. 19–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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88 Carlyle, ‘Chartism’ (1839), CME, vi, pp. 109–86, at pp. 139, 144, 152–3.

89 Carlyle, Past and present, pp. 178, 32–3; see also p. 179.

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92 Carlyle, ‘Chartism’, CME, vi, pp. 135, 144.

93 Carlyle, On heroes, pp. 199–200.

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97 ‘Carlyle's Frederick the Great’, Saturday Review (22 Apr. 1865), pp. 476–8, at p. 476.

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99 Nicolai, Friedrich, Anekdoten von König Friedrich dem Zweiten von Preußen, und von einigen Personen, die um Ihn waren (2 vols., Berlin, 1788–92), i, p. 137Google Scholar, as cited in Meyer-Kalkus, ‘Die Gärten Epikurs in Sanssouci’, p. 700. Carlyle certainly owned a copy of the book, as revealed by Lane, William Coolidge, The Carlyle collection: a catalogue of books on Oliver Cromwell and Frederick the Great, bequeathed by Thomas Carlyle to Harvard College Library (Cambridge, MA, 1888), p. 17Google Scholar. Carlyle also referred to ‘Nicolai's good industry (in his Anekdoten-Book)’, in Carlyle, Thomas, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, called Frederick the Great (1858–65) (Copyright edn, 10 vols., London, 1888), iv, p. 233Google Scholar.

100 Johann Georg Sulzers Lebenbeschreibung, von ihms selbst aufgesetz (Berlin, 1809)Google Scholar, as cited in Meyer-Kalkus, Reinhart, ‘Epikureische Aufklärung in Deutschland. Johann Georg Sulzers Gespräch mit Friedrich II. von Preußen am 31.12.1777’, Hyperboreaus, 9 (2003), pp. 191–207, at pp. 193–4Google Scholar. Carlyle referred explicitly to ‘Sulzer’ and ‘a Speech of Friedrich's to him once, which has often been repeated’ (Carlyle, Frederick the Great, vi, pp. 252–3; see also vi, p. 291).

101 Frederick to Voltaire, as cited in Meyer-Kalkus, ‘Die Gärten Epikurs in Sanssouci’, p. 703. Meyer-Kalkus does not give the date.

102 Frederick to d'Argens, 2 July 1761, as cited in ibid., pp. 701–2.

103 Carlyle, Frederick the Great, iii, pp. 210–11, 225–6, 29.

104 Frederick, ‘Epître à Sweerts’, cited in Meyer-Kalkus, ‘Die Gärten Epikurs in Sanssouci’, p. 714; Fusil, ‘Lucrèce et les philosophes du XVIIIe siècle’, p. 208.

105 Carlyle, Frederick the Great, iii, pp. 264–5, vi, pp. 168–9; see also viii, p. 249.

106 Frederick, Anti-Machiavel, cited in Yashiki, Jiro Rei, ‘Eigenliebe als Moralprinzip unter den aufgeklärten Absolutismus Friedrichs des Grossen’, Hitosubashi Journal of Law and Politics, 36 (2008), pp. 35–42Google Scholar, at pp. 35–6. See also Lifschitz, Avi, ‘Adrastus versus Diogenes: Frederick the Great and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on self-love’, in Lifschitz, A., ed., Engaging with Rousseau (Cambridge, 2016), pp. 17–32, at pp. 28–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

107 Carlyle, Frederick the Great, iii, p. 269; see also ix, pp. 245, 249, x, p. 152.

108 Ibid., iii, pp. 211–2. See also 6 June 1852, CL, xxvii, pp. 135–40.

109 Carlyle, ‘Diderot’, CME, v, p. 33. See also Carlyle, ‘Voltaire’ (1829), CME, ii, p. 147.

110 Carlyle, Frederick the Great, iii, p. 207.

111 Voltaire, letter c. 1751/2, cited in ibid., vi, pp. 231–2.

112 Casanova, cited in Aleksić, Bruno, ‘Casanova à l'école Buissonière d'Épicure’, Dix-huitième siècle, 35 (2003), pp. 241–60, at p. 246CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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114 Maupertuis, ‘Essai de philosophie morale’ (1749), as cited in Meyer-Kalkus, ‘Epikureische Aufklärung in Deutschland’, p. 195. Maupertuis, Carlyle owned, Oeuvres (4 vols., Paris, 1756)Google Scholar, and Maupertuisiana (Paris, 1753)Google Scholar, as revealed by Lane, The Carlyle collection, p. 16. See also 21 July 1856, CL, xxxi, pp. 131–2.

115 Carlyle, Frederick the Great, vi, pp. 246–7.

116 Ibid., ix, pp. 266–8; see also x, p. 10.

117 La Mettrie, Système d’Épicure (1750), cited in Kavanagh, Enlightened pleasures, pp. 208–9; and also Ann Thomson, ‘La Mettrie et l'épicurisme’, in Paganini and Tortarolo, eds., Der Garten und die Moderne, pp. 361–81, at p. 373.

118 La Mettrie, Discours sur le bonheur (1748), and La Mettrie, L'Art de jouir (1751), cited in Comte-Sponville, André, ‘La Mettrie et le “Système d'Épicure”’, Dix-huitième siècle, 24 (1992), pp. 105–15, at pp. 111–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Deneys-Tunney, Anne, ‘Marivaux et la pensée du plaisir’, Dix-huitième siècle, 35 (2003), pp. 211–29, at p. 225CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

119 Carlyle, Frederick the Great, vi, pp. 237–8, 247–9, 252–3; see also vi, p. 291.

120 Meyer-Kalkus, ‘Die Gärten Epikurs in Sanssouci’, pp. 698, 721–2.

121 Johann Georg Sulzers vermischte Schriften (1781), cited in Meyer-Kalkus, ‘Epikureische Aufklärung in Deutschland’, pp. 195–7. See also Sauder, Der reisende Epikureer, pp. 193–4.

122 Carlyle, Frederick the Great, vi, pp. 252–3; see also p. 291. In ‘Historic survey of German poetry’, Carlyle had written that ‘Sulzer was an estimable man, who did good service in his day’ (CME, iii, p. 235).

123 9 May 1856, CL, xxxi, pp. 90–1. On Rousseau as an anti-Epicurean thinker, see Menzel, Walter, Der Kampf gegen den Epikureismus in der französischen Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts (Breslau, 1931), pp. 43, 115–40Google Scholar; Strauss, Leo, Natural right and history (Chicago, IL, 1953), pp. 264–83Google Scholar; and Kavanagh, Enlightened pleasures, pp. 106–7. For an alternative interpretation, which stresses Rousseau's debts to Epicureanism, see Nichols, James H. Jr, Epicurean political philosophy (Ithaca, NY, 1976), pp. 198–205Google Scholar; Brooke, Christopher, ‘Rousseau's second discourse: between Epicureanism and Stoicism’, in McDonald, C. and Hoffman, S., eds., Rousseau and freedom (Cambridge, 2010), pp. 44–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Holley, Jared, ‘Eighteenth-century Epicureanism and Rousseau on liberty’, History of European Ideas, 31 (2011), pp. 81–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Carlyle claimed that Rousseau had ‘a spark of real heavenly fire’ in him, praising his opposition to ‘withered mocking Philosophism’ (Carlyle, On heroes, pp. 187–8).

124 Lecky, W. E. H., History of England in the eighteenth century (3rd edn, 8 vols., London, 1891), v, p. 364Google Scholar.