Page:Voltaire (Hamley).djvu/186

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
GOLDSMITH'S ESTIMATE.
167

trast. But seek for his character among writers like himself, and you will find him very differently described. You perceive him, in their accounts, possessed of good nature, humanity, greatness of soul, fortitude, and almost every virtue: in this description those who might be supposed best acquainted with his character are unanimous. The royal Prussian, D'Argens, Diderot, D'Alembert, and Fontenelle conspire in drawing the picture, in describing the friend of man, and the patron of every rising genius."


And (still through the medium of the contemplative Chinese) Goldsmith thus gently expresses his toleration of Voltaire's heresies: "I am not displeased with my brother because he happens to ask our Father for favours in a different manner from me."