Letters Concerning the English NationInspired by Voltaire's two-year stay in England (1726-8), this is one of the key works of the Enlightenment. His controversial pronouncements on politics, philosophy, religion, and literature have placed the Letters among the great Augustan satires.Voltaire wrote most of the book in English, in which he was fluent and witty, and it fast became a bestseller in Britain. He re-wrote it in French as the Lettres Philosophiques, and current editions in English translate his French. This edition restores for the modern reader Voltaire's own Englishtext, allowing us to appreciate him as a stylist at first hand. It is the only critical edition of the original text and, as well as providing an introduction and notes, it includes intriguing accounts of Voltaire by contemporary English observers. |
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Abbé Prévost Academy allow'd Andrew Pitt Arianism Arts Attraction baptiz'd Bodies Calculation call'd Cartes Cato Cause celestial Matter Charles Christians Church Church of England Circassians clergy Comedy Comets compos'd Congreve consider'd cou'd Country Dean Swift declar'd demonstrated discover'd Discoveries divine Earth Elogium employ'd England establish'd Father favour fix'd form'd France French Friend Genius give gravitate happy Heaven holy Honour hundred infinitely Jansenist King Laws LETTER liberty Light Locke London look'd Lord Bacon Lord Bolingbroke Mankind Manner Matter ment mention'd Moon Motion Nature never Number oblig'd observ'd Opinion Orbit Paris Persons Philosopher Planets Poet Pope Power pretended Quakers Rabelais rais'd Reason receiv'd regard Reign religion Satyr says sect Shakespeare singular Sir Isaac Newton Small-Pox Soul Taste thee Thing thou thought thousand thro tion Translation Truth twas twenty us'd VIDDADIES Voltaire Voltaire's Whigs William Pen World wou'd Writer ΟΝ ΤΗΕ