res de la plupart des
hommes, ne leur derobat point l'honneur de se juger equitablement,
n'employat pas toute leur attention a s'humilier les uns les autres, a
deshonorer ce que leur talents peuvent avoir d'heureux, a se ruiner
reciproquement dans l'esprit du public...."[156] When obliged to endure
unfair and personal criticism, as he often was, Marivaux met it invariably
with contemptuous silence,[157] saying to his friends: "J'aime mon repos
et je ne veux point troubler celui des autres."[158]

Among those most bitter and most constant in their attacks upon him was
Voltaire, some of whose remarks have come down to us. "C'est un homme,"
says Voltaire, "qui passe sa vie a peser des riens dans des balances de
toile d'araignee" ... or again: "C'est un homme qui sait tous les sentiers
du coeur humain, mais qui n'en connait pas la grande route." On June 8,
1732, writing to M. de Fourmont, Voltaire declares: "Nous allons avoir cet
ete une comedie en prose du sieur Marivaux, sous le titre _les Serments
indiscrets_. Vous comptez bien qu'il y aura beaucoup de metaphysique et
peu de naturel."

The strong antipathy felt by Marivaux for Voltaire forced him at times, in
the presence of friends, to give vent to his feelings in words quite as
spiteful as those of his enemy: "M. de Voltaire est le premier homme du
monde pour ecrire ce que les autres ont pense.... M. de Voltaire est la
perfection des idees communes.... Ce coquin-la a un vice de plus que les
autres; il a quelquefois des vertus." But his retorts never went so far as
publication, and when, in 1735, the _Lettres philosophiques_ of Voltaire
were condemned to be burned by Parliament, and Marivaux was urged by a
publishing house, offering a good round sum, to make the most of
Voltaire's discomfiture and write a refutation of the same, he refused,
with his characteristic nobility of soul, to advance his own interests at
the expense of those of his enemy. As much cannot be said of the latter,
who, in letters written at this time, shows a cowardly fear of Marivaux's
acceptance of the offer.

Voltaire was not the only rival to show hostility. Destouches, in the
_Envieux, ou la Critique du Philosophe marie_ (XII), Le Sage, in _Gil
Blas_ (Book VII, chapter XIII), as well as Crebillon _fils_, in the work
already mentioned, were among the number.

Marivaux's admission to the French Academy had long been a matter of grave
doubt to his friends, for he was too honest for intrigue and