ained
from the Duke de Nivernois, Lady Hervey, the Mallets, Mr. Walpole, &c.
many letters of recommendation to their private or literary friends.
Of these epistles the reception and success were determined by the
character and situation of the persons by whom and to whom they
were addressed: the seed was sometimes cast on a barren rock, and it
sometimes multiplied an hundred fold in the production of new shoots,
spreading branches, and exquisite fruit. But upon the whole, I had
reason to praise the national urbanity, which from the court has
diffused its gentle influence to the shop, the cottage, and the schools.
Of the men of genius of the age, Montesquieu and Fontenelle were no
more; Voltaire resided on his own estate near Geneva; Rousseau in the
preceding year had been driven from his hermitage of Montmorency; and I
blush at my having neglected to seek, in this journey, the acquaintance
of Buffon. Among the men of letters whom I saw, D'Alembert and Diderot
held the foremost rank in merit, or at least in fame. I shall content
myself with enumerating the well-known names of the Count de Caylus, of
the Abbe de la Bleterie, Barthelemy, Reynal, Arnaud, of Messieurs de
la Condamine, du Clos, de Ste Palaye, de Bougainville, Caperonnier, de
Guignes, Suard, &c. without attempting to discriminate the shades of
their characters, or the degrees of our connection. Alone, in a morning
visit, I commonly found the artists and authors of Paris less vain, and
more reasonable, than in the circles of their equals, with whom they
mingle in the houses of the rich. Four days in a week, I had place,
without invitation, at the hospitable tables of Mesdames Geoffrin and du
Bocage, of the celebrated Helvetius, and of the Baron d'Olbach. In these
symposia the pleasures of the table were improved by lively and liberal
conversation; the company was select, though various and voluntary.

The society of Madame du Bocage was more soft and moderate than that
of her rivals, and the evening conversations of M. de Foncemagne were
supported by the good sense and learning of the principal members of
the Academy of Inscriptions. The opera and the Italians I occasionally
visited; but the French theatre, both in tragedy and comedy, was my
daily and favourite amusement. Two famous actresses then divided the
public applause. For my own part, I preferred the consummate art of the
Claron, to the intemperate sallies of the Dumesnil, which were extolled
by her adm