and of physical science, in which Newton took the
place of Locke as guide. The almost universal presence of this practical
and reforming spirit makes it not by any means so easy to subdivide the
branches of literature, as is the case in the seventeenth century. La
Bruyere had said, in the days of acquiescence in absolutism, that to a
Frenchman 'Les grands sujets sont defendus,' meaning thereby theology
and politics. The general spirit of the eighteenth century was a
vigorous denial of this, and an eager investigation into these 'grands
sujets.' This spirit made its appearance in the most unexpected
quarters, and in the strangest forms. It converted (in the hands of
Voltaire) the stiffest and most conventional form of drama ever known
into a pamphlet. It insinuated polemics under the guise of history, and
made the ponderous and apparently matter-of-fact folios of a Dictionary
of Arts and Manufactures the vehicles of arguments for reform. It
overflowed into every department of literary occupation. Some of the
chief prose manifestations of this spirit have been discussed and
arranged in the two previous chapters under the head of history and
essay writing. The rest will be dealt with here. A certain distinction
of form, though it is often rather arbitrary than real, renders such a
subdivision possible, while it is desirable in the interest of
clearness. It will be noticed that while the attack is voluminous and
manifold, the defence is almost unrepresented in literature. This is one
of the most remarkable facts in literary history. In England, from which
the _philosophe_ movement borrowed so much, the Deists had not only not
had their own way in the literary battle, but had been beaten all along
the line by the superior intellectual and literary prowess of the
defenders of orthodoxy. The case in France went otherwise and almost by
default. The only defender of orthodoxy whose name has survived in
literature--for Freron, despite his power, was little more than a
literary critic--is the Abbe Guenee. In so singular a state was the
church of France that scarcely a single preacher or theologian, after
Massillon's death in 1742, could challenge equality with even third- or
fourth-rate men of letters; while, after the death of the Chancellor
d'Aguesseau in 1751, no layman of eminence can be named until Joseph de
Maistre, nearly half a century later, who was at once a considerable
writer and a declared defender of religion. Indeed