Rosenkranz's valuable _Diderot's Leben_, published in 1866, and
abounding in full and patient knowledge. Of the numerous criticisms on
Diderot by Raumer, Arndt, Hettner, Damiron, Bersot, and above all by Mr.
Carlyle, I need not make more particular mention.

_May, 1878._

NOTE.

Since the following pages were printed, an American
correspondent writes to me with reference to the dialogue
between Franklin and Raynal, mentioned on page 218, Vol.
II.:--"I have now before me Volume IV. of the _American Law
Journal_, printed at Philadelphia in the year 1813, and at
page 458 find in full, 'The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,
delivered before a court of judicature in _Connecticut_, where
she was prosecuted.'" Raynal, therefore, would have been right
if instead of Massachusetts he had said Connecticut; and
either Franklin told an untruth, or else Silas Deane.

_September, 1878._

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY.

The Church in the middle of the century
New phase in the revolt
The Encyclopaedia, its symbol
End of the reaction against the Encyclopaedia
Diderot's position in the movement

CHAPTER II.
YOUTH.

Birth and birthplace (1713)
His family
Men of letters in Paris
Diderot joins their company
His life in Paris: his friendly character
Stories of his good-nature
His tolerance for social reprobates
His literary struggles
Marriage (1743)

CHAPTER III.
EARLY WRITINGS.

Diderot's mismanagement of his own talents
Apart from this, a great talker rather than a great writer
A man of the Socratic type
Hack-work for the booksellers
The Philosophical Thoughts (1746)
Shaftesbury's influence
Scope of the Philosophical Thoughts
On the Sufficiency of Natural Religion (1747)
Explanation of the attraction of Natural Religion
Police supervision over men of letters
Two pictures of the literary hack
Seizure of the Sceptic's Walk (1747)
Its drift
A volume of stories (1748)
Diderot's view of the fate and character of women

CHAPTER IV.
THE NEW PHILOSOPHY.

Vo