He shows that what they call evangelical perfection is only the mischievous art of stifling nature, which would most likely have spoken as lustily in him as in me."[3] Diderot, like so many others of the eighteenth-century reformers, was a pupil of the Jesuits.

An ardent, impetuous, over-genial temperament was the cause of frequent irregularities in conduct.

But his quick and active understanding overcame all obstacles.

His teachers, ever wisely on the alert for superior capacity, hoped to enlist his talents in the Order.

Either they or he planned his escape from home, but his father got to hear of it.