He was not encyclopaedic by accident, nor merely from external necessity.

The quality of rapid movement, impetuous fancy, versatile idea, which he traced to the climate of his birthplace, marked him from the first for an encyclopaedic or some such task.

His interest was nearly as promptly and vehemently kindled in one subject as in another; he was always boldly tentative, always fresh and vigorous in suggestion, always instant in search.

But this multiplicity of active excitements--and with Diderot every interest rose to the warmth of excitement--was even more hostile to masterpieces than were the exigencies of a livelihood.

It was not unpardonable in a moment of exhaustion and chagrin to fancy that he had offered up the treasures of his genius to the dull gods of the hearth.