The regent, all unsuspicious of danger, suffered him to continue, and repressed, for form's sake alone, some of the most audacious of his outbreaks, at which he laughed even whilst he punished them.

The incredulity of the age took its rise in debauchery and not in examination, and the independence of thought was rather a _libertinage_ of manners, than a conclusion arising from reflection.

There was vice in irreligion, and of this Voltaire always savoured.

His mission began by a contempt and derision of holy things, which, even though doomed to destruction, should be touched with respect.

From thence arose that mockery, that irony, that cynicism too often on the lips, and in the heart, of the apostle of reason; his visit to England gave assurance and gravity to his incredulity, for in France he had only known libertines, in London he knew philosophers; he became passionately attached to eternal reason, as we are all eager after what is new, and he felt the enthusiasm of the discovery.