VOLTAIRE (1694-1778). L.A.S. "V", [March 1764?], to Nicolas-Sébastien de Chamfort; 3 pages in-12 (cracks in folds repaired, small lacks due to broken seal; letter mounted on strong paper). Beautiful literary letter praising Chamfort's style. He seizes "a moment when the sad state of my eyes leaves me the freedom to write. You speak so well of your art, that if I had not seen so many charming verses in the Jeune Indienne [Chamfort's comedy, created on April 30, 1764, which Voltaire must have read in manuscript], I would be entitled to say voila a young man who will write as one did a hundred years ago. The nation only came out of barbarism because it found three or four people to whom nature had given genius and taste that it denied to all the rest. Corneille by two hundred admirable verses spread in his works Racine by all his own Boileau by the art unknown before him of putting reason into verse, a Pascal a Bossuet changed the welches into French. But you seem convinced that Crebillon and all those who have made tragedies as badly conducted as his and verses as hard and as full of solecisms, have changed the French into Welches. Our nation has taste only by accident. It is to be expected that a people who did not first know the merits of Misantrope and Athalie, and who applauded so many monstrous farces, will always be an ignorant and weak people who need to be led by [the] few enlightened men. A rascal like Freron does not let himself contribute to bring back barbarism. He distorts the taste of young people who would rather read his impertinences for two cents than buy good books at a high price, and who are not even often in a position to form a library. The loose leaves are the plague of literature. I am looking forward to your [book], the subject is very touching. You know how to make touching verses, the success is sure. No one will be more interested than v.t.h.ob.sr [your very humble and obedient servant]"... Correspondence (Pléiade), t. VII, p. 8229.