Anne-Robert-Jacques TURGOT (1727–1781). L.A., Limoges, Janua - Lot 162

Anne-Robert-Jacques TURGOT (1727–1781). L.A., Limoges, January 14, 1774, [to the Marquis de Condorcet]; 3¼ pages, in-4 (slight water stain at the center fold). A fine letter from a moralist. He had asked Julie de Lespinasse to stop writing to him: “I am, to my great regret, compelled to retract that request.” He has fallen ill and is postponing his departure until he recovers. “I am not entirely convinced that virtues are opposed to one another, except when by ‘virtues’ one means certain active qualities that are perhaps as much talents as they are virtues; moreover, all these terms have been used in so many different senses, and have almost always been so poorly defined, that one could easily argue about these matters for centuries without reaching an agreement. Morality rests even more on duties than on these active virtues, which, being tied to character and passions, are in fact rarely found in high degree in the same individual. But all duties are in harmony with one another. No virtue, however one takes the word, exempts one from justice. And I have no higher regard for people who accomplish great deeds at the expense of justice than for poets who imagine they can produce great works of imagination without accuracy. I am well aware that excessive precision somewhat dampens the fire of composition and that of action. But there is a middle ground in everything"... etc. He is concerned that people are not judging the Beaumarchais affair: "Gentlemen apparently fear judging rashly." Then he speaks of Voltaire, who “fared better than I would have hoped in the proposal to work on the eulogy for Marshal Richelieu in the Gallery of Illustrious Men”...