Voltaire | letter signed, to Samuel Pechell, 23 August 1776

Voltaire

Letter signed "Voltaire", [to the judge Samuel Pechell of Twickenham], 23 August 1776

written by Voltaire's secretary Wagnière, mainly in French, but the first sentence in English and ending with two Latin quotations from Ovid and Persius.

"Whenever you honour me with one of yr. letters I assume new spirits; I look upon my self as a statesman, as a freeman."

in which Voltaire laments that his poetry represents the product of a decadent age, and that poets are no longer appreciated as they were in ancient times, thanking him for his letter of 24 July from Richmond, commending him as a man of letters as much as a judge, apologising for not replying earlier as he was taking the waters in Switzerland, deprecating his own "silly verses", which will soon sink into oblivion, describing them as the products of a decadent age, declined from the Golden Age of Ancient poetry, comparing this to the decline of temples like those on the Capitol in Rome, to a few modest chapels scattered in obscure corners of the world, round which Englishmen cultivate little gardens, Frenchmen their little parterre and German and Italians trivial musical ditties, concluding in Latin that "qui bene Latuit, bene vixit [he who hides himself away, lives well] and "Vive, memor Lethi, fugit hora, hoc quod loquor inde est" [Live, mindful of oblivion, the hour flies, this is always spoken of]."    

3 pages, 4to, the recipient's name identified on the blank verso of the third page, as Samuel Pechell of Twickenham, Ferney, 23 August 1776

Voltaire cultivated contacts in England partly because he admired its political system and freedom of speech. The correspondence with Samuel Petchell arose because the judge heard a case involving one of Voltaire's servants. Voltaire here praises his understanding of Horace and alludes modestly to his own poetic efforts. The last part of the letter is an extended metaphor deploring the decline of poetry as an international language.

Voltaire's quotations at the end are from the Golden Age Roman poets, Ovid (Tristia, III, 4, 25) and Persius (Satires, V, 151-3).

LITERATURE:

The letter is largely unpublished; Besterman lists it (no. 20268) but is able to quote only the first sentence. Pechell's reply is printed in Besterman (no. 20388).

PROVENANCE:

The Pencarrow Collection of Autograph Manuscripts: sale at Sotheby's, 8 December 1999, lot 170