Rousseau and Revolution Read online

  BY WILL DURANT

  The Story of Philosophy

  Transition

  The Pleasure of Philosophy

  Adventures in Genius

  BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT

  THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION

  1. Our Oriental Heritage

  2. The Life of Greece

  3. Caesar and Christ

  4. The Age of Faith

  5. The Renaissance

  6. The Reformation

  7. The Age of Reason Begins

  8. The Age of Louis XIV

  9. The Age of Voltaire

  10. Rousseau and Revolution

  11. The Age of Napoleon

  The Lessons of History

  Interpretation of Life

  A Dual Autobiography

  COPYRIGHT © 1967 BY WILL AND ARIEL DURANT

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION

  IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM

  PUBLISHED BY SIMON AND SCHUSTER

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  eISBN-13 :978-1-45164-767-9

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  DESIGNED BY EVE METZ

  MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  TO OUR BELOVED DAUGHTER

  ETHEL BENVENUTA

  WHO, THROUGH ALL THESE VOLUMES, HAS BEEN

  OUR HELP AND OUR INSPIRATION

  Dear Reader:

  This is the concluding volume of that Story of Civilization to which we devoted ourselves in 1929, and which has been the daily chore and solace of our lives ever since.

  Our aim has been to write integral history: to discover and record the economic, political, spiritual, moral, and cultural activities of each civilization, in each age, as interrelated elements in one whole called life, and to humanize the narrative with studies of the protagonists in each act of the continuing drama. While recognizing the importance of government and statesmanship, we have given the political history of each period and state as the oft-told background, rather than the substance or essence of the tale; our chief interest was in the history of the mind. Hence in matters economic and political we have relied considerably upon secondary sources, while in religion, philosophy, science, literature, music, and art we have tried to go to the sources: to see each faith at work in its own habitat, to study the epochal philosophies in their major productions, to visit the art in its native site or later home, to enjoy the masterpieces of the world’s literature, often in their own language, and to hear the great musical compositions again and again, if only by plucking them out of the miraculous air. For these purposes we have traveled around the world twice, and through Europe unnumbered times from 1912 to 1966. The humane reader will understand that it would have been impossible, in our one lifetime, to go to the original sources in economics and politics as well, through the sixty centuries and twenty civilizations of history. We have had to accept limits, and acknowledge our limitations.

  We regret that we allowed our fascination with each canto of man’s epic to hold us too willingly, with the result that we find ourselves exhausted on reaching the French Revolution. We know that this event did not end history, but it ends us. Unquestionably our integral and inclusive method has led us to give to most of these volumes a burdensome length. If we had written shredded history—the account of one nation or period or subject—we might have spared the reader’s time and arms; but to visualize all phases in one narrative for several nations in a given period required space for the details needed to bring the events and the personalities to life. Each reader will feel that the book is too long, and that the treatment of his own nation or specialty is too brief.

  French and English readers may wish to confine their first perusal of this volume to Chapters I-VIII, XIII-XV, and XX-XXXVIII, leaving the rest for another day, and readers in other tongues may choose their chapters likewise. We trust, however, that some heroes will go the course with us, seeking to vision Europe as a whole in those thirty-three eventful years from the Seven Years’ War to the French Revolution.

  We shall not sin at such length again; but if we manage to elude the Reaper for another year or two we hope to offer a summarizing essay on “The Lessons of History.”

  WILL AND ARIEL DURANT

  Los Angeles

  May 1, 1967

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  We are grateful to Yale University and the McGraw-Hill Book Company for permission to quote from Boswell on the Grand Tour: Germany and Switzerland, and from Boswell in Holland. It would be difficult to write about Boswell without nibbling at the feast offered by the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, so carefully edited and so handsomely published.

  We are indebted also to the author and to W. W. Norton & Company for permission to quote a letter from Marc Pincherle’s excellent Vivaldi.

  Our warm appreciation to Sarah and Harry Kaufman for their long and patient help in classifying the material, and to our daughter Ethel for not only typing the manuscript immaculately, but for improving the text in many ways. Our thanks to Mrs. Vera Schneider for her scholarly editing of the manuscript.

  NOTES ON THE USE OF THIS BOOK

  1. Dates of birth and death are in the Index.

  2. Italics in excerpts are never ours unless so stated.

  3. We suggest the following rough equivalents, in terms of United States dollars of 1965, for the currencies mentioned in this book:

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  4. The location of works of art, when not indicated in the text, will be found in the Notes. In allocating such works the name of the city will imply its leading gallery, as follows:

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  Berlin—Staatsmuseum

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  Detroit—Institute of Art

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  London—National Gallery

  Madrid—Prado

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  New York—Metropolitan Museum of Art

  San Marino, California—Huntington Art Gallery

  Vienna—Kunsthistorisches Museum

  Washington—Na
tional Gallery

  Table of Contents

  BOOK I: PRELUDE

  Chapter I. ROUSSEAU WANDERER: 1712-56

  I. The Confessions

  II. Homeless

  III. Maman

  IV. Lyons, Venice, Paris

  V. Is Civilization a Disease?

  VI. Paris and Geneva

  VII. The Crimes of Civilization

  VIII. The Conservative

  IX. Escape from Paris

  Chapter II. THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR: 1756–63

  I. How to Start a War

  II. The Outlaw

  III. From Prague to Rossbach

  IV. The Fox at Bay

  V. The Making of the British Empire

  VI. Exhaustion

  VII. Peace

  BOOK II: FRANCE BEFORE THE DELUGE:1757-74

  Chapter III. THE LIFE OF THE STATE

  I. The Mistress Departs

  II. The RecoVery of France

  III. The Physiocrats

  IV. The Rise of Turgot

  V. The Communists

  VI. The King

  VII. Du Barry

  VIII. Choiseul

  IX. The ReVolt of the Parlements

  X. The King Departs

  Chapter IV. THE ART OF LIFE

  I. Morality and Grace

  II. Music

  III. The Theater

  IV. Marmontel

  V. The Life of Art

  1. Sculpture

  2. Architecture

  3. Greuze

  4. Fragonard

  VI. The Great Salons

  1. Mme. Geoffrin

  2. Mme. du Deffand

  3. Mlle, de Lespinasse

  Chapter V. VOLTAIRE PATRIARCH: 1758-78

  I. The Good Lord

  II. The Scepter of the Pen

  III. Voltaire Politicus

  IV. The Reformer

  V. Voltaire Himself

  Chapter VI. ROUSSEAU ROMANTIC: 1756-62

  I. In the Hermitage

  II. In Love

  III. Much Ado

  IV. The Break with the Philosophes

  V. The New Héloïse

  Chapter VII. ROUSSEAU PHILOSOPHER

  I. The Social Contract

  II. Émile

  1. Education

  2. Religion

  3. Love and Marriage

  Chapter VIII. ROUSSEAU OUTCAST: 1762–67

  I. Flight

  II. Rousseau and the Archbishop

  III. Rousseau and the Calvinists

  IV. Rousseau and Voltaire

  V. Boswell Meets Rousseau

  VI. A Constitution for Corsica

  VII. Fugitive

  VIII. Rousseau in England

  BOOK III: THE CATHOLIC SOUTH: 1715-89

  Chapter IX. Italia Felix: 1715-59

  I. The Landscape

  II. Music

  III. Religion

  IV. From Turin to Florence

  V. Queen of the Adriatic

  1. Venetian Life

  2. Vivaldi

  3. Remembrances

  4. Tiepolo

  5. Goldoni and Gozzi

  VI. Rome

  VII. Naples

  1. The King and the People

  2. Giambattista Vico

  3. Neapolitan Music

  Chapter X. PORTUGAL AND POMBAL: 1706-82

  I. John V

  II. Pombal and the Jesuits

  III. Pombal the Reformer

  IV. The Triumph of the Past

  Chapter XI. SPAIN AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT: 1700-88

  I. Milieu

  II. Philip V

  III. Ferdinand VI

  IV. The Enlightenment Enters

  IX. Francisco de Goya y Spain

  V. Charles III

  1. The New Government

  2. The Spanish Reformation

  3. The New Economy

  VI. The Spanish Character

  VII. The Spanish Mind

  VIII. Spanish Art

  IX. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes

  1. Growth

  2. Romance

  3. Zenith

  4. Revolution

  5. Decrescendo

  Chapter XII. Vale, Italia: 1760-89

  I. Farewell Tour

  II. Popes, Kings, and Jesuits

  III. The Law and Beccaria

  IV. Adventurers

  1. Cagliostro

  2. Casanova

  V. Winckelmann

  VI. The Artists

  VII. I Musici

  VIII. Alfieri

  Chapter XIII. THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN AUSTRIA: 1756-90

  I. The New Empire

  II. Maria Theresa

  III. Joseph Growing

  IV. Mother and Son

  V. The Enlightened Despot

  VI. The Emperor and the Empire

  VII. Atra Mors

  Chapter XIV. MUSIC REFORMED

  I. Christoph Willibald Gluck

  II. Joseph Haydn

  Chapter XV. MOZART

  I. The Wonderful Boy

  II. Adolescence

  III. Music and Marriage

  IV. In Paris

  V. Salzburg and Vienna

  VI. The Composer

  VII. Spirit and Flesh

  VIII. Apogee

  IX. Nadir

  X. Requiem

  BOOK IV: ISLAM AND THE SLAVIC EAST: 1715-96

  Chapter XVI. ISLAM:1715-96

  I. The Turks

  II. African Islam

  III. Persia

  Chapter XVII. RUSSIAN INTERLUDE: 1725-62

  I. Work and Rule

  II. Religion and Culture

  III. Russian Politics

  IV. Elizabeth Petrovna

  V. Peter and Catherine

  VI. Peter III

  Chapter XVIII. CATHERINE THE GREAT: 1762-96

  I. The Autocrat

  II. The Lover

  III. The Philosopher

  IV. The Statesman

  V. The Economist

  VI. The Warrior

  VII. The Woman

  VIII. Literature

  IX. Art

  X. Journey’s End

  Chapter XIX. THE RAPE OF POLAND: 1715-95

  I. Polish Panorama

  II. The Saxon Kings

  III. Poniatowski

  IV. The First Partition

  V. The Polish Enlightenment

  VI. Dismemberment

  BOOK V: THE PROTESTANT NORTH: 1756-89

  Chapter XX. FREDERICK‘S GERMANY: 1756-86

  I. Frederick Victorious

  II. Rebuilding Prussia

  III. The Principalities

  IV. The German Enlightenment

  V. Gotthold Lessing

  VI. The Romantic Reaction

  VII. Sturm und Drang

  VIII. The Artists

  IX. After Bach

  X. Der Alte Fritz

  Chapter XXI. KANT: 1724-1804

  I. Prolegomena

  II. Critique of Pure Reason

  III. Critique of Practical Reason

  IV. Critique of Judgment

  V. Religion and Reason

  VI. The Reformer

  VII. Posthumous

  Chapter XXII. ROADS TO WEIMAR: 1733-87

  I. The Athens of Germany

  II. Wieland

  III. Goethe Prometheus

  1. Growth

  2. Götz and Werther

  3. The Young Atheist

  IV. Herder

  V. Schiller’s Wanderjahre

  Chapter XXIII. WEIMAR IN FLOWER: 1775-1805

  I. Wieland Sequel

  II. Herder and History

  III. Goethe Councilor

  IV. Goethe in Italy

  V. Goethe Waiting

  VI. Schiller Waiting

  VII. Schiller and Goethe

  Chapter XXIV. GOETHE NESTOR: 1805—32

  I. Goethe and Napoleon

  II. Faust: Part I

  III. Nestor in Love

  IV. The Scientist

  V. The Philosopherr />
  VI. Faust: Part II

  VII. Fulfillment

  Chapter XXV. THE JEWS: 1715-89

  I. The Struggle for Existence

  II. The Mystic Solace

  III. Moses Mendelssohn

  IV. Toward Freedom

  Chapter XXVI. FROM GENEVA TO STOCKHOLM

  I. The Swiss: 1754-98

  II. The Dutch: 1715-95

  III. The Danes: 1715-97

  IV. The Swedes: 1718-97

  1. Politics

  2. Gustavus III

  3. The Swedish Enlightenment

  4. Assassination

  BOOK VI: JOHNSON’S ENGLAND: 1756-89

  Chapter XXVII. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

  I. Causes

  II. Components

  III. Conditions

  IV. Consequences

  Chapter XXVIII. THE POLITICAL DRAMA: 1756-92

  I. The Political Structure

  II. The Protagonists

  III. The King Versus Parliament

  IV. Parliament Versus the People

  V. England Versus America

  VI. England and India Revolution

  VII. England and the French

  VIII. The Heroes Retire

  Chapter XXIX. THE ENGLISH PEOPLE: 1756-89

  I. English Ways

  II. English Morals

  III. Faith and Doubt

  IV. Blackstone, Bentham, and the Law

  V. The Theater

  1. The Performance

  2. Garrick

  VI. London

  Chapter XXX. THE AGE OF REYNOLDS: 1756-90

  I. The Musicians

  II. The Architects

  III. Wedgwood

  IV. Joshua Reynolds

  V. Thomas Gainsborough

  Chapter XXXI. ENGLAND’S NEIGHBORS: 1756-89

  I. Grattan’s Ireland

  II. The Scottish Background

  III. The Scottish Enlightenment

  IV. Adam Smith

  V. Robert Burns

  VI. James Boswell

  1. The Cub

  2. Boswell Abroad

  3. Boswell at Home

  Chapter XXXII. THE LITERARY SCENE:1756-89

  I. The Press

  II. Laurence Sterne

  III. Fanny Burney

  IV. Horace Walpole

  V. Edward Gibbon

  1. Preparation

  2. The Book

  3. The Man

  4. The Historian

  VI. Chatterton and Cowper

  VII. Oliver Goldsmith

  Chapter XXXIII. SAMUEL JOHNSON:1709-84

  I. Deformative Years

  II. The Dictionary

  III. The Charmed Circle

  IV. Ursus Major

  V. The Conservative Mind

  VI. Autumn

  VII. Release

  VIII. Boswell Moriturus

  BOOK VII : THE COLLAPSE OF FEUDAL FRANCE: 1774-89

  Chapter XXXIV. THE FINAL GLORY:1774-83

  I. The Heirs to the Throne

  II. The Government

  III. The Virgin Queen