Maria Susana Seguin (review)

Abstract

818 Reviews Correspondance de Pierre Bayle, Vol. iii: Janvier i6j8-fin 1683. Lettres 14J-241. Ed. by Elisabeth Labrousse, Antony McKenna, Laurence Bergon, Hubert Bost, Wiep van Bunge, and Edward James, with Eric-Olivier Lochard, Do? minique Taurisson, Annie Leroux, and Caroline Verdier. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation. 2004. xxii + 5i4pp. ?90; ?145; $175. ISBN 0-7294-0820-5. This third volume of Bayle's correspondence is produced with the same meticulous attention to detail as the previous two (MLR, 96 (2001), 500-1; 98 (2003), 199-200), with copious notes, a useful bibliography, a glossary, an index, and a list of letters for which evidence exists but which have been lost. It covers an important period in Bayle's life, including the end of his time teaching at the Protestant Academie in Sedan, which was closed down in 1681, and his subsequent departure forRotterdam, where he was to spend the rest of his life. These were also the years during which Bayle began to publish, starting in 1682/83 with the Pensees diverses and the Critique generale, his authorship ofthe latter,which 'on a brule a Paris par la main du bourreau' (Letter 219), being directly linked to the death of his elder brother in prison in 1685. Pierre Jurieu, at this time still a close friend and colleague, figures prominently in letters, over fiftyof which are written to Bayle's father and two brothers. They provide insight into his reading, personality (for example, his opposition in Letter 190 to the suggestion that he might marry), and philosophical leanings, with wellknown reflections such as 'plus j'etudie la philosophie, plus j'y trouve d'incertitude [. . .] je suis un philosophe sans entetement' (Letter 190). Given the increasing anti-Protestant measures being introduced in France (Letter 192), we also witness his concern for his family's welfare, who, he says, are 'a la gueule d'un parlement qui s'est toujours signale par ses violences contre ceux de la Religion' (Letter 200), as well as his interest in the events of their lives (his brother Jacob's marriage in Letter 221, for instance) and the encouragements and criticisms addressed to his younger brother Joseph (Letters 213, 238). Alongside these family letters, which in this volume still constitute an important percentage of the total, we also findletters to and fromBayle's numerous correspondents in Geneva and Rouen (Basnage, Minutoli, Tronchin, Lenfant), indicating the beginnings of the network he was to develop in later years and illustrating how information circulated between scholars. As is the case with previous volumes, this impeccably produced book will of course be of primary interest to those working specifically on Bayle, but it will also be fruitfullyconsulted by those interested both in learned correspondences and in the Huguenot diaspora ofthe late seventeenth century. Further useful insights can doubtless be expected from the forthcoming Volume iv, which will cover the period of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the death of Bayle's father and brothers, and the continuation of his flourishing literary career. University of Strathclyde Joy Charnley Science et religion dans la pensee francaise du XVIIF siecle: le mythe du deluge universel . By Maria Susana Seguin. (Les Dix-Huitiemes Siecles, ed. by Raymond Trousson and Antony McKenna). Paris: Champion. 2001. 535 pp. ?83.85. ISBN 2-7453-0357-0. Most dix-huitiemisteswill be familiar with Voltaire's rather preposterous theory that the fossils discovered high in the Alps had originally fallen offthe caps of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. His worry?that should the actual presence of such dead creatures indicate that the sea once covered the mountains, some credence might be attached to the biblical account of Noah's Flood?is more comprehensible. However, as Maria Susana Seguin demonstrates, with a wealth of detail and impressive erudi- MLR, 100.3, 2005 819 tion, the eighteenth-century debate over the Flood and Noah's Ark was not confined to Voltaire: it was absolutely central to the emergence of modern attitudes to science and history, in many ways typifyingthe clash between orthodoxy and the Enlighten? ment. Seguin begins by examining the biblical story and placing itin context, evoking the many mythic accounts of floods emanating from a variety...