The Philosophes and Popular Ritual: Turgot, Voltaire, Rousseau

Abstract

The Philosophes and Popular Ritual: Turgot, Voltaire, Rousseau HARRY PAYNE The question of the nature and future of popular ritual came up only in passing among the eighteenth-century philosophes. Though the history of popular culture and ritual is of central concern to twen­ tieth-century historians, it was but one of scores of subjects which philosophes, as social observers, happened to note and worry about. That in itself is a historical problem—how popular culture came to be recognized and appreciated as a concern. And it is a story in which the Enlightenment of philosophes played a part, albeit a somewhat ungracious one. They recognized the separateness of popular atti­ tudes from the elite culture they were trying to reform without, how­ ever, often suspending elite scorn in the name of broader under­ standing. Such separation ultimately bore multiple fruits—curiosity, hostility, intrusion, and nostalgia.1 The question of popular ritual, then, can be seen as a brief footnote in the story of Enlightenment social thought, as the basis of some larger reflections on the nature of the Enlightenment's confrontation with le peuple, and as a "fore­ cast" of the way the eighteenth century opened up such questions for subsequent eras. Three texts can serve as the basis of this commentary. The first is a letter from the intendant Ann-Robert-Jacques Turgot in 1762 to his controller-general. Having dealt with some issues surrounding the Societe d'agriculture in the region of Limousin, he brought up, al­ most as an afterthought, another small but vexing problem related to the fate of agriculture. He noted that for five years the Bishop of An307 308 / PAYNE gouleme had suspended several church fetes in the interest of public order and efficiency—since the miscellaneous local fetes of the Church had been associated with mandatory stoppage of work (chomage) and popular license. This suspension had the support of the Archbishop of Paris and other bishops. "But the Bishop of Angouleme," Turgot noted, "who had first given his support to the point of view of public utility, for whatever motive of misdirected zeal, has just reestablished [the fetes] for next year. . . ." Turgot foresaw damage to the region in this decision and, since no "motive of conscience" was involved, he asked the controller-general to write directly to the bishop to help change his mind.2 The second text comes from Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique of 1764, in the entry "Catechisme du cure." The conversation between a priest Theotime and his friend Ariston wanders over many favorite Voltairean subjects. In his new vocation Theotime intends to be a model Voltairean cure—virtually oblivious to matters of doctrine and dogma; scrupulously concerned about educating peasants in law, medicine, agriculture, and morality; and devotedly committed to work with the seigneur and his wife for public improvement. At the end of the conversation, Ariston asks how his friend is going to prevent his parishioners from getting drunk on fete days, describing in detail the brutalization of peasants through drink. "You have to admit," he cau­ tions, "the state loses more subjects through drink during fetes than from battles. . . ." Theotime has, in fact, thought the matter through. He will permit and encourage his charges to ignore the tradition of idleness on days of fetes and to return to their fields after an early service. Not prayer but idleness leads to drunkenness, he concludes. Hence one must make fetes into working days. He then calculates the loss to gross national product from the existing tradition of fetes and their idleness (at least 1,500,000,000 sous) and ventures that God never intended for prayer to cost so much to the national wealth. Ariston is much pleased with this response.3 The third text comes from Rousseau's La Nouvelle Heloise of 1761. Here Rousseau describes a fete as it ought to be, the harvest festival (vendanges) at the estate of Julie and Baron de Wolmar at Clarens. He offers a vision of a purified saturnalia, unlike those of the ancients. Julie works alongside her harvesters in the day and serves them in the evening; worker and mistress each experience the pleasures of change of station. Each day...