Edward Bruce Hamley

“ Shaftesbury (whose opinions he recognised again as versified by Pope) , Bolingbroke, Toland, Collins, Wollaston, Chubb, formed the school in which his deism was confirmed and rendered aggressive.
But the main influence which England exercised on him was through its general atmosphere of free thought. From the standpoint of these shores tyranny of all sorts in France wore a new aspect. There he had only dreamed of what a country might be if relieved from the domination of priests and despots; here he saw what it was. Liberty was no longer an idea, but a fact ”

“ He studied and criticised the works of Locke, and became a chief exponent of the theories of Newton, whom he never mentioned but with reverence. But it was from the number of sceptical English philosophers, who had set up natural against revealed religion, that he received the impulse which may be regarded as forming a main influence in the rest of his career. It is true he was already a professed disciple of natural religion. ”

“ He chose England for his place of exile, and brought with him excellent introductions. Lord Bolingbroke, then in banishment, had married a French lady, and owned a beautiful place near Orleans—of a visit to which, and of its lord, Voltaire gives an enthusiastic account in a letter to Thiriot. Bolingbroke reciprocated the esteem, warmly praised "Œdipe" and the "Henriade," and recommended him to his friends. ”

“ Sir John Vanbrugh, having a foreign name, may excusably be represented as the "Chevalier Wanbruck;" but our historical Admiral Drake need not have become "Dracke;" and the identity of a celebrated actress, whom he addresses in verse, is almost lost when he apostrophises her as "Ofilds;" ”