ABSTRACT
Voltaire’s replies to criticisms of the Essai sur les Moeurs et l’Esprit des Nations and Charles XII, though they are slightly more tart and lofty than was necessary, show at least that he had authorities for his defence when he thought criticism unfounded and that he was candid enough to correct errors when they were pointed out to him. Voltaire under-estimated the positive good achieved by the Church and over-estimated the evil done by ecclesiastics. Voltaire excels in rapid summaries of the “state of Europe “at a given time and in brief chapters on the customs of an age. Voltaire’s library at Leningrad contains evidence of his care for historical accuracy in the multitude of notes and documents preserved; his correspondence shows him repeatedly enquiring from the Russian Court for confirmation of doubts when he was writing the history of Peter the Great.
