[1752/1753]

. . . I have received, sir, everything that you have done me the honour to send me. Attentions of this nature are very precious; it would be desirable that persons in authority think as you do. The honourable labour you take is a reproach which you address to them; they ought to blush at having less zeal than you have.But permit me, sir, to request you most earnestly not to do me the honour which you have in view for me. Time alone can ensure the reputation of literary works. My tragedies are of little account, and even if they had some slight merit their success can only be ensured after a very considerable time. Even the Henriade — the only work by which I am at all known among foreigners — is hardly a poem with which France can identify itself in order to place it by the side of Tasso and Milton. Posterity alone will regulate the rank of each, and neither you nor I can foresee its judgment. We must endeavour, sir, to exclude from our temples those divinities whose reputation is not entirely perpetuated. A letter from a person named St Hyacinthe, printed in your book, rather desecrates the altar on which you sacrifice. It was flattering to see at Rome one's bust in the Palatine library, but the honour must be rare and accorded uniquely to merit to be in fact a reward. As for me, sir, I have never been ambitious of any literary position of honour; I desire only the honour of loving the arts, of cultivating them for themselves, and of being your friend. M. Peirard, who is staying with me, sends you a thousand compliments. I have the honour to be, sir, with much gratitude, your very humble and obedient servant,

Voltaire