Rome 4 April 1765
You may well beleive Sir that I have no small Pride & Pleasure to receive a letter from M. de Voltaire. Consider the difference of our ages and let the insolence of youth speak without restraint. Abstracting from your fame, I venerate you for your antiquity. When I first heard of you I heard of a man whose Works had been long existing and being no Chronologist, I imagined you realy one of the ancients. My early prejudices still influence my Imagination so that receiving a letter from M. De Voltaire is like receiving a letter from Abraham whose reality you doubt of, or from Julius Cæsar, whom you will not allow to have swum accross the river with his Commentaries in his teeth.
I am diverted to see with how little ceremony you treat the Soul, altho' you own that you know nothing about it. Many Infidels have maintain'd that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion. Upon that principle you ought to think of the Soul with Reverence, but you make a jest of it, you call it a pretty thing and talk of it as lightly as if it were your little finger. It is curious after all to reflect that the Soul is realy the All, the man, the thinking Principle, the source of every thing noble and elegant, the Authour of History, of Poetry and of all the fine arts. May we not hope then that it shall live for ever and still attain to greater perfection and greater felicity? Is not this a plan worthy of the Lord of the Universe? It is the Soul which has given us a general sketch of the World from Charlemagne to the present times. It is the Soul which has written so many Tragedies which adorn the french Theatre. It is the soul which has surprised us with so much wit against it's self and it is the Soul which diffuses kindness and joy over the Domaines of Ferney. There I have you. You must forgive my zeal for immortality. I am a melancholy man, I know not how. In this world my prospect is clouded. I cheer my hours of gloom with expectations of a brighter scene after death and I think I have a strong probability that I shall not be deceived.
I have now been some time in this illustrious Capital where I am become an enthusiast in the study of antiquitys & the fine arts. I am afraid to write you any observations upon Rome, lest I should only repeat what you allready know without having been there. I dare say you have met with many such instances even among my sage Countrymen. I must however say that the feeling is delicious which a Classical scholar swells with when he stands upon the renowned scenes of antiquity. I have past some weeks at Naples where I was very gay with the famous Mr Wilkes in his banishment. He told me an anecdote which will amuse you. A Lady at Paris took it into her head to inveih against the english for their cruelty of disposition. She spoke with great earnestness of their murdering Charles 1 & from thence made a transition to their cutting off the tails of their horses. Wilkes immediately turned the good Lady's regret into
I shall only assure you that the feeling which I have when viewing the classica loca is really delicious. You have been obliging enough to comply with my request that you would write to me in our language. If you would rather chuse to write in your own, pray do so. If M. de Voltaire does me the honour to talk to me, he may be dre'st either in french silk or in English Broadcloth. I am with much admiration your obliged humble servant.
P. S. Might I ask you to present my respects to Madame De Nis & to Pere Adan?