It was then especially
that I daily congratulated myself upon the resolution I had had the
good sense to take, unmindful of the clamors of my friends, who were
vexed at seeing me delivered from their tyranny; and when I heard of
the attempt of a madman, when De Leyre and Madam d'Epinay spoke to
me in letters of the trouble and agitation which reigned in Paris, how
thankful was I to Heaven for having placed me at a distance from all
such spectacles of horror and guilt. These would have continued and
increased the bilious humor which the sight of public disorders had
given me; whilst seeing nothing around me in my retirement but gay and
pleasing objects my heart was wholly abandoned to sentiments which
were amiable.
I remark here with pleasure the course of the last peaceful
moments that were left me. The spring succeeding to this winter, which
had been so calm, developed the germ of the misfortunes I have yet
to describe; in the tissue of which, a like interval, wherein I had
leisure to respite, will not be found.
I think however, I recollect, that during this interval of peace,
and in the bosom of my solitude, I was not quite undisturbed by the
Holbachiens. Diderot stirred me up some strife, and I am much deceived
if it was not in the course of this winter that the Fils Naturel,*
of which I shall soon have occasion to speak, made its appearance.
Independently of the causes which left me but few papers relative to
that period, those even which I have been able to preserve are not
very exact with respect to dates.
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