De Lisle was sent to prison, but the severity of the punishment aroused
popular indignation, and his journey to gaol resembled a triumph. All the
learned *men of Paris visited the imprisoned philosopher. All the
sentences were reversed by the Parliament of Paris in 1777. This book has
often been reproduced and translated in other languages. De Lisle was
exposed to the persecutions of the Reign of Terror, and another work of
his, entitled _Eponine_, caused him a second term of imprisonment, from
which he was released when the terrible reign of anarchy, lasting eighteen
months, ended.
The industrious philosopher Denis Diderot wrote _Lettres sur les Aveugles
a l'usage de ceux qui voient_ (1749, in-12). There were "those who saw"
and were not blind to its defects, and proceeded to incarcerate Diderot in
the Castle of Vincennes, where he remained six months, and where he
perceived that this little correction was necessary to cure him of his
philosophical folly. He was a very prolific writer, and subsequently with
D'Alembert edited the first French Encyclopaedia (1751-1772, 17 vols.).
This was supposed to contain statements antagonistic to the Government and
to Religion, and its authors and booksellers and their assistants were all
sent to the Bastille. _Chambers' Cyclopaedia_ had existed in England some
years before a similar work was attempted in France, and the idea was
first started by an Englishman, John Mills.
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