Voltaire's Candide or the Optimist and Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia #227465

It must not be forgotten that these utterances in 1759 preceded by only thirty years the struggle of the French Revolution. That came upon many a young heart as endeavour prompted by an ardent hope to raise men by one great effort to the higher ground that we seek now to reach only by slow and patient climbing. There is no reason why, as men rise in civilization, they should not come to build their happiness on sure founda tions, paying less heed to the LO here and Lo there, as they learn more surely that the kingdom of God is within them. Voltaire was about fifteen years older than Johnson; for he was born in February 1694, and Johnson in September 1709. Voltaire was sixty-five years old when he published Candide Johnson fifty when, at the same time, he published Rasselas. Voltaire died in May 1778, Johnson in December 1784; both were dead, therefore, at the time of the outburst of the French Revolution.