Falsifying history: Voltaire’s lost reply to David Boullier on Pascal and Locke

This article argues that Voltaire's supposed letter to 's Gravesande of 1741 was written for publication after 's Gravesande's death. It is thus Voltaire's reply to David Boullier's critique of the Lettres philosophiques. The willingness of Voltaire scholars to mistake this for a genuine letter results from a naïve desire to avoid acknowledging Voltaire's habit of falsifying the historical record. An appendix argues that Letter Twenty-Five of the Lettres philosophiques, on Pacal, was influenced by a reading of Pope's Essay on Man.