Page 203 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

rmphasia was placcd upori origiiial articles, ihough they do occasionally
appear, and are valuable indications of the iniiid of the editors aiid
J ournalists. Where the Jesiiit Journal differed from the secular j ourrials
was in ite eflcirt ta single out oiijec~ioiialile ~ritirip which were offeiisiir
on nioral and rcligiuur, grciunrls. In the early J-eara the critical tone was
riot marked, but as the philosoplie Party jhaipcned its atlack on religion
and the government, pariicula ri? nfter 1730, the adverse criticiam of
the lournal increased, 1-et there still reniained a large portion of the
nerv piihlica~ioiis in the arts aiid 5i.iencej H hich ivere iiot only acceptable
to tlie Iournalists but prai~i-wcirthv indications of the advancement il1
learning of their day.
As ia to be expected tlie staridard rif tlie Jiiuriial varied coti3ider-
ably in its more tlian six~y-year history. IJowevcr, in tlie peritld froni
1705 to the expulsion iif the Jesiiita {rom France in 1762. and the (.lin-
sequent disconlinuatiün 01 tlie Jouriial as a Jesuit periiidiral, jt seenis ici
have maintaiiied a ciitisistently higli qualii!, at a tiiiie wheii, hecausc
of the growih of irreligion, its useiiilness to Catholic i eaders \va9 mo~t
marked. Nri driiibt the iriaiii reason for tliis success w39 tlie noted
abiliiy of its editor, Pére Berthicr, who, wliile a friend uf niany cif tlie
philosophes and readi. to iecognize their talents, did nut hesitate to
point out the Iiarniful trends irl tlieir rvritings. Earlier in its hiatory
other di~tingiijshed Jesuitv collalioratcd on the lournal: among these were
Bnffier. e pliil»sopher hirlily iegarded b y his eiinteiriporariee; tlie
scientist Castel, friend aiid adv isrir of hlciii~esquieu; Tournemirie, a
gi Eted lit terateur and close Iriend of Vriltaire ; and Chtirlevoix, an liistor-
ian wliose interests extended to hrw Franee ivhich he once visited on
ofricial business of the French Cnurt. Un fa rtunately. since no record
of the eireuIation of ~he lournal has siirvived, ii i3 ittipiissible to say hot+-
widelv the Journal w7as read. It is knowii. liciwe\'er. that renrints and
trtinsla~ions of whole volurncs weri* rnede around the ttiid-cen~ury by
publishers iri Italy and Holland and that sciiiie iiiterest w+as sliown liy
twii bookseIIers in reprinting the ~vliole collection of the ririni bers since
1701. And tlie esteem of the state governrnent for tlie periodieal was
shom urhen it irisisted on having ~he lournal contiriued after die exyul-
sion of the Jesuits, arid tried unsticcessfully to obtain the servires of
Berthier as editrir.
Accepted ihru as an important periodical in its day, the lournol de
Trévoux rernains a valuable source of rnaterial for tlie rnodern lii6to~j~ii
of the Enlightciiirient. In ctimniiin with the other leading jouriiala jt
provides the hielorian of ideas witli a I-iibliogiapliy and a suniiriary of
the currenl literature of the eighteenth oeritriry, particiitarly in France.
A good deal of iliis Ijleratnre lias not onrvived, but stiIl reilect~ in its
own way. less impi essi~~ely tlian ilie writings oE the philosophes, it is
true, the epirit of the tinics. The lournal illustrates tori ihe shiEts of
elriphasil: of interests {rom 1700 to 1762 fiom the arts tri th(. wiences,
then to the practieal and the teehriieal, and later to soeial studies. Tliis
is still reeqnized as tlie trend which ivas estublished in tIie rcadjtistrnent
of ideas in ille Enliglitenment period. Of more value. honever. is tlie
judgement that the Journalists pas3 on tlie c:ontrnijirirary intellzctual