"I do not think it is a criticism of your book that Voltaire does not appear as a great man. I think your defence that he was not a great man at the time you are writing about is entirely adequate. When I first began to read the remarks of his contemporaries about him, I was astonished to find him alluded to as Le Poete. ... I have just had a letter from Besterman asking me to write about Voltaire's influence on me, which I think I shall enjoy doing."