Abstract: In 1736, Voltaire revised his first version of Letter on Mr. Locke, expanding on the comparison between man and animal in a bold paper that tends toward materialism. Yet the manuscript slipped from his grasp and was circulated in written and printed format as part of a series of underhand attacks by his adversaries, Alexis Piron chief among them. Voltaire’s scandalous works were published with the spotlight on his anti-Christian convictions. This was just the pretext that Maurepas needed to condemn him.
