Note 175 — Chapter IV · DIDEROT AND THE FRENCH TRANSITION.

One book of some traditional note and interest from the eminence of its author in other ways, Condillac’s Art d'Écrire (which forms part of his elaborate Cours d’Étude for the Prince of Parma: Parma, 1769-1773), was not there noticed. It is of little intrinsic importance, being a mere treatise on “Composition”—a common-sense and common-place Rhetoric adjusted to late French eighteenth century standards. Its definition of style as depending on “netteté et caractère,” is an obvious attempt to combine the elder with the Buffonian ideal.