Note 7 — Chapter XVIII

Conversations with M. Paul Boyer (Le Temps, August 28, 1901).

The similarity is really very striking at times, and might well deceive one. Take the profession of faith of the dying Julie:

"I could not say that I believed what it was impossible for me to believe, and I have always believed what I said I believed. This was as much as rested with me."

Compare Tolstoy's letter to the Holy Synod:

"It may be that my beliefs are embarrassing or displeasing. It is not within my power to change them, just as it is not in my power to change my body. I cannot believe anything but what I believe, at this hour when I am preparing to return to that God from whom I came."

Or this passage from the Réponse à Christophe de Beaumont, which seems pure Tolstoy:

"I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. My Master has told me that he who loves his brother accomplishes the law."

Or again:

"The whole of the Lord's Prayer is expressed in these words: 'Thy Will be done!'" (Troisième lettre de la Montague.)

Compare with:

"I am replacing all my prayers with the Pater Nosier. All the requests I can make of God are expressed with greater moral elevation by these words: 'Thy Will be done!'" (Tolstoy's Journal, in the Caucasus, 1852-3.)

The similarity of thought is no less striking in the province of art:

"The first rule of the art of writing," said Rousseau, "is to speak plainly and to express one's thought exactly."

And Tolstoy:

"Think what you will, but in such a manner that every word may be understood by all. One cannot write anything bad in perfectly plain language."

I have demonstrated elsewhere that the satirical descriptions of the Paris Opera in the Nouvelle Héloise have much in common with Tolstoy's criticisms in What is Art?