Warburton and the Encyclopedie

NE of the most vexing aspects of the systematic investigation of the Encyclopedie is the question of ultimate sources. Allusions to the problem abound; and, although much has been done in this vein since le P. Berthier had the pleasure of pointing out the eclectic redaction embodied in the first volume, the sources of many important articles, and, consequently, their function in the publication, are still a mystery to us.' Students of the Encyclopedie will have observed that, while a few scholarly articles have dealt directly with lists of works used by the editors,2 their borrowings are usually brought to light in the course of synthesizing studies of specific subjects or individuals as treated in scattered sections of the bulky work. The present article, however, will follow a different tack. I propose to start with a fecund source, the translations of part of the writings of William Warburton, and to describe the adaptations and modification of this material by Diderot and his colleagues according to their editorial needs and philosophic interests. The basic fact that Warburton was an indirect contributor to the