r sentiment appears in his own account
of his meeting with Grimm after a few months' absence. His
sentimentalism, however, had its remarkable counterpoise in a most
practical tendency of mind. In the Encyclopaedia the interests of
agriculture and of all branches of manufacture were treated with great
fullness; and the reform of feudal abuses lingering in the laws of
France was vigorously urged in a style more practical than cyclopaedic.

Diderot gave much attention to the drama, and his 'Paradoxe sur le
Comedien' (Paradox on the Actor) is a valuable discussion. He is the
father of the modern domestic drama. His influence upon the dramatic
literature of Germany was direct and immediate; it appeared in the
plays of Lessing and Schiller, and much of Lessing's criticism was
inspired by Diderot. His 'Pere de Famille' (Family-Father) and 'Le
Fils Naturel' (The Natural Son) marked the beginning of a new era in
the history of the stage, in the midst of which we are now living.
Breaking with the old traditions, Diderot abandoned the lofty themes
of classic tragedy and portrayed the life of the _bourgeoisie_.
The influence of England, frequently manifest in the work of the
Encyclopaedists, is evident also here. Richardson was then the chief
force in fiction, and the sentimental element so characteristic in
him reappears in the dramas of Diderot.

Goethe was strongly attracted by the genius of Diderot, and thought it
worth his while not only to translate but to supply with a long and
luminous commentary the latter's 'Essay on Painting.' It was by a
singular trick of fortune, too, that one of Diderot's most powerful
works should first have appeared in German garb, and not in the
original French until after the author's death. A manuscript copy of
the book chanced to fall into the hands of Goethe, who so greatly
admired it that he at once translated, annotated, and published it.
This was the famous dialogue 'Le Neveu de Rameau' (Rameau's Nephew),
a work which only Diderot's peculiar genius could have produced.
Depicting the typical parasite, shameless, quick-witted for every
species of villainy, at home in every possible meanness, the dialogue
is a probably unequaled compound of satire, high aesthetics, gleaming
humor, sentimental moralizing, fine musical criticism, and scientific
character analysis, with passages of brutal indecency.

Among literary critics of painting, Diderot has his place in the
highest rank. His nine 'Salons