Letters on England: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Letters on England, credited to Voltaire, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Letters on England by Voltaire. Read in English by Xiaoyan Arrowsmith. Voltaire spent his early thirties in England as an exile following the Bastille imprisonment for his satires. With passionate admiration, he then wrote this series of letters in English putting forward his views on the 18th century England, in contrast with the feudal society of his home country, encompassing aspects of religion, politics, sciences, and literature. The book was published in England and the free England received these philosophical, political, critical, poetical, heretical, and diabolical letters with delight, whereas in France, the book was denounced and publicly burnt in Paris as scandalous, contrary to religion, to morals, and respect for authority. - Summary by IstXA

Recording facts

• Recording title: Letters on England
• Author credits: Voltaire
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 25
• Listed recording duration: 5:10:08

Catalogue topics

• satire
• letters
• quakers
• newton
• England

Opening tracks: first 24 of 25

1. 00 - INTRODUCTION — 7:07
2. 01 - LETTER I. ON THE QUAKERS — 14:46
3. 02 - LETTER II. ON THE QUAKERS — 7:11
4. 03 - LETTER III. ON THE QUAKERS — 11:11
5. 04 - LETTER IV. ON THE QUAKERS — 12:50
6. 05 - LETTER V. ON THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND — 8:26
7. 06 - LETTER VI. ON THE PRESBYTERIANS — 4:58
8. 07 - LETTER VII. ON THE SOCINIANS, OR ARIANS, OR ANTITRINITARIANS — 5:41
9. 08 - LETTER VIII. ON THE PARLIAMENT — 8:52
10. 09 - LETTER IX. ON THE GOVERNMENT — 12:26
11. 10 - LETTER X. ON TRADE — 5:09
12. 11 - LETTER XI. ON INOCULATION — 12:58
13. 12 - LETTER XII. ON THE LORD BACON — 14:30
14. 13 - LETTER XIII. ON MR. LOCKE — 19:49
15. 14 - LETTER XIV. ON DESCARTES AND SIR ISAAC NEWTON — 15:08
16. 15 - LETTER XV. ON ATTRACTION — 27:04
17. 16 - LETTER XVI. ON SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S OPTICS — 11:59
18. 17 - LETTER XVII. ON INFINITES IN GEOMETRY, AND SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S CHRONOLOGY — 17:43
19. 18 - LETTER XVIII. ON TRAGEDY — 18:36
20. 19 - LETTER XIX. ON COMEDY — 13:29
21. 20 - LETTER XX. ON SUCH OF THE NOBILITY AS CULTIVATE THE BELLES LETTRES — 5:15
22. 21 - LETTER XXI. ON THE EARL OF ROCHESTER AND MR. WALLER — 15:44
23. 22 - LETTER XXII. ON MR. POPE AND SOME OTHER FAMOUS POETS — 13:46
24. 23 - LETTER XXIII. ON THE REGARD THAT OUGHT TO BE SHOWN TO MEN OF LETTERS — 10:34

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.