Une prédication républicaine au milieu du siècle : Les Bagatelles morales de l'abbé Coyer

Christian Cheminade : A republican preacher in the mid century : abbé Coyer's Bagatelles morales. From 1747 onward abbé Coyer (1707-1782) wrote nine pamphlets, published in 1754 under the title of Bagatelles morales, which attack, using buffoonery, the vices and stupidities of his age. This moral satire leads him to question the social order, denouncing an unequal and corrupting society and condemning the overwhelming domination of the rich and the misery of the people. He preaches a return to natural equality thanks to which reconciled humanity would escape from vice and unhappiness. He proposes more and more clearly a new model of political and social relations on the lines of Athens and Rome, which he sees honoured in Basel, Amsterdam and London. This republican sermon, which is close to the thought of Rousseau, shows the existence in the mid century of a republican current still very distinct from the Enlightenment.Cheminade Christian. Une prédication républicaine au milieu du siècle : Les Bagatelles morales de l'abbé Coyer. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°27, 1995. L'Antiquité. pp. 365-380