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Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IYEAR 1786. · Entry 105

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YEAR 1786. · Entry 105

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 209

[1786]

L’Angleterre et les Anglais.

— Société royale. On y dit à Fontanes qu’on vivoit un peu plus longtemps en France qu’en Angleterre et que, par les calculs qu’on avoit fait[s], il étoit probable que l’excédent étoit à peu près de onze mois par chaque individu.

Reynolds et West-Bartolozzi.

— Les grands y ont plus d’habits et plus de viandes que le peuple ; mais le peuple s’y nourrit de la même viande et s’y habille de la même étoffe que les grands.

— Ils cherchent à rendre leurs prononciations harmonieuses. C’est un soin que prenent tous les peuples dont la langue est rude. Ils prétendent avoir dans la leur les susurri des latins.

— Ce ministre demanda s’il y avoit quelque chose de grand dans le peuple Est ne aliquid magnam ? ils n’estiment une nation que par le rôle politique qu’elle est capable de jouer.

On auroit pu lui répondre qu’il y avoit dans ce peuple quelque chose d’aimable, de doux, de gay, d’hospitalier, et aussi de fier et de hardi quand la nation avoit la guerre. Je ne scais si cette réponse lui eût donné de nous une opinion assés favorable.

— Pitt est beau comme Solon devoit l’être à trente ans. Dans la chambre des communes on rit beaucoup.

— Lord Pulteney, avare, extrêmement poli.

— Ils disent : « Nous n’avons pas un Buffon ».

S2.Source editor’s annotationCette série de notes n’est pas datée. Mais elle résume les renseignements que Joubert recueillit d’une conversation avec Fontanes, lorsque celui-ci revint de Londres au début de l’année 1786.

S3.Source editor’s annotationJoubert avait d’abord écrit « dix ».

S4.Source editor’s annotationC’est un ministre de la religion, un pasteur, avec qui Fontanes fit connaissance à Londres (Voir la correspondance).

S5.Source editor’s annotationDans le peuple français.

S6.Source editor’s annotationComme Fontanes savait peu l’anglais, il conversait volontiers en latin, lors de son voyage à Londres.

S7.Source editor’s annotationSur ces Pultney, à qui les Lezai Marnésia avaient recommandé Fontanes (Mlle de Marnésia était amie de Miss Pultney), voir les lettres de Fontanes.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1786.

p. 210

[1786]

England and the English.

— Royal Society. Fontanes was told there that people lived a little longer in France than in England, and that, by the calculations that had been made, the excess was probably about eleven months for each individual.

Reynolds and West-Bartolozzi.

— The great there have more clothes and more meats than the people; but the people eat the same meat and dress in the same cloth as the great.

— They seek to make their pronunciations harmonious. This is a care taken by all peoples whose language is rough. They claim to have in theirs the susurri of the Latins.

— This clergyman asked whether there was anything great among the people: Est ne aliquid magnam? They esteem a nation only for the political role it is capable of playing.

One could have answered him that there was in this people something lovable, gentle, cheerful, hospitable, and also proud and bold when the nation was at war. I do not know whether this answer would have given him a sufficiently favorable opinion of us.

— Pitt is handsome as Solon must have been at thirty. There is much laughter in the House of Commons.

— Lord Pulteney, miserly, extremely polite.

— They say: “We have no Buffon.”

S2.Source editor’s annotationThis series of notes is undated. But it summarizes information Joubert gathered in a conversation with Fontanes when the latter returned from London at the beginning of 1786.

S3.Source editor’s annotationJoubert had first written “ten.”

S4.Source editor’s annotationHe is a minister of religion, a pastor whom Fontanes came to know in London (see the correspondence).

S5.Source editor’s annotationAmong the French people.

S6.Source editor’s annotationAs Fontanes knew little English, he was glad to converse in Latin during his journey to London.

S7.Source editor’s annotationOn these Pultneys, to whom the Lezai Marnésias had recommended Fontanes (Mlle de Marnésia was a friend of Miss Pultney), see Fontanes’s letters.

T27.The source’s West-Bartolozzi joins two names with a hyphen; the English preserves that anomaly without treating it as a verified artist’s name. Susurri means murmurs or whispers. The printed Latin question Est ne aliquid magnam? appears to ask Is there anything great?; magnam is retained as printed rather than silently regularized. Cheerful renders the historical gay.

About This Reading Edition

Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.

Historical Text and Translation

The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.

Rights

The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.