by Thomas S. Vernon chapter v. from his 1989 book Great Infidels
"Jesus wept, and Voltaire smiled; and it is from this divine
tear and this human smile that the glory of modern civilization
is compounded." -- Victor Hugo      Shortly after the letter
just quoted, Voltaire composed the lengthy Poème sur le désastre
de Lisbonne. In this he passionately exclaims:  What! Would the
entire universe have been worse without this hellish abyss,
without swallowing up Lisbon? Are you sure that the eternal
cause that makes all, knows all, created all, could not plunge
us into this wretched world without placing flaming volcanoes
beneath our feet? Would you forbid it to show mercy?  In the
same poem Voltaire asks: "Was she more vicious than London, than
Paris, plunged in pleasures? Lisbon is shattered, and Paris
dances." The poem was widely disseminated and read. Besterman
remarks: "Men were stirred not so much by the disaster itself as
the event seen through the sensibility of a great man. Once
again a poet had become t