death of the aged king, much of what he has accomplished is still admired in a Paris where the Invalides is just being completed and cafés and theatre proliferate. We observe the function of parliaments, tribunals, religious bodies (Capuchins, Jesuits, etc.), public places and their publics (the Tuileries, the Palais Royal), state foundations (the hospital of the Quinze-Vingts (three hundred) for the blind, Invalides for wounded veterans). They describe a buzzing culture, where even the presence of two Persians quickly becomes a popular phenomenon thanks to the proliferation of prints (letter 28 [30]). The café – where debates take place (letter 34 [36]) – has become established as a public institution, as were already the theatre and opera. There are still people foolish enough to search at their own expense for the philosopher's stone; the newsmonger and the periodical press are beginning to play a significant role in everyday life. Everything from institutions (the university, the Academy, Sciences, the Bull Unigenitus) to groups (fashion, dandies, coquettes) to individuals (the opera singer, the old warrior, the rake, and so forth) comes before the reader's eye. Usbek for his part is troubled by religious comparisons. Though it never occurs to him to cease being a Muslim, and while he still wonders at some aspects of Christianity (the Trinity, communion), he writes to austere authorities to inquire, for example, why some foods are considered to be unclean (letters 15–17 [16–18]). He also assimilates the two religions and even all religions with respect to their social utility. Certain sequences of letters by a single author develop a particular subject more fully, such as letters 11–14 from Usbek to Mirza about the Troglodytes, letters 109–118 (113–122) from Usbek to Rhedi on demography, letters 128–132 (134–138) from Rica on his visit to the library at Saint-Victor. They sketch numerous analyses that will later be developed in L’Esprit des lois for subjects such as the types of power, the influence of climate, and the critique of colonization. Dénouement While Usbek appreciates the freer relations among men and women in the West, he remains, as master of a seraglio, in some measure a prisoner of his past. His wives play the role of languorous, abandoned lovers, he that of master and lover, with limited communication and little revelation of their true selves; Usbek's language with them is as constrained as theirs with him. Suspecting from the outset, moreover,