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Fifth edition published 2022
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

and by CRC Press

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the
consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright
holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in
any future reprint.

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means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission
from the publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Names: Marschner, Steve, author. | Shirley, Peter, author.
Title: Fundamentals of computer graphics / Steve Marschner, Peter Shirley.
Description: 5th edition. | Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2021. | Includes
bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021008492 |
ISBN 9780367505035 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003050339 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Computer graphics.
Classification: LCC T385 .M36475 2021 | DDC 006.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008492

ISBN: 978-0-367-50503-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-50558-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-05033-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Times
by codeMantra
Contents

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Authors xv

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Graphics Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Major Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Graphics APIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Graphics Pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Numerical Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.6 Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.7 Designing and Coding Graphics Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 Miscellaneous Math 13
2.1 Sets and Mappings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Solving Quadratic Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Trigonometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4 Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5 Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.6 Density Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.7 Curves and Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.8 Linear Interpolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.9 Triangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.10 Discrete probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.11 Continuous probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.12 Monte Carlo Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

3 Raster Images 63
3.1 Raster Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.2 Images, Pixels, and Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.3 RGB Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.4 Alpha Compositing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

v
Preface

This edition of Fundamentals of Computer Graphics includes substantial rewrites

of the material on shading, light reflection, and path tracing, as well as many
corrections throughout. This book now provides a better introduction to the tech-
niques that go by the names of physics-based materials and physics-based ren-
dering and are becoming predominant in actual practice. This material is now
better integrated, and we think this book maps well to the way many instructors
are organizing graphics courses at present.
The organization of this book remains substantially similar to the fourth edi-
tion. As we have revised this book over the years, we have endeavored to retain
the informal, intuitive style of presentation that characterizes the earlier editions,
while at the same time improving consistency, precision, and completeness. We
hope the reader will find the result is an appealing platform for a variety of courses
in computer graphics.

About the Cover

The cover image is from Tiger in the Water by J. W. Baker (brushed and air-
brushed acrylic on canvas, 16” by 20”, www.jwbart.com).
The subject of a tiger is a reference to a wonderful talk given by Alain Fournier
(1943–2000) at a workshop at Cornell University in 1998. His talk was an evoca-
tive verbal description of the movements of a tiger. He summarized his point:

Even though modelling and rendering in computer graphics have

been improved tremendously in the past 35 years, we are still not
at the point where we can model automatically a tiger swimming in
the river in all its glorious details. By automatically I mean in a way
that does not need careful manual tweaking by an artist/expert.
The bad news is that we have still a long way to go.
The good news is that we have still a long way to go.

xi
Acknowledgments

The following people have provided helpful information, comments, or feedback

about the various editions of this book: Ahmet Oğuz Akyüz, Josh Andersen,
Beatriz Trinchão Andrade Zeferino Andrade, Bagossy Attila, Kavita Bala, Mick
Beaver, Robert Belleman, Adam Berger, Adeel Bhutta, Solomon Boulos, Stephen
Chenney, Michael Coblenz, Greg Coombe, Frederic Cremer, Brian Curtin, Dave
Edwards, Jonathon Evans, Karen Feinauer, Claude Fuhrer, Yotam Gingold, Amy
Gooch, Eungyoung Han, Chuck Hansen, Andy Hanson, Razen Al Harbi, Dave
Hart, John Hart, Yong Huang, John “Spike” Hughes, Helen Hu, Vicki Interrante,
Wenzel Jakob, Doug James, Henrik Wann Jensen, Shi Jin, Mark Johnson, Ray
Jones, Revant Kapoor, Kristin Kerr, Erum Arif Khan, Mark Kilgard, Fangjun
Kuang, Dylan Lacewell, Mathias Lang, Philippe Laval, Joshua Levine, Marc
Levoy, Howard Lo, Joann Luu, Mauricio Maurer, Andrew Medlin, Ron Metoyer,
Keith Morley, Eric Mortensen, Koji Nakamaru, Micah Neilson, Blake Nelson,
Michael Nikelsky, James O’Brien, Hongshu Pan , Steve Parker, Sumanta Pat-
tanaik, Matt Pharr, Ken Phillis Jr, Nicolò Pinciroli, Peter Poulos, Shaun Ramsey,
Rich Riesenfeld, Nate Robins, Nan Schaller, Chris Schryvers, Tom Sederberg,
Richard Sharp, Sarah Shirley, Peter-Pike Sloan, Hannah Story, Tony Tahbaz, Jan-
Phillip Tiesel, Bruce Walter, Alex Williams, Amy Williams, Chris Wyman, Kate
Zebrose, and Angela Zhang.
Ching-Kuang Shene and David Solomon allowed us to borrow their exam-
ples. Henrik Wann Jensen, Eric Levin, Matt Pharr, and Jason Waltman generously
provided images. Brandon Mansfield helped improve the discussion of hierarchi-
cal bounding volumes for ray tracing. Philip Greenspun (philip.greenspun.com)
kindly allowed us to use his photographs. John “Spike” Hughes helped improve
the discussion of sampling theory. Wenzel Jakob’s Mitsuba renderer was invalu-
able in creating many figures. We are extremely thankful to J. W. Baker for help-
ing create the cover Pete envisioned. In addition to being a talented artist, he was
a great pleasure to work with personally.
Many works that were helpful in preparing this book are cited in the chap-
ter notes. However, a few key texts that influenced the content and presentation
deserve special recognition here. These include the two classic computer graph-
ics texts from which we both learned the basics: Computer Graphics: Princi-
ples & Practice (Foley, Van Dam, Feiner, & Hughes, 1990) and Computer Graph-
ics (Hearn & Baker, 1986). Other texts include both of Alan Watt’s influential
books (Watt, 1993, 1991), Hill’s Computer Graphics Using OpenGL (Francis

xiii
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
representatives, to determine the necessity of public contributions,
their appropriation, mode of assessment, and duration.
The simplicity of these principles, promulged by the men of genius
of the last and present ages, and their justness, acknowledged by
every description of unprejudiced men, had not been recognised by
any senate or government in Europe; and it was an honour worthy to
be reserved for the representatives of twenty-five millions of men,
rising to the sense and feeling of rational beings, to be the first to
dare to ratify such sacred and beneficial truths—truths, the existence
of which had been eternal; and which required only to be made
known, to be generally acknowledged—truths, which have been
fostered by the genius of philosophy, whilst hereditary wealth and
the bayonet of despotism have continually been opposed to their
establishment.
The publicity of a government acting conformably to the principles
of reason, in contradistinction to the maxims of oppression, affords
the people an opportunity, or at least a chance, of judging of the
wisdom and moderation of their ministers; and the eye of
discernment, when permitted to make known it’s observations, will
always prove a check on the profligacy or dangerous ambition of
aspiring men.—So that in contemplating the extension of
representative systems of polity, we have solid ground on which to
rest the expectation—that wars and their calamitous effects will
become less frequent, in proportion as the people, who are obliged to
support them with their sweat and blood, are consulted respecting
their necessity and consequences.
Such consultations can take place under representative systems of
government only—under systems which demand the responsibility of
their ministers, and secure the publicity of their political conduct.
The mysteries of courts, and the intrigues of their parasites, have
continually deluged Europe with the blood of it’s most worthy and
heroic citizens, and there is no specific cure for such evils, but by
enabling the people to form an opinion respecting the subject of
dispute.
The court of Versailles, with powers the most ample, was the most
busy and insidious of any in Europe; and the horrours which she has
occasioned, at different periods, were as incalculable, as her
ambition was unbounded, and her councils base, unprincipled, and
dishonourable. If, then, it were only for abolishing her sway, Europe
ought to be thankful for a change, that, by altering the political
systems of the most improved quarter of the globe, must ultimately
lead to universal freedom, virtue, and happiness.
But it is to be presumed, when the effervescence, which now
agitates the prejudices of the whole continent, subsides, the justness
of the principles brought forward in the declaration of the rights of
men and citizens will be generally granted; and that governments, in
future, acquiring reason and dignity, feeling for the sufferings of the
people, whilst reprobating the sacrilege of tyranny, will make it their
principal object, to counteract it’s baneful tendency, by restraining
within just bounds the ambition of individuals.
 CHAPTER IV.
PROGRESS OF REFORM. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA. LIBERTY OF THE
PRESS. CAPITALS. THE FRENCH NOT PROPERLY QUALIFIED FOR
THE REVOLUTION. SAVAGE COMPARED WITH CIVILIZED MAN.
EFFECTS OF EXTRAVAGANCE—OF COMMERCE—AND OF
MANUFACTURES. EXCUSE FOR THE FEROCITY OF THE PARISIANS.

People thinking for themselves have more energy in their voice,

than any government, which it is possible for human wisdom to
invent; and every government not aware of this sacred truth will, at
some period, be suddenly overturned. Whilst men in a savage state
preserve their independence, they adopt no regular system of policy,
nor ever attempt to digest their rude code of laws into a constitution,
to ensure political liberty. Consequently we find in every country,
after it’s civilization has arrived at a certain height, that the people,
the moment they are displeased with their rulers, begin to clamour
against them; and, finally rejecting all authority but their own will, in
breaking the shackles of folly or tyranny, they glut their resentment
by the mischievous destruction of the works of ages, only considering
them as the moments of their servitude.
From the social disposition of man, in proportion as he becomes
civilized, he will mingle more and more with society. The first
interest he takes in the business of his fellow-men is in that of his
neighbour; next he contemplates the comfort, misery, and happiness
of the nation to which he belongs, investigates the degree of wisdom
and justice in the political system, under which he lives, and, striding
into the regions of science, his researches embrace all human kind.
Thus he is enabled to estimate the portion of evil or good which the
government of his country produces, compared with that of others;
and the comparison, granting him superiour powers of mind, leads
him to conceive a model of a more perfect form.
This spirit of inquiry first manifests itself in hamlets; when his
views of improvement are confined to local advantages: but the
approximation of different districts leading to further intercourse,
roads of communication are opened, until a central or favourite spot
becomes the vortex of men and things. Then the rising spires,
pompous domes, and majestic monuments, point out the capital; the
focus of information, the reservoir of genius, the school of arts, the
seat of voluptuous gratification, and the hot-bed of vice and
immorality.
The centrifugal rays of knowledge and science now stealing
through the empire, the whole intellectual faculties of man partake of
their influence, and one general sentiment governs the civil and
political body. In the progress of these improvements the state
undergoing a variety of changes, the happiness or misery produced
occasions a diversity of opinions; and to prevent confusion, absolute
governments have been tolerated by the most enlightened part of the
people. But, probably, this toleration was merely the effect of the
strong social feelings of men; who preferred tranquillity, and the
prosperity of their country, to a resistance, which, judging from the
ignorance of their fellow citizens, they believed would bring more
harm than good in it’s train. In short, however long a combination of
tyranny has retarded the progress, it has been one of the advantages
of the large cities of Europe] to light up the sparks of reason, and to
extend the principles of truth.
Such is the good and evil flowing from the capitals of states, that
during the infancy of governments, though they tend to corrupt and
enervate the mind, they accelerate the introduction of science, and
give the tone to the national sentiments and taste.
But this influence is extremely gradual; and it requires a great
length of time, for the remote corners of the empire to experience
either the one, or the other of these effects. Hence we have seen the
inhabitants of a metropolis feeble and vitiated, and those of the
provinces robust and virtuous. Hence we have seen oppositions in a
city (riots as they are called) to illegal governments instantly
defeated, and their leaders hanged or tortured; because the judgment
of the state was not sufficiently matured to support the struggle of
the unhappy victims in a righteous cause. And hence it has
happened, that the despots of the world have found it necessary to
maintain large standing armies, in order to counteract the effects of
truth and reason.
The continuation of the feudal system, however, for a great length
of time, by giving an overgrown influence to the nobility of France,
had contributed, in no small degree, to counteract the despotism of
her kings. Thus it was not until after the arbitrary administration of
Richelieu, who had terrified the whole order by a tyranny peculiar to
himself, that the insidious Mazarine broke the independent spirit of
the nation by introducing the sale of honours; and that Louis XIV, by
the magnificence of his follies, and the meretricious decorations of
stars, crosses, and other marks of distinction, or badges of slavery,
drew the nobles from their castles; and, by concentrating the
pleasures and wealth of the kingdom in Paris, the luxury of the court
became commensurate to the product of the nation. Besides, the
encouragement given to enervating pleasures, and the venality of
titles, purchased either with money, or ignoble services, soon
rendered the nobility as notorious for effeminacy as they had been
illustrious for heroism in the days of the gallant Henry.
The arts had already formed a school, and men of science and
literature were hurrying from every part of the kingdom to the
metropolis, in search of employment and of honour; and whilst it
was giving it’s tone to the empire, the parisian taste was pervading
Europe.
The vanity of leading the fashions, in the higher orders of society,
is not the smallest weakness produced by the sluggishness into which
people of quality naturally fall. The depravity of manners, and the
sameness of pleasure, which compose a life of idleness, are sure to
produce an insupportable ennui; and, in proportion to the stupidity
of the man, or as his sensibility becomes deadened, he has recourse
to variety, finding a zest only from a new creation of charms; and
commonly the most unnatural are necessary to rouse sickly,
fastidious senses. Still in the same degree as the refinement of
sentiment, and the improvement of taste advance, the company of
celebrated literary characters is sought after with avidity; and from
the prevalence of fashion, the empire of wit succeeds the reign of
formal insipidity, after the squeamish palate has been rendered
delicate even by the nauseous banquets of voluptuousness.
This is the natural consequence of the improvement of manners,
the harbinger of reason; and from the ratio of it’s advancement
throughout society, we are enabled to estimate the progress of
political science. For no sooner had the disquisition of philosophical
subjects become general in the select parties of amusement,
extending by degrees to every class of society, than the rigour of the
ancient government of France began to soften; till it’s mildness
became so considerable, that superficial observers have attributed
the exercise of lenity in the administration to the wisdom and
excellence of the system itself.
A confederacy of philosophers, whose opinions furnished the food
of colloquial entertainment, gave a turn for instructive and useful
reading to the leaders of circles, and drew the attention of the nation
to the principles of political and civil government. Whilst by the
compilation of the Encyclopedia, the repository of their thoughts, as
an abstract work, they eluded the dangerous vigilance of absolute
ministers; thus in a body disseminating those truths in the economy
of finance, which, perhaps, they would not have had sufficient
courage separately to have produced in individual publications; or, if
they had, they would most probably have been suppressed.
This is one of the few instances of an association of men becoming
useful, instead of being cramped by joint exertions. And the cause is
clear:—the work did not require a little party spirit; but each had a
distinct subject of investigation to pursue with solitary energy. His
destination was traced upon a calm sea, which could not expose him
to the Scylla or Charybdis of vanity or interest.
The economists, carrying away the palm, from their opponents,
showed that the prosperity of a state depends on the freedom of
industry; that talents should be permitted to find their level; that the
unshackling of commerce is the only secret to render it flourishing,
and answer more effectually the ends for which it is politically
necessary; and that the imposts should be laid upon the surplus
remaining, after the husbandman has been reimbursed for his labour
and expences.
Ideas so new, and yet so just and simple, could not fail to produce
a great effect on the minds of frenchmen; who, constitutionally
attached to novelty and ingenious speculations, were sure to be
enamoured with a prospect of consolidating the great advantages of
such a novel and enlightened system; and without calculating the
danger of attacking old prejudices; nay, without ever considering,
that it was a much easier task to pull down than to build up, they
gave themselves little trouble to examine the gradual steps by which
other countries have attained their degree of political improvement.
 The many vexatious taxes, which under the french government not
only enervated the exertions of unprivileged persons, stagnating the
live stream of trade, but were extremely teasing inconveniences to
every private man, who could not travel from one place to another
without being stopped at barriers, and searched by officers of
different descriptions, were almost insuperable impediments in the
way of the improvements of industry: and the abridgment of liberty
was not more grievous in it’s pecuniary consequences, than in the
personal mortification of being compelled to observe regulations as
troublesome as they were at variance with sound policy.
Irritations of the temper produce more poignant sensations of
disgust than serious injuries. Frenchmen, indeed, had been so long
accustomed to these vexatious forms, that, like the ox who is daily
yoked, they were no longer galled in spirit, or exhaled their angry
ebullitions in a song. Still it might have been supposed, that after
reflecting little, and talking much, about the sublimity and superiour
excellence of the plans of french writers above those of other nations,
they would become as passionate for liberty, as a man restrained by
some idle religious vow is to possess a mistress, to whose charms the
imagination has lent all it’s own world of graces.
Besides, the very manner of living in France gives a lively turn to
the character of the people; for by the destruction of the animal
juices, in dressing their food, they are subject to none of that dulness,
the effect of more nutritive diet in other countries; and this gaiety is
increased by the moderate quantity of weak wine, which they drink
at their meats, bidding defiance to phlegm. The people also living
entirely in villages and towns are more social; so that the tone of the
capital, the instant it had a note distinct from that of the court,
became the key of the nation; though the inhabitants of the provinces
polished their manners with less danger to their morals, or natural
simplicity of character. But this mode of peopling the country tended
more to civilize the inhabitants, than to change the face of the soil, or
lead to agricultural improvements. For it is by residing in the midst
of their land, that farmers make the most of it, in every sense of the
word—so that the rude state of husbandry, and the awkwardness of
the implements used by these ingenious people, may be imputed
solely to this cause.
 The situation of France was likewise very favourable for collecting
the information, acquired in other parts of the world. Paris, having
been made a thoroughfare to all the kingdoms on the continent,
received in it’s bosom strangers from every quarter; and itself
resembling a full hive, the very drones buzzed into every corner all
the sentiments of liberty, which it is possible for a people to possess,
who have never been enlightened by the broad sunshine of freedom;
yet more romantically enthusiastic, probably, for that very reason.
Paris, therefore, having not only disseminated information, but
presented herself as a bulwark to oppose the despotism of the court,
standing the brunt of the fray, seems with some reason, to pride
herself on being the author of the revolution.
Though the liberty of the press had not existed in any part of the
world, England and America excepted, still the disquisition of
political questions had long occupied the intelligent parts of Europe;
and in France, more than in any other country, books written with
licentious freedom were handed from house to house, with the
circumspection that irritates curiosity. Not to lay great stress on the
universality of the language, which made one general opinion on the
benefits arising from the advancement of science and reason pervade
the neighbouring states, particularly Germany; where original
compositions began to take place of that laborious erudition, which
being employed only in the elucidation of ancient writers, the
judgment lies dormant, or is merely called into action to weigh the
import of words rather than to estimate the value of things. In Paris,
likewise, a knot of ingenious, if not profound writers, twinkled their
light into every circle; for being caressed by the great, they did not
inhabit the homely recesses of indigence, rusticating their manners
as they cultivated their understandings; on the contrary, the finesse
required to convey their free sentiments in their books, broken into
the small shot of innuendoes, gave an oiliness to their conversation,
and enabled them to take the lead at tables, the voluptuousness of
which was grateful to philosophers, rather of the epicurean than the
stoic sect.
It had long been the fashion to talk of liberty, and to dispute on
hypothetical and logical points of political economy; and these
disputations disseminated gleams of truth, and generated more
demagogues than had ever appeared in any modern city.—The
number exceeded, perhaps, any comparison with that of Athens
itself.
The habit also of passing a part of most of their evenings at some
theatre gave them an ear for harmony of language, and a fastidious
taste for sheer declamation, in which a sentimental jargon
extinguishes all the simplicity and fire of passion: the great number
of play-houses[34], and the moderate prices of the pit and different
ranges of boxes, bringing it within the compass of every citizen to
frequent the amusement so much beloved by the french.
The arrangement of sounds, and the adjustment of masculine and
feminine rhymes, being the secrets of their poetry, the pomp of
diction gives a semblance of grandeur to common observations and
hackneyed sentiments; because the french language, though copious
in the phrases that give each shade of sentiment, has not, like the
italian, the english, the german, a phraseology peculiar to poetry; yet
it’s happy turns, equivocal, nay even concise expressions, and
numerous epithets, which, when ingeniously applied, convey a
sentence, or afford matter for half a dozen, make it better adapted to
oratorical flourishes than that of any other nation. The french
therefore are all rhetoricians, and they have a singular fund of
superficial knowledge, caught in the tumult of pleasure from the
shallow stream of conversation; so that if they have not the depth of
thought which is obtained only by contemplation, they have all the
shrewdness of sharpened wit; and their acquirements are so near
their tongue’s end, that they never miss an opportunity of saying a
pertinent thing, or tripping up, by a smart retort, the arguments with
which they have not strength fairly to wrestle.
Every political good carried to the extreme must be productive of
evil; yet every poison has it’s antidote; and there is a pitch of luxury
and refinement, which, when reached, will overturn all the absolute
governments in the world. The ascertainment of these antidotes is a
task the most difficult; and whilst it remains imperfect, a number of
men will continue to be the victims of mistaken applications. Like the
empirics, who bled a patient to death to prevent a mortification from
becoming fatal, the tyrants of the earth have had recourse to cutting
off the heads, or torturing the bodies, of those persons who have
attempted to check their sway, or doubt their omnipotence. But,
though thousands have perished the victims of empirics, and of
despots, yet the improvements made both in medicine and moral
philosophy have kept a sure, though gradual pace.—And, if men have
not clearly discovered a specific remedy for every evil, physical,
moral, and political, it is to be presumed, that the accumulation of
experimental facts will greatly tend to lessen them in future.
Whilst, therefore, the sumptuous galas of the court of France were
the grand source of the refinement of the arts, taste became the
antidote to ennui; and when sentiment had taken place of chivalrous
and gothic tournaments, the reign of philosophy succeeded that of
the imagination. And though the government, enveloped in
precedents, adjusted still the idle ceremonials, which were no longer
imposing, blind to the imperceptible change of things and opinions,
as if their faculties were bound by an eternal frost, the progress was
invariable; till, reaching a certain point, Paris, which from the
particular formation of the empire had been such an useful head to
it, began to be the cause of dreadful calamities, extending from
individuals to the nation, and from the nation to Europe. Thus it is,
that we are led to blame those, who insist, that, because a state of
things has been productive of good, it is always respectable; when, on
the contrary, the endeavouring to keep alive any hoary
establishment, beyond it’s natural date, is often pernicious and
always useless.
In the infancy of governments, or rather of civilization, courts
seem to be necessary to accelerate the improvement of arts and
manners, to lead to that of science and morals. Large capitals are the
obvious consequences of the riches and luxury of courts; but as, after
they have arrived at a certain magnitude and degree of refinement,
they become dangerous to the freedom of the people, and
incompatible with the safety of a republican government, it may be
questioned whether Paris will not occasion more disturbance in
settling the new order of things, than is equivalent to the good she
produced by accelerating the epocha of the revolution.
However, it appears very certain, that should a republican
government be consolidated, Paris must rapidly crumble into decay.
It’s rise and splendour were owing chiefly, if not entirely, to the old
system of government; and since the foundation of it’s luxury has
been shaken, and it is not likely that the disparting structure will ever
again rest securely on it’s basis, we may fairly infer, that, in
proportion as the charms of solitary reflection and agricultural
recreations are felt, the people, by leaving the villages and cities, will
give a new complexion to the face of the country—and we may then
look for a turn of mind more solid, principles more fixed, and a
conduct more consistent and virtuous.
The occupations and habits of life have a wonderful influence on
the forming mind; so great, that the superinductions of art stop the
growth of the spontaneous shoots of nature, till it is difficult to
distinguish natural from factitious morals and feelings; and as the
energy of thinking will always proceed, in a great measure, either
from our education or manner of living, the frivolity of the french
character may be accounted for, without taking refuge in the old
hiding place of ignorance—occult causes.
When it is the object of education to prepare the pupil to please
every body, and of course to deceive, accomplishments are the one
thing needful; and the desire to be admired ever being uppermost,
the passions are subjugated, or all drawn into the whirlpool of
egotism[35]. This gives to each person, however different the temper,
a tincture of vanity, and that weak vacillation of opinion, which is
incompatible with what we term character.
Thus a frenchman, like most women, may be said to have no
character distinguishable from that of the nation; unless little
shades, and casual lights, be allowed to constitute an essential
characteristic. What then could have been expected, when their
ambition was mostly confined to dancing gracefully, entering a room
with easy assurance, and smiling on and complimenting the very
persons whom they meant to ridicule at the next fashionable
assembly? The learning to fence with skill, it is true, was useful to a
people, whose false notions of honour required that at least a drop of
blood should atone for the shadow of an affront. The knack also of
uttering sprightly repartees became a necessary art, to supply the
place of that real interest only to be nourished in the affectionate
intercourse of domestic intimacy, where confidence enlarges the
heart it opens. Besides, the desire of eating of every dish at table, no
matter if there were fifty, and the custom of separating immediately
after the repast, destroy the social affections, reminding a stranger of
the vulgar saying—‘every man for himself, and God for us all.’ After
these cursory observations, it is not going too far to advance, that the
french were in some respects the most unqualified of any people in
Europe to undertake the important work in which they are
embarked.
Whilst pleasure was the sole object of living among the higher
orders of society, it was the business of the lower to give life to their
joys, and convenience to their luxury. This cast-like division, by
destroying all strength of character in the former, and debasing the
latter to machines, taught frenchmen to be more ingenious in their
contrivances for pleasure and show, than the men of any other
country; whilst, with respect to the abridgment of labour in the
mechanic arts, or to promote the comfort of common life, they were
far behind. They had never, in fact, acquired an idea of that
independent, comfortable situation, in which contentment is sought
rather than happiness; because the slaves of pleasure or power can
be roused only by lively emotions and extravagant hopes. Indeed
they have no word in their vocabulary to express comfort—that state
of existence, in which reason renders serene and useful the days,
which passion would only cheat with flying dreams of happiness.
A change of character cannot be so sudden as some sanguine
calculators expect: yet by the destruction of the rights of
primogeniture, a greater degree of equality of property is sure to
follow; and as Paris cannot maintain it’s splendour, but by the trade
of luxury, which can never be carried to the same height it was
formerly, the opulent having strong motives to induce them to live
more in the country, they must acquire new inclinations and
opinions.—As a change also of the system of education and domestic
manners will be a natural consequence of the revolution, the french
will insensibly rise to a dignity of character far above that of the
present race; and then the fruit of their liberty, ripening gradually,
will have a relish not to be expected during it’s crude and forced
state.
The late arrangement of things seems to have been the common
effect of an absolute government, a domineering priesthood, and a
great inequality of fortune; and whilst it completely destroyed the
most important end of society, the comfort and independence of the
people, it generated the most shameful depravity and weakness of
intellect; so that we have seen the french engaged in a business the
most sacred to mankind, giving, by their enthusiasm, splendid
examples of their fortitude at one moment, and at another, by their
want of firmness and deficiency of judgment, affording the most
glaring and fatal proofs of the just estimate, which all nations have
formed of their character.
Men so thoroughly sophisticated, it was to be supposed, would
never conduct any business with steadiness and moderation: but it
required a knowledge of the nation and their manners, to form a
distinct idea of their disgusting conceit and wretched egotism; so far
surpassing all the calculations of reason, that, perhaps, should not a
faithful picture be now sketched, posterity would be at loss to
account for their folly; and attribute to madness, what arose from
imbecility.
The natural feelings of man seldom become so contaminated and
debased as not sometimes to let escape a gleam of the generous fire,
an ethereal spark of the soul; and it is these glowing emotions, in the
inmost recesses of the heart, which have continued to feed feelings,
that on sudden occasions manifest themselves with all their pristine
purity and vigour. But, by the habitual slothfulness of rusty intellects,
or the depravity of the heart, lulled into hardness on the lascivious
couch of pleasure, those heavenly beams are obscured, and man
appears either an hideous monster, a devouring beast; or a spiritless
reptile, without dignity or humanity.
Those miserable wretches who crawl under the feet of others are
seldom to be found among savages, where men accustomed to
exercise and temperance are, in general, brave, hospitable, and
magnanimous; and it is only as they surrender their rights, that they
lose those noble qualities of the heart. The ferocity of the savage is of
a distinct nature from that of the degenerate slaves of tyrants. One
murders from mistaken notions of courage; yet he respects his
enemy in proportion to his fortitude, and contempt of death: the
other assassinates without remorse, whilst his trembling nerves
betray the weakness of his affrighted soul at every appearance of
danger. Among the former, men are respected according to their
abilities; consequently idle drones are driven out of this society; but
among the latter, men are raised to honours and employments in
proportion as a talent for intrigue, the sure proof of littleness of
mind, has rendered them servile. The most melancholy reflections
are produced by a retrospective glance over the rise and progress of
the governments of different countries, when we are compelled to
remark, that flagrant follies and atrocious crimes have been more
common under the governments of modern Europe, than in any of
the ancient nations, if we except the jews. Sanguinary tortures,
insidious poisonings, and dark assassinations, have alternately
exhibited a race of monsters in human shape, the contemplation of
whose ferocity chills the blood, and darkens every enlivening
expectation of humanity: but we ought to observe, to reanimate the
hopes of benevolence, that the perpetration of these horrid deeds has
arisen from a despotism in the government, which reason is teaching
us to remedy. Sometimes, it is true, restrained by an iron police, the
people appear peaceable, when they are Only stunned; so that we
find, whenever the mob has broken loose, the fury of the populace
has been shocking and calamitous. These considerations account for
the contradictions in the french character, which must strike a
stranger: for robberies are very rare in France, where daily frauds
and sly pilfering, prove, that the lower class have as little honesty as
sincerity. Besides murder and cruelty almost always show the
dastardly ferocity of fear in France; whilst in England, where the
spirit of liberty has prevailed, it is usual for an highwayman,
demanding your money, not only to avoid barbarity, but to behave
with humanity, and even complaisance.
Degeneracy of morals, with polished manners, produces the worst
of passions, which floating through the social body, the genial
current of natural feelings has been poisoned; and, committing
crimes with trembling inquietude, the culprits have not only drawn
on themselves the vengeance of the law, but thrown an odium on
their nature, that has blackened the face of humanity. And whilst it’s
temple has been sacrilegiously profaned by the drops of blood, which
have issued from the very hearts of the sad victims of their folly; a
hardness of temper, under the veil of sentiment, calling it vice, has
prevented our sympathy from leading us to examine into the sources
of the atrocity of our species, and obscured the true cause of
disgraceful and vicious habits.
Since the existence of courts, whose aggrandisement has been
conspicuous in the same degree as the miseries of the debased people
have accumulated, the convenience and comfort of men have been
sacrificed to the ostentatious display of pomp and ridiculous
pageantry. For every order of men, from the beggar to the king, has
tended to introduce that extravagance into society, which equally
blasts domestic virtue and happiness. The prevailing custom of living
beyond their income has had the most baneful effect on the
independence of individuals of every class in England, as well as in
France; so that whilst they have lived in habits of idleness, they have
been drawn into excesses, which, proving ruinous, produced
consequences equally pernicious to the community, and degrading to
the private character. Extravagance forces the peer to prostitute his
talents and influence for a place, to repair his broken fortune; and
the country gentleman, becomes venal in the senate, to enable
himself to live on a par with him, or reimburse himself for the
expences of electioneering, into which he was led by sheer vanity.
The professions, on the same account, become equally unprincipled.
The one, whose characteristic ought to be integrity, descends to
chicanery; whilst another trifles with the health, of which it knows all
the importance. The merchant likewise enters into speculations so
closely bordering on fraudulency, that common straight forward
minds can scarcely distinguish the devious art of selling any thing for
a price far beyond that necessary to ensure a just profit, from sheer
dishonesty, aggravated by hard-heartedness, when it is to take
advantage of the necessities of the indigent.
The destructive influence of commerce, it is true, carried on by
men who are eager by overgrown riches to partake of the respect
paid to nobility, is felt in a variety of ways. The most pernicious,
perhaps, is it’s producing an aristocracy of wealth, which degrades
mankind, by making them only exchange savageness for tame
servility, instead of acquiring the urbanity of improved reason.
Commerce also, overstocking a country with people, obliges the
majority to become manufacturers rather than husbandmen; and
then the division of labour, solely to enrich the proprietor, renders
the mind entirely inactive. The time which, a celebrated writer says,
is sauntered away, in going from one part of an employment to
another, is the very time that preserves the man from degenerating
into a brute; for every one must have observed how much more
intelligent are the blacksmiths, carpenters, and masons in the
country, than the journeymen in great towns; and, respecting
morals, there is no making a comparison. The very gait of the man,
who is his own master, is so much more steady than the slouching
step of the servant of a servant, that it is unnecessary to ask which
proves by his actions he has the most independence of character.
The acquiring of a fortune is likewise the least arduous road to pre-
eminence, and the most sure; thus are whole knots of men turned
into machines, to enable a keen speculator to become wealthy; and
every noble principle of nature is eradicated by making a man passes
his life in stretching wire, pointing a pin, heading a nail, or spreading
a sheet of paper on a plain surface. Besides, it is allowed, that all
associations of men render them sensual, and consequently selfish;
and whilst lazy friars are driven out of their cells as stagnate bodies
that corrupt society, it may admit of a doubt whether large work-
shops do not contain men equally tending to impede that gradual
progress of improvement, which leads to the perfection of reason,
and the establishment of rational equality.
The deprivation of natural, equal, civil and political rights, reduced
the most cunning of the lower orders to practise fraud, and the rest
to habits of stealing, audacious robberies, and murders. And why?
because the rich and poor were separated into bands of tyrants and
slaves, and the retaliation of slaves is always terrible. In short, every
sacred feeling, moral and divine, has been obliterated, and the
dignity of man sullied, by a system of policy and jurisprudence as
repugnant to reason, as at variance with humanity.
The only excuse that can be made for the ferocity of the parisians is
then simply to observe, that they had not any confidence in the laws,
which they had always found to be merely cobwebs to catch small
flies. Accustomed to be punished themselves for every trifle, and
often for only being in the way of the rich, or their parasites; when, in
fact, had the parisians seen the execution of a noble, or priest,
though convicted of crimes beyond the daring of vulgar minds?—
When justice, or the law, is so partial, the day of retribution will
come with the red sky of vengeance, to confound the innocent with
the guilty. The mob were barbarous beyond the tiger’s cruelty: for
how could they trust a court that had so often deceived them, or
expect to see it’s agents punished, when the same measures were
pursuing?
Let us cast our eyes over the history of man, and we shall scarcely
find a page that is not tarnished by some foul deed, or bloody
transaction. Let us examine the catalogue of the vices of men in a
savage state, and contrast them with those of men civilized; we shall
find, that a barbarian, considered as a moral being, is an angel,
compared with the refined villain of artificial life. Let us investigate
the causes which have produced this degeneracy, and we shall
discover, that they are those unjust plans of government, which have
been formed by peculiar circumstances in every part of the globe.—
Then let us coolly and impartially contemplate the improvements,
which are gaining ground in the formation of principles of policy;
and I flatter myself it will be allowed by every humane and
considerate being, that a political system more simple than has
hitherto existed would effectually check those aspiring follies, which,
by imitation, leading to vice, have banished from governments the
very shadow of justice and magnanimity.
Thus had France grown up, and sickened on the corruption of a
state diseased. But, as in medicine there is a species of complaint in
the bowels which works it’s own cure, and, leaving the body healthy,
gives an invigorated tone to the system, so there is in politics: and
whilst the agitation of it’s regeneration continues, the
excrementitious humours exuding from the contaminated body will
excite a general dislike and contempt for the nation; and it is only the
philosophical eye, which looks into the nature and weighs the
consequences of human actions, that will be able to discern the
cause, which has produced so many dreadful effects.
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

1. What else could be expected from the courtier, who could write in these
terms to madame de Maintenon: God has been so gracious to me, madam, that, in
whatever company I find myself, I never have occasion to blush for the gospel or
the king.
2. For example, the reception of a portuguese adventurer, under the character
of a persian ambassador. A farce made by the court to rouse the blunted senses of
the king.
3. Memoires du marechal de Richelieu.
4. In this reply will be found many of the reasons, that have been lately
repeated; and some (a proof of the progress of reason), which no one had the
audacity to repeat, when standing up in defence of privileges.
5. It is well known, that for a long time he wished to convoke the states-
general; and it was not without difficulty, that Dubois made him abandon this
design. During the year 1789, a curious memorial has been reprinted, which he
wrote on this occasion; and it is, like the author, a model of impudence.
6. Since the constituent assembly equalized the impost, Calonne has boasted,
that he proposed a mode of levying equal taxes; but that the nobility would not
listen to any such motion, tenaciously maintaining their privileges. This blind
obstinacy of opposing all reform, that touched their exemptions, may be reckoned
among the foremost causes, which, in hurrying the removal of old abuses, tended
to introduce violence and disorder.—And if it be kept in remembrance, that a
conduct equally illiberal and disingenuous warped all their political sentiments, it
must be clear, that the people, from whom they considered themselves as
separated by immutable laws, had cogent grounds to conclude, that it would be
next to impossible to effect a reform of the greater part of those perplexing
exemptions and arbitrary customs, the weight of which made the peculiar urgency,
and called with the most forcible energy for the revolution. Surely all the folly of
the people taken together was less reprehensible, than this total want of
discernment, this adherence to a prejudice, the jaundiced perception of
contumelious ignorance, in a class of men, who from the opportunity they had of
acquiring knowledge, ought to have acted with more judgment. For they were
goaded into action by inhuman provocations, by acts of the most flagrant injustice,
when they had neither rule nor experience to direct them, and after their
temperance had been destroyed by years of sufferings, and an endless catalogue of
reiterated and contemptuous privations.
7. Importance of religious opinions.
 8. ‘The code of étiquette’, says Mirabeau, ‘has been hitherto the sacred fire of
the court and privileged orders.’
9. Under the reign of Louis XV two hundred and thirty thousand lettres de
cachet had been issued; and after this, who will assert, that this was not an
inveterate evil, which ought to be eradicated; for it is an insult to human reason, to
talk of the modification of such abuses, as seem to be experiments to try how far
human patience can be stretched.
10. Count Lally-Tolendal.
11. This was written some months before the death of the queen.
12. Such is ever the conduct of soi-disant patriots.
13. This is an event much more important at Paris, than it would be in
London.
14. The mayor.
15. This man, the abbé Lefebure, remained all night, and the greater part of
the next day, standing over a barrel of gun-powder, persisting to keep off the
people, with undaunted courage, though several of them, to torment him, brought
pipes to smoke near it; and one actually fired a pistol close by, that set fire to his
hair.
16. Lally-Tolendal said of La Fayette, at this time, that ‘he spoke of liberty as
he had defended it.’
17. The supplying of Paris with provision always depended on a nice
arrangement of circumstances, capable of being controlled by the government of
the state. It is not like London, and other great cities, the local position of which
was previously pointed out by nature, and of which the welfare depends on the
great and perpetual movements of commerce, which they themselves regulate. To
cut off the provision from London, you must block up the port, and interdict in an
open manner an intercourse, on which the wealth of the nation in a great measure
depends. Paris, on the contrary, might be famished in a few days by a secret order
of the court. All the people of the place would feel the effect, and no person be able
to ascertain the cause. These considerations render it easy to account for the
continued scarcity of provision in Paris during the summer of 1789. No person can
doubt, but the court viewed the revolution with horrour; and that, among the
measures which they took to prevent it, they would not overlook so obvious an
expedient, as that of cutting off the supplies from the capital; as they supposed the
people would lay the blame on the new order of things, and thus be disgusted with
the revolution.
18. The lamp-posts, which are only to be found in squares, and places where
there are not two rows of houses, are much more substantial than in England.
19. ‘In August 1778,’ says Lally-Tolendal, ‘the laws were overturned; and
twenty-five millions of men without justice or judges;—the public treasury without
funds, and without resource;—the sovereign authority was usurped by the
ministers;—and the people without any other hope than the states-general;—yet
without confidence in the promise of the king.’
And, Mounier also gives a similar sketch. ‘We have not a fixed or complete
form of government—we have not a constitution, because all the powers are
confounded—because no boundary is traced out.—The judicial power is not even
separated from the legislative.—Authority is dispersed; it’s various parts are always
in opposition; and amidst their perpetual shocks the rights of the lower class of
citizens are betrayed.—The laws are openly despised, or rather we are not agreed
what ought to be called laws.’
20. In the Bastille, it is true, were found but seven prisoners.—Yet, it ought to
be remarked, that three of them had lost their reason—that, when the secrets of the
prison-house were laid open, men started with horrour from the inspection of
instruments of torture, that appeared to be almost worn out by the exercise of
tyranny—and that citizens were afraid even for a moment to enter the noisome
dungeons, in which their fellow creatures had been confined for years.
21. The cruelties of the half civilized romans, combined with their unnatural
vices, even when literature and the arts were most cultivated, prove, that humanity
is the offspring of the understanding, and that the progress of the sciences alone
can make men wiser and happier.
22. Mirabeau appears to have been continually hurt by the want of dignity in
the assembly.—By the inconsistency, which made them stalk as heroes one
moment, with a true theatrical stride, and the next cringe with the flexible backs of
habitual slaves.
23. ‘Let us compare,’ he further adds, ‘the number of innocents sacrificed by
mistake, by the sanguinary maxims of the courts of criminal judicature, and the
ministerial vengeance exercised secretly in the dungeons of Vincennes, and in the
cells of the Bastille, with the sudden and impetuous vengeance of the multitude,
and then decide on which side barbarity appears. At the moment when the hell
created by tyranny for the torment of it’s victims opens itself to the public eye; at
the moment when all the citizens have been permitted to descend into those
gloomy caves, to poize the chains of their friends, of their defenders; at the
moment when the registers of those iniquitous archives are fallen into all hands; it
is necessary, that the people should be essentially good, or this manifestation of the
atrocities of ministers would have rendered them as cruel as themselves!’
24. These members seem to have formed a just estimate of the french
character.
25. Some french wags have laid a great stress on these decrees passing after
dinner.
26. Lally-Tolendal, in particular; for giving his opinion on the subject of two
chambers, he said:—‘It is not doubtful at present, and for this first assembly, that a