Abbreviations for manuscript sources Foreword 1. The wigmaker’s son: 1674-1704 Family background Insubordinate theologian: the lure of print Oratorian retreat Lenglet as littérateur The graduand 2. The fortune seeker: 1705-1714 Secret agent Man of the cloth: but which colour? International spy Book-dealer Historical methodologist The exile’s return 3. The decline of patronage: 1715-1728 Paris under the Regency Defender of the Gallican hierarchy Bouc émissaire turned mouton Geographer and book-thief Vienna: a lost Maecenas Death of Le Blanc 4. Lenglet and libertinage: 1729-1739 The historian as incrédule The libertins rehabilitated: early French poetry Lenglet as satirist Ideas disseminated: the Spinozist heritage ‘Réjouir l’imagination’: an apologia for the novel Capitalising on a reputation 5. Acceptability if not respectability: 1740-1749 The twilight zone of Grub Street: financial insecurity in the later years New departures: from Voltaire to occultism Historian of France or subverter of the monarchy: chafing at the bit Consolidation of established interests Politics and propaganda 6. The encyclopédiste: 1750-1755 Last challenges to authority Lenglet and the encyclopedic spirit La Monarchie française: the final endeavour Conclusion Bibliography Index
