"There are but few persons, and those of a grotesque taste, who pretend to understand and to esteem this work." Anyone who can skewer Rabelais like this gets my vote. While there were one or two letters I skimmed rather - explanations of Newton's optics, for one - and his judgements on contemporary poets show the foolishness of judging too soon, generally this was a very enjoyable read as well as valuable for building a picture of life at that period. I started this as duty but read it with pleasure.