It was a time of great intellectual development and progress in both countries.  It was the epoch of the salons, of the philosophers and encyclopaedists, of a brilliant society whose decadence was hidden in a garb of seductive gaiety, its egotism and materialism in a magnificent apparelling of wit and learning.  Literary standing in France at once gave the entree to society of the highest rank and to circles the most exclusive.  David Hume, whose reputation as philosopher and historian, had been already established there, was received with enthusiasm when he accompanied Lord Hertford to Paris as Secretary of Embassy, though his manner, dress, and speech were awkward and uncouth; but his good-humoured simplicity was accepted and appreciated as was his learning.  He had begun in England a correspondence with the Comtesse de Boufflers, he was made welcome too in the salons of Mme. Geoffrin and of Mile, de Lespinasse, and he soon became intimate with d’Alembert and Turgot.  His reception was no less cordial at court, where the children of the Dauphin met him, prepared with polite little speeches about his works.  He had such admiration for Rousseau that he brought him to England, assisting him there in spite of Horace Walpole’s ill-natured jest on the flight of the susceptible French philosopher.

During Burke’s visit to Paris in 1773 he was often present at Mme. du Deffand’s supper parties, who said that although he spoke French with difficulty he was most agreeable; here and at other salons he met the encyclopaedists and obtained the insight into French morals and philosophy which, in his case, strengthened conservative principles.

When “Clarissa Harlowe” appeared in Paris, the book created a sensation and was more talked of there than in England.  Diderot compared Richardson, as the father of the English novel, to Homer, father of epic poetry.  In England men of letters were far less recognised in society.  Walpole remarked, “You know in England we read their works, but seldom or never take notice of authors.  We think them sufficiently paid if their books sell, and of course leave them in their colleges and obscurity, by which means we are not troubled with their vanity and impatience.”  But Walpole overdrew the picture, for though literature did not hold the place in London that it did in Paris, yet wit was never more appreciated, and learning added to the equipment of the first of the fine gentlemen of the time.  Of this unique state of society and of international friendliness Selwyn and his friends were the products.  We cannot too clearly realise them as types which can never recur.

The secret of Selwyn’s charm lies in the contrasts of his character; his versatility and cosmopolitan sympathies attract us now as they attracted in his lifetime men very different in habits, pursuits, and mind.