Besides kings and the writers of books, plain men also besought his dictum on high matters. ???A burgomaster of Middleburg,??? he informs Madame du Deffand, ???whom I do not know, wrote to me a little while since, to ask me in confidence whether there is a God or not; whether, in case there be one, He takes any heed of us; whether matter is eternal; whether it can think; whether the soul is immort