On the Authorship of an 18th Century French Writing: Montesquieu or Fréret

摘要

The long accepted view that Quelques remarques sur la Chine que j'ay tirées des conversations que j'ay eiies avec Mr.Ouanges was written by Montesquieu was challenged by Benitez and Volpilhac-Auger.However,their arguments are either groundless or implausible.This article aims at restoring the authorship to Montesquieu mainly by demonstrating that they had misinterpreted Huang,Montesquieu,and their relation;they were unfamiliar with the Chinese language;and their arguments on the asterisks in the writing at issue lacked substantial evidence.