What if a visit to another country could expose the habits your own country never questions?

In Letters on England, Voltaire looks across the Channel and holds up a mirror to France. He visits Quakers, studies Parliament and watches merchants at the Royal Exchange. Written as if to a friend at home, these short essays ask what the English do better—and why their choices matter.

His curiosity reaches from religious practice to the limits of royal power, from trade to science and literature. Francis Bacon, John Locke and Isaac Newton become guides to thinking through evidence rather than grand systems. Voltaire writes with wit and purpose: he selects his examples to make a point, not to offer a balanced portrait of England.

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• Faith without pomp Meet a Quaker merchant whose plain clothes and simple speech surprise his French visitor.
• Room for different beliefs Explore Voltaire’s argument that a variety of religions can help keep the peace.
• Power with limits See how king, Lords and Commons share a constitution that limits royal power.
• Commerce as a force Follow the claim that merchants strengthen liberty, while liberty gives trade room to grow.
• Evidence, wit and writers Discover a case for experiment, alongside admiration and honest criticism of English literary life.

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You will enjoy this if you like witty travel writing, Enlightenment ideas, the roots of religious tolerance, the lives of Newton and Locke, or sharp comparisons between nations.