From Modern English Literature: Its Blemished and Defects by Henry H Breen 1857:
Plagiarism is a subject which has seldom engaged the attention of the literary historian. In this, as in other fields of investigation, the Germans have laboured with success; but it is chiefly to the French, so remarkable for method and lucidity in their treatment of literary questions, that we are indebted for the information we possess on this subject. Their contributions on "Plagiarism" are not only the most recent, but the most valuable; while the writings of Nodier and Querard contain some of the most startling revelations that have yet been given to the world. For instance, Montaigne is shown to have borrowed much from Seneca and Plutarch; and what he has copied without acknowledgment from them, Charron and Corneille have adopted in the same unscrupulous manner from him. Thus, too, Rabelais' eccentricities are proved to have furnished many a lively scene to Racine and Moliere, and many an ingenious fable to La Fontaine; while Pascal, who is generally reckoned one of the most original thinkers of the seventeenth century, is described as surpassing all others by his daring feats of plagiarism. In a single chapter of his "Pensees," Nodier has pointed out seven or eight instances of this species of theft; and for further examples, he invites the curious reader to a comparison of the "Pensees" with the "Essays" of Montaigne.
The Chevalier Ramsay, author of "Les Voyages de Cyrus," is cited as another notable plagiarist. "His master, Fenelon," says Voltaire, "had published the Travels of Telemachus; and Ramsay could do no less than follow his example. He does not stop, however, at a cold imitation, but literally copies the language both of Fenelon and of Bossuet. When the chevalier was taken to task for this, his reply was: 'Qu'on pouvait se rencontrer; qu'il n'etait pas etonnant qu'il pensat comme Fenelon, et qu'il s'exprimat comme Bossuet.'"
If Voltaire's forwardness in exposing the plagiarisms of others was intended to remove from himself all suspicion of similar practices, it failed of success. Nodier, in his valuable work, "Questions de Litterature Legale," quotes several instances of plagiarism in Voltaire, and especially in his romance of "Zadig." Freron, too, in the "Annee Litteraire," 1767, describes a whole chapter in this romance as copied from "Les Voyages et Aventures de trois Princes de Sarrendip," a work translated from the Italian, and published at Paris in 1719; and the same writer has shown that Voltaire's "Episode de l'Ermite" is adopted from Parnel's poem of "The Hermit."
J.-J. Rousseau, Voltaire's great contemporary and rival, presents a parallel case. He reproaches Mably with having borrowed, without acknowledgment, his philosophical systems; and the Benedictine, Don Joseph Cajot, brings a charge of plagiarism against Rousseau's "Emile." Nor is this all: the Abbe Du Laurens, known as the author of "Compere Mathieu," in a work published in 1788, asserts that Rousseau copied his "Contrat Social," word for word, from Ulric Huber's Latin work, "De Jure Civitatis Libri III." "We shall be told," adds Du Laurens, "that M. Rousseau, like a second Prometheus, stole the sacred fire from heaven: our answer is, that he stole his fire, not from heaven, but from a library."
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