Conversation with the Maréchale de *** (or Conversation with a Christian Lady, French: Entretien d'un philosophe avec la maréchale de ***) is a 1774 essay by Denis Diderot containing a friendly dialogue, of a disputatious nature, between a religious lady and a freethinker, on theological issues.
The content of the dialogue is polemical, but its tone has been variously described by modern commentators as being gentle, graceful, gracious, charming, witty and urbane.
The dialogue is believed to have been modeled on an actual conversation Diderot had with the Marèchale de Broglie at the time he was negotiating the purchase of the Crozat collection for Catherine the Great.
[3] The fundamental question addressed in the dialogue is a familiar one: does God exist?It is suggested that Diderot's experiences in Germany, Russia, and Netherlands motivated him to write the essay since he learnt that resistance to materialistic thinking was much more tenacious than he had earlier imagined.
[5] The essay begins with a dialogue between an Italian freethinker Tomasso Crudeli, representing the viewpoint of Diderot, and the Marèchale who is described as an attractive, virtuous, and pious lady.
Continue, madame, to enjoy this august guarantor of your thoughts, this spectator, this sublime model for your actions," says Crudely-Diderot.