18th-century French literature classic example is "Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane" by Alain-René Lesage (1715). The novel of the imagination pictured life centuries in the future; "L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fut jamais" (The year 2440 - dream of all dreams) by Mercier (1771); or stories of fantasy "le Diable amoureux" (The Devil in Love) of Jacques Cazotte (1772). The libertine, or erotic novel, featured eroticism, seduction, manipulation, and social intrigue. Classic examples are "Les Liaisons dangereuses" ("Dangerous Liaisons") by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1782); ("Justine ou les Malheurs de la vertu" ("Justine or the misfortunes of virtue") by Donatien Alphonse François
Paris in the 18th century played no important role in the scientific revolution or the Enlightenment. The school of law taught only religious law, and the medical school had little prestige, since doctors, until the mid-18th century, were considered in the same professional category as barbers. The university shrank from about sixty colleges in the early 17th century to thirty-nine in 1700. In 1763, the twenty-nine smallest colleges were grouped together in the college Louis-le-Grand, but altogether it had only 193 students. On 5 April 1792, without any loud protest, the University was closed. Following its closing, the chapel of the Sorbonne was stripped for