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VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS-MARIE. 



VOLTAIRE, FRANgOIS-MARIE. 



441 



which placed this country at that time in a higher position with 

 respect to the rest of Europe than she had previously occupied. 

 Voltaire bad Buffered injustice in France from the arbitrary exercise 

 of power ; and he had a foretaste of what he might expect from the 

 intolerance of the church. In England he saw a country in which 

 personal liberty was secure, and in which the priesthood had lost tho 

 power of persecution. His residence in England, and the society 

 which he saw, exercised a strong influence on him, but it was the 

 religious rather than the political freedom of England which he 

 admired. Hia notion of liberty was the liberty of writing against 

 priests and religion. In England ho wrote his tragedy of ' Brutus,' 

 and in 1726, according to Marmontel's preface, appeared the first 

 edition of the ' Henriade ' which the author himself superintended. 

 It was printed at London, with a dedication in English, by the author, 

 to Queen Caroline, the wife of George II. The edition bears the date 

 1728, and not 1726, which is a manifest mistake of MarmonteL The 

 work was published by subscription, and produced the author a con- 

 siderable sum of money. In England also he sketched the ' Lettres 

 Philosophiques,' called also the ' Lettres sur les Anglais,' which 

 appeared some time after. His residence in England was about three 

 years. 



Voltaire returned to Paris, and for some time lived a quiet life, 

 dividing his time between literary labour and commercial specula- 

 tions, which turned out profitable. He also gained some money in a 

 lottery. In 1730 the celebrated actress Adrienne Lecouvreur died, 

 and the usual rites of sepulture were refused to her because she was 

 an actress. Voltaire wrote some verses on the mode in which she was 

 buried, full of indignant invective, and immediately withdrew to 

 Rouen, pretending that he was going to England in order to avoid a 

 third visit to the Bastille, which he apprehended. At Rouen he 

 printed his ' History of Charles XII. of Sweden,' for which he had 

 collected materials during his residence in England ; and also his 

 'Lettrea Philosophiques.' The publication of the Lettres raised a 

 fresh storm, the violence of which seems to have been quite dispropor- 

 tionate to the occasion : they are not the works of Voltaire which even 

 his enemies could most complain of. Voltaire got out of the way in 

 order to avoid a fresh exile, which was denounced against him. His 

 friends however convinced those in authority that the publication of 

 the Lettres was owing to the treachery of a binder, and Voltaire 

 obtained permission to return to Paris. But the ' Epitre a Uranie,' 

 which had been long in manuscript, was now printed, and the author 

 was threatened with a fresh prosecution, which he avoided by dis- 

 ingenuously disavowing it, and attributing the work to tho Abbe de 

 Chaulieu, who had been dead for some time. To escape all further 

 trouble, Voltaire determined to retire for a time from Paris. His own 

 successful speculations, and what he had inherited from his father and 

 his brother, had given him a handsome fortune. He had also formed 

 a connection with Madame du Chastellet, the wife of the Marquis du 

 Chastellet, a woman, though fond of pleasure, possessing acquirements 

 which are very unusual in her own sex, and not common in the other. 

 [CHASTELLET, MAKQUISE DU.] Her studies were geometry and meta- 

 physics, but she could relish poetry and polite literature. She retired 

 with Voltaire to Cirey, on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine, 

 where they led a life of study and retirement, interrupted and varied 

 by an occasional quarrel. At Cirey Voltaire wrote several of his 

 plays, 'Alzire,' 'Mahomet,' 'Me"rope,' and others; and he collected 

 materials for the ' Essai sur les Mo3urs et 1'Esprit dea Nations,' which, 

 with all its defects, is one of his best works. Here also he finished 

 his ' Pucelle,' which he had commenced some time before. Several 

 fragments of it had been circulated before he left Paris. 



It was in the year 1736, during his residence at Cirey, that a corre- 

 spondence commenced between Prince Frederick, the son of Frederick 

 William, king of Prussia, and Voltaire ; it began by Frederick writing 

 to him to express his admiration, and to solicit the favour of Voltaire's 

 literary counsel. Voltaire's residence at Cirey was not uninterrupted. 

 He visited Paris, and also on several occasions left France, but his 

 movements are not easily traced. Voltaire was at Brussels with 

 Madame du Chastellet, in 1740, when Frederick William died, and he 

 soon received an invitation from his successor Frederick to visit him. 

 The first meeting of the new King of Prussia and Voltaire took place 

 at a small chateau near Cleves, and is described by Voltaire in his 

 amusing Me'moires. When Frederick was prince-royal, he had written 

 a treatise entitled ' Anti-Machiavel/ which he sent to Voltaire, who 

 was then at Brussels, to correct and get it printed. Voltaire had 

 given it to a Dutch bookseller, but on the accession of Frederick, 

 seeing what his political schemes were, and anticipating, as he says, 

 the invasion of Silesia, ho suggested to his majesty that this was not 

 precisely the time for the ' Anti-Machiavel' to appear, and he obtained 

 the king's permission to stop the publication, for which purpose he 

 visited Holland. But the bookseller's demands were high ; and the 

 king, who did not like parting with his money, and was at least not 

 sorry to see his work printed, preferred having it published for nothing 

 to paying anything in order to stop tho publication. This is Voltaire's 

 account of the transaction. While Voltaire was in Holland the 

 Emperor Charles VI. died, and Frederick began to make preparations 

 for his campaigns. Voltaire visited him at Berlin, but on Frederick's 

 setting out for Silesia, he returned to Brussels. From Brussels he 

 went to Lille, where his tragedy of 'Mahomet ' was acted (1741), but 



though he had at first obtained the permission of the Cardinal de 

 Fleury to have it acted at Paris, the representation was prevented by 

 the intrigues of some zealots, who saw or affected to see in it an irre- 

 ligious tendency. ' Mahomet ' was not acted at Paris till ] 751. 



On the death of Cardinal de Fleury, iu 1743, Voltaire aspired to fill 

 his place in the Acade"rnie Franaise. The King Louis XV., his 

 mistress the Duchess of Chateauroux, and tho public were iu his 

 favour; but Maurepas, the secretary of state, was opposed to him, and 

 successfully intrigued with Boyer, afterwards bishop of Mirepoix, to 

 exclude Voltaire from the Acade'mie. Boyer represented to the king 

 that it would be a scandal for such a profane man as Voltaire to 

 succeed a cardinal ; and the king yielded to his representations. 



At this crisis France was threatened both by Austria and England, 

 and it was thought prudent to secure the alliance of the King of 

 Prussia. The Due de Richelieu and the favourite mistress conceived 

 the design of sending Voltaire to him, and, the better to conceal the 

 object of the mission, Voltaire made his quarrel with Boyer a pretext 

 for leaving France. The king approved of the scheme, and Voltaire, 

 who was well furnished with money for his journey, set out for Berlin 

 by way of Holland. He was well received by Frederick, who was 

 then living at Potsdam the kind of life which he continued ever after 

 his accession to the throne, and which Voltaire has depicted so 

 inimitably in his Me'moires. His mission was to sound Frederick as 

 to his views, and he succeeded in drawing from him a favourable 

 declaration. Voltaire returned to Paris, having executed his commission 

 better than most diplomatists, as the event showed : in the following 

 spring Frederick made a new treaty with Louis, and advanced into 

 Bohemia with one hundred thousand men, while the Austrians were 

 engaged in Alsace. But Voltaire was left without his reward. The 

 mistress was vexed that all Voltaire's letters from Berlin had passed 

 through the hands of Madame du Chastellet, instead of her own : she 

 revenged herself by causing the dismissal of M. Amelot, the minister 

 for foreign affairs, from whom Voltaire had received his instructions, 

 and Voltaire's hopes were thus disappointed. 



The mistress herself was soon dismissed ; and on her death, which 

 followed shortly after, it was necessary for Louis to have a new 

 favourite, and Mademoiselle Poisson, subsequently known as Madame 

 de Pompadour, filled the vacant place. Voltaire was already acquainted 

 with her, and, as he says, was in her confidence. Through her interest 

 he was made one of the forty members of the Acade"ruie, in the place 

 of Bouhier (1746): and he was also appointed historiographer of 

 France, and received the place of gentilhomme ordinaire de la chambre 

 du roi. "I concluded," says Voltaire, "that to make the smallest 

 fortune, it was better to say four words to the mistress of a king than 

 to write a hundred volumes." 



During their residence at Cirey, Voltaire and Madame du Chastellet 

 occasionally visited King Stanislaus at his little court of Luueville, 

 which Voltaire has sketched in his usual happy way. Madame du 

 Chastellet died in the palace of Stanislaus (August, 1749), a few days 

 after having been brought to bed. Voltaire returned to Paris, and 

 resumed his literary labours. King Frederick, who had not been 

 able to induce him to visit Prussia during the lifetime of Madame du 

 Chastellet, now renewed his invitation, and after some hesitation 

 Voltaire went to him in 1750. He had apartments assigned to him 

 at Potsdam, a pension of 20,000 francs, a chamberlain's gold key, and 

 a cross of merit. His duties were to correct his majesty's writings, 

 which was rather an irksome occupation ; and Voltaire could not 

 always prevent expressions escaping him which were reported to the 

 king, and were far from complimentary. To correct Frederick's 

 French verses without laughing at them was impossible. The history 

 of his residence in Prussia is briefly sketched in Voltaire's ' Me"moiree.' 

 Voltaire at last got away, " with a promise," as he says, " to return, 

 and the firm resolution never to see him, again : " his residence in 

 Prussia was three years. On his return, an odd adventure befel him 

 at Frankfort. He was arrested by a person named Freytag, the resi- 

 dent of the King of Prussia at Frankfort, who demanded of him, in 

 his barbarous French, " 1'ceuvre de pocshie " of the king his master. 

 A few copies of this precious volume of Frederick's poetry had been 

 printed privately and distribated by the king among his favourites : 

 Voltaire had been honoured with one. The poetry had been left 

 behind at Leipzig, and Voltaire was obliged to wait at Frankfort till 

 it came, when it was delivered up to the resident. Frederick, well 

 knowing Voltaire's character, probably feared that he would make 

 some use of the book of poetry to his prejudice, as it contained many 

 satirical reflections on crowned heads, and other persons. Even after 

 the surrender of the book, Voltaire and his niece Madame Denis, who 

 had joined him at Frankfort, were detained by Freytag on some mise- 

 rable pretexts, and kept prisoner in an hotel for twelve days. He 

 was robbed of part of his property, and compelled to pay the expenses 

 of his detention. At last orders came from Berlin, and Voltaire and 

 his niece were allowed to continue their journey to Mayence. It 

 was not long after this adventure of Frankfort, while the memory 

 of the treatment which he had received from the King of Prussia 

 was fresh, that Voltaire wrote those ' Me'moires ' which are dis- 

 graceful to himself, and affix infamy on the name of Frederick. It is 

 said that ho kept the manuscript by him, but that two copies were 

 made without his knowledge, a statement which is not credible. Upon 

 his subsequent reconciliation with the king, it is said that he burnt 





