445 



VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS-MARIE. 



VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS-MARIE. 



the manuscript ; but one of the two copies, thus surreptitiously 

 obtained, was printed among his posthumous works. 



After a short time Voltaire fixed himself at Colmar for a few 

 months (1754), while Madame Denis was at Paris for the purpose of 

 ascertaining if he could safely return there. A new trouble now befel 

 him. A Dutch bookseller, who had obtained iu some way, but it is 

 not said how, an unfinished manuscript of the ' Essai sur les Mceurs et 

 1' Esprit des Nations,' published it under the title of ' Abrege" d'Histoire 

 Uuiverselle, par M. de Voltaire.' Some parts which had been pur- 

 posely suppressed by the Dutch publisher made the work appear an 

 attack on crowned heads aud priests. Voltaire got the genuine 

 manuscript from Paris, and showed by a comparison of the two manu- 

 scripts, formally drawn up by a notary, that the passages had been 

 suppressed with a malignant design to injure him. This story is in 

 many respects very improbable : Voltaire had never had any scruples 

 about publishing hia works under assumed names, or denying the 

 authorship of anything when it suited his pur-pose ; and it is not easy 

 to conjecture how his manuscript should get abroad without his con- 

 sent, or that the real manuscript should Lave been left at Paris, and 

 that he should be able to recover it. The difficulty is hardly diminished 

 if we assume that Voltaire had possessed two copies of the manuscript. 

 In fact, the mode iu which this manuscript fell, as it is said, into the 

 hands of the Dutch publisher, is left unexplained. 



At length wearied with his rambling, unsettled life, after spending a 

 few years in the territory of Lausanne and in that of Geneva, he 

 bought an estate at Tourney and another at Ferney, both in the Pays 

 de Uex, and he finally settled at Ferney, where he spent the last 

 twenty years of his life in as much tranquillity as his character would 

 allow. He rebuilt the house, laid out gardens, kept A good table, and 

 had crowds of visitors from all parts of Europe. His passion for the 

 stage was unabated. He had a small theatre, in which he sometimes 

 acted himself, and occasionally procured the services of the first 

 actors of the day. He was also a benefactor to the neighbourhood. 

 A little town grew up around him out of a miserable village ; new 

 houses were built at his own cost; and he encouraged and produced a 

 body of skilful artisans who became celebrated through all Europe. 

 He even rebuilt the church at his own expense. But his hasty pro- 

 ceedings in this matter brought him into difficulties. He had neglected 

 certain necessary forms in his demolition of the old church, and 

 ordered a large wooden crucifix, which stood in front of the porch, to 

 be thrown down. He even went so far as to preach a sermon in the 

 church against theft. Complaint was made to the bishop of the 

 diocese of these irregularities, and Voltaire, in order to quiet matters, 

 went through the ceremony of taking the communion in the church of 

 Ferney ; an act of undoubted hyprocrisy, which however was not the 

 only one of which he was guilty. In the following year, 1769, the 

 bishop of Annecy had forbidden all priests to confess him, give him 

 absolution, or allow him to take the communion. Upon this Voltaire 

 took to his bed, pretended he was dying, and compelled a Capuchin to 

 administer to him all the offices of the Roman Catholic Church which 

 a true believer could claim. The whole farce was certified on the spot 

 by a notary. The philosophers of Paris, whose anti-religious opinions 

 went beyond those of Voltaire, looked on him with contempt, and all 

 pious Christians were shocked by the hypocritical impiety of an old 

 man who was now upwards of seventy years of age. 



During his long residence at Ferney, Voltaire's literary activity was 

 untiring. His rancour against priests and the Christian religion was 

 now grown inveterate ; and in the retirement of his old age he poured 

 forth an unceasing torrent of ridicule, invective, and ribaldry against 

 all that believers in revelation hold most sacred, and which those who 

 refuse their belief generally treat with decent respect. His works 

 appeared under various names, and he never scrupled to disavow them 

 when he found it convenient, though such disavowals must have been 

 useless, inasmuch as nobody can mistake the authorship of anything 

 that Voltaire has written. The poem of the ' Pucelle,' which he had 

 commenced about 1730, added to the number of his enemies. Its 

 indecency and the ridicule of sacred things shocked all sober people ; 

 but it was the satirical allusions to living persons that raised up the 

 most active enmity against the author. It is probable enough, as ho 

 says, that he never intended to print it in its original form ; but it was 

 well known to his friends, who had copies of some cantos, and parts of 

 it had been recited in various companies. About 1755 it appeared in 

 print at Frankfort, though with the title of Louvain, and Voltaire dis- 

 avowed it. As usual, it had been printed from a copy which had been 

 stolen from the author or his friends (' Advertissement des e"diteurs de 

 1'edition de Kehl '), a misfortune to which the works of Voltaire seem 

 to have been peculiarly exposed ; it is also said that it contained verses 

 which Voltaire had not written, and, what is more probable, " other 

 verses which he could not allow to stand, because the circumstances 

 to which these verses alluded were changed." Several other editions 

 appeared without Voltaire's consent; one at London in 1757, and 

 another at Paris in 1759. It was not till 1762 that Voltaire published 

 an edition of the 'Pucelle,' which was very different from all the 

 others, and purged of much that was offensive : it was reprinted in 

 1774, with some alterations and considerable additions, and this is the 

 text of the ' Pucelle ' which now appears in the best editions. 



His literary quarrels and his extensive correspondence also furnished 

 the old age of Voltaire with constant employment. He had created a 



host of enemies, and he had to defend himself against their incessant 

 attacks. He poured upon them invective and ridicule, without measure 

 and without shame. He had generously offered Rousseau an asylum 

 iu his house, while he was persecuted for his ' Emile.' Rousseau 

 refused the offer with his usual brutality, and Voltaire repaid him 

 with a torrent of abuse. His correspondence during his residence at 

 Ferney forms a valuable part of hia works. He contributed some 

 literary articles to the ' Encyclopedic,' which waa then publishing at 

 Paris under the direction of D'Alembert and Diderot. His corre- 

 spondence with D'Alembert on the ' Encyclopedic ' is exceedingly in- 

 teresting ; it assists us in forming some idea of the state of France 

 at that time, in which a so-called philosophic party, inconsiderable 

 in numbers, was opposed to a large majority of ignorant bigots and 

 hypocritical libertines. There was enough of superstition and in- 

 tolerance to excite the contempt and rouse the indignation of all 

 reflecting men, and in estimating the character of Voltaire it should 

 never be forgotten what the state of society then was. He had be- 

 come reconciled to his old pupil Frederick, and kept up a corre- 

 spondence with him, though he "forgot" to burn the unfortunate 

 ' Mdmoires.' He also corresponded with the empress Catherine II. of 

 Russia, whose letters to Voltaire are some of the most agreeable in the 

 whole collection. 



But he had other occupations in his retirement, which show us 

 another and more pleasing side of his character. He heard that a 

 grand-niece of the dramatist Corneille was in distress. She was invited 

 to Ferney, where she received a good, and it is said " even a Christian 

 education," though the exact meaning of this expression may be 

 doubtful. To render her in some measure independent of him, 

 Voltaire undertook an edition of her ancestor's plays with notes; and 

 the profits of the undertaking were given to her for her marriage 

 portion. The affair of Calas is well known. This unfortunate old 

 man, who was a Calvinist, waa convicted at Toulouse (1762) of 

 murdering his son, and the alleged motive was to prevent him embrac- 

 ing the Roman Catholic faith. The father was broken on the wheel, 

 and the family came to Geneva for refuge. Voltaire received them 

 kindly. He made himself acquainted with the facts of this horrible 

 case, and was convinced that Calas was innocent. He resolved that 

 justice should be done to the unfortunate family, and he never rested 

 till he had accomplished this. His personal exertions, his purse, and 

 his pen were employed in a cause which was worthy of his best 

 powers. If hia hatred of fanaticism stimulated his exertions, it must 

 be allowed that his generous feelings also were abundantly proved. 

 The sentence of the parliament of Toulouse was annulled, and the 

 Due de Choiscul, who was then in power, made amends to the family 

 of Calas, so far as reparation could be made, out of the public 

 treasury, for the wrongs done to them by an ignorant and bigoted 

 tribunal. 



Voltaire was now eighty-four years of age. His niece, Madame 

 Denis, who was weary of her long retirement at Ferney, persuaded 

 him to visit Paris. He arrived there on the 10th of February 1778, 

 and was received with enthusiasm by all ranks, except by the court 

 and the clergy. A succession of visitors crowded his apartments, 

 and he was kept in a state of constant excitement. A violent hemo- 

 rrhage came on and threatened his life, and he sought a reconciliation 

 with the church ; he said he did not wish his body to be deprived of 

 Christian burial. The Abb6 Gauthier obtained from him a declara- 

 tion that he would die in the Roman Catholic faith, and that he asked 

 pardon of God and the church for his sins. His disorder abated, and 

 he transferred his thoughts from the church to the theatre, where he 

 had been a frequent visitor since his arrival at Paris. On the evening 

 of the day on which he was present at a sitting of the Acade"mie, he 

 attended the sixth representation of his tragedy of ' Irene.' Between 

 the two pieces his bust was placed on the stage and crowned by all the 

 actors. From the theatre he waa accompanied to his hotel by crowds, 

 who cheered him loudly, and called out the titles of his principal 

 works, among which the ' Pucelle ' was not forgotten. Turning to 

 them, he said, " You will stifle me with roses." He was detained at 

 Paris longer than he intended, chiefly owing to the management of his 

 niece, who could not bear to return to the solitude of Ferney ; but 

 the delay was fatal. Voltaire's feeble frame was exhausted by this 

 round of excitement; and his literary labours, which he still con- 

 tinued, and the immoderate use of coffee, brought on a strangury, to 

 which he had been subject. Seeing that his strength was failing, the 

 Abb Mignot, his nephew, brought to him the curl of St. Sulpice and 

 the Abbe" Gauthier. The details of hia death bed are contradictory : 

 he seems to have been exhausted, and only to have wished to die 

 quietly. The Abbe* Gauthier signed a paper, in which he declared 

 that he was sent for at the request of Voltaire, but found him too far 

 gone to be confessed. He died on the 30th of May 1778. The cure 

 of St. Sulpice officially refused to inter the body of Voltaire, but at 

 the same time he renounced all his rights in the matter. The body 

 was taken by night to the Abbey of Scellidres, which Mignot had in 

 commendam, where it was buried, on the production of the renuncia- 

 tion of the cur^ of St. Sulpice, the certificate of the Abbe" Gauthier, 

 and a profession of faith Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman,' made by 

 Voltaire about six weeks before his death. The bishop of Troyes, 

 Joseph de Barral, hearing that it was intended to bury Voltaire in the 

 Abbey of Scellieres, issued an order, dated the 2nd June 1778, to the 



