846 



VOLTAIRE. 



the church with such vehemence, in his Lettres 

 philosophiquet, that the parliament of Paris con- 

 demned the book to be burnt ; and an order was 

 issued for the arrest of the author. He therefore 

 passed some years in concealment at Cirey, near 

 Vassi, in Champagne, where he was treated with 

 the greatest kindness by the mistress of the estate, 

 the marchioness du Chatelet and wrote his Ele- 

 ment de la Philosophic de Newton, to make his 

 countrymen acquainted with the great discoveries 

 of the English philosopher. He wished, as he ex- 

 pressed it, to exhibit the Briareus in miniature. But 

 scientific labours were by no means so well adap- 

 ted to his powers as the culture of the belles-lettres. 

 He soon returned to poetry, and wrote, in 1736, 

 his Alzire, and, in 1741, his Mohammed. The at- 

 tacks in the last upon fanaticism displeased the 

 clergy, and, by the advice of the minister, cardinal 

 Fleury, he withdrew the piece ; yet it was after- 

 wards taken under the protection of the pope him- 

 self (Benedict XIV.), and has remained upon the 

 stage with the reputation of one of the best French 

 productions of its kind. His Metope (1743) was 

 the first French drama which produced a strong 

 effect without the aid of love. On the representa- 

 tion of this piece, the custom was introduced of 

 calling for the appearance of the writer. Before 

 this time, Voltaire had gained the favour of the 

 court by a political service. He corresponded with 

 the crown-prince of Prussia, afterwards Frederic 

 the Great, who had a great fondness for French 

 literature. When Frederic ascended the throne, in 



1740, an alliance with him was considered desirable. 

 Voltaire was sent to Berlin, and discovered the 

 ground upon which Frederic had declined the ad- 

 vances which had been made him. The aUiance 

 was concluded as soon as France had declared her- 

 self against Austria. Voltaire now desired, as the 

 reward of his services, some marks of favour from 

 the court, to facilitate his admission to the academy, 

 which had been opposed by his numerous enemies. 

 He was therefore invited to compose a piece for 

 the celebration of the nuptials of the dauphin, and 

 wrote the Princess of Navarre. The piece was 

 approved, if not by the public, at least by the 

 court; and his reward was the place of gentil- 

 homme ordinaire, and historian of France. As such, 

 he planned a history of the then existing war of 



1741. It was not however, until 1746 that he re- 

 ceived a place in the academy. In the meantime, 

 he was persecuted with lampoons of all kinds, so 

 that he withdrew, with inadame du Chatelet, to 

 the court of king Stanislaus, at Luneville. Dur- 

 ing this time were produced his tragedies Semira- 

 mis, Orestes, and Rome Sauvee, the subject of which 

 was the conspiracy of Catiline. After the death of 

 inadame du Chatelet, in 1749, Voltaire returned to 

 Paris, where he contributed much to form the 

 celebrated actor Lekain. Frederic the Great had 

 hitherto vainly invited him to Potsdam ; but being 

 told that Frederic had called Arnaud the rising and 

 him the setting sun, his self-love was so much 

 touched that he sprang out of bed, and exclaimed, 

 " Frederic may judge of affairs of state, but not of 

 me ! Yes ; I will go and show him that I am not 

 setting yet." He went to Potsdam in June, 1750. 

 Frederic treated him with the greatest distinction : 

 in a moment of enthusiasm, he even kissed his 

 hand. . Voltaire occupied an apartment under that 

 of the king, with permission to visit him at certain 

 hours, and had a table and equipage at his com- 

 mand. He spent every day two hours with the 



king, ai/d revised his literary productions, when, as 

 he himself said, he never failed to praise the good, 

 and quietly to strike out the bad. But this friend- 

 ship continued hardly a year. A quarrel between 

 Maupertuis, president of the Berlin academy, and 

 a mathematician named Konig, in which Vultai it- 

 took part, drew upon him the displeasure of 

 Frederic, who caused bis Akahia, a satire upon 

 Mnupertuis, to be burnt in the presence of the 

 writer, and sent him his dismission. Voltaire re- 

 turned to the king the chamberlain's key and the 

 cross of the order which had been conferred on him, 

 with some verses, in which he compared himself to 

 a lover who sends back the portrait of his mistress; 

 but the king soon restored them. Voltaire now 

 made a visit to the duchess of Gotba. During his 

 absence, Maupertuis succeeded in depriving him of 

 the favour of the king, and he concluded to return 

 to France. When he reached Frankfort on the 

 Maine, he was stopped by order of Frederic, because 

 he had with him various productions of the king, 

 who feared that he would use them to his prejudice. 

 He was likewise compelled to resign the chamber- 

 lain's key, his order, and his promise of a pension 

 of 22,000 livres. The breach between Frederic 

 and Voltaire was now irreparable. Voltaire wished 

 to reside in Paris; but his Pucelle d' Or leans had 

 excited so much displeasure, that he was not al- 

 lowed to remain in the capital. He now resided 

 for some years at Colmar, where he wrote the 

 Orphan of China, and bought a country seat in the 

 neighbourhood of Geneva. Jean Jacques Rousseau 

 sent him his well-known treatise which had gained 

 the prize of the academy of Dijon. Voltaire re- 

 turned him an answer which, among many flatter- 

 ing remarks, contained the following sentence : 

 " When I read your treatise, I desire to creep upon 

 all-fours." This ridicule made the author of Entile 

 his irreconcilable enemy. Soon after, Voltaire 

 took part in the political contentions then prevail- 

 ing in Geneva; and, having become involved in 

 I disputes with many of the principal people, he 

 thought it best to leave the place. He therefore 

 purchased the estate of Ferney, in the Pays de Gex, 

 where he resided the rest of his life, with his niece, 

 inadame Denis. He drew manufacturers, and other 

 settlers, into his district, obtained for them, through 

 his influence, important advantages, and reigned 

 like a petty prince among his subjects. Here he 

 erected a new and elegant church, with the inscrip- 

 tion Deo erexit Voltaire. A decided enemy of 

 tyranny and oppression, he afforded aid and pro- 

 tection to many persecuted persons ; among others, 

 to the family of Jean Calas, who had fallen a victim 

 to fanaticism. At that time, he wrote his masterly 

 treatise upon toleration. The grand-daughter of 

 the great Corneille also experienced his bounty. In 

 the numerous writings which he composed in this 

 retreat, his free spirit employed the weapons of 

 ridicule, and the boldest eloquence, against all 

 which contravened his ideas of freedom and inde- 

 pendence. To the clergy he was particularly 

 hostile, on account of their intolerance and perse- 

 cuting spirit. But he often injured the cause of 

 religion itself while he attacked its servants. His 

 motives, moreover, were not always of the highest 

 kind. In 1757, the first edition of his works ap- 

 peared, prepared under his own eye. It reconciled 

 him with Frederic the Great. This monarch re- 

 newed his correspondence with Voltaire, and sent 

 ; him his own bust, of porcelain, with the insciiption 

 Viro immortali. The empress Catharine of Russia 



