50 VOLTAIRE. 



was by common consent admitted to have excelled all 

 his contemporaries probably all the wits that ever 

 lived and wrote. Their great inequality is no doubt 

 as certain, and it was an inevitable consequence of such 

 a facility as he possessed, and such an active spirit as 

 moved him. Their peculiar adaptation to the circum- 

 stances that gave them birth is also a necessary con- 

 comitant of this kind of composition. But it is singu- 

 lar that the most elaborate of the whole class of his 

 writings, and the one which he probably most valued, 

 the ' Guerres 'civiles de Geneve,' is without exception 

 the worst of all his productions, and can hardly be 

 matched for dulness and flatness by any undoubted 

 production in verse of any other eminent poet. 



It seemed convenient to discuss the question, or 

 rather the kind and the degree of what is unquestion- 

 able Voltaire's poetical excellence on the occasion 

 of his first success, the ' CEdipe,' in order to take the 

 whole subject at once, and not to break the continuity 

 of our narrative each time that a new drama or a new 

 poem was produced by his fertile genius. We must 

 now return to the history of his life. 



The success of 'CEdipe' placed him, though young, 

 on the lists of fame, and of dramatic fame, the most 

 quick of all others, especially at Paris, in its returns 

 both of profit and social enjoyment. He became the 

 friend, even the confidant, of the Due de Richelieu, 

 and shared in his disgrace under the Regent, being 

 obliged for a while to quit Paris. But on the re- 

 presentation of the ' Mariamne,' he was permitted to 



