VOLTAIRE. 55 



self. But though, she was herself fond of all the 

 common amusements of her rank and sex, lived in the 

 circles of the court as might be expected of a Breteuil, 

 and cultivated all the graces even as displayed in the 

 lighter accomplishments, it seems doubtful if she 

 would have formed so decided a predilection for the 

 company of any one who had not begun to cultivate 

 those severer sciences to which she gave a marked pre- 

 ference. Nor can we much question the probability 

 of Voltaire having, after his return from England, 

 turned his attention far more to these studies than he 

 otherwise would have done, in order to make a pro- 

 gress not only in philosophy, but also in the good graces 

 of a person so distinguished in every way, young, 

 handsome, noble, attractive, as w r ell as learned be- 

 yond the ordinary measure even of man's information, 

 endowed with talents both solid and ornamental, and 

 inspired by a taste for the graver as well as the lighter 

 pursuits of genius. The difficulties in which he was 

 involved by a lettre de cachet threatened, if not issued, 

 on account of the ' Letters ' after his return from Eng- 

 land, had obliged him to leave Paris. There seems every 

 reason to believe that the arrangement by which he be- 

 came an inmate in the Marquess's house was formed 

 about the same time, and that he found a refuge at the 

 chateau of Cirey in Champagne, whither the literary 

 tastes of the Marchioness had made her resolve to with- 

 draw from the frivolity of the court and the dissipation 

 of the capital, and had enabled her to prevail with the 

 Marquess, who yielded to this new plan of life. They 

 had at this time a son and a daughter ; and an Abbe 

 named Linant was engaged as the tutor of the former, 



