14 VOLTAIRE. 



Monseigneur various gifts at his birth, a more benefi- 

 cent Deity had provided the petitioner's Christmas- 

 box by bestowing on their favourite the boon of ge- 

 nerosity. It is known that this incident procured for 

 him the favour of the famous Ninon de 1'Enclos, then 

 in her ninetieth year, and to whom he was presented 

 by his godfather, the Abbe de Chateauneuf. She died 

 soon after, and left him a legacy of 2,000 francs, to 

 buy books with.* When his father found that he was 

 introduced by the Abbe into this and other fashion- 

 able society, and that he was cultivating his taste for 

 poetry, he became alarmed for his success in life, 

 having destined him for the profession of the law. 

 He placed him, therefore, in a school of jurisprudence, 

 intending to purchase for him a President's place, ac- 

 cording to the practice of the French bar in those days. 

 Voltaire, however, had already begun to taste the sweets 



* He has, in a letter which remains (Melanges Lit., ii. 294), recorded 

 many particulars of her extraordinary life and great qualities. Her 

 portrait by St. Evremond is well known ; it is happily drawn : 



" L'indulgente et sage Nature 

 A forme 1'ame de Ninon 

 De la volupto d'Epicure, 

 Et de la vertu de Caton." 



In consequence of a quarrel between two of her lovers there was a 

 proposition of sending her to a convent of " Filles repenties :" she 

 said that would not suit her, as she was " ni fille, ni repentie." 

 The provident parents in good society used to place their sons 

 under her patronage to form them for polite company. Of one 

 Renaud, a coxcomb whom she was said to have formed, she observed, 

 " Qu'elle faisait comme Dieu, qui s'etait repenti d'avoir fait I'homme." 

 When her old and intimate friend, Madame de Maintenon, be- 

 came devote, and offered to provide handsomely for her would 

 she but follow her example, her answer was, " Je n'ai nul besoin 

 ni de fortune, ni de masque," 



