VOLTAIRE. 1 7 



been in its original imperfect state submitted to Dacier, 

 with the pedantry of his nature he strongly recom- 

 mended the introduction of choruses, to be sung after 

 the manner of the Greek tragedy. A letter of his is 

 still extant, giving this sage and practical counsel ; 

 but the Greek critic was not the only pedant. \Vhen 

 in 1769, Voltaire had gained the famous cause of 

 Sirven, through the exertions of M. Merville, a leading 

 advocate of Toulouse, he refused all pecuniary remu- 

 neration, but desired as his reward, that his client 

 would now consent to add choruses to the ' CEdipe.' 



How powerful was the sentiment of ambition in 

 his nature appears not merely from his bold attempt at 

 a tragedy audaxque juventa in his eighteenth year, 

 but from his adventurous competition for the prize ot 

 poetry proposed by the Academic Fran raise a year or 

 two before ; the king having, in the superstition of his 

 declining age, at length resolved to fulfil the promise 

 of his predecessor by decorating the altar of Notre 

 Dame. This formed the subject of the ode, which 

 was rejected in favour of a ridiculous piece by the 

 Abbe Dujarri ; so that it is a singular fact in Voltaire's 

 history that his first published work was a devotional 

 poem. 



The tragedy of ' OEdipe' was successful ; and Lamotte, 

 then of established reputation, but which with ordi- 

 nary poets is by no means a security against jealousy, 

 had the noble candour to declare that this tragedy 

 gave sure promise of a successor to Corneille and Ra- 

 cine. But the prejudices of the stage forced Voltaire 

 to introduce a love scene against his better judgment, 

 which had decided against the incongruous mixture of 



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