110 VOLTAIRE. 



doubt the existence of evil in this world, or to account 

 for its inconsistency with the Divine goodness, await 

 with patient resignation the light which will dawn 

 upon them in another state of being, and by which all 

 these difficulties will be explained.* 



The residence of Voltaire, first at the Delices, near 

 Geneva, and, when the Calvinist metropolis obliged 

 him to part with that place at a heavy loss, at Fer- 

 ney within the French frontier, was for the remainder 

 of his life far more tranquil and agreeable than during 

 the more passionate and irritable period which pre- 

 ceded. His literary occupation was as incessant as 

 ever ; and, beside some of his lesser poems, the greater 

 portion of his philosophical and critical works were 

 written during this latter time.f His relaxation was 



* He appears to have disavowed this admirable work even more 

 carefully than any of his far more exceptionable productions. To 

 his most familiar friends we find him exceeding all the fair limits of 

 denial within which authors writing anonymously should confine 

 themselves. To M. Vernes, pastor at Geneva, with whom he was 

 intimate, he writes, " J'ai lu enfin ' Candide ;' il faut avoir perdu 

 le sens pour m'attribuer cette coi'onnerie : j'ai, Dieu merci ! demeil- 

 leurs occupations" (Cor. Gen., v. 229). To Thibouville he says r 

 " J'ai lu enfin ce ' Candide,' dont vous m'avez parle ; et plus il m'a 

 fait rire, plus je suis fache qu'on me 1'attribue" (ib. 258). Even 

 to his confidant and tool Theiriot he says " Dieu me garde d'avoir 

 eu la moindre part a cet ouvrage !" (ib. 258). 



t About twenty-eight of his works, beside some of the romances 

 and some of the minor poems, were written and published after 

 the year 1758; of the 'Dictionary,' eight volumes; of the ' Philo- 

 sophy' all the six, except half a volume ; of the ' Melanges Litte- 

 raires,' more than one ; of the ' Melanges Historiques,' two ; 

 ' Dialogues,' two ; ' History of the Parliaments of Paris,' one ; nearly 

 all the volumes of ' Faceties ;' all but half a volume of the three on 

 ' Politics and Legislation,' including his writings on the cases of 



