54 VOLTAIRE. 



But in 1738 appeared his more full and satisfactory 

 account of them, and it certainly does the greatest 

 honour to its author. This work owes its origin, 

 however, not more to the English residence of the 

 author, than to the intimacy which he formed soon 

 after his return to France, about the year 1730, with 

 the family of Du Chatelet ; and before considering 

 the merits of the book, it may be convenient to dwell 

 for a little while upon the history of that celebrated 

 attachment. 



The Marquess had married several years before a 

 lady of high rank, Gabrielle Emilie de Breteuil, much 

 younger than himself ; and, according to the manners of 

 those times and that country, she herself had not been 

 consulted upon the match when her parents gave her 

 away. When Voltaire became acquainted with her, 

 she was in her twenty-fourth year, and one of the 

 most remarkable persons, both for beauty, talents, and 

 accomplishments, that adorned the French Court, or 

 the refined society of Paris. At first her acquaintance 

 with the poet was of an ordinary kind, probably formed 

 by the reputation of the wit and the rank of the lady. 

 But the literary taste of the Marchioness found so 

 much improvement and such constant gratification in 

 the great resources of his various knowledge, his ver- 

 satile talents, and his inexhaustible wit, that it can be 

 no wonder if his society soon became necessary to a 

 woman of her decided inclination for literary and sci- 

 entific pursuits. The fame which he had acquired as 

 a dramatist, and in the brilliant circles of Paris society, 

 would have riveted the attention of an ordinary 

 woman, to whom he showed a desire of devoting him- 



