1807.] 
‘MEMOIRS AND REMAINS 
LIFERARY CONFESSIONS OF 
VOLTAIRE. 
(Continued from p. 252, 
[ The Soirézs de Ferney, printed at Paris in 
1802, has not received an Envlith drefs. 
It appears to be the work of fome French 
Botwell, who has been as fucceisful in_ex- 
hipiting Voltaire in converfation with his 
friends, as our Bofwell has been, in the 
fame refpeét with regard to his friend 
Johnfon. , 
From this publication, which may be called 
Voltaire’s Table Talk, have been feleéted 
fuch ne as cannot fail to be interefting 
to our readers. | 
Fale. Hi’ (i lived at Bruffels with Me- 
dina, If that banker’s letters 
may be evedited, he found him a viper 
which he cherifhed in his bofom till he was 
mortally {tung by him. It was through the 
means of Rouflean, this banker, at whofe 
table he had been ted for fix months, 
was fhut up ina prifon. Routleau acted 
asa py upon : Medina; and upon Rout- 
feau’s invormation, that friend and be- 
nefactor, whofe houfe had becn his home 
when noue other would receive him, was 
dragged out of it at midnight. If whae 
Medina charged him with be truth, 
diouffeau was the eaves monfter France 
ever rid herfelf of. Such an example of 
ingratitude fhocks all feeling; we muft 
fuppofe there has been fone exagvera- 
tion on the part of Medina: a man, 
whilft ftruggling with misfortune, is but 
too apt to form fufpicions, and even 
grow jealous of his bett frieuds. 
Friend.—Did not Routleau publith a 
letter m print againft you; in which, 
atter his mauner, he related the particu- 
Jars of your journey to Brutieis, and re- 
fidence in that city? I believe you had 
the better of him in your reply to it, 
Volf.—That was no very ditheult mat- 
ter. The letter was ill written, and the 
thoughts were trivial. Amoneft other 
‘trite obfervations, I recollect that he 
fays, referring to me, “4d would have 
him to know, that a man who has a 
houfe full of elafs windows ought not to 
throw ftones ‘againtt another’s dw elling.” 
He difcovered “by this _production, that, 
though he took great pains with all hé 
wrote, he was not an author whofe dic- 
tion was chafte and correét. As he had 
been for a length of time the outcat{t of 
jociety, his evidenee went for nothing ; 
and in this letter he entered into a dull 
Foinantic {tory of the manner in which 
( 351 
) es 
OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
» 
we became firft acquainted. With all 
his genius, he was deficient in the fkill 
how to direct 1; and I own to you, that 
without this abatement he would have 
proved’ a dangerous man. fle wrote 
verfes againft me; they were infipid; 
and in an Epiflle againft Calumny, I 
could not help ipeaking of a man who 
was fo guilty of You have all, I 
dare mys feen the Fob and you may 
remember [ call him, 
_Ce vieux rimeur couvert d’ignominie. - 
That hoary rhymfter loaded with difgrace. 
In this def feription I had only given in 
verfe what the public faid of him, I did 
no more than copy La Motthe, the moft 
temperate man alive, who had fad of 
Roulfeau before me: 
Connais-tu ce flatteur perfide,’ 
Cette ame jaloufe, ou préfide 
La Calomnie au ris malin ; 
Ce ceur dont la timide audace, 
En fecre ty fur ceux qu’il embraffe, 
Cherche a diftifier fon venin ? 
Know’ ft thou this fawning fubtle cheat, 
Whofe jealous heart {wells with deceit 5 
That coward heart, where fits malign 
Sly-Calumny, with dark defign 5 
And fecret, o’er devoted heads 
Of thofe fhe fmiles on, venom fheds ? 
Rouffeau, to carry on his defigns with 
more etfect, had affociated him! felf with 
the Abbé Destontaines who compiled a 
periodical work, which doubtlefs is not 
unxnown to you. Desfuntaines fent to 
Holland, from time to time, feveral little 
feurrilous pieces, which he had written 
againtt me. It is proper that I thould 
tell you, this Destontaines had been fhut 
up in the Bicétre about the year 1724, 
and that I was the means of relealing 
him from thence. This is a fact as ge= 
nerally known as tne crime which cauted 
his imprifonment; I have letters from 
him, which acknowledge his obligations 
to me on that account. I contefs to you, 
my friends, that my refentment of the 
injurious character given by Routleau of 
the Henriad carried me too far. I was 
{trenuous in the profecution of my re- 
venge, and I fuccceded in it. I have 
repented, ince my anunolity has fubtid- 
ed, that I was fo exafperated againtt 
him ; and now fee Rouffeau only ir the 
light of a man who has been unfortu- 
nate. 
Friend.—Misfortune might likewife 
have fowered Rouffeau’s difpotition. 
However, the fuit is ended, and both 
Yy2 parties 
