MEMOIRS OF VOLTAIRE. FRANÇOIS MARIE AROUET, who by assuming the name of Voltaire has rendered it so famous, was born at Chatenay, on the 20th of February, 1694, and was baptised at Paris, in the church of St. André-des-Arcs, on the 22nd of November in he same year. His excessive weakness was the cause of this delay, which, during life occasioned doubts concerning the place and time of his birth. The father of M. de Voltaire exercised the office of treasurer to the Chamber of Accounts; his mother, Marguerite d'Aumart, was of a noble family of Poitou. Their son has been reproached for having taken the name of Voltaire; that is, for having followed a custom at that time generally practised by the rich citizens and younger sons, who, leaving the family name to the heir, assumed that of a fief, or perhaps of a country house. His birth was questioned in numerous libels. His nemies, among men of literature, seemed to fear that the fashionable world would too readily sacrifice its prejudices to the pleasure found in his society, and the admiration his talents inspired, and that a man of letters should be treated with too much equality. Such reproaches did him honour; malignity does not attack the birth of a man of literature, but from a secret consciousness, which it cannot stifle, that is wholly unable to diminish his personal fame. The fortune which M. Arouet, the father enjoyed, was doubly advantageous to his son; it procured him the advantages of education, without which genius never attains those heights to which it might otherwise arise Nor was the advantage of being born to an independent fortune less inestimable. M. de Voltaire never felt the misery of being obliged to abandon his liberty that he might procure subsistence; to subject his genius to labour, which the necessity of living enforced; nor to flatter the prejudices, or the passions, of a patron. The young Arouet was sent to the Jesuits' College, where the sons of the first nobility, except those of the Jansenists, received their education. The professors of rhetoric, under whom he was placed, were Father Porée and Father Jay: the first, being a man of understanding, and of a good heart, discovered the seeds of a future greatness in his scholar; and the latter, struck with the boldness of his opinions and the independence of his mind, predicted that he would become the apostle of deism in France: both of which prophecies were verified by time. When he left college, he again found the Abbé de Châteauneuf, his godfather and the friend of his mother, an intimate at home. The Abbé was intimate with Ninon de l'Enclos, whom, for her probity, her understanding, and her freedom of thought, he long had pardoned in despite of the somewhat notorious adventures of her youth. The fashionable world were pleased that she had refused the invitation of her former friend, Madame de Maintenon, who had offered to invite her to court, on condition that she would become a devotee. The abbé de Châteauneuf had presented Voltaire to Ninon. Though but a boy, he already was a poet; already began to tease his Jansenist brother by his trifling epigrams, and to please himself with reciting the "Moïsade" of Rousseau. Ninon had taken delight in the pupil of her friend, and had left him by will two thousand livres (about eighty guineas) to purchase books. Thus was he taught by fortunate circumstances, even in infancy, and before his understanding was formed, to regard study and labours of the mind as pleasing and honourable employments. The Abbé de Châteauneuf also introduced the young Voltaire to these societies, and particularly to the company of the Duke of Sully, the Marquis de la Fare, the Abbé Servien, the Abbé de Chaulieu, and the Abbé Courtin; who were often joined by the Prince de Conti, and the Grand Prior de Vendôme. M. Arouet imagined his son was ruined, when he was told that he wrote poetry and frequented the society of people of fashion. He wished to make him a judge, and saw him employed on a tragedy. This family quarrel ended by sending the young Voltaire to the Marquis de Châteauneuf, the French ambassador in Holland. His exile was not of long duration. Madame du Noyer, who had fled thither with her two daughters, rather to avoid her husband than from zeal for the Protestant religion, was then at the Hague, where she lived by intrigues and libels, and proved from her conduct that she did not go thither in search of liberty of conscience. M. de Voltaire became enamoured of one of her daughters; and the mother, finding that the only advantage she could gain from his attachment was that of making it public, carried her complaints to the ambassador, who forbade his young dependent to continue his visits to Mademoiselle du Noyer; and sent him back to his family for having disobeyed his orders. Madame du Noyer failed not to print this story with the letters of the young Arouet to her daughter, hoping that this already well-known name would promote the sale of her book; and vaunted of her maternal severity and delicacy' in the very libel in whicn she proclaimed her daughter's dishonour. The youth, when returned to Paris, soon forgot his love; but he had afterwards the good fortune to be of service to Mademoiselle du Noyer, when she had married the Baron de Vinterfeld. His father, however, finding him persist in writing poetry, and living at large, forbade him his house. The most submissive letters made no impression on him ; the son even asked permission to go to America, provided that before his departure he might be permitted to kneel at his feet; but there was no choice; he must determine not to depart for America, but to bind himself to an attorney. He did not here remain long; M. de Caumartin, the friend of M. Arouet, pitied the fate of his son, and requested permission to take him to St. Ange; where, removed from those societies which alarmed paternal affection, he might reflect on, and make choice of a profession. Here he met with Caumartin, the elder, a respectable old man, who was passionately fond of Henry IV., and Sully, at that time too much forgotten by the nation. Caumartin had been intimate with the best informed men of the reign of Louis XIV.; and was acquainted with the most secret anecdotes, such as they really happened. These he took a pleasure to recount, and Voltaire returned from St. Ange, occupied by the project of writing an epic poem, of which Henry IV. should be the hero, and ardently desirous of studying the history of France. To this journey are we indebted for the "Henriade," and the "Age of Louis XIV." The death of this monarch was recent; the people, of whom he had long been the idol-the very people who had pardoned his profusion, his wars, and his despotism, and had applauded his persecution of the Protestants-insulted his memory by testifying indecent joy. A bull, obtained from Rome against a book of devotion, had occasioned the Parisians to forget that glory of which they so long had been enamoured. Satires on the memory of Louis the Great were as numerous as eulogies had been during his life. Voltaire, being accused of having written one of these satires, was sent to the Bastile. The poem ended with the following line : J'ai vu ces maux, et je n'ai pas vingt ans. [These evils have I seen, yet have not reached my twentieth year.] Voltaire was then upwards of two and twenty, and the police took this conformity of age to be proof sufficient to deprive him of his liberty. It was in the Bastile that the young poet sketched his poem of the " League,” corrected his tragedy of “ŒŒdipus," which he had begun long before, and wrote some merry verses on the misfortune of being there a prisoner. The regent, duke of Orleans, being informed of his innocence, restored him to freedom, and granted him a recompense. "I thank your royal highness," said Voltaire, "for having provided me with food; but I hope you will not hereafter trouble yourself concerning my lodging." The tragedy of "Edipus" was performed in 1718. The author had hitherto been known only by his fugitive pieces, by some epistles which breathed the spirit of Chaulieu, but written more correctly, and by an ode which had vainly contended for the prize bestowed by the French Academy: to this, a ridiculous piece written by the Abbé du Jarri had been preferred. The theme proposed by the academy was the decoration of the altar of Notre Dame; for Louis XIV., after having reigned seventy years, recollected it was time to perform the promise of Louis XIII. Thus was the subject of the first serious poem, written by Voltaire, devotion. Possessed of native and unerring taste, he would not mingle the passion of love with a tale so horrid as that of " Edipus ;" and had been daring enough to present his piece to the theatre without having paid this tribute to custom. But it was rejected. The assembled comedians took it amiss that the author should dare to dispute their judgment. "The young man well deserves," said Dufresne, "as a punishment for his pride, that his tragedy should be played with the long vile scene which he has translated from Sophocles." Voltaire was obliged to cede, and to insert a whole episode of love. The piece was applauded, though in despite of the episode; and the long vile scene from Sophocles ensured its success. La Motte, who was at that time the first among men of letters, said in his approbation that this tragedy gave promise of a worthy successor to Corneille and Racine; and the homage thus rendered by a rival, whose fame was established, and who had reason to fear he might see himself surpassed, must for ever do honour to the character of La Motte. But Voltaire, proclaimed a man of genius and a philosopher to a crowd of inferior authors and fanatics of all sects, even then gained a combination of enemies, |