New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-05-24

.f..l
Ia % voltoire most truly-that two cohta't'"
b;ocraphics of him must be written u" STU" ~
vol character Friends and enemies nav ~
formed the task with equal reckes'neNN OF 'hr rum
- b;s name has become, especially Tor EhelSn
readers. merely synonym for impety OF i'r 'i''"-
nal FREEDOM lie stands for Luciicr IN b",h SUNS
,ho orch-tend and the light -bIinger, and III Doth
ministry One of these extremes Is m'rh'" ~ w
article devoted 10 him in the Encyclopedia D."
,;ooo wv forever for Phstines; while al tno
other stands the frantic euogy tru'npe'ed az no
C,o,r;al bv Victor Hugo. who places HI" oil
~ ltor ,s higl and sacred rs that OF the louuo' vi
CHRISTIANITY We are grateful to Mr. Ia''oI w
sbunuine either cXccss-ior oi'rihe h'''' '''
norrative of incidents in his subjects career MUS
frated bv letters and Conversations NS 'Nl """
those of his contemporaries. Yet no mas NOT S"'
ceedcd in avoiding pariiality-prohahy mas n,'
.,,cd IN avoid if. In making M the book chiefly
from what Votare and his friends saId "i i'''iS'"'
he il of course on Notaires side perhaps even "
r,tle more strongly so than modern Judgment '"i'-
,opt and enlightened rs it is becoming III TINS III
srancc can wholly approve.
This is a biographical narrative only. l" oIH'''
md exhaust a history of Noltaire one must We Az
encylcopadist That would he history oil '"s
survival and growth out Of the middle AGES "'
Church and State. and of the decline 81 h"tD To-
,yarl their cataclysm and new birth III the ii''t"
ReyoutIon-a history Of the adv ancc oi the F,"i"r
fr, sl,vcrv TO iacobinSu-a history oi the b"dE "I
literature fostering or checking both thcSo R'""''
which eliminated in Noltairc AS to hS pe'9o"''l
.baroctcr snch history must present an ePltomc oi
oil tI,,. his race can be- for Noltarc was the III
tcnscs of Frcnchmcn
yoltaire was an exile from Paris the greater part
of his life but never from the thought or h'ar' "i
the Parslans He tried the Bastir and the Court
md was all his life afraid of the First ana coPue'
ting with the last to keep out OF 1t. lie h'u 'h'
salons attentive 10y his cpigrams' and the t'"h ny
the stage. All the women and the men ol s'"So
x,crc with him. all the duh dauphinS and priests
mud cr,ticasters rcemtlcsly against him. lie stood
,vll with ouis XIV IS mistress aud I'll with his con-
.ciorcr-l ecper and " she. the tolerated rcpr"hate
eorld not make common cause with rcprohatc not
tolerated" 80 absolute personal rule So Too'cd
ond opprchcnsye the hatred of ideas that II was
not until after 10y forty years of lncesSlnt mtcicc-
final labor he had won from everyone ouisidc oi
France the fame of being the most illuStrouS oil DIS
countrymcn that he dared to return To IariS' only
4, be " stifed with roses" aud killed by the eN-
c,tenen of his triumph 1t was better Tor Ms iaH'o
that he should la an exile He escaped beng
silenced and avoided the danger of compromise Ii
was distinction To be his protector. lie became the
puest of civilized Europe everywhere but III Italy
which was closed against him by genuine fear ana "a
reol risk of the Inquisition Yet in later days lac
wrote sportiyclv to the Pope, who replied with
courtesy as lover Of poetry TO a master OF IT. ana
he had the exquisite mpudcnce TO dedicate his
traoedy of Mahomet to his Holiness and to ask
from him some relics for his church at Ferrcy, and
an INDULGENCE in drtculo mortis. The first request
was granted in the form Of a fragment of the hair
shirt of 81 Francis " Ii was notification 10 per
sons and powers concerned. that NJ de NOltIirc.
after forty years Of eXertion, had conquered the
liberty Of saying very nearly all he pleased The
story that an offer Of Cardinals hat was made to
him or at least that Of Madame dc PompadouTs in
Guence 10 obtain one for him. condition that he
should publicly give the lie to his whole career
seems quite incredible. His Wit that spared nothing
would not have missed the splendid absurdity OF
such an offer.
Voltairc quarrelled with everyone. AS a prodical
son he had differences Of with his father for
gotten when the success of his first tragedy con
WINGED the old notary that training could not eXpcl
nature OF his two SONS their irascille father Wit
tily said: Il have pair of fools for SONS, one III
verse and the other in prose" With ms elder
brother an austerc crcdulous bCot, the poet could
have no friendly relations, and he complains Of
shis insupportable conduct as one of his kc'ncst
Affections" For spirited answer to the insoouce
of 4 dis>olnte nobleman, the Chcyaer de Rohan lac
was waylaid and shamefully beaten. The challenge
that followed to his base aSsailant-fOr Notarc
never accused Of eOwardicc-lcd TO his second con-
Guemcnt in the Ba,tile. lovers quarrel with
MADAME du Chatclrt occurred whenever the King Of
Prussia succeeded III winning him for a time from
her and their rceOncilatOns were artiully used TO
ytrcng, hen her control over him. The last of these
disagrtemcnis. together with the occurrences that
led 10 il and TO that ladys death soon after, IS
related at great length and with needless fullncss Of
detail The story illustrates the manners OF the
time but is more tit for the pages of a chroriqpe
soandaLeuse than for a grave biography. With
critics with rivals and publishers. his life one
long QUARREL fertile in mcrcilcSs Wit and un>crupu-
lous devices. But all the bitterness of his nature
was distilled and all the point of his intellect
~hetted into posons and stings for ecclesia~tics.
Here only was he thoroughly and rclcn;essy in ear
nest. All the good and the bad in him conSpircd TO
keep up that war His convictions were sharpencd
by personal wrong. and his reason, so clear. sus-
tanned 10y his haired, malignant, IN the long con-
trovcrsy in which neither side fully triulnphcd nor
ever forgaye. He quarrellcd with the prcjudiccs
md the magistrates Of Geneva so seriously as TO
make il convenient for him to quit that jurisdc
tion lie squaLbcd with his ncighbors at Fcrncy,
with all the more Zcst if the offenders happened To
be cures usually. however, taking the part of the
poor against oppression. More than once ii is re-
lated how he amazed by smart box on the
some one who had reused his anger mentioning the
trhe afcrward in a letter n slight viyacity.'
But of all his quarrcls the most notorious and the
most ludi, rous was that with the King of Prussia.
to whom he once wrote that he could neither 1--we
with him nor without him. Conscious that all
Europe was looking and laughing, each cXcTtcd
himself to outdo the other in epigrams and re-
proachcs. Wit the side of the poet, yet
Frederick was no mean antagonist even in words,
while he held and brutay used the advantage OF
power in deeds. Always ready, the poet wrote,
TO pat with one hand and scratch with the other he