New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-31

how
she says that ever Jesuit master taught He
had an intelligence like an arrow-and an arrow
which always went straight to the mark III.
cared nothing for sports. fact which is. per-
haps. partially accounted for by his fran ply
sique. but which we may quite as plausfbI, sx
plaln by reference to his innate prediction for
the things of the mind. That boy" said one OF
his teachers. wants to weigh the great oues-
lions Of Europe in his little scales" Knowing
that ultimately he meddIed with those questions
10 his hearts content. Miss Tallentyre finds II
hard to forget what she calls "the Voltafrfan
message. and brings in rather ovIish illusions
10 II even In her earlier pages. Nevertheless
she does not lose sight OF the purely dfverting
SIDE OF NOltaire's youth. She tells Us OF his in
PRODUCTION to "The EpicIreaus Of the Temple
and deity sketches his spectacular performances
in the company OF those dissOlute wits exhibit
Ing. in effective contrast to the young mans
frivOlity. the solid bourgeois deameanor OF his
scandalized father. The budding poet, she says.
received very short shrift from respectable,
sensible old NJ ArOuet pere. when he came home
In the small hours Of the morning from these
orgies The determined old man locked tho
house and went to bed, and behold! FRANCOIS
Marie must pay for his amusements by walking
the streets till morning" In short this most
a.
seems at first glance destined to anything save
a career OF not only brilliant but powerful au-
thorship- 1t is important. however, to remem-
Der that a kind Of juvenile effervescence wa.
one OF the essential elements OF VoItaire's char
acter- When he was eighty-rour, and moved
amid the incidents Of the proud return he then
made to Paris Like a veritable skeleton at q
feast, the spirit OF youth still shOne in him. 1T
fully. but with an authentic glow Thus. willis
We prefer to see in the Voltaire Of those early
days, full Of dissipation. recklessness sentiment
and unending conflict with an irascible parent
8 merely human type, and prefer to leave an
high erected messages to take care OF them,
selves. cannot help recognizing In this witty
ruffier something Of the rebel against authority
and privilege whom in the maturs
writer.
A passion for reason and for justice lay M
the bottom OF most OF those famous Quarrels IN
which he afterward involved. but he was
born with an instinct to challenge, to fight, and
to conquer. Waspish. the world has called him
II his sting was brought into play in many
good cause. it was exercised from the start with
equal readiness whether the excuse for the in
diligence was legitimate or not II there b
one thing more than another that is made plain
in the history OF his career. 1t is that he de-
lighted in his own Wit. and could not for tns
life Of him resist opportunity to give il
airing. Miss Tallentyre shows that he suffered
more than once for sins not his own For ex-
ample he did not write the epigrams which
landed him in the Bastiue when he was only
twenty-three- But the experience, trying as II
was did not even begin TO teach him discretion,
and his satiricaI impulse was always triumphins
over his prudence. 1t is interesting. by the way,
to observe that while his father. the notary.
could not teach him wisdom in his dealings
with the great world. he seems to have be-
Queathed to him some of his own foresight IN
money matters. When the old man died he Ieft
him 1900 francs q year. few days after tho
King increased by 1900 francs the pension
which had already been given to him By the Re-
gent on his liberation from BastiIIe, and. says
Miss TaIlentyre, from this moment VOltairs
never spent his whole income" From this mo-
ment. in other words more and more OF
VOltaire's common sense We do not see ulors
OF his principle, in financial concerns. On thu
contrary, one Of the salient episodes in his bog
gagged with Hirsch. the Berlin money lender.
when he was at the court OF Frederick Thar
Disguised monarch described the affair as Ons
"of rascal who is trying to cheat sharper
and his words were not unduly harsh The fact
Is that he who would look for true nobility OF
soul in VOltaire must walk warily. and make
sure that he does not mistake generous emo
tons and occasional fine imaginative flights for
the qualities that so to establish a truly heroic