orm increased.
Voltaire took shelter (1734) in Champagne, at Cirey, the chateau of
Madame du Chatelet.

Voltaire was forty years of age; Madame, a woman of intellect and
varied culture, was twelve years younger. During fifteen years, when
he was not wandering abroad, Cirey was the home of Voltaire, and Madame
du Chatelet his sympathetic, if sometimes his exacting companion.
To this period belong the dramas _Alzire_, _Zulime_, _L'Enfant
Prodigue_, _Mahomet_, _Merope_, _Nanine_. The divine Emilie was
devoted to science, and Voltaire interpreted the Newtonian
philosophy to France or discussed questions of physics. Many
admirable pieces of verse--ethical essays in the manner of Pope,
lighter poems of occasion, _Le Mondain_, which contrasts the golden
age of simplicity with the much more agreeable age of luxury, and
many besides--were written. Progress was made with the shameless
burlesque on Joan of Arc, _La Pucelle_. In _Zadig_ Voltaire gave the
first example of his sparkling tales in prose. Serious historical
labours occupied him--afterwards to be published--the _Siecle de
Louis XIV._ and the great _Essai sur les Moeurs_. In 1746, with the
support of Madame de Pompadour, he entered the French Academy. The
death of Madame du Chatelet, in 1749, was a cruel blow to Voltaire.
He endeavoured in Paris to find consolation in dramatic efforts,
entering into rivalry with the aged Crebillon.

Among Voltaire's correspondents, when he dwelt at Cirey, was the Crown
Prince of Prussia, a royal _philosophe_ and aspirant French poet.
Royal flatteries were not more grateful to Voltaire than philosophic
and literary flatteries were to Frederick. Personal acquaintance
followed; but Frederick would not receive Madame du Chatelet, and
Voltaire would not desert his companion. Now when Madame was dead,
when the Pompadour ceased from her favours to the poet, when Louis
turned his back in response to a compliment, Frederick was to secure
his philosopher. In July 1750 Voltaire was installed at Berlin. For
a time that city was "the paradise of _philosophes_."

The _Siecle de Louis XIV._ was published next year. Voltaire's
insatiable cupidity, his tricks, his tempers, his vindictiveness,
shown in the _Diatribe du Docteur Akakia_ (an embittered attack on
Maupertuis), alienated the King; when "the orange" of Voltaire's
genius "was sucked" he would "throw away the rind." With unwilling
delays, and the humiliation of an arrest at Frankfort, Voltaire