exuberant, that he
expended them upon all people and all subjects--even _himself_, when
occasion admitted of it, In one of his letters,-addressed to the Elector
Palatine, Sept. 9, 1761, he gives this excuse for not attending at the
court:--

"I should really make an excellent figure amidst the rejoicings of your
electoral highness. It was only, I think, in the Egypt of antiquity
that _skeletons_ were admitted to a place in their festivals. To say the
truth, my lord, it is all over with me. I laugh indeed sometimes; but am
forced to acknowledge that pain is an evil. It is a comfort to me that
your highness is well; but I am fitter for an extreme unction than a
baptism. May the peace serve for an era to mark the prince's birth; and
may his august father preserve his regard for, and accept the profound
respects of his little Swiss, Voltaire."

In politics, Voltaire was not very far advanced. He seems to have had no
idea of a nation without a _king_. A monarch who should not commit any
very flagrant acts of tyranny, was as much as he appeared to desire. He
evidently did not foresee the great revolution that was so soon to burst
forth in France, but that he mainly contributed by his writings to bring
it about, there can be no doubt. His influence upon the men of his
time, both in France and Europe, is ably depicted by such writers as
Lamartine, Quinet, and Brougham. Voltaire's was the one great mind of
his day, whose thoughts engrossed the attention of all men. He was great
by his learning, his genius, and his benevolence--and this man was the
champion of Reason, the enemy of superstition, and an "Infidel." Quinet,
in his lectures on the Romish Church, says:--"I watch, for forty years,
the reign of one man who is in himself the spiritual director, not of
his country, but of his age. From the corner of his chamber, he governs
the kingdom of spirits; intellects are every day regulated by his; one
word written by his hand traverses Europe. Princes love, and kings fear
him; they think they are not sure of their kingdom if he be not with
them. Whole nations, on their side, adopt without discussion, and
emulously repeat, every syllable that falls from his pen. Who exercises
this incredible power, which had been nowhere seen since the middle
ages? Is he another Gregory II.? Is he a Pope? No--Voltaire."

We conclude our sketch with the eloquent words of Lamartine, who
describes, in a few sentences, the inestimable services rendere