The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction, by Various

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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Volume 14, No. 384, Saturday, August 8, 1829.

Author: Various

Release Date: February 21, 2004 [EBook #11219]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. XIV, No. 384.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 1829. [PRICE 2d.

* * * * *

Voltaire's Chateau, at Ferney.

[Illustration]

Voltaire is the bronze and plaster poet of France. Cheek by jowl with
Rosseau, (their squabbles are forgotten in the roll of fame), you see
him perched on mantel, bracket, _ecritoire_, and bookcase: in short,
their effigies are as common as the plaster figures of Shakspeare and
Milton are in England. How far the rising generation of France may
profit by their household memorials--or the sardonic and satanic smile
of their great poet--we will not pretend to determine; neither do we
invite any comparison; although Voltaire, with all his trickseyings and
panting after fame, never inculcated so sublime a lesson as is conveyed
in

"The cloud-capp'd towers," &c.

which are inscribed beneath the bust of our immortal bard.

But we turn from Voltaire and his stormy times to the seat of his
retirement--Ferney, about six miles from Geneva; where he lived for
twenty years; but in his eighty-fourth year actually quitted this scene
of delightful repose for the city of Paris--there to enjoy a short
triumph, and die. The latter event took place in 1778. At pages 62 and
69 of vol. xii. of THE MIRROR, we have given a brief description of
Ferney, with many interesting anecdotes, carefully compiled from a
variety of authorities. Here Voltaire lived in princely style, as
Condorcet says, "removed from illusion, and whatever could excite
momentary, or personal passion." According to M. Simond, a recent
tourist, the _chateau_ is still visited by travellers, and Vol