mind, and reduced the
flippancy of method, which is the bane of French literature, to its
minimum.

He suffered an exile of three years, a long term for the offence he
had committed. In 1729 he was permitted to return to Paris. That year,
by a lottery speculation, in which he was a sure winner, he secured
enough money, when added to what he already possessed, to render him
independent of all patronage. From this time on he never knew the want
of money, nor permitted an opportunity to pass by which he could
increase his riches.

The next few years were mainly devoted to the production of poems,
plays, and English letters. During these years his pen continually
brought him into difficulty. Some of his productions he denied. At
last, in 1734, when a pirated edition of his English letters appeared,
containing also a criticism upon the fanaticism of the saintly Pascal,
full of heresy, good sense, and keen satire, the fury of the storm
broke upon him again. A warrant was immediately issued for his arrest;
the officer charged with the duty of capturing him found that Voltaire
had left the Chateau at Monjeau, where he had been in attendance at
the wedding of the Duke de Richelieu, so the arrest was not made.

We now find him at the Chateau of Madame du Chatelet. His relations
with this woman will not bear scrutiny. The most charitable
construction which can be put upon the fifteen years during which
Voltaire lived with her is, that she, like himself, was morally the
product of the age. If, however, it is urged against them that there
were pure women and honorable men in France at that time, it may be
asserted that such were men and women who had not been surrounded from
childhood with the influences and social customs in which Voltaire and
Madame du Chatelet lived, moved, and had their being.

When this woman died Voltaire found himself in a very unsettled
condition. During his life at the Chateau de Cirey he had received
letters from Prince Frederick of Prussia. Now the prince is king, and
he asks Voltaire to be his guest, and find with him a refuge and a
home. The "respectable Emily" being dead, Voltaire, after considerable
haggling about money matters with Frederick, who behaved generously,
at last consented.

[Illustration: The Arrest of Voltaire and his Niece by Frederick's
Order.]

In the year 1751 the French author reached Berlin. Frederick treated
him in a right kingly way. From the very first Voltaire behaved l