VOLTAIRE
A
quarrel with a member of an illustrious French family, the chevalier de Rohan,
resulted in Voltaire's second incarceration in the Bastille, from which he was
released within two weeks on his promise to quit France and proceed to England.
Accordingly he spent about two years in London. Voltaire soon mastered the
English language, and in order to prepare the British public for an enlarged
edition of his Poème de la ligue, he wrote in English two remarkable
essays, one on epic poetry and the other on the history of civil wars in France.
For a few years the Catholic, autocratic French government prevented the
publication of the enlarged edition of Poème de la ligue, which was
retitled La Henriade (The Henriad). The government finally allowed the
poem to be published in 1728. This
work, an eloquent defense of religious toleration, achieved an almost
unprecedented success, not only in Voltaire's native France but throughout all
of the continent of Europe as well. In
1728 Voltaire returned to France. During the next four years he resided in Paris
and devoted most of his time to literary composition. The chief work of this
period is the
Lettres
philosophiques
(The Philosophical Letters, 1734). A covert attack upon the political and
ecclesiastical institutions of France, this work brought Voltaire into conflict
with the authorities, and he was once more forced to quit Paris. He found refuge
at the Château de Cirey in the independent duchy of Lorraine. There he formed an
intimate relationship with the aristocratic and learned Gabrielle Émilie Le
Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet, who exerted a strong intellectual
influence upon him.
Voltaire's
sojourn at Cirey in companionship with the marquise du Châtelet was a period of
intense literary activity. In addition to an imposing number of plays, he wrote
the Élements de la philosophie de Newton (Elements of the Philosophy of
Newton), and produced novels, tales, satires, and light
verses.
Voltaire's
stay at Cirey was not without interruptions. He often
traveled
to Paris and to Versailles, where, through the influence of the marquise de
Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV, he became a court favourite. He was
first appointed historiographer of France, and then a gentleman of the king's
bedchamber; finally, in 1746, he was elected to the French Academy. His Poem
de Fontenoy (1745), describing a battle won by the French over the English
during the War of the Austrian Succession, and his Précis du siècle de Louis
XV (Epitome of the Age of Louis XV), in addition to his dramas
La
princesses
de Navarre
and Le triomphe de Trajan, were the outcome of Voltaire's connection with
the court of Louis XV.
Following
the death of Madame du Châtelet in 1749, Voltaire finally accepted a
long-standing invitation from Frederick II of Prussia to become a permanent
resident at the Prussian court. He journeyed to Berlin in 1750 but did not
remain there more than two years, because his acidulous wit clashed with the
king's autocratic temper and led to frequent disputes. While at Berlin he
completed his Siècle de Louis XIV, a historical study of the period of
Louis XIV (1638-1715). For some years Voltaire led a migratory existence, but he
finally settled in 1758 at Ferney, where he spent the remaining 20 years of his
life. In the interval between his return from Berlin and his
establishment
at Ferney,
he completed his most ambitious work, the Essai sur l'histoire générale et
sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations (Essay on General History and on the
Customs and the Character of Nations, 1756). In this work, a study of human
progress, Voltaire decries supernaturalism and denounces religion and the power
of the clergy, although he makes evident his own belief in the existence of
God.
After
settling in Ferney, Voltaire wrote several philosophical poems, such as Le
désastre de Lisbonne (The Lisbon Disaster, 1756); a number of satirical and
philosophical novels, of which the most brilliant is Candide (1759); the
tragedy Tancrède (1760); and the Dictionnaire philosophique
(1764). Feeling secure in his sequestered retreat, he sent forth hundreds of
short squibs and broadsides satirizing abuses that he desired to expose. Those
who suffered persecution because of their beliefs found in Voltaire an eloquent
and powerful defender. The flavor of Voltaire's activities could be summarized
in the phrase he often used: écrasons l'infâme ("let us crush the
infamous one"). With this phrase, he referred to any form of religion that
persecutes
no adherents
or that constitutes fanaticism. For Christianity he would substitute deism, a
purely rational religion. Candide, in which Voltaire analyzes the problem
of evil in the world, depicts the woes heaped upon the world in the name of
religion. He died in Paris, May 30, 1778.