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Voltaire
by
A call on the Duchess of Marlborough led to a dinner at Lord Chesterfield’s. Next he met Queen Caroline and assured her that she spoke French like a Parisian. King George the Second quite liked Voltaire, because Voltaire quite liked Lady Sandon, his mistress. Only a Frenchman could have successfully paid court to the King, Queen and Lady Sandon at the same time, as Voltaire did. His great epic poem, “Henriade,” that he had been sandpapering for ten years, was now published, dedicated to the Queen. The King headed the subscription-list with more copies than he needed, at five guineas each, on agreement. Voltaire afterward said that he would not be expected to read the poem. The Queen’s good offices were utilized–she became for the time a royal book-agent, and her signature and the author’s adorned all deluxe copies. A suggestion from the Queen was equal to an order, and the edition was soon worked off.
Voltaire now spent three years in England. He had written his “Life of Charles the Twelfth,” several plays, an “English Note-Book,” and best of all, had gotten together a thousand pounds good money as proceeds of “Henriade,” a stiff and stilted piece of pedantic bombast, written with sweat and lamp-smoke.
The “Letters on the English” were published a few years later in Paris with good results, considering it was only a by-product. It is a deal better-natured than Dickens’ “American Note-Book,” and had more humor than Emerson’s “English Traits.” Among other things quite Voltairesque in the “Letters” is this: “The Anglican Church has retained many of the good old Catholic customs–not the least of which is the collection of tithes with great regularity.”
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The priestly habit of Voltaire’s life manifested itself even to the sharp collecting from the world all that the world owed him.
The snug little sum he had secured in England would have shown his ability, but there was something better in store, awaiting his return to France. It seems the Controller of Finance had organized a lottery to help pay the interest on the public debt. A considerable sum of money had been realized, but there was still a large number of tickets unsold, and the drawing was soon to take place. Voltaire knew the officials who had the matter in charge and they knew him. He organized a syndicate that would take all tickets there were left, on guarantee that among the tickets purchased would be the one that called for the principal prize of forty thousand pounds. Just how it was known in advance what ticket would win must be left to those good people who understand these little things in detail. In any event, Voltaire put in every sou he had–and his little fortune was then a matter of about ten thousand dollars. Several of his friends contributed a like sum.
The drawing took place, and the prize of forty thousand pounds was theirs. It is said that Voltaire took twenty-five thousand pounds as his share–the whole scheme was his anyway–and his friends were quite satisfied with having doubled their money in a fortnight.
Immediately on securing this money, Voltaire presented himself at the office of the President of Accounts, and asked for the legacy left him by his father. As proof of his financial ability, and as a guarantee of good faith, he opened a hand-satchel and piled on the President’s table a small mountain of gold and bank-notes. The first question of the astonished official was, “Will M. de Voltaire have the supreme goodness to explain where he stole all this money?”
This was soon followed by an apology, as the visitor explained the reason of his visit.
The father’s legacy amounted to nearly four thousand pounds, and this was at once paid over to Voltaire with a flattering letter expressing perfect faith in his ability to manage his own finances.