No More Learning

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? CHAP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE. 273
1746-1747.
"which in general he wishes to avoid, but by speaking half the
"truth; in short, by advancing, in a dexterous, diplomatic
"way, the tmcloven foot, in those Vatican precincts. And had
"got the Holy Father's own suffrage for Mahomet (think of
"that, you Ass of Mirepoix! ), among other cases that might
"rise. When this seat among the Forty fell vacant, his very
"first measure, -- mark it, Orthodox reader, -- was a Letter
"to the Chief Jesuit, Father Latour,Head of one's old College
"of Louis le Grand. A Letter of fine filial tenor: 'My ex-
pedient old Schoolmasters, to whom I owe everything; the
"'representatives of learning, of decorum, of frugality and
"'modest human virtue: --in what contrast to the obscure
"' Doggeries poaching about in the street-gutters, and flying
"'atthe peaceable passenger! '* Which captivated Father
"Latour; and made matters smooth on that side; so that
"even the Ancien de Mirepoix said nothing, this time: What
"could he say? No cloven foot visible, and the Authorities
"strong.
"Voltaire had started as Candidate with these judicious
"preliminaries. Voltaire was elected, as we saw; fineDis-
course, 9th May; and on the Official side all things comfort- "able. But, in the mean while, the Doggeries, as natural,
"seeing the thing now likely, had risen to a never-imagined
"pitch; and had filled Paris, and, to Voltaire's excruciated
"sense, the Universe, with their howlings and their hyaena-
"laughter, with their pasquils, satires, old and new. So that
"Voltaire could not stand it; and, in evil hour, rushed down
"stairs upon them; seized one poor dog, Travenol, unknown
"to him as Fiddler or otherwise; pinioned Dog Travenol, with
"pincers, bytheears, himfor one; -- proper Police-pincers,
"for we are now well at Court; -- and had a momentary joy!
"And, alas, this was not the right dog; this, we say, was
"Travenol a Fiddler at the Opera, who, except the street
"noises, knew nothing of Voltaire; much less had the least
"pique at him; but had taken to hawking certain Pasquils
"(JinglerRoi's Collection,it appears),to turn a desirable penny
"by them.
* In Voltairiana, oil ElogesAmphigouriques, &c. (Paris, 1748), 1. 150-160, - )fc$> . J
the Letter itself, "Paris, 7th February 1746;" omitted (without need, or
real cause on any side) in the common Collections of (Euvres de Voltaire.
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. VIII. 18
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? 274 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1746-1747.
"And mistakes were made in the Affair Travenol, -- old
"Father Travenol haled to prison, instead of Son, -- by the
"Lieutenant of Police and his people. And Voltaire took
"the high-hand method (being well at Court): -- and there-
upon hungry Advocates took up Dog Travenol and his
"pincered ears: 'Serene Judges of the Chatelet, Most Christian
"' Populace of Paris, did you ever see aDog so pincered by an
'"Academical Gentleman before, merely for being hungry? '
"And Voltaire, getting madder and madder, appealed to the
"Academy (which would not interfere); filed Criminal Infor-
"mations; appealed to the Chatelet, to the Courts above and
"to the Courts below; and, for almost a year, there went on
"the 'Proces-Travenol:'* Olympian Jove in distressed circum-
"stances, versus a hungry Dog who had eaten dirty puddings.
"Paris, in all its Saloons and Literary Coffeehouses (figure
"the Antre de Procope, on Publication nights! ), had, monthly
"or so, the exquisite malign banquet; and grinned over the
"Law Pleadings: what Magazine Serial of our day can be so
"interesting to the emptiest mind!
"Lasted, I find, for above a year. From Spring 1746 till
"towards Autumn 1747: Voltaire's feelings being -- Haha, so
"exquisite, all the while! -- Well, reader, I can judge how
"amusing it was to high and low. And yet Phoebus Apollo
"going about as mere Cowherd of Admetus, and exposed to
"amuse the populace by his duels with dogs that have bitten
"him? It is certain Voltaire was a fool, not to be more
"cautious of getting into gutter quarrels; not to have a
"thicker skin, in fact. "
Proces-Travenol escorting one's Triumphal Entry; what
an adjunct! Always so: always in your utmost radiance of
sunshine a shadow; and in your softest outburst of Lydian or
Spheral symphonies, something of eating Care! Then too,
in the Court circle itself, "is Trajan pleased," or are all
things well? Readers have heard of that "Trajan est-ilcon * About Mayday 1746, Seizure of Travenol; Pleadings are in vigour,
August 1746; not done, April 1747. In Voltairiana, n. 141-206, Pleadings &c.
copiously given; and most of the original Libels, in different parts of that
sad Book (compiled by Travenol's Advocate, a very sad fellow himself):
see also tEuvres tie Voltaire, lxxiii. 355n. , 385n. ; ib. i. 97; liarbier, u. 487.
All in a very jumbled, dateless, vague and incorrect condition.
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? CHAP. H. 1 VOLTAIKE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE. 275
1746-1747.
tent? " It occurred, Winter 1745 (27th November 1745, a date
worth marking), while things were still in the flush of early
hope. That evening, our Temple de la Gloire (Temple of
Glory) had just been acted for the first time, in honour of him
we may call "Trajan," returning from a "Fontenoy and
Seven Cities captured:" *
"Reviens, divin Trajan, vainqueur "Return, divine Trajan, conqueror
"doux et terrible; "sweet and terrible;
"Le monde est mon rival, tous les "The world is my rival, all hearts
"casurs sont a toi;\ "are thine;
"Mais est-il un caiur plus sensible, "But is there a heart more loving,
"Et qui Cadore plus que moi? "** "Or that adores thee more than I? "
An allegoric Dramatic Piece; naturally very admirable at
Versailles. Issuing radiant from Fall ofthe Curtain, Voltaire
had the farther honour to see his Majesty pass out; Majesty
escorted by Richelieu, one's old friend in a sense: "Is Trajan
pleased? " whispered Voltaire to his Richelieu; overheard by
Trajan, -- who answered in words nothing, but in a visible
glance of the eyes, did answer, "ImpertinentLackey! " --
Trajan being a man unready with speech; and disliking
trouble with the people whom he paid for keeping his boots in
polish. Oh my winged Voltaire, to what dunghill Bubbly-
jocks (Coqs (Flnde) you do stoop with homage, constrained
by their appearance of mere size! --
Evidently no perfect footing at Court, after all. And then
the Pompadour, could she, Head Butterfly of the Universe,
be an anchor that would hold, if gales rose? Rather she is
herself somewhat of a gale, of a continual liability to gales;
unstable as the wind! Voltaire did his best to be useful, as
Court Poet, as director of Private Theatricals; -- above all,
to soothe, to flatter Pompadour; and never neglected this
evident duty. But, by degrees, the envious Lackey-people
made cabals; turned the Divine Butterfly into comparative
indifference for Voltaire; into preference of a Crebillon's
poor faded Pieces: "Suitabler, these, Madame, for the
Private Theatricals of a Most Christian Majesty. " Think
* Seven of them; or even eight, of a kind: Tournay, Ghent, Bruges,
Nieuport, Dendermond, Ath, Ostend; and nothing lost but Cape Breton
and one's Codfishery.
** Temple de la Gloire, Acta iv. (tEuvres, xn. 328).
18*
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? 276 THE TEN TfEARS 0? PEACE. [boOKXVT.
Aug. 1747.
what a stab; crueller than daggers through one's heart:
"Cre'billon? " M. de Voltaire said nothing; looked nothing,
in those sacred circles; and never ceased outwardly his
worship, and assiduous tuning, of the Pompadour: but he
felt -- as only Phoebus Apollo, in the like case, can! "Away! "
growled he to himself, when this atrocity had culminated.
And, in effect, is, since the end of 1746 or so, pretty much
withdrawn from the Versailles Olympus; and has set,
privately in the distance (now at Cirey, now at Paris, in our
petitpalais there), with his whole will and fire, to do Crebil-
lon's dead Dramas into living ones of his own. Dead Catilina
of Cre'billon into Rome Sauvee of Voltaire, and the other
samples of dead into living, -- that stupid old Crebillon him-
self and the whole Universe may judge, and even Pompadour
feel a remorse! -- Readers shall fancy these things; and that
the world is coming back to its old poor drab colour, with
M. de Voltaire; his divine Emilie and he rubbing along on
the old confused terms. One face-to-face peep of them,
readers shall now have; and that is to be enough, or more
than enough:
Voltaire and the divine Emilie appear suddenly, one Night,
at Sceaux.
Ahout the middle of August 1747, King Friedrich, I find,
was at home; -- not in his new Sans-Souciby any means, but
running to and fro; busy with his Musterings, "grand review,
and mimic attack on Bornstadt, near Berlin;" Invaliden-Haus
(Military Hospital) getting built; Silesian Reviews just
ahead; and, for the present, much festivity and moving
about, to Charlottenburg, to Berlin and the different Palaces;
Wilhelmina, "August 15th," having come to see him; of
which fine visit, especially of Wilhelmina's thoughts on it, --
why have the envious Fates left us nothing!
While all this is astir in Berlin and neighbourhood, there
is, among the innumerable other visits in this world, one
going on near Paris, in the Mansion or Palace of Sceaux,
which has by chance become memorable. A visit by Voltaire
and his divine Emilie, direct from Paris, I suppose, and rather
on the sudden. Which has had the luck to have a Letter
written on it, by one of those rare creatures, a seeing Witness,
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? CHAP. H. l VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE. 277
15th Aug. 1747.
who can make others see and believe. The seeing Witness is
little Madame de Staal (by no means Necker's Daughter, but
a much cleverer), known as one of the sharpest female heads;
she from the spot reports it to Madame du Deffand, who also
is known to readers. There is such a glimpse afforded
here, into the actuality of old things and remarkable human
creatures, that Friedrich himself would be happy to read the
Letter.
Duchesse du Maine, Lady of Sceaux, is a sublime old per-
sonage , with whom and with whose high ways and magnifi-
cent hospitalities at Sceaux, at Anet and elsewhere, Voltaire
had been familiar for long years past. * This Duchess, grand-
daughter of the great Conde', now a dowager for ten years,
and herself turned of seventy, has been a notable figure in
French History, this great while: a living fragment of Louis
le Grand, as it were, was wedded to Louis's "Legitimated"
Illegitimate, the Due du Maine; was in trouble with the
Regent d'Orle'ans about Alberoni-Cellamare conspiracies
(1718), Regent having stript her Husband of his high legi-
timatures and dignities, with little ceremony; which led her
to conspire a good deal, at one time. ** She was never very
beautiful; but had a world of grace and witty intelligence; and knew a Voltaire when she saw him. Was the soul of
courtesy and benignity, though proud enough, and carrying
her head at its due height; and was always very charming, in
her lofty gracious way, to mankind. Interesting to all, were
it only as a living fragment of the Grand Epoch, -- kind of
French Fulness of Time, when the world was at length
* In (Euvrcs de Voltaire, Lxxm. 434n. , x. 8, &c. , 'Clog. ' and others re-
present this Visit as having been to Anet, -- though the record otherwise
is express.
** Due du Maine with Comte de Toulouse were products of Louis XIV.
and Madame de Montespan: -- "legitimated" by Papa's fiat, in 1673, while
still only young children; dislegitimated again by Regent d'Orle'ans,
autumn 1718; grand scene, "guards drawn out" and the like, on this occa-
sion (Barbier, i. 8-11, n. 181; futile Conspiracies with Alberoni thereupon;
arrest of Duchess and Duke (29th December 1718), and closure of that
poor business. Due du Maine died, 1736; Toulouse next year; ages, each
about sixty-five. "Due de Penthie'vre," Egalit^'s father-in-law, was Tou-
louse's son; Maine has left a famous Dowager, whom we see. [Nothing
more of notable about the one or the other.
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? 278 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
15th-27th Aug. 1747.
blessed with a Louis Quatorze, and Ne-plus-ultra of a Gen-
tleman determined to do the handsome thing in this world.
She is much frequented by high people, especially if of a
Literary or Historical turn. President Henault (of the
Abrege Chronologique, the well-frilled, accurately powdered,
most correct old legal gentleman) is one of her adherents;
Voltaire is another, that may stand for many: there is an old
Marquis de St. Aulaire, whom she calls "mon vieux berger (my
old shepherd," that is to say, sweetheart or flame of love);*
there is a most learned President de Mesmes, and others we
have heard of, but do not wish to know. Little De Staal was
at one time this fine Duchess's maid; but has far outgrown
all that, a favourite guest of the Duchess's instead; holds
now mainly by Madame du Deffand (not yet fallen blind), --
and is well turned of fifty, and known for one of the shrewdest
little souls in the world, at the time she writes. Her Letter
is addressed "To Madame du Deffand, at Paris;" most free-
flowing female Letter; of many pages, runs on, day after
day, for a fortnight or so; -- only Excerpts of it introducible
here:
"Sceaux, Tuesday, 15th August 1747. * * Madame du
"Chatelet and Voltaire, who had announced themselves as
"for to-day, and whom nobody had heard of otherwise, made
"their appearance yesternight, near midnight; like two
"Spectres, with an odour of embalmment about them, as if
"just out of their tombs. We were rising from table; the
"Spectres, however, were hungry ones: they needed supper;
"and what is more, beds, which were not ready. The House-
keeper (Concierge), who had gone to bed, rose in great
"haste. Gaya" (amiable gentleman, conceivable, not
known), "who had offered his apartment for pressing cases,
"was obliged to yield it in this emergency: he flitted with as
"much precipitation and displeasure as an army surprised in
"its camp; leaving a part of his baggage in the enemy's
"hands. Voltaire thought the lodging excellent, but that did
"not at all console Gaya.
"As to the Lady, her bed turns out not to have been well
"made: they have had to put her in a new place today.
* Barbier, n. 87; see ib. (i. 8-11; n. 181, 436; &c. ) for many notices of
her affairs and her.
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? CHAP. It. ] VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE. 279
15th-27tli Aug. 1747.
"Observe, she made that bed herself, no servants being up,
"and had found a blemish or defaut of" -- word wanting:
who knows what? -- "in the mattresses; which I believe
"hurt her exact mind, more than her not very delicate body.
"She has got, in the interim, an apartment promised to some-
"body else; and she will have to leave it again on Friday or
"Saturday, and go into that of Mare'chal de Maillebois, who
"leaves at that time.
-- Yes; Maillebois in the body, 0 reader. This is he,
with the old ape-face renewed by paint, whom we once saw
marching with an "Army of Redemption," haggling in the
Passes about Eger, unable to redeem Belleisle; marching
and haggling, more lately, with a "Middle-Rhine Army,'
and the like non-effect; since which, fighting his best in
Italy, -- pushed home last winter, with Browne s bayonets in
his back; Belleisle succeeding him in dealing with Browne.
Belleisle, and the "Revolt of Genoa" (fatal to Browne's In-
vasion of us), and the Defence of Genoa and the mutual
worryings thereabout, are going on at a great rate, -- and
there is terrible news out of those Savoy Passes, while Maille-
bois is here. Concerning which by and by. He is grandson
of the renowned Colbert, this Maillebois. A Field-Marshal
evidently extant, you perceive, in those vanished times: is to
make room for Madame on Friday, says our little De Staal;
and take leave of us, -- if for good, so much the better!
"He came at the time we did, with his daughter and
"grand-daughter: the one is pretty, the other ugly and
"dreary" -- (Tune, Vautre; no saying which, in such im-
portant case! Madame la Mare'chale, the mother and grand-
mother, I think must be dead. Not beautiful she, nor very
benignant, "<<ne tres-mecJiante femme,\ery cat-witted woman,"
says Barbier; "shrieked like a devil, at Court, upon the
"Cardinal," about that old Army-of-Redemption business;
but all her noise did nothing). * -- "M. le Marechal has
"hunted here with his dogs, in these fine autumn woods and
"glades; chased a bit of a stag, and caught a poor doe's
"fawn: that was all that could be got there.
"Our new Guests will make better sport: they are going
"to have their Comedy acted again "(Comedy of TheExchange,
much an entertainment with them): "Vanture" (conceivable,
* Barbier, n. 332 ("November 1742").
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? 280 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
15th-27th Aug. 1747.
not known) "is to do the Count de Boursoufle (de Blister or de
"Windbag); you will not say this is a hit, any more than
"Madame du Chatelet's doing the Hon. Miss Piggery (La
"Cochonniere), who ought to be fat and short. "* -- Little
De Staal then abruptly breaks off, to ask about her Cor-
respondent's health, and her Correspondent's friend old Pre-
sident He'nault's health; touches on those "grumblings and
discords in the Army (tracasseries de VArmee)" which are
making such a stir; how M. d'Argenson, our fine War-
Minister, man of talent amid blockheads, will manage them;
and suddenly exclaims: "O my queen, what curious animals
"men and women are! I laugh at their manoeuvres, the days
"when I have slept well; if I have missed sleep, I could kill
"them. These changes of temper prove that I do not break
"off kind. Let us mock other people, and let other people
"mock us; it is well done on both sides. " -- (Poor little De
Staal: to what a posture have things come with you, in that
fast-rotting Epoch, of Hypocrisies becoming all insolvent! )
"Wednesday, 16th. Our Ghosts do not show themselves
"by daylight. They appeared yesterday at ten in the
"evening; I do not think we shall see them sooner today:
"the one is engaged in writing high feats"f-SYec/e deLouisXV,
or what at last became such); "the other in commenting
"Newton. They will neither play nor walk: they are, in
"fact, equivalent to zeros in a society where their learned
"writings are of no significance. " -- (Pauses, without notice
given, for some hours, perhaps days; then resuming): --
"Nay, worse still: their apparition tonight has produced a
"vehement declamation on one of our little social diversions
"here, the game of Cavagnole:** it was continued and main-
"tained," on the part of Madame du Chatelet, you guess,
"in a tone which is altogether unheard of in this place;
"and was endured," on the part of Serene Highness, "with a
"moderation not less surprising. But what is unendurable
"is my babble" -- And herewith our nimble little woman
hops off again into the general field of things; and gossips
largely, How you are, my queen, Whither you are going,
* L'Echange, The Exchange, or When shall I get married? Farce in
three acts: (Euvres, x. 167-222; used to be played at Cirey and elsewhere
(see plenty of details upon it, exact or not quite so, ib. 7-9).
** "Kind of Biribi," it would appear; in the height of fashion then.
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? CHAP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMIim. 281
15th-27th Aug. 1747.
Whither we; That the Maillebois people are away, and also
the Villeneuves, if anybody knew them now; then how the
Estillacs, to the number of four, are coming tomorrow; and
Cousin Soquence, for all his hunting, can catch nothing; and
it is a continual coming and going; and how Boursoune is to
be played, and a Dame Dufour is just come, who will do a
character. Rubrics, vanished Shadows, nearly all those high
Dames and Gentlemen; lapauvre Saint-Pierre, "eaten with
gout," who is she ? " Still drags herself about, as well as she
"can; but not with me, for I never go by land, and she
"seems to have the hydrophobia, when I take to the water. "
(Thread of date is gone! I almost think we must have got to
Saturday by this time: -- or perhaps it is only Thursday, and
Maillebois off prematurely, to be out of the way of the
Farce? Little De Staal takes no notice; but continues gos-
siping rapidly):
"Yesterday Madame du Chatelet got into her third lodg-
"ing: she could not any longer endure the one she had
"chosen. There was noise in it, smoke without fire: -- pri-
vately meseems, a little the emblem of herself! As to noise,
"it was not by night that it incommoded her, she told me, but
"by day, when she was in the thick of her work: it deranges
"her ideas. She is busy reviewing her Principles" -- Newton's
Principia, no doubt, butDe Staal will understand it only as
Principes, Principles in general: -- "it is an exercise she
"repeats every year, without which the Principles might get
"away, and perhaps go so far she would never find them
"again" (You satirical little gipsy! ). "Her head, like
"enough, is a kind of lock-up for them, rather than a birth-
"place, or natural home: and that is a case for watching care-
"fully lest they get away. She prefers the high air of this
"occupation to every kind of amusement, and persists in not
"showing herself till after dark. Voltaire has produced some
"gallant verses" (unknown to Editors), "which help off, a
"little, the bad effect of such unusual behaviour.
"Sunday, 27th. I told you on Thursday" (no, you didn't;
you only meant to tell) "that our Spectres were going on the
"morrow, and that the Piece was to be played that evening:
"all this has been done. I cannot give you much of Bour-
"soufle" (done by one Vanture). "Mademoiselle Piggery"
(de la Cochonniere, Madame DuChatelet herself) "executed
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? 282 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book xvr.
15th-27th Aug. 1747.
"so perfectly the extravagance of her part, that I own it gave
''me real pleasure. But Vanture only put his own fatuity into
"the character of Boursoufle, which wanted more: he played
"naturally in a Piece where all requires to be forced, like the
"subject of it. " -- What a pity none of us has read this fine
"Farce! "One Paris did the part of Muscadin (Little Cox-
"comb), which name represents his character: in short, it can
"be said the Farce was well given. The Author ennobled it
"by a Prologue for the Occasion; which he acted very well,
"along with Madame Dufour as Barbe (GovernessBarbara),
"-- who, but for this brilliant action, could not have put up
"with merely being Governess to Piggery. And, in fact, she
"disdained the simplicity of dress which her part required; --
"as did the chief Actress," Du Chatelet herself (age now
forty-one); "who, in playing Piggery, preferred the interests
"of her own face to those of the Piece, and made her entry in
"all the splendour and elegant equipments of a Court Lady,"
-- her "Principlesthough the key is turned upon them, not
unlike jumping out of window, one would say! "She had a
"crow to pluck" (maille apartir, "clasp to open," which is
better) "with Voltaire on this point: but she is sovereign, and
"he is slave. I am very sorry at their going, though I was
"worn out with doing her multifarious errands all the time she
"was here.
Wednesday, 30th. "M. le President" (Henault) "has been
"asked hither; and he is to bring you, my Queen! Tried all
"I could to hinder; but they would not be put off. If your
"health and disposition do suit, it will be charming. In any
"case, I have got you a good apartment: 'it is the one that
"' Madame du Chatelet had seized upon, after an exact review
"' of all the Mansion. There will be a little less furniture than
"'she had put in it; Madame had pillaged all her previous
"'apartments to equip this one. We found about seven
"' tables in it, for one item: she needs them of all sizes; im-
"' mense, to spread out her papers upon; solid, to support her
"'necessaire; slighter, for her nicknacks (pompons), for her
"'jewels. And this fine arrangement did not save her from an
"'accident like that of Philip II. , when, after spending all
"' the night in writing, he got his despatches drowned by the
"' oversetting of an inkbottle. The Lady did not pretend to
"' imitate the moderation of that Prince; at any rate, he was
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? CHAP. n\] VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE. 283
16th-27th Aug. 1747.
"' only writing on affairs of state; and the thing they blotted,
"' on this occasion, was Algebra, much more difficult to clean
"'up again.
'"This subject ought to be exhausted: one word more,
"'and then it does end. The day after their departure, I
"'receive a Letter of four pages, and a Note enclosed, which
"'announces dreadful hurly-burly: M. de Voltaire has mis-
"' laid his Farce, forgotten to get back the parts, and lost his
"' Prologue: I am to find all that again'" (excessively tremu-
lous about his Manuscripts, M. de Voltaire; of such value are
they, of such danger to him; there is La Pucelle, for example,
-- enough to hang a man, were it surreptitiously launched
forth in print! ) -- " ' I am to send him the Prologue instantly,
"'not by post, because they would copy it; to keep the parts
"'for fear of the same accident, and to lock up the Piece
""' under a hundred keys. " I should have thought one pad-
"' lock sufficient for this treasure! I have duly executed his
'"orders. "'*
And herewith explicit de Staal. Scene closes: exeunt omnes;
are off to Paris or Versailles again; to Luneville and the
Court of Stanislaus again, -- where also adventures await
them, which will be heard of!
"Figure to yourself," says some other Eyewitness,
"a lean Lady, with big arms and long legs; small head,
"and countenance losing itself in a cloudery of head-
"dress; cocked nose" (reti'ousse', say you? Very slightly,
then; quite an unobjectionable nose! ) "and pair of
"small greenish eyes; complexion tawny, and mouth
"too big: this was the divine Emilie, whom Voltaire
"celebrates to the stars. Loaded to extravagance with
"ribbons, laces, face-patches, jewels and female orna-
"ments; determined to be sumptuous in spite of Eco-
"nomics, and pretty in spite of Nature:" Pooh, it is an
enemy's hand that paints! "And then by her side,"
continues he, "the thin long figure of Voltaire, that
* Madame tie Graffigny (Paris, 1820), pp. 283-291.
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? 284 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book xn.
1747-1748.
"Anatomy of an Apollo, affecting worship of her,"*
-- yes; that thin long Gentleman, with high red-heeled
shoes, and the daintiest polite attitudes and paces; in
superfine coat, laced hat under arm; nose and underlip
ever more like coalescing (owing to decay of teeth),
but two eyes shining on you like carbuncles; and in
the ringing voice, such touches of speech when you
apply for it! Thus they at Sceaux and elsewhere;
walking their Life-minuet, making their entrances and
exits.
One thing is lamentable: the relation with Madame
is not now a flourishing one, or capable again of being:
"Does not love me as he did, the wretch! " thinks Ma-
dame always; -- yet sticks by him, were it but in the
form of blister. They had been to LuneVille, Spring
1747; happy dull place, within reach of Cirey; far
from Versailles and its cabals. They went again, 1748,
in a kind of permanent way; Titular Stanislaus, an
opulent dawdling creature, much liking to have them;
and Father Menou, his Jesuit, -- who is always in
quarrel with the Titular Mistress, -- thinking to dis-
place her (as you gradually discover), and promote the
Du Chatelet to that improper dignity! In which he
had not the least success, says Voltaire; but got "two
women on his ears instead of one. " It was not to be
Stanislaus's mistress; nor a titular one at all, but a
real, that Madame was fated in this dull happy place!
Idle readers know the story only too well; -- con-
cerning which, admit this other Fraction and no more:
* From RCdenbeck (quoting somebody, whom I have surely seen In
French; whom Rddenbeck tries to name, as he could hare done, but curi-
ously without success), 1. 179.
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? CHAP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE. 285
1747-1748.
"Stanislaus, as a Titular King, cannot do without some
"kind of Titular Army, -- were it only to blare about as
"Lifeguard, and beat kettledrums on occasion. A certain tall
"high-sniffing M. de St. Lambert, a young Lorrainer of long
"pedigree and light purse, had just taken refuge in this Life-
"guard" (Summer 1748, or so), "Iknow not whether as Cap-
"tain or Lieutenant, just come from the Netherlands Wars:
"of grave stiff manners; for the rest, a good-looking young
''fellow; thought to have some poetic genius, even; -- who is
"preciousj surely, in such an out-of-the-way place. Welcome
"to Voltaire, to Madame still more. Alas, readers know the
"History, -- on which we must not dwell. Madame, a brown
"geometric Lady, age now forty-two, with a Great Man who
"has scandalously ceased to love her, casts her eye upon St.
"Lambert: 'Yes, you would be the shoeing-horn, Monsieur,
"'if one had time, you fine florid fellow, hardly yet into your
"'thirties --' And tries him with a little coquetry; I always
"think, perhaps in this view chiefly? And then, at any rate,
"as he responded, the thing itself became so interesting:
'"Our Ulysses-bow, we can still bend it, then, aha! ' And is
"not thata pretty stag withal, worth bringing down; florid,
"just entering his thirties, and with the susceptibilities of
"genius! Voltaire was not blind, could he have helped it, --
"had he been tremulously alive to help it. 'Your Verses to
"'her, my St. Lambert, -- ah, Tibullus never did the like of
"' them. Yes, to you are the roses, my fine young friend, to
"' me are the thorns:' thus sings Voltaire in response; * per-
"haps not thinking it would go so far. And it went, -- alas,
"it went to all lengths, mentionable, and not mentionable:
"and M. le Marquis had to be coaxed home in the Spring of
"1749, -- still earlier it had been suitabler; -- and in Septem-
"ber ensuing, M. de St. Lambert looking his demurest, there
"is an important lying-in to be transacted! Newton's Prin-
"cipia is, by that time, drawing diligently to its close; --
"complicated by such far abstruser Problems, not of the
"geometric sort f Poor little lean brown woman, what a Life,
"after all; what an End of a Life! " --
? <Eu>>re>>, xvn. 223 (" Epitre a M. de St. Lambert, 1749 "); &c. &c. In
Mimoires stir Voltaire par Longcttamp el Wagniire (Paris, 1826), n. 229
et seq. , details enough and inore.
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? 286 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.