Zerdust is the Persian for Zoroaster
Page 176. — 1. les fous, again, the Jansenists.
Page 178. — 1. un petit vieillard ; i.e., the Cardinal de Fleury.
Page 179. — 1. la belle Téone, probably the Marquise de Pompadour.
Page 185. — 1. les sachets du sieur Arnoult. Il y avait dans ce temps un Babylonien, nommé Arnoult, qui guérissait et prévenait toutes les apoplexies, dans les gazettes, avec un sachet pendu au cou (Note de Voltaire).
Page 193. — i. passer une chienne. This référence, and those that follow hère and later on, are to portions of the story that are not ail quoted among the extracts contained in this volume.
PagTO 198. — i. le Li ou le Tien. Mots chinois qui signifient proprement : //, la lumière naturelle, la raison ; et tien, le ciel ; et qui signifient aussi Dieu (Arote de Voltaire').
Page 206. — i. et Zadig bénissait le Ciel. C'est ici que finit le manuscrit qu'on a retrouvé de l'histoire de Zadig. On sait qu'il a essuyé bien d'autres aventures qui ont été fidèlement écrites. On prie messieurs les interprètes des langues orientales de les communiquer, si elles parviennent jusqu'à eux {Note de Voltaire).
Page 208. — i. Biaise Pascal (1623-1662), a celebrated French geometrician, philosopher, and writer. Unaided, he discovered geometry at the âge of twelve, and at seventeen he achieved renown with his Traite' des sections coniques (1640). 2. qui lui fit quelques affaires, translate, " which brought him into trouble."
Page 209. — 1. Derham, William (1657-1735), an English divine and natural philosopher. 2. le secrétaire de l'Académie de Saturne; i.e., Fontenelle (1657-1757), a French advocate, phi losopher, poet, and miscellaneous writer. He was a nephew of Pierre Corneille.
Page 213. — 1. ce que Virgile a dit de fabuleux sur les abeil' Cf. Virgil, Georg. IV. 2. Swammerdam (1637-1680), a no Dutch naturalist, distinguished as an anatomist and entomologist. 3. Réaumur (16S3— 1757), a French physicist and naturalist, best known as the inventor of the Réaumur thermometer. His chief work is Mémoires pour servir à V histoire naturelle des insectes (1734- 1742).
Page 214. — 1. quelque tas de boue ; i.e., Crimea, the bone of contention in the Turco-Russian war of 1736-1739.
Page 216. — 1. une entéléchie. The term entelechy was originated by Aristotle to designate a force tending toward an end.
Page 219. — I. les Bulgares are hère taken to represent the Prussians under King Frédéric II, while the Abares, mentioned bo low, are the French. The Seven Years' War was in progress at the time this story was written. Cf. the note to p. 163.
Page 222. — i la Cayenne has been a French possession since 1625. La Cayenne is nowadays La Guyane, capital Cayenne.
Page 227. — 1. le chevalier Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh (1 552-1618), the famous English courtier, conducted two colonizing expéditions to the Orinoco in 1595 and 161 6.
Page 229. — 1. le Canada. The French lost Canada to the English by the capitulation of Montréal in 1760. 2. gens à lier, " cases for strait-jackets, madmen." 3. un assez gros homme. Admirai John Byng (1704-1757), of the English navy, failed to relieve Minorca when threatened in 1756 by the French under the Duke of Richelieu. He was convicted of neglect of duty, and shot, in spite of Voltaire's efforts to save him.
Page 230. — 1. Candide frémit. In an earlier part of the story Candide is represented as being in trouble through having killed a man at Lisbon. Cf. the note to p. 193.
Page 231. — 1. six étrangers, ail of them deposed rulers.
Page 232. — 1. Le quatrième, Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. 2. Le cinquième, Stanislaus Leczinski.
Page 233. — 1. un autre État ; i.e., Lorraine.
Page 252. — 1. Quinze-Vingts, an asylum for the blind, founded in Paris by Saint Louis (Louis IX, 1215-1270). See note 1 to p. 21. It was intended to accommodate three hundred patients, or, in other words, fifteen score ; hence the name of the Quinze- Vingts.
Page 256. — 1. jeune basse-brette, young woman from lower Brittany, " Basse-Bretagne."
Page 262. — 1. Nos patriam fugimus. Virgil, Eclogues, I, 3.
Page 263. — I. un petit homme noir, meaning hère any Protestant minister. 2. le pape régnant, Innocent XI (1611-16S9). Pope ( 1676-1689). See note 2 to p. 339.
Page 264. — 1. comme ils nous chassent. The Jesuits were driven out of France in 1764. 2. Mons de Louvois ( 1639-1691), noted French statesman, minister of war under Louis XIV and organizer of the French standing army (1666-1691). Mons, as an abbreviation of monsieur or monseigneur, is intimate or in-
sulting, except when used by royalty addressing archbishops and bishops.
Page 265. — I. pot de chambre. C'est une voiture de Paris à Versailles, laquelle ressemble à un petit tombereau couvert {Note de Voltaire).
Page 267. — i. le château, the fortress and prison of the Bastille.
Page 268. — i. solitaire de Port-Royal ; i.e., Jansenist recluse. See note 3 to p. 303. 2. La fable des deux Pigeons, of La Fontaine. 3. un tartufe, synonym of a false devotee, a hypocrite, from the leading character of Molière's Tartufe.
Page 269. — 1. L'/phigénie moderne, Phèdre, Andromaque, Athalie, are ail plays of Racine. 2. Rodogune, by Corneille, was its author's favorite play. He claimed for it idéal unity of time, inasmuch as the events were supposed to take place in the time necessary to act the play. The fifth act of Rodogune ranks among Corneille's best work.
Page 273. — 1. Xaca. Nom de Bouddha au Japon (Moland).
Page 274. — 1. une licorne, unicorn.
Page 279. — 1. dictame, an aromatic plant of remarkable médicinal power in the healing of wounds.
Page 283. — - 1. ayant fait un pacte avec les hommes. Voyez le chapitre IX, v. 10 de la Genèse ; et le chapitre III, v. 18 et 19 de VEcaesiaste {Note de Voltaire'). 2. Locman, an old Indian poet, foierunner of yEsop. His fables, together with those of Pilpay, were for a long time the only books of Asia. 3. Du temps que les
bâtes parlaient. Formula used also by La Fontaine. Cf. Book IV, Fable 1.
Page 289. — 1. Son premier nom. Paris was formerly called Lutèce, or, in Latin, Lutetia, which Voltaire connects with fatum, meaning " mud."
Page 292. — 1. Un gazetier druide. Druide renders the idea of "priest ; " the gazetier druide wrote for the Gazette ecclésiastique.
Page 293. — I. une dame; i.e., Mme. Geoffrin, whose salon was frequented especially by philosophers. In the course of her travels,
notes. 437
presently to be mentioned, she went to Poland, to visit King Stanislaus Poniatowski, whom she had befriended in his youth.
Page 295. — i. sans confusion. Il faut ici bien soigneusement peser les termes. Le mot de roi ne signifie point partout la même chose. En France, en Espagne, il signifie un homme qui, par les droits du sang, est le juge souverain et sans appel de toute la nation. En Angleterre, en Suède, en Pologne, il signifie le premier magistrat (JVote de Voltaire).
Page 297. — i. Dans les temps détestables de Charles IX et de Henri III ; i.e., during the religious wars. Charles IX reigned from 1560 to 1574, and his brother, Henry III, from 1574 to 15S9, in which year he was murdered by a monk named Clément. 2. Guises. The Duke of Guise, Henri le Balafré (1 550-1 5S8), became, in 1576, head of the Catholic League, which carried on a religious war for many years against Henry of Navarre. In 1588 he entered Paris with an army, purposing to dépose the king, Henry III. At the latter's instigation he was assassinated the same year at Blois. 3. la dernière guerre de Paris ; i.e., la Fronde, a civil war waged from 164S to 1653, and finally repressed by Mazarin. 4. le cardinal de Retz (1613-1679), a French politician and author. Desirous of becoming a political leader, he took an active part in the movement against Cardinal Mazarin (164S-1649), and rose himself to the dignity of cardinal. 5. nos guerres civiles sous Charles VI. Thèse civil wars broke out after 1407, between the Burgundian and Armagnac factions. Charles VI reigned from 1380 to 1422. 6. Henri VII empoisonné par son chapelain. " Un dominicain, nommé Politien de Montepulciano, qui le communiait, mêla, dit-on, du poison dans le vin consacré. Il est difficile de prouver de tels crimes." — Voltaire, Annales de r Empire (anno I3l3)- 7- ^e dernier. This last and successful attempt to murder Henry IV of France was made by the fanatic Ravaillac, in 1610. 8. Descartes. See note to p. 43.
Page 299. — 1. le mouvement de la terre. Cf. his famous "e fur si muove." See above, note 2 to p. 54. 2. Lope de Véga (1562-1635), celebrated Spanish dramatist and poet.
Page 300. — 1. Otway ( 1651-16S5), the principal tragic poet of the English classical school. I lis Venice rreserved is dated 16S2, 2. Naki, or, as she is named in the play, Aquilina.
Page 301. — i. Sésostris, in ancient Greek legend, a king of Egypt, said to hâve conquered the world. 2. Bacchus, son of
Jupiter. In classical mythology he was the god of wine, personifying both its good and its bad properties. 3. Alexandre insensé. Cf. Juvenal, Sat. X, 168, and Boileau, Sat. VIII, 99 and 109-110.
Page 302. — 1. Scanderbeg (1403-1468), an Albanian corninander and patriot. He succeeded in maintaining his independence against Amurath II and Mohammed II. 2. Huniade. Jânos Hunyady (1387-1456), a Hungarian gênerai and patriot, celebrated for his successful defence of Belgrade against the Turks under Mohammed II in 1456. 3. Scanderon. Skanderun is the Turkish name for Alexandretta in Asiatic Turkey ; it serves as seaport town to Aleppo, some 87 miles distant. 4. Charles-Quint, Léon X,
François Ier. See notes 6 and 7 to p. 27, and note 2 to p. 28. 5. les Médicis. An Italian family which ruled in Florence and Tuscany, celebrated for the number of statesmen which it produced, and for its patronage of art and letters. 6. Je travaille depuis longtemps. In point of fact, Voltaire spent twenty years on his Siècle de Louis XIV. He had the work begun in 1732 (see his letter to Thieriot, dated May 13 of that year). The first édition is from Berlin, 1752, although the title-page is inscribed 1751.
Pilge 303. — 1. le grand Colbert ( 1619-1683), a noted French statesman, minister of finance under Louis XIV. 2. un ministre de la guerre ; i.e., Louvois (1639-1691). See note 2 to p. 264. 3. le janséniste, disciple of the Dutch theologian Jansenius. His doctrines, as set forth in the Augustinus, were adopted soon after they appeared by the religious community of Port-Royal. 4. le moliniste, Jesuit sectary, follower of the doctrines of the Spanish theologian Molina. The disputes between Jansenists and Jesuits in the seventeenth century brought forth the famous Lettres provinciales of Pascal, who was one of the solitaires of Port Royal, the stronghold of Jansenism. 5. la mauvaise foi. In the Punie Wars (264- 241, 219-202, and 149-146 B.c.), the Romans charged the Carthaginians with disloyalty in warfare.
Page 304. — 1. Marie Stuart. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was married to Francis II, King of France (1559-1560). On his death she returned home ; she abdicated the throne of Scotland in
notes. 439
1567, and was beheaded in 15S7 on a charge of conspiracy against the life of Queen Elizabeth of England. 2. les troubles de Hongrie. Référence to the most disturbed period of Hungarian history ( 1526—17 11) when the Austrian dynasty and the Turkish sultans were almost constantly at war for the possession of the country. It was marked by several insurrections, the most important of which were those of Toekoeli and of Rakoczy. 3. le concile de Trente. This council held at Trent (1 545-1 563) condemned the leading doctrines of the Reformation concerning the Bible, original sin, and justification. 4. la révocation de l'édit de Nantes. The repeal of the Edict of Nantes, which was promulgated in 1598 by Henry IV. This edict substantially gave to the Protestants religious freedom. It was repealed by Louis XIV in 16S5, and this repeal was followed by years of violent persécution, which drove over eight hundred thousand Protestants out of France. Religious liberty did not reappear until decreed in revolutionary days by the Assemblée Constituante (1789-1791).
Page 306. — 1. dès le" troisième jour. Le Misanthrope was
given twenty-one times consecutively. In the course of thèse représentations, the sale of seats fell only four times below the normal standard. The play was, therefore, not a failure, but, considering the times in which it was produced, a distinct success. 2. Baron was born in 1653, and was at the height of his activity from 16S0 to 1690. He abandoned the stage from 1691 to 1720, and died in
Page 307. — 1. duc de Montausier, a member of the court of Louis XIV, " homme d'une vertu très austère." Cf. Voltaire, Siècle Je Louis XIV, chapter xxi.
Page 308. — 1. sous la ligne, " under the line, under the equator." 2. la justice fait sa main. Cet exemple a été suivi par M. le duc de Rohan-Chabot, dans ses terres de Bretagne, où il a établi, depuis quelques années, un tribunal de conciliation (Kehl
édition of Voltaire). Justices of the peace were created in France
by the law of Aug. 24, 1790.
Page 309. — 1. M. l'abbé de Saint-Pierre, né en 1658, gentilhomme de Normandie. ... Il écrivit beaucoup sur la politique. La meilleure définition qu'on ait faite en général de ses ouvrages est
ce qu'en disait le cardinal Dubois, que c'étaient les rêves d'un bon citoyen. ... Il mourut en 1743, âgé de quatrevingt-six ans. Je lui demandai, quelques jours avant sa mort, comment il regardait ce passage ; il me répondit : " Comme un voyage à la campagne." — Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XIV, notes préliminaires. 2. un ministre plein d'esprit ; i.e., Cardinal Dubois. He was councillor of state in 1715, and prime minister in 1722. 3. traduits chez les Italiens et chez les Anglais. Horace est traduit en vers italiens par (Stefano) Pallavicini ; Virgile, par Annibal Caro ; Ovide, par Anguillaral; Théocrite, par Ricolotti. Les Italiens ont cinq bonnes traductions d'Anacréon. A l'égard des Anglais, Dryden a traduit Virgile et Juvénal ; Pope, Homère ; Creech, Lucrèce, etc. (Note de Voltaire*).
Page 310. — 1. le génie des langues. On n'a pu, dans un discours d'appareil, entrer dans les raisons de cette difficulté attachée à notre poésie. ... Ce génie est l'aptitude à rendre heureusement certaines idées, et l'impossibilité d'en exprimer d'autres avec succès. Ces secours et ces obstacles naissent . . . d'une infinité de finesses qui ne sont senties que par ceux qui ont fait une étude approfondie d'une langue. . . . Chaque langue a donc son génie, que des hommes supérieurs sentent les premiers, et font sentir aux autres. Ils font éclore ce génie caché de la langue (Note de Voltaire).
Page 311. — 1. l'auteur du Cid et de Cinna; i.e., Corneille. 2. ô ami tendre. Le jeune homme qu'on regrette ici avec tant de raison est M. de Vauvenargues, longtemps capitaine au régiment du roi (Voltaire). 3. Prague . . . Fontenoy . . . Laufelt. See note 4 to p. 152.
Page 312. — 1. un ouvrage. L'ouvrage dont M. de Voltaire parle est une Épître de M. de Marmontel, production de sa jeunesse, où l'on trouve une philosophie et des vers dignes de son maître (Kehl édition of Voltaire). This Épître, prefaced to Marmontel's tragedy Denis le Tyran, is addressed to Voltaire, the opening words being : —
Des amis des beaux-arts ami tendre et sincère, Toi l'âme de mes vers, ô mon guide ! ô mon père !
Page 313. — 1. Remerciement sincère à un homme charitable.
Cet ouvrage est une défense de Montesquieu contre l'auteur des
Nouvelles Ecclésiastiques. M. de Voltaire a eu constamment la générosité et le courage de défendre contre les fanatiques ceux même des philosophes ou des hommes de lettres qui s'étaient déclarés ses ennemis (Kehl édition of Voltaire). The homme charitable is l'auteur des Nouvelles Ecclésiastiques ; Le., the editor of a weekly publication better known as Gazette Ecclésiastique. 2. Pope (16SS-1744), famous English poet, translator of Homer (1720- 1725), (see note 3 to p. 309), author of the Essay on A/an (1732- 173-0-
Page 314. — r. Spinosa, Spinoza (1632-1677), a famous Dutch philosopher of Judaeo-Hispanic extraction. He is the greatest modem expounder of pantheism. 2. le célèbre poëte philosophe ; i.e., Alexander Pope. The words " An honest man's the noblest work of God " are quoted from his Essay on Alan, iv, 247. 3. libertinage. In its eighteenth-century acceptation, the word meant " license of thought and speech." A libertin was a free-thinker. 4. volenti et co nanti, " although willing and eager." 5. Locke, a celebrated English philosopher, d. in 1704. 6. Bayle, a noted French
sceptical philosopher, born in 1647. In the year 1681 he removed to Rotterdam, where he died in 1706.
Page 315. — 1. Les Quand. Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan (1709-1784), ayant été élu membre de l'Académie française à la place de Maupertuis, prit séance le 10 mars, 1760, et, dans son discours de réception, dit que l'abus des talents, le mépris de la religion, la haine de l'autorité, font le caractère dominant des productions de ses confrères; que tout forte l'e?npreinte d'une littérature dépravée, d'une morale corrompue, et d'une philosophie altière qui sape également le trône et l'autel ; que les gens de lettres déclament tout haut contre les richesses, et qu'ils portent envie secrètement aux
riches, etc. Ce fut l'origine des Quand, qui parurent en avril . . .
(Beuchot). 2. Prière du déiste. Pope's Universal Frayer had been translated into French verse by Lefranc de Pompignan in 1740. 3. sa charge en province. Dans un Mémoire présenté au roi par M. de Pompignan, le n mai, 1760, Pompignan dit n'avoir jamais été suspendu de sa charge (Moland).
Page 316. — i. un homme bizarre ; i.e., Maupertuis (169S-1 759), a French mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, appointed Président of the Academy of Lierlin in 1740. Ile quarreled with
Voltaire during the latter's stay at Berlin (1750-53), and was satirized by him in the Diatribe du Docteur Akakia. 2. un mauvais livre ; i.e., Maupertuis's Essai de Cosmologie. Cf. Voltaire, Extrait de la Bibliothèque raisonnée, vol. xxiii, p. 535 : Le traité roule principalement sur deux points : le premier infirme les preuves de l'existence de Dieu les plus naturelles ; et dans le second on cherche la preuve de cet Etre suprême dans une loi de la réfraction. Œuvres de Maupertuis, 1752, in 40, p. 54.
Page 317. — 1. A Monseigneur le Chancelier. Le chancelier était alors Lamoignon, père de Malesherbes (Beuchot).
Page 318. — 1. les pièces ci-jointes; i.e., les Pièces originales, se composant de V Extrait d'une lettre de la dame veuve Calas, et de la Lettre de Donat Calas. . . . Elles avaient été rédigées par Voltaire d'après les renseignements donnés par les personnes qui les ont
signées (Beuchot). For further information on the Calas, see
in this volume extracts from Voltaire's correspondence, pp. 390 seq. 2. sur votre esprit et sur votre cœur. Voltaire s'est souvent moqué de cette expression ; voyez dans le tome xxi, pages 69, 107, 356, 507 ; et dans le tome ix, le 2e vers du chant viii de la Pue elle (Moland). Cf., in particular, in the présent volume of extracts, the passage on p. 208, 1. 27.
Page 320. — 1. iman, a priest of the Mohammedan religion; talapoin, name given by the Europeans to the Buddhistic priests in Siam.
Page 323. — 1. Un prêtre irlandais. Jean Tuberville de Needham (1713-17S1), an Irish Jesuit, conducted several experiments in physics that were held up to ridicule by Voltaire. 2. un malheureux fanatique. Damiens made a childish and unsuccessful attempt upon the life of Louis XV, Jan. 25, 1757.
Page 324. — I. un prêtre; i.e., the Abbé de Caveyrac, author of an Apologie de Louis XIV et de son conseil sur la révocation de Védit de Nantes, etc., avec une Dissertation sur la journée de la Saint- Barthélémy, 175S. 2. des Calas et des Sirven. Victims of religious fanaticism, tortured to death in southern France in the second half of the eighteenth century. 3. Un autre ; i.e., the Abbé de La Menardaye, author of an Examen et Discussion de l ' 'Histoire des diables de, Loudun, 1749. 4. Urbain Grandier (1 590-1 634) was a
notes. 443
priest at Loudun, where he became notorious for his scandalous conduct. Arrested and convicted of immorality, he was condemned to death, and burned alive. 5. Traité de la Tolérance, written by Voltaire on the occasion of the death of Jean Calas, and published in 1763. 6. le seul pays; i.e., France. 7. Bretagne . . . Languedoc. The former of thèse provinces is in western France, on the Atlantic ; the latter in the south, on the Mediterranean. 8. la maxime d'une chambre n'est pas celle de la chambre voisine. Voyez sur cela le président Bouhier (A'ote de Voltaire}.
Page 325. — 1. mainmortable. "Ce mot de mainmortable vient, dit-on, de ce qu'autrefois, lorsqu'un de ces serfs décédait sans laisser d'effets mobiliers que son seigneur pût s'approprier, on apportait au seigneur la main droite du mort, digne origine de cette domination." — Voltaire, Précis du Siècle de Louis XV, chapter xlii. " Lorsque autrefois nos maîtres n'étaient pas contents des dépouilles dont ils s'emparaient dans nos chaumières après notre mort, ils nous faisaient déterrer ; on coupait la main droite à nos cadavres, et on la leur présentait en cérémonie comme une indemnité de l'argent qu'ils n'avaient pu ravir à notre indigence, et comme un exemple terrible qui avertissait les enfants de ne jamais toucher aux effets de leurs pères, qui devaient être la proie des moines nos souverains."— Voltaire, La Voix du curé sur le procès des serfs du Mont- Jura, Art. 1. 2. Turc, Guèbre, Malabare. The Turks worship Mohammed. Guebers is the Mohammedan name for the followers of Zoroaster. The Malabar district in Madras, British India, is the seat of Brahmanism.
Page 326. — 1. un dictionnaire. Le Jargon, ou Langage de V argot réformé. (Paris, veuve Du Carroy, i2mo, no date.)
Page 327. — 1. Pompée, also called La Mort de Pompée. This tragedy was written by Corneille in 1643.
Page 328. — 1. sire. This extract is from a Profession de foi, addressed to R. D. A third initial, P., may hâve dropped out, for D'Alembert refers to this Profession as being addressed to the Pot De Prusse ; i.e., Frédéric II. 2. Penn. William Penn (1644- 1718), the founder of Philadelphia. 3. le roi d'Angleterre Charles II, ruled 1660-1685.
Page 329. — i. Hérodote, a celebrated Greek historian, called " The Father of History." He lived about 484 to 424 b.c. 2. cet empereur ; i.e., the Persian King, Xerxes. He ruled about 485- 465 B.C.
Page 380. — l. Lépante. The naval victory of Lepanto in 1571 was won over the Turks by the Italian and Spanish fleets, under Don John of Austria. Marco Antonio Colonna commanded the papal contingent. 2. Salamine. The naval victory of Salamis in 480 B.c. was won by the Greek fleet, under Themistocles, over the Persians. Eurybiades commanded the Spartan naval contingent at this battle. 3. Le dauphin François, fils de François Ier, died of pleurisy, in 1536, aged eighteen. 4. la paume is the name by which the game of tennis has been known in France for years. 5. deux provinces. In 1536 the armies of Charles-Quint invaded Provence in southern France and Picardy in the north. 6. deux frères; i.e., Henry II, King of France ( 1 547—1559) ; and Charles, Duke of Orléans, who died of the plague in 1545. 7. l'auteur de l'Essai sur les Mœurs; i.e., Voltaire himself. His Essai sur les
Mœurs is his most important work in history. On this whole
subject, cf. the Essai, chapter cxxv.
Page 331. — 1. Mézerai, Daniel, French historians of the seventeenth century. The latter's Histoire de France appeared in 17 13. 2. massacre ecclésiastique. On the condemnation of the Knights Templars in 1310, see Voltaire, Annales de F Empire, Henry VII; also Essai sur les Mœurs, chapter lxvi.
Page 333. — 1. Ulysse et Rhésus. Dans le dixième livre de Y Iliade, Ulysse et Diomède font une expédition nocturne ; Rhésus est une de leurs victimes, et non le compagnon d'Ulysse (Moland). 2. C'est mon pays ; i.e., England.
Page 334. — 1. Jeffreys. George Jeffreys, Chief-justice of England in 16S3, and lord chancellor in 1685, became notorious for the flagrant injustice and brutality which he displayed on the bench during the entire reign of James II (1685-1688). 2. punir des indécences. Allusion au supplice de La Barre ; voyez la Relation, etc., tome xxv, p. 501 (Moland).
Page 335. 1. on ne vend point chez nous une place de magistrat. Voltaire ne cesse de s'élever contre la vénalité des charges (Moland). — Thus note the sarcasm in note 2 to p. 343.
notes. 445
Pagre 336. — i. deux partis ; i.e., the two great political parties winch arose in England at the end of the seventeenth century, the Whigs and the Tories. 2. que la mère et les filles ne se battent pas. Ce conseil était donné par Voltaire en 1768. Les Anglais, plusieurs années après, ont pu juger combien son avis était sage
(Kehl édition of Voltaire). This note refers to the déclaration
of independence on the part of the North American colonies in 1776.
Page 337. — 1. celui; i.e., the King Louis XIV himself. 2. la guerre de la Succession. The war of the Spanish Succession was fought from 1701 till 17 14. The Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV and second son of the Dauphin, finally succeeded to the throne of Spain under the name of Philip V. His accession was in accordance with the terms of the will of Charles II of Spain. 3. le roi
d'Espagne d'aujourd'hui. Charles III (1716-1788), King of Spain, was the second son of Philip V. 4. le roi de Naples, Ferdinand IV, grandson of Philip V. 5. le duc de Parme ; i.e., Ferdinand, another grandson of Philip V. 6. la guerre contre la Hollande, qui lui attira celle de 1689. The second war of Louis XIV was against Holland (1672-1678), and ended with the peace of Nimwegen. His third war (1 689-1 697) was with England, the Netherlands, the Empire, Spain, Savoy, and Sweden, and concerned the Palatinate, to which he laid claim ; it was ended by the peace of Ryswick.
Page 338. — 1. l'ouvrage de ton grand-père. See note 4 to p. 304. 2. Guillaume III, William III (1650-1702), King of England (16S9-1702), and Stadholder of the United Netherlands. He opposed Louis XIV in both wars mentioned in note 6 to p. 337. " Guillaume III eut des régiments entiers de protestants français à son service." — Voltaire, Anecdotes sur Louis XIV. 3. un prince catholique, presumably, the elector of the Rhenish Palatinate. Many French Protestants had sought refuge in this région. 4. le fanatisme barbare des Cévennes. On the wars of the fanatics in this province, cf. Voltaire, Le Siècle de Louis XIV, chapter xxxvi.
Page 339. — I. nom de Grand. This surname was solemnly conferred by the municipality of Paris on Louis XIV when at the height of his glory, in 1680. 2. Odescalchi, Innocent XL Benedetto Odescalchi was pope under the name of Innocent XI (1676- 1689). 3. prince d'Orange; i.e., William III, mentioned just
above. See note 1 to p. 46. 4. la grâce suffisante. Thèse re ligious dogmas were bitterly discussed by Jesuits and Jansenists in the seventeenth century. The stronghold of the latter was at Port- Royal, and their principal champions were Pascal and the celebrated Arnauld family. 5. Arnauld. The most distinguished member of this Arnauld family was Antoine Arnauld, surnamed " The Great Arnauld" (1612-1694). He died in the Netherlands, and was buried in the choir of the parish church of St. Catherine in Brussels. For a long time his place of burial was unknown. Boileau alludes to this fact in saying : —
Si Dieu lui-même ici de son ouaille sainte A ces loups dévorants n'avait caché les os.
Epitaphe de Mr. A mauld, docteur de Sorbonne.
In an Épître à Mlle. Clairon (1765), Voltaire said : —
Arnauld, qui dut jouir du destin le plus beau, Arnauld manquant d'asile, et même de tombeau.
6. L'Encyclopédie. The celebrated dictionary of sciences, arts, and trades, explained by a society of men of letters, edited and published by Diderot. D'Alembert wrote the introduction and edited the mathematical articles. It was a repository of the learning and knowledge of the eighteenth century. 7. Trianon. Two villas in the park at Versailles bear this name. The larger was erected by Louis XIV for Mme. de Maintenon. The smaller was built by Louis XV. 8. Le duc de La Vallière, grand-nephew of Mlle.
de La Vallière, a favorite of Louis XIV. 9. M. le duc de Nivernois, member of the French Academy. His grandfather, likewise a man of literary aspirations, was by marriage a nephew of Cardinal Mazarin.
Page 340. — 1. Mme- de Pompadour had a very strong influence over Louis XV. She died in 1764. At that time seven onlyof the twenty-one volumes mentioned farther on in the text had been published. This is an anachronism on Voltaire's part. 2. Cent pistoles. The pistole had a value of ten francs. 3. métier, "weaver's loom." 4. la machine, "the mechanism."
Page 341. — 1. comme les filles de Lycomède sur les bijoux d'Ulysse. When searching for Achilles, Ulysses, clad as a mer-
notes. 447
chant, displayed jewels and rich weapons at the court of Lycomedes, King of Scyros. His plan was to detect Achilles, in spite of his girl's attire, through his prédilection for the weapons in particular. 2. le comte de C . . . Cette initiale désigne le comte de Coigny (Moland),
Page 342. — i. quatre éditions. This article was published in 1774, and previous to that date the Encyclopédie had been printed abroad only at Geneva, Lucca, and Leghorn. Moland confesses : " Je ne sais quelle est la quatrième." 2. dix-huit cent mille écus. Ecu, specifically, is a silver coin stamped on one side with the royal coat of arms ; viz., a shield (écu, from the Latin, scutunt) emblazoned with three Jleurs-de-lis. The face value was generally three francs, sometimes six. In présent usage, écu means money ; le pouvoir des écus, the power of money. If applied to a silver coin, it means a fivefranc pièce. When spoken of in quantities, e.g., mille écus, it means three francs. 3. L'Esprit des Lois. This work, published in 1748, is the masterpiece of Montesquieu (1689-1755). See also note 2 to p. 132, note 1 to p. 151, and note 2 to p. 153. Mme- du Défiant spoke wittily of l'Esprit des Lois, saying: " Ce n'est pas l'esprit des lois, c'est de l'esprit sur les lois." 4. l'Espion turc, or l'Espion du Gra?id Seigneur, was by Marana of Genoa, who died in 1693. Voltaire says elsewhere : "Après que l'Espion turc eut voyagé en France sous Louis XIV, Dufresny fit voyager un Siamois. Quand ce Siamois fut parti, le président de Montesquieu donna la place vacante à un Persan, qui avait beaucoup plus d'esprit que l'on n'en a à Siam et en Turquie." — Les Honnêtetés littéraires (1767). 5.
Grotius, Puffendorf . Respectively, Dutch and German jurists of the seventeenth century, considered then with Vatel, the greatest authorities on international law.
Page 343. — 1. un roi alors indigent et prodigue ; i.e., François I, King of France (1515-1547)- 2. Lorsque François Ier prit la grille d'argent de Saint-Martin. In order to carry on his first war with Italy in 1 521, " François I . . . fut obligé de prendre dans Tours une grande grille d'argent massif dont Louis XI avait entouré le tombeau de saint Martin ; elle pesait près de sept mille marcs : cet argent, à la vérité, était plus nécessaire à l'État qu'à saint Martin ; mais cette ressource montrait un besoin pressant. Il y avait déjà quelques années que le roi avait vendu vingt charges nouvelles de
conseillers du parlement de Paris." — Voltaire, Essai sur les Mœurs, chapter cxxiii. On this bit of sarcasm, cf. the note to p. 335.
Page 346. — 1. Entelle ne terrassa point Darès. The struggle between thèse two comrades of ^Fneas is described by Virgil in the fifth JEneid.
Page 348. — 1- calottes. Under the heading Des satires nommées calottes, Voltaire says : " Aux satires en vers alexandrins succédèrent les couplets ; après ces couplets vinrent ce qu'on appelle les calottes." He defines the latter as " une plaisanterie ignoble, toujours répétée, toujours retombant dans les mêmes tours, sans esprit, sans imagination, sans grâce." Cf. vol. xxiii, p. 56. 2. Bayle. See note 6 to p. 314.
Page 350. — I. les Triptolèmes. The Triptolemus of Greek mythology invented the plough, and was the patron of agriculture.
Page 351. — 1. Le centième de l'argent des cartes, "the hundredth part of the money spent at gambling." 2. Au Prince royal de Prusse, Frederick II (1712-1786), surnamed the Great. His fondness for literature led him to correspond with men of letters from ail countries, and to invite them to his court. For some years Voltaire was his guest at the palace of Sans- Souci in Potsdam.
Page 352. — 1. L'illustre reine Christine. On this Queen of Sweden, cf. in the text of this book, pp. 42-44. 2. un argument in ferio ou in barbara. Thèse terms are borrowed from an old formula of logic relating to the validity of syllogistic arguments.
Page 353.— I. M. Wolff. Christian von Wolff (1679-1754) was a celebrated German philosopher and mathematician who throve under the patronage of Frederick the Great. He developed the philosophy of Leibnitz, and exerted considérable influence upon subséquent metaphysical spéculation in Germany.
Page 354. — I. la Henriade, an epic poem composed by Voltaire in his youth in praise of Henri IV, and directed in the main against religious intolérance and persécution.
Page 355. — r. dans la retraite où je suis. Thèse words hâve evidently been overlooked by Beuchot, and would justify him in his surmise that this letter, although purporting to be written from Paris,
notes. 449
was really written at Cirey, where Voltaire lived with the Marquise du Châtelet from 1734 till 1749. 2. Julien. See note 1 to p. 15.
Page 356. — 1. M. Lévesque de Burigny, né à Reims en 1692, un an après son frère Lévesque de Pouilly, cité ici. Il avait publié, en 1720, sous le voile de l'anonyme, un Traité de l'autorité du pape, ouvrage que Voltaire loue indirectement dans le troisième alinéa de sa lettre (Moland).
Page 357. — I. M. l'abbé DubOS. Son Histoire de la ligue de Cambrai est profonde, politique, intéressante ; elle fait connaître les usages et les mœurs du temps, et est un modèle en ce genre. Tous les artistes lisent avec fruit ses Réflexions sur la poésie, la peinture et la musique. C'est le livre le plus utile qu'on ait jamais écrit sur ces matières chez aucune des nations de l'Europe. . . . Mort en 1742. — Voltaire, vol. xiv, pp. 66, 67. The most important work of the Abbé Dubos is his Histoire critique de l ' 'établissement de la monarchie française dans les Gaules (1734).
Page 358. — 1. la Régale, droit qui appartenait au roi de France sur les revenus des bénéfices vacants et la nomination aux charges ecclésiastiques dépendant des évêchés et abbayes pendant leur vacance (Larousse). 2. Rameau (1683-1764), a French composer and musical theorist. 3. M. de Barbésieux, fils du marquis de Louvois, secrétaire d'État de la guerre, après la mort de son père, jeune homme qui commença par préférer les plaisirs et le faste au travail. Mort à trente-trois ans, en 1701. See Voltaire, vol. xiv, p. 30. 4. Pellisson. Eminent lawyer of the time of Louis XIV. Cf. Voltaire, vol. xiv, p. 114.
Page 859. — 1. l'homme au masque de fer. The identity of this French state prisoner has never been satisfactorily established. 2. la Bastille, notorious fortress and state prison in Paris under the old monarchy. The populace, taking it as a symbol of oppressive rule, razed it to the ground, July 14, 1789. 3. M. Hardion, member of the French Academy. 4. M. l'abbé de Saint-Pierre. On this writer, see note 1 to p. 309. 5. bienfaisance. On fait communément honneur de ce mot à l'abbé de Saint-Pierre ; mais Palissot, dans ses Mémoires, dit que c'est Balzac qui est le créateur du mot bienfaisance (Beuchot). 6. Gassendi (1 592-1655), a cele-
brated French philosopher, physicist, and astronomer.
Page 360. — i. Père Tournemine, a Jesuit friend and former teacher of Voltaire. 2. Père Porée, also a Jesuit friend and former teacher of Voltaire.
Page 361. — 1. Malebranche (163S-1715), a French metaphysician, and disciple of Descartes, q. v. in note to p. 43.
Page 362. — 1. Milord Hervey (1696-1743), an English politician, lord privy seal (1740-1742). 2. Porto-Bello, a port on the Caribbean coast of the Isthmus of Panama, taken by the English, under Vernon, in 1739. See also note to p. 35.
Page 363. — 1. Guglielmini, a famous Tuscan astronomer, and a récipient of libéral gifts at the hands of Louis XIV.
Page 364. — 1. les plus éloquents et les plus savants hommes de l'Europe, in particular Bossuet and Fénelon. See note 2 to p. 55, and the note to p. 409.
Page 365. — 1. M. Picard, a French astronomer, contemporary and co-laborer of Cassini. 2. un Cassini et un Huygens, the former an Italian astronomer (1625-1712); the latter a celebrated Dutch physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (1629-1695). 3. L'évêque Burnet (1643-17 15), a British historian and theologian.
Page 366. — 1. Van Robais, a manufacturer whose industry was encouraged by Louis XIV. " Il encourageait à la fois un Racine et un Van Robais." Cf. Voltaire, vol. ii, p. 542.
Page 367. — 1. Boyle (1627-1691), a celebrated British chemist and natural philosopher, best known, perhaps, as the discoverer of Boyle's law of the elasticity of air. It is identical with Mariotte's law, although discovered independently.
Page 369. — 1. Mariotte (1620-1684), a noted French physicist. Mariotte's law is that at any given température the volume of a given mass of gas varies inversely to the pressure winch it bears. 2. Transactions d'Angleterre, known in English as the Philosophical Transactions, a voluminous collection in 40. 3. M. de Vau-
venargues (1715-1747), a French moralist. See note 2 to p. 311. 4. M. le duc de Duras, a nephew of the great Turenne, whom he succeeded as marshal of France.
Page 370. — 1. Sévère and Pauline are characters in Corneille's Polyeucte. 2. In domo patris mei mansiones multae sunt.
Gospel of St. John xiv, 2. 3. Voiture à Horace. See Boileau- Despréaux, Satire IX, v. 27.
Page 371. — 1. M. de Catinat, marshal of France under Louis XIV, and a philosopher as well as a soldier.
Page 372. — 1. M. Senac de Meilhan (1736-1S03). He was the son of Louis XV's first physician. 2. Délices was the name given by Voltaire to an estate, bought by him in 1755, in the neighborhood of the Lake of Geneva.
Page 373. — 1. J.-J. Rousseau (1730-1778), one of the greatest writers of the eighteenth century. His writings, especially the Contrat Social, and the Profession de foi du vicaire savoyard which is included in his book on éducation, Emile, were the main sources of inspiration for many revolutionary leaders, especially Robespierre. 2. votre nouveau livre; i.e., Rousseau's Discours sur l'origine de l'inégalité parmi les hommes, published in 1755. 3. auprès de votre patrie. Rousseau was born at Geneva. This letter was written at Les Délices. 4. se rétracter. See note 2 to p. 54. 5. vos amis ; i.e., Diderot and D'Alembert, editors of l'Encyclopédie. See note 6 to p. 339.
Page 374. — 1. jansénistes. See note 3 to p. 303. 2. un prêtre ex-jésuite ; i.e., l'abbé Desfontaines, one of the bitterest enemies of Voltaire. 3. un homme, plus coupable encore; i.e., La Beaumelle. Voltaire refers again to him with contempt on p. 397, 11. 4-7. 4. Chapelain ( 1 595-1674), one of the earliest members of the French Academy. His chief poetic work, la Pucelle, was greatly ridiculed ; but as a critic, especially of Corneille's Cid, he was held in high esteem. For an estimate of Voltaire's Pucelle, see the Introduction, p. xiii. On the personality of la Pucelle, see note 1 to p. 25.
Page 375. — I. Camoens, the most celebrated Portuguese poet ; he flourished in the sixteenth century. 2. Sylla, d. 78 B.c., a celebrated Roman gênerai and dictator. 3. Antoine . . . Lépide, members of the Second Triumvirate formed in 43 B.c. The third in this alliance was Octavianus, who became emperor in 27 B.c., with the title, " Augustus."
Page 37C. — 1. Marot, a noted French poet of the first half of the sixteenth century. He was court poet to François I. In addi-
tion to much original work he translatée! portions of Virgil, Ovid, and Petrarch, also 52 psalms of David. 2. La Fronde. See note 3 to p. 297. 3. Thomas Kouli-kan, a Persian usurper of the eighteenth century.
Page 377. — 1. MM. Cramer Frères, Voltaire's publishers.
Page 379. — 1. Mme. de Sévigné (1626-1696). She is renowned for her very interesting correspondence, especially with her daughter Mme. de Grignan. 2. Mme. Deshoulières. " Celle des femmes françaises dont on a retenu le plus de vers." See Voltaire, vol. xiv, p. 64.
Page 380. — 1. M. Deodati de Tovazzi, author of 2. Dissertation sur r Excellence de la langue italienne (pp. iv, 60. 1 vol., in 8° ,
Page 384-, — 1. du général; i.e., the Maréchal de Richelieu, in 1756. This marshal was the grandnephew of Cardinal Richelieu. 2. un de nos chefs ; Le., the Maréchal de Belle-Isle, in 1742. 3. le petit-neveu du héros de la Valteline ; i.e., the Prince de Soubise, on
Nov. 5, 1757.
Page 385. — 1. celui qui a gardé Cassel et Goettingen ; i.e., the
Maréchal de Broglie at Cassel, but the Comte de Vaux, at Goettingen. 2. celui qui a sauvé Vesel ; i.e., the Marquis de Schomberg.
Page 386. — 1. Buonmattei. Benedetto Buonmattei was born at Florence in 1581, and died in 1647. 2. Académie delà Crusca, established at Florence in 1582, similar in many respects to the French Academy ; it is the only academy older than the French Academy that has survived to the présent day. The name indicates its purpose, — the séparation of the good seed from the bran (crusca).
Page 387. — 1. M. de La Harpe (1739-1803), a French critic and poet. The tragedy of his winch is hère alluded to is Le Comte ae Warwick.
Page 388. — I. l'abbé d'Aubignac, one of the most eminent theorists on dramatic construction in the seventeenth century. His Pratique du Théâtre, in four books, appeared in 1657. 2. Fréron
( 1719—1776), a French journalist and critic, known from his tierce quarrels with Voltaire. 3. M. Bertrand, minister of the church at Berne in Switzerland.
notes. 453
Page 389. — i. mon ami Jean- Jacques ne veut point de comédie. Rousseau's diatribe against the stage contained in the Lettre sur tes Spectacles had appeared in 1758. The date of the présent letter is 1764. 2. M. de Chabanon, member of the Académie des Belles-Lettres, and a friend of D'Alembert, who introduced him to Voltaire.
Page 390. — 1. Sarpédon. In Greek legend, an ally of the Trojans. He was killed by Patroclus. 2. les Welches, the Gauls; i.e., the French. 3. M. Damilaville, a life-long friend of Voltaire. He died in 1768. 4. M. de Beaumont, a lawyer at the Paris parliament. It was to him that Voltaire sent the widow Calas, that he might undertake her case. 5. Calas, the name of a French Protestant merchant at Toulouse, who fell a victim to fanatical persécution. He was judicially murdered in 1762 on the baseless charge of killing his eldest son (a suicide) to prevent his joining the Catholic Church.
Page 393. — 1. M. Mariette . . . Loiseau, lawyers intrusted
with the Calas case. 2. Une dame ; i.e., Mme. la duchesse d'En-
ville. 3. Amerinus. See Cicero's oration for Sextius Roscius Amerinus.
Page 394. — 1. Simon de Montfort, a French commander and crusader, leader of the crusade against the Albigenses in 1208. 2. Sirven, the name of a French Protestant family persecuted on charges similar to those made against the Calas.
Page 396. — 1. un homme, dont vous devinerez l'état. C'était sans doute un prêtre (Beuchot). 2. laissez-moi être Samaritain. Cf. the Gospel of St. Luke x. 34. 3. Instruction pastorale . . . Mandement, composed by Jean-George Lefranc de Pompignan, Bishop of Le Puy.
Page 397. — 1. un grand prince ; i.e., the Duc d'Orléans, grandson of Louis XIV, and régent of France (1715-1723) during the minority of Louis XV. 2. je ne sais quel écrivain. It was La Beaumelle. See the référence to him on p. 374, 11. 11-14. 3. le vil mercenaire qui outrage deux fois par mois la raison ; i.e., Fréron, whose Année littéraire appeared, by the way, three times a month. See also note 2 to p. 388. 4. le sage de Montbar ; i.e., Buffon
(i 707-1 788), the celebrated French naturalist. 5. celui de Voré ; i.e., Helvétius (1715-1771), French philosopher and littérateur.
Page 398. — 1. M. Bordes, member of the Academy of Lyons. 2. Paoli, military commander-general of Corsica. 3. le Siège de Calais, a tragedy written by De Belloy in 1765. 4. Crébillon (1 674-1 762), a noted French tragic poet. His play Catilina was brought out in 1749.
Page 402. — 1. M. l'abbé Cesarotti, né à Padoue en 1730, mort en 1S0S, venait de publier il Cesare e il Maometto, tragédie del signor di Voltaire, trasportate in versi italiani cou alcuni ragionamenti del traduttore ; Venezia, 1766, in 80 (Moland).
Page 406. — 1. M. l'abbé Audra (1714-1770) was a docteur en Sorbonne, and a friend of Voltaire.
Page 408. — 1. Pictet, Genevois d'une haute taille, secrétaire de Catherine II, qui le surnommait le Géant (Moland).
Page 409.- — 1. Fénelon (1651-1715), a celebrated French prelate, orator, and author. He became preceptor of the duke of Burgundy, son of the Dauphin, in 1689, and for his édification wrote Les ave7itures de Télé?naque, published in 1699.
Page 411. — 1. Lois de Minos. This tragedy of Voltaire was never produced on the stage.
Page 413. — 1. moine feuillant, a reformed monk of the Cistercian order. Littré dérives feuillant from fuliensis. Cf. the old abbey founded in 1108 in Southern France, and called Beata Maria fuliensis, fulium dicta a nemore cognomine. 2. un prince de Parme, un prince d'Orange; i.e., respectively, Alexander Farnese (1547- 1592) and William III (1650-1702) q. v. in note 1 to p. 46.
Page 414. — 1. Fouquet, French superintendent of finance (1652-1661). He was condemned for peculation in 1664, and sent to prison. 2. Déjotaurus, a tetrarch and king of Galatia. He was an ally of the Romans. In 45 B.c. he was defended before Cœsar by Cicero. 3. Voltaire's last letter, dictated on hearing that young Lally's efforts, helped byhis own, had succeeded in vindicating the memory of Count de Lally, unjustly put to death (1766) as a traitor, because of his surrender of Pondichéry, which he had valiantly defended (1761),
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