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his friends; and, their existence becoming known, thecardinal was on the alert. He had declared that if hisburlesque of the “ Pucelle ” appeared, the author shouldend his days in the Bastille. Madame du Chatelet wasmore cautious and more fearful than Voltaire himself;and the imprudence of the latter, and the frightful evilsthat impended, did any treacherous friend either layhands on any portion of the manuscript, or have amemory retentive enough to write it after it was readaloud, is in some degree an excuse for the otherwiseunpardonable liberty she took to waylay, open, andread the letters of her guests. Madame de Graffigny had been delighted with a canto of “ Joan,” and sent asketch of its plan in a letter to her friend. M. Devaux,in answer, simply replied, “ The canto of ‘ Joan ’ ischarming.” The letter containing these words wasopened by madame du Chatelet . Her terror distortedthe meaning of the phrase, and represented in frightfulcolours the evil that would ensue ; for she fancied thatmadame de Graffigny had in some manner possessedherself of, and sent to Luneville , a canto of a poem soforbidden and guarded, that she had prevented Voltaire from communicating any portion of it to the prince royalof Prussia, lest any accidental discovery should be made.The storm broke unexpectedly and frightfully. Vol-taire learnt and shared his friend’s apprehensions. Asa means of discovering the extent of the mischief, he,unexpectedly, the same evening, after madame deGraffigny had retired to her room, and was occupiedwriting letters, visited her there, saying, that hewas ruined, and that his life was in her hands; andin reply to her expressions of astonishment, informedher that a hundred copies of one of the cantos of “Joan”were about in the world, and that he must fly to Hol-land, — to the end of the world — for safety; that M.du Chatelet was to set out for Luneville ; and that shemust write to her friend Devaux to collect all thecopies. Madame de Graffigny , charmed that she had anopportunity of obliging her kind host, assured him of

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