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Voltaire , “ who translated and explained Newton, andtranslated Virgil, without betraying in her conversationthat she had achieved these prodigies ; a woman whonever spoke ill of any one, and never uttered a false-hood ; a friend, attentive and courageous in her friend-ship : in a word, a great woman, whom the common runof women only knew by her diamonds and dress. Suchmust I weep till the end of my life.”
After this sorrowful .event Voltaire established him-self in Paris. The house which he and Madame duChatelet rented conjointly, he now took entirely himself.He invited his widowed niece, madame Denis, to pre-side over his establishment. At first he continuedplunged in grief ; he saw no one but count D’Argentaland the duke of Richelieu, who were among his oldestfriends. One or the other, or both, passed the eveningswith him, and tried to distract his mind from its re-grets. They sought to awaken in him his theatricaltastes, which were strong, and which, if once roused,would effectually draw him from solitude. Voltaire at last showed sparks of the old fire; other friends werebrought about him ; he was implored to bring out hisnewly written tragedies ; he objected, on the score ofthe quarrel that subsisted between him and the actorsof the Comedie Francais , — he having endeavoured toimprove their manner of acting, and they haughtilyrejecting his instructions. This difficulty was got overby erecting a private theatre in his own house, andgathering together a number of actors chosen from
a devoted and enduring friendship for so great a man was considered highlyrespectable, even though that friendship militated against our stricternotions of social duties j it not being considered the business of anyoneto inquire into, or concern themselves with, a question that related only tothe persons immediately implicated. With regard to madame du Chatelet ’sgeneral character, she was unpopular through the vehemence of hertemper, and even the ardour with which she devoted herself to study.She had several of the faults attributed to literary women, which arisefronn their not having the physical strength to go through great intellectualiaheur without suffering from nervous irritation. In other respects shewas evidently generous and sincere. Her judgment was sound ; her com-mon sense clear and steady. She was witty and vivacious, and had asmutch to bear from Voltaire ’s petulance, whimsicalness, and vehemence, ashe from her more imperious temper.
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