78 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

a persecuted party, which, persecuted as it is, hasnevertheless gained the greatest possible advantage overits enemies, by rendering them at once odious andludicrous.”

It is pleasant to turn from these matters, whichoften display the self-love and intolerance of the phi-losophers of the day, to such acts as stamp Voltaire asa generous man, full of the warmest feelings of bene-volence, and capable of exerting all his admirablefaculties in the noblest cause, — that of assisting andsaving the unfortunate. A great niece of Corneillelived in indigence in Paris . A friend of hers conceivedthe happy thought of applying to Voltaire for assist-ance ; and that which he instantly afforded, at oncerescued her from privation and care. His answer tothe application deserves record. “ It becomes an oldfollower of the great Corneille to endeavour to be use-ful to the descendant of his general. When one buildschateaux and churches, and has poor relations to sup-port, one has but little left to assist one, who ought tobe aided by the first people in the kingdom. I am old.I have a niece who loves the fine arts, and cultivatesthem with success. If the young lady of whom youspeak will accept a good education under my niece’scare, she will look on her as a daughter, and I will beto her as a father.” This offer was of course grate-fully accepted. The young lady was clever, lively, yetgentle. Voltaire himself assisted in her education.“ I do not wish to make her learned,” he writes, “ butdesire that she should learn how to conduct the affairsof life and to be happy.” He was rewarded for hisexertion by his protegee’s docility and gratitude. As ameans of obtaining a dowry for her, he wrote his ela-borate commentary on Corneille’s works, and publishedit, with an edition of the great tragedian’s works, bysubscription — inducing the monarchs and nobles ofEurope , through his mighty influence, to send in theirnames, and thus fabricated a fortune for the orphan.

Soon after, another and more important occasion