94 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

escaped. From madame de la Valliere to madame dePompadour , the anecdotic history of the two reigns,with that of the regency between, passed in reviewwith a rapidity and a brilliancy of design and colouringquite dazzling. However he reproached himself forhaving robbed M. de l’Ecluse of moments which hesaid he could have rendered far more diverting, andbegged him to repair his fault by giving us somescenes of the ‘ Ecosseures/ at which he laughed like achild.

“ The next was our last day. As we were to departearly on the following morning, we agreed with madameDenis and messieurs Hubert and Cramer to prolongthe pleasure of being together, by sitting up and con-versing till the hour of departure. Voltaire insisted onmaking one of us: in vain we pressed him to go tobed; more wakeful than ourselves, he read us severalcantos of ‘ Joan.’ I was delighted; for, if Voltaire ,in reading serious poetry, affected, as it appeared to me,too monotonous a cadence, and too marked an em-phasis, no one ever recited familiar and comic verseswith so much native grace and tact: his eyes andsmile had an expression I never saw in any other man.Our mutual adieu moved us to tears; more on my part,indeed, than his, as was fit; for, in addition to mygratitude, and the many causes I had for being attachedto him, 1 left him in exile.”

Marmontel’s account relates to Voltaire ’s early re-sidence in the neighbourhood of Geneva. Madamede Genlis visited him in 1776. Being at Geneva, shewrote to propose paying him a visit. The poet repliedgraciously. “ When I received his answer,” she conti-nues, “ I was seized with sudden fright. I rememberedall I had heard related of those who paid Ferney a firstvisit. It is the custom, especially for young women,to tremble, grow pale, and even faint, on perceivingVoltaire : they throw themselves into his arms, theyweep, and show an agitation which resembles the mostpassionate love. This is the etiquette of a presentation