104 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

that he was dead—that he could not speak. I offeredto leave him; but he would not let me. He spoke to meof his play. He has no other subject in his head: ithas caused him to come to Paris , and it will kill him ifit does not succeed.”

Nor was his tragedy his only subject of anxiety.He was told that Louis XVI. had asked, on hearing ofhis arrival, if the interdiction to his residence in Paris had ever been taken off. A question which seemed toshow his disapprobation ; but the young queen and herfriends, and the count d’Artois, were borne away bythe stream of fashion and friendlily inclined. A fewdays after his arrival he fell ill. His mode of life inParis was very different from that which he led at Fer-ney; there he was subject to none of the calls of so-ciety ; he saw few visitors, and left madame Denis todo the honours of the house — enjoying in his ownperson the most entire liberty, passing the greater partof his day in bed, or in study ; at other times walk-ing in his grounds and over his estate, directing theimprovements and enjoying the pleasure of creating hiscolony, and witnessing its prosperity. His new mode oflife deranged his health, a vomiting of blood came on,and his life was in danger. The vivacity of the Frenchdisposition was shown at this moment. All Paris was inalarm. The priests gathered round — Voltaire thoughtit right to quiet them by making a profession of faith.How far the all-seeing and infinitely pure Being canbe propitiated by a falsehood on the lips of a dyingman, may be considered doubtful; but the clergythought more of their own temporal victory than thehigher questions of religion and morality. Thesemight have been satisfied by a declaration given byVoltaire to a friend, which said, “ I die worshippingGod , loving my friends, not hating my enemies, anddetesting superstition.” Nor was this the only disquietthat attended his sick-bed: his friends quarrelledround it concerning the physicians who attended, andwrangling and dissension — the fruits of the vanity, not