July 1770.

'ing M. de Voltaire, at the same hour, along with some other 'strangers, who were then going to Ferney. But, to say the truth, besides the visit to M. Fritz being more my business, I 'did not much like going with these people, who had only a "Geneva Bookseller to introduce them; and I had heard that 'some English had lately met with a rebuff from M. de Voltaire, by going without any letter of recommendation, or anything to recommend themselves. He asked them What they 'wanted? Upon their replying That they wished only to see so ' extraordinary a man, he said: "Well, gentlemen, you now see me: did you take me for a wild-beast or monster, that was fit "only to be stared at as a show?" This story very much frightened me; for, not having, when I left London, or even Paris,

66

6 any intention of going to Geneva, I was quite unprovided with a recommendation. However, I was determined to see the 'place of his residence, which I took to be' (still Les Délices),

Cette maison d'Aristippe, ces jardins d'Epicure,

'to which he retired in 1755; but was mistaken' (not The Délices now at all, but Ferney, for nine or ten years back).

'I drove to Ferney alone, after I had left M. Fritz. This 'house is three or four miles from Geneva, but near the Lake. 'I approached it with reverence, and a curiosity of the most 'minute kind. I inquired when I first trod on his domain; I 'had an intelligent and talkative postillion, who answered all my questions very satisfactorily. M. de Voltaire's estate is very large here, and he is building pretty farmhouses upon it. He has erected on the Geneva side a quadrangular Justice, or Gal'lows, to show that he is the Seigneur. One of his farms, or ' rather manufacturing houses,-for he is establishing a manu'facture upon his estate, was so handsome that I thought it 6 was his château.

'We drove to Ferney, through a charming country, covered 'with corn and vines, in view of the Lake, and Mountains of 'Gex, Switzerland, and Savoy. On the left hand, approaching 'the House, is a neat Chapel, with this inscription :

"DEO

EREXIT

VOLTAIRE

MDCCLXI."

'I sent to inquire, Whether a stranger might be allowed to see 6 the House and Gardens; and was answered in the affirmative.

July 1770.

'A servant soon came, and conducted me into the cabinet or 'closet where his Master had just been writing: this is never 'shown when he is at home; but having walked out, I was 'allowed that privilege. From thence I passed to the Library, 'which is not a very large one, but well filled. Here I found a "whole-length Figure in marble of himself, recumbent, in one ' of the windows; and many curiosities in another room; a Bust ' of himself, made not two years since; his Mother's picture; 'that of his Niece, Madam Denis; his Brother, M. Dupuis; the 'Calas Family; and others. It is a very neat and elegant House ; 'not large, nor affectedly decorated.

6

'I should first have remarked, that close to the Chapel, be'tween that and the house, is the Theatre, which he built some 6 years ago; where he treated his friends with some of his own Tragedies: it is now only used as a receptacle for wood and 'lumber, there having been no play acted in it these four years. 'The servant told me his Master was 78' (76 gone), 'but very "well. "Il travaille," said he, "pendant dix heures chaque jour, "He studies ten hours every day; writes constantly without "spectacles, and walks out with only a domestic, often a mile or "two-Et le voilà, là bas, And see, yonder he is!"

6

'He was going to his workmen. My heart leaped at the sight ' of so extraordinary a man. He had just then quitted his Garden, and was crossing the court before his House. Seeing my 6 chaise, and me on the point of mounting it, he made a sign to 'his servant who had been my cicerone, to go to him; in order, 'I suppose, to inquire who I was. After they had exchanged a 'few words together, he,' M. de Voltaire, 'approached the place 'where I was standing motionless, in order to contemplate his person as much as I could while his eyes were turned from 'me; but on seeing him move towards me, I found myself 'drawn by some irresistible power towards him; and, without 'knowing what I did, I insensibly met him half-way.

'It is not easy to conceive it possible for life to subsist in a 'form so nearly composed of mere skin and bone as that of M. 'de Voltaire.' Extremely lean old Gentleman! He complained ' of decrepitude, and said, He supposed I was anxious to form an idea of the figure of one walking after death. However, 'his eyes and whole countenance are still full of fire; and

April 1776.

though so emaciated, a more lively expression cannot be 'imagined.

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'He inquired after English news; and observed that Poetical squabbles had given way to Political ones; but seemed to think the spirit of opposition as necessary in poetry as in politics. "Les querelles d'auteurs sont pour le bien de la littérature, comme "dans un gouvernement libre les querelles des grands, et les clameurs "des petits, sont nécessaires à la liberté." And added, "When "critics are silent, it does not so much prove the Age to be correct, as dull." He inquired what Poets we had now; I told 'him we had Mason and Gray. "They write but little," said 'he: "and you seem to have no one who lords it over the rest, "like Dryden, Pope, and Swift." I told him that it was one ' of the inconveniences of Periodical Journals, however well exe'cuted, that they often silenced modest men of genius, while 'impudent blockheads were impenetrable, and unable to feel the 'critic's scourge: that Mr. Gray and Mr. Mason had both been 'illiberally treated by mechanical critics, even in newspapers; and added, that modesty and love of quiet seemed in these gen'tlemen to have got the better even of their love of fame.

'During this conversation, we approached the buildings that 'he was constructing near the road to his Château. "These," 'said he, pointing to them, "are the most innocent, and perhaps "the most useful, of all my works." I observed that he had ' other works, which were of far more extensive use, and would 'be much more durable, than those. He was so obliging as to 'show me several farmhouses that he had built, and the plans of others after which I took my leave.'41

No. 2. A Reverend Mr. Sherlock sees Voltaire, and even dines with him (April 1776).

Sherlock's Book of Travels, though he wrote it in two languages, and it once had its vogue, is now little other than a Dance of Will-o'-wisps to us. A Book tawdry, incoherent, indistinct, at once flashy and opaque, full of idle excrescences and exuberances ;—as is the poor man himself. He was "Chaplain

"Burney's Present State of Music (London, 1773), pp. 55-62. YOL. VI.

MM

April 1776.

to the Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry;" gyrating about as ecclesiastical Moon to that famed Solar Luminary, what could you expect 42 Poor Sherlock is nowhere intentionally fabulous; nor intrinsically altogether so foolish as he seems: let that suffice us. In his Dance of Will-o'-wisps, which in this point happily is dated, 26th-27th April 1776,-he had come to Ferney, with proper introduction to Voltaire: and here (after severe excision of the flabby parts, but without other change) is credible account of what he saw and heard. In Three Scenes; with this Prologue -as to Costume, which is worth reading twice:

Voltaire's Dress. 'On the two days I saw him, he wore white 'cloth shoes, white woollen stockings, red breeches, with a nightgown and waistcoat of blue linen, flowered, and lined with yellow. 'He had on a grizzle wig with three ties, and over it a silk night'cap embroidered with gold and silver.'

SCENE I. The Entrance-Hall of Ferney (Friday, 26th April 1776); exuberant Sherlock entering, Letter of Introduction having preceded.

'He met me in the hall; his Nephew M. d'Hornoi' (Grandnephew; Abbé Mignot, famous for burying Voltaire, and Madame Denis, whom we know, were his Uncle and Aunt) — Grandnephew, 'Counsellor in the Parlement of Paris, held him by the " arm. He said to with me, "You see a very weak voice: very "old man, who makes a great effort to have the honour of seeing

a

you. Will you take a walk in my Garden? It will please you, "for it is in the English taste:-it was I who introduced that "taste into France, and it is become universal. But the French "parody your Gardens; they put your thirty acres into three."

'From his Gardens you see the Alps, the Lake, the City of 'Geneva and its environs, which are very pleasant. He said: Voltaire. "It is a beautiful prospect." He pronounced these 'words tolerably well. Sherlock. "How long is it since you "were in England?"

42 Title of his Book is, Letters from an English Traveller; translated from the French Original (London, 1780). Ditto, Letters from an English Tra veller; written originally in French: by the Rev. Martin Sherlock, A.M., Chaplain to the Earl of Bristol, &c. (a new Edition, 2 voll., London, 1802.)

April 1776.

Voltaire. "Fifty years, at least." (Not quite; in 1728 left; in 1726 had come).43 D'Hornoi. "It was at the time when

66

you printed the First Edition of your Henriade."

"We then talked of Literature; and from that moment he

'forgot his age and infirmities, and spoke with the warmth of a

'man of thirty. He said some shocking things against Moses

" and against Shakspeare.' (Like enough!)

'talked of Spain.

*

*

"We then

Voltaire. "It is a Country of which we know no more than "of the most savage parts of Africa; and it is not worth the "trouble of being known. If a man would travel there, he "must carry his bed, &c. On arriving in a Town, he must go ❝into one street to buy a bottle of wine; a piece of a mule” (by way of beef)" in another; he finds a table in a third,—and he sups. A French Nobleman was passing through Pampeluna : "he sent out for a spit; there was only one in the Town, and "that was lent away for a wedding."

66

D'Hornoi. “There, Monsieur, is a Village which M. de Vol"taire has built!" Voltaire. "Yes, we have our freedoms "here. Cut off a little corner, and we are out of France. I "asked some privileges for my Children here, and the King has

granted me all that I asked, and has declared this Pays de Gex "exempt from all Taxes of the Farmers-General; so that salt, "which formerly sold for ten sous a pound, now sells for four. "I have nothing more to ask, except to live."-We went into the Library' (had made the round of the Gardens, I suppose).

SCENE II. In the Library.

Voltaire. "There you find several of your countrymen" (he had Shakspeare, Milton, Congreve, Rochester, Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke, Robertson, Hume, and others). "Robertson is your Livy; "his Charles Fifth is written with truth. Hume wrote his His"tory to be applauded, Rapin to instruct; and both obtained "their ends." Sherlock. "Lord Bolingbroke and you agreed "that we have not one good Tragedy."

Voltaire. "We did think so. Cato is incomparably well "written: Addison had a great deal of taste;—but the abyss

43 Suprà, ii. 586.