Œdipus was represented in 1718, with complete success. Two other tragedies, Artemise and Mariane, by which it was succeeded, were less fortunate. The Duke of Orleans was dead, and the reins of government were now held by the Duke of Bourbon. Voltaire having ventured to resent a dastardly insult offered to him by the worthless Chevalier de Rohan-Chabot, the chevalier thought it safer to imprison his adversary than to meet him in the field. His friends applied to the Duke of Bourbon, and raised his anger by showing him an epigram which the poet had composed on him. Their plan was successful; Voltaire was committed to the Bastile, and remained there for six months. This act of injustice induced him to take up his residence in England. In this country he lived for three years, was flatteringly received by many illustrious characters, and obtained a splendid subscription for the Henriade. The produce of this subscription formed the basis of that large fortune which he subsequently obtained by various lucky speculations. In 1728 he returned to his native land, and, between that year and 1749, he produced his tragedies of Zara, Alzira, Mahomet, and Merope, and many other works, was admitted into the French Academy, and was appointed gentleman in ordinary of the king’s bed-chamber, and historiographer of France. In 1750 Voltaire accepted an invitation to Berlin, which was given to him by the king of Prussia. For a while the sovereign and the poet were on the most amicable terms; but, in 1753, their friendship was broken, and Voltaire quitted the Prussian dominions in disgust. Paris, in consequence of the intrigues of his enemies, being no longer an eligible abode for him, he lived for short periods at Geneva and other places, and at length purchased an estate at Ferney, in the Pays de Gex, on which he finally settled. There, in possession of an ample fortune, and surrounded by friends, he gave free scope to his indefatigable pen. In April, 1778, he went once more to Paris, after an absence of nearly thirty years. He was received with almost a frenzy of enthusiasm, his bust was crowned on the stage, and was placed by the academicians next to that of Corneille. These honours, however, he did not long enjoy, for he expired on the 30th of May; his death is supposed to have been hastened by an over-dose of laudanum, which he took to calm the pain occasioned by strangury, and to procure sleep, of which he had long been deprived. In the edition of Beaumarchais, the collected works of Voltaire form seventy volumes.