THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION. VOL. XIV, No. 384.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 1829. [PRICE 2d. * * * * * Voltaire's Chateau, at Ferney. [Illustration] Voltaire is the bronze and plaster poet of France. Cheek by jowl with Rosseau, (their squabbles are forgotten in the roll of fame), you see him perched on mantel, bracket, _ecritoire_, and bookcase: in short, their effigies are as common as the plaster figures of Shakspeare and Milton are in England. How far the rising generation of France may profit by their household memorials--or the sardonic and satanic smile of their great poet--we will not pretend to determine; neither do we invite any comparison; although Voltaire, with all his trickseyings and panting after fame, never inculcated so sublime a lesson as is conveyed in "The cloud-capp'd towers," &c. which are inscribed beneath the bust of our immortal bard. But we turn from Voltaire and his stormy times to the seat of his retirement--Ferney, about six miles from Geneva; where he lived for twenty years; but in his eighty-fourth year actually quitted this scene of delightful repose for the city of Paris--there to enjoy a short triumph, and die. The latter event took place in 1778. At pages 62 and 69 of vol. xii. of THE MIRROR, we have given a brief description of Ferney, with many interesting anecdotes, carefully compiled from a variety of authorities. Here Voltaire lived in princely style, as Condorcet says, "removed from illusion, and whatever could excite momentary, or personal passion." According to M. Simond, a recent tourist, the _château_ is still visited by travellers, and Voltaire's bed-room is shown in the state he left it. The date of our view is about the year 1800, since which the residence has been much neglected: and during the late war, it was frequently the quarters of the Austrian soldiers. The gardens are laid out in the formal, geometrical style, and they command a view of the town and lake of Geneva. The apartments of the ground-floor of the house are in the same state as during Voltaire's lifetime. In the dining-hall is a picture, representing demons horsewhipping Fréron:[1] such was Voltaire's mode of perpetuating his antagonists. [Footnote 1: Fréron was an eminent journalist of the last century: his criticisms procured him many powerful enemies, among whom was Voltaire.] Of the purchase of Ferney, Voltaire thus speaks in his memoirs:--