that impish spirit in which he ever delighted, he induced the Pope to accept the dedication of his play of _Mahomet_, and then laughed at his infallible Holiness for being unable to see that the shafts supposed to be directed at the impostor of Arabia were really aimed at fanaticism in another quarter. To his first and last love, the French theatre, Voltaire contributed nearly sixty pieces, the majority of which are tragedies. _Zaire_ and _Mérope_ suffice to show the excellence he obtained in the classic drama. The first-named was written in three weeks, a wonderful _tour de force. Olympic_—written in old age—occupied but six days, though in this we must agree with the friend who told the author that he should not have rested on the seventh day. Voltaire’s plays indeed contain occasional fine passages, but they have not the rich delineation of character necessary for works of the first rank. It has been well remarked that in his dramas, as in history, he sought to portray not so much individuals as epochs. In _Mahomet_ his subject is a great fanaticism; in _Alzire_, the conquest of America; in _Brutus_, the formation of the Roman power; in the _Death of Cœsar_, the rise of the empire or the ruin of that power. It is noteworthy that, despite his excess of comic talent, Voltaire preferred to devote his mind to tragedy rather than to comedy, in which one might have fancied he would have excelled. In truth, his desire to support the dignity of the stage stood in the way of his shining in comedy. Voltaire also at this period wrote a _Life of Molière_, in which he mingled criticism with biography. Madame de Grafigny, who visited at Cirey, says he was so greedy of his time, so intent upon his work, that it was sometimes necessary to tear him from his desk for supper. “But when at table, he always has something to tell, very facetious, very odd, very droll, which would often not sound well except in his mouth, and which shows him still as he has painted himself for us— _Toujours un pied dans le cercueil,_ _De l’autre faisant des gambades.”(1)_ 1. Ever one foot in the grave, And gambolling with the other. “To be seated beside him at supper, how delightful!” she adds. Voltaire at Cirey was out of harm’s way, and could and did devote himself to his natural bent in literary work. Madame du Châtelet was sometimes “gey ill to live with.” but she preserved him from many annoyances and helped him somewhat at Court. Thanks to the Duc de Richelieu, his patron and debtor, he was appointed historiographer-royal in 1745, with a salary of two thousand livres attached, and in the following year was elected one of the Forty of the French Academy. His life with Madame du Châtelet had shown him the possibility of woman being man’s intellectual companion. With what scorn does he make a lady, who claims equal rights in the matter of divorce with her husband, say: