Free Voltaire in Love by Nancy Mitford Page A

his grave and the other to the hospital.
    News of the duel reached Voltaire, rather exaggerated as Richelieu was said to be dying. Voltaire did not hesitate; he ordered his carriage and set forth for Philippsburg. He truly loved the Duke and felt a certain responsibility since the marriage had been of his making. However, he found his friend already convalescent and very waggish about Voltaire’s troubles. Of course, said Richelieu, the scoundrel, up to his tricks as usual, had himself arranged for the Lettres philosophiques to be published while he was safely out of Paris. The noblemen at the Duke of Berwick’s headquarters were delighted to see Voltaire and he soon fell into the jolly life of the camp, all the jollier for his own arrival. Three gay young Princes of the Blood, the brothers Clermont and Charolais and the Prince de Conti, gave parties for him and made much of him. However, they very soon got stern messages from Paris telling them to desist; it was considered quite out of order that, while the King’spolice were looking everywhere for M. de Voltaire, he should be making merry with the King’s cousins at the front. Besides, a battle seemed imminent; Voltaire felt that the moment had come to be off. Once more he ordered his carriage.

6. Cirey
    This time Voltaire went to Cirey, a country house in Champagne belonging to the du Châtelets. Isolated in woodlands full of iron-foundries and forges that had been worked there since Roman times, it was a very suitable hiding place since its inhabitants could arrange to be warned if the police were about to descend upon them. The Lorraine frontier, too, was within easy reach. Cirey’s foundations were tenth century; it had twice been razed to the ground, during the wars of the League and after the conspiracy of Gaston d’Orléans. Du Châtelet’s great-grandfather had partly rebuilt it, but it had stood empty for many years and Voltaire found it unfurnished and derelict. Here Émilie and Voltaire had decided to pursue their amours philosophiques, far from the dangers and distractions of the capital. She told Richelieu that she could not imagine not wanting to live quietly in the country with her loved one. Also, she said, in Paris she would be sure to lose him sooner or later. As for Voltaire, he was tired of trying to keep house on his own; he had reached the age when a man likes to settle down and be looked after by some charming woman.
    Ã‰milie stayed on in Paris where she continued her lessons with Maupertuis, her social life, and her gambling. She may have been unable to go to Cirey at once owing to the illness of her baby, aged sixteen months. He died in September. The death of a child was seldom regarded then as a great misfortune. Parents saw very little of their children and one or two in a family were rather expected to die. To her own surprise, however, Mme du Châtelet minded. She sent a note the next day to Maupertuis, saying thatshe must admit to being very sad indeed. If he cares to come and console her, he will find her alone. She has told the servants she does not wish to see anybody, but there is no occasion on which the sight of him would not give her extreme pleasure. She did not, even then, hurry off to Cirey but stayed on in Paris until Maupertuis left for Switzerland several weeks later. Voltaire was alone for nearly three months.
    He had put in hand a large scheme of building and decorating at Cirey. He filled the house with masons and plasterers; outside he planned terraces, gateways, and alleys. As society was necessary to his happiness, he paid court to two neighbours, the young Comtesse de la Neuville and youngish Mme de Champbonin. When the builders made him too uncomfortable he would go and stay with Mme de la Neuville, and Mme de Champbonin would drive over and play backgammon with him. This jolly, fat creature became, and remained, his slave. (She already knew Mme du Châtelet with whom she had been