THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY2 The Lives and Opinions

THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY
igo
courasement of anatomy by subscribing for the statue of a skeleton. He
demurred to the whole undertaking on the ground that he had no face
left to be modeled. "You would hardly guess where it ought to be. My
eyes have sunk in three inches; my cheeks are like old . . .
parchment;
the few teeth I had are gone." To which d'Alembert replied: ^"Genius
... has always a countenance which genius, its brother, will easily
find." 11
'
3 When his pet, Bellet-Bonne, kissed him, he said it was "Life kiss-
ing Death."
He was now eighty-three; and a longing came over him to see Paris
before he died. The doctors advised him not to undertake so arduous a
trip; but "if I want to commit a folly," he answered, "nothing will prevent
me"; he had lived so long, and worked so hard, that perhaps he felt he had
a right to die in his own way, and in that electric Paris from which he had
been so long exiled. And so he went, weary mile after weary mile, across
France; and when his coach entered the capital his bones hardly held to-
gether. He went at once to the friend of his youth, d'Argental : "I have left
off dying to come and see you," he said. The next day his room was stormed
by three hundred visitors, who welcomed him as a king; Louis XVI fretted
with jealousy. Benjamin Franklin was among the callers, and brought his
grandson for Voltaire's blessing; the old man put his thin hands upon the
youth's head and bade him dedicate himself to "God and Liberty."
He was so ill now that a priest came to shrive him. "From whom do you
come, M. 1'Abbe?" asked Voltaire. "From God Himself," was the answer.
"Well, well, sir/' said Voltaire; 'Your credentials?" 121 The priest went
away without his prey. Later Voltaire sent for another abbe, Gautier, to
come and hear his confession; Gautier came, but refused Voltaire absolu-
tion until he should sign a profession
of full faith in Catholic doctrine.
Voltaire rebelled; instead, lie drew up a statement which he gave to his
secretary, Wagner: "I die adoring God, loving rny friends, not hating my
enemies, and detesting superstition. (Signed) Voltaire. February 28,
I778." 123
Though sick and tottering, he was driven to the Academy, through
tumultuous crowds that clambered on his carriage and tore into souvenirs
the precious pelisse which Catherine of Russia had given him. "It was one
of the historic events of the century. No great captain returning from a
prolonged campaign of difficulty and hazard crowned by the most glorious
victory, ever received a more splendid and far-resounding greeting." 128
At the Academy he proposed a revision of the French dictionary; he spoke
with youthful fire, and offered to undertake all such part of the work as
would come under the letter A. At the close of the sitting he said, "Gentle-
men, I thank you in the name of the alphabet." To which the chairman,
Chastellux, replied: "And we thank you in the name of letters."
Tallentyre, 497. ^TaHentyre, 535*
d.* 538. ""Morley, 262.