red and banished; Voltaire
succeeded, after eight years, in effecting the reversal of the
sentence. La Barre was tortured and decapitated for alleged impiety.
Voltaire was not strong enough to overpower the French magistracy
supported now by the French monarch. He turned to Frederick with a
request that he would give shelter to a colony of _philosophes_, who
should through the printing-press make a united assault upon
_l'Infame_.

In the early days of 1778, Voltaire, urged by friends, imprudently
consented to visit Paris. His journey was like a regal progress; his
reception in the capital was an overwhelming ovation. In March he
was ailing, but he rose from his bed, was present at a performance
of his _Irene_, and became the hero and the victim of extravagant
popular enthusiasm. In April he eagerly pleaded at the French Academy
for a new dictionary, and undertook himself to superintend the letter
A. In May he was dangerously ill; on the 26th he had the joy of learning
that his efforts to vindicate the memory of the unfortunate Count
Lally were crowned with success. It was Voltaire's last triumph; four
days later, unshriven and unhouseled, he expired. Seldom had such
a coil of electrical energy been lodged within a human brain. His
desire for intellectual activity was a consuming passion. His love
of influence, his love of glory were boundless. Subject to spasms
of intensest rage, capable of malignant trickery to gain his ends,
jealous, mean, irreverent, mendacious, he had yet a heart open to
charity and pity, a zeal for human welfare, a loyalty to his ruling
ideas, and a saving good sense founded upon his swift and clear
perception of reality.

Voltaire's mind has been described as "a chaos of clear ideas." It
is easy to point out the inconsistencies of his opinions, yet certain
dominant thoughts can be distinguished amid the chaos. He believed
in a God; the arrangements of the universe require a designer; the
idea of God is a benefit to society--if He did not exist, He must
be invented. But to suppose that the Deity intervenes in the affairs
of the world is superstition; He rules through general laws--His
executive; He is represented in the heart of man by His
viceroy--conscience. The soul is immortal, and God is just; therefore
let wrong-doers beware. In _L'Histoire de Jenni_ the youthful hero
is perverted by his atheistic associates, and does not fear to murder
his creditor; he is reconverted to theism, and become