with, and
remain, until further permission, at a distance of at least fifty
leagues from Versailles.

It is from this point onwards that our information grows scanty and
confused. We know that Voltaire was in Calais early in May, and it is
generally agreed that he crossed over to England shortly afterwards. His
subsequent movements are uncertain. We find him established at
Wandsworth in the middle of October, but it is probable that in the
interval he had made a secret journey to Paris with the object--in which
he did not succeed--of challenging the Chevalier de Rohan to a duel.
Where he lived during these months is unknown, but apparently it was not
in London. The date of his final departure from England is equally in
doubt; M. Foulet adduces some reasons for supposing that he returned
secretly to France in November 1728, and in that case the total length
of the English visit was just two and a half years. Churton Collins,
however, prolongs it until March 1729. A similar obscurity hangs over
all the details of Voltaire's stay. Not only are his own extant letters
during this period unusually few, but allusions to him in contemporary
English correspondences are almost entirely absent. We have to depend
upon scattered hints, uncertain inferences, and conflicting rumours. We
know that he stayed for some time at Wandsworth with a certain Everard
Falkener in circumstances which he described to Thieriot in a letter in
English--an English quaintly flavoured with the gay impetuosity of
another race. 'At my coming to London,' he wrote, 'I found my damned Jew
was broken.' (He had depended upon some bills of exchange drawn upon a
Jewish broker.)

I was without a penny, sick to dye of a violent ague, stranger,
alone, helpless, in the midst of a city wherein I was known to
nobody; my Lord and Lady Bolingbroke were into the country; I could
not make bold to see our ambassadour in so wretched a condition. I
had never undergone such distress; but I am born to run through all
the misfortunes of life. In these circumstances my star, that among
all its direful influences pours allways on me some kind
refreshment, sent to me an English gentleman unknown to me, who
forced me to receive some money that I wanted. Another London
citisen that I had seen but once at Paris, carried me to his own
country house, wherein I lead an obscure and charming life since
that time, without going t