Note FT — PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1814 (continued 2)

In his eighty-fourth year, Voltaire went up to Paris from Ferney in Switzerland (where he had lived for twenty years), and amid the tumultuous enthusiasm of the Parisians, he was crowned at the Comédie Française, as the Athenian poets used to be. "The Court of the Louvre, vast as it is, was full of people waiting for him. As soon as his notable vehicle came in sight, the cry arose, Le voilà! The Savoyards, the apple-women, all the rabble of the quarter had assembled there, and the acclamations Vive Voltaire! resounded as if they would never end.... There was no end till he placed himself on the front seat, beside the ladies. Then rose a cry La Couronne! and Brizard, the actor, came and put the garland on his head. Ah Dieu! vous voulez donc me faire mourir? cried M. de Voltaire, weeping with joy, and resisting the honour.... The Prince de Beauvan, seizing the laurel, replaced it on the head of our Sophocles, who could refuse no longer." (Memoires sur Voltaire, par Longchamp et Wagnière.)—ED.