Note 123 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Voltaire's last tribute, "The Divine Émilie," or, as Frederick II was wont to call her, "Venus-Newton," concluded with the following verses:
"L'Univers a perdu la sublime Émilie; Elle aimait les plaisirs, les arts, la veritè; Les dieux, en lui donnant leur âme et génie, N'avaient gardé pour eux que l'immortalité."
The universe has lost the sublime Émilie; she loved pleasure, the arts, truth; the gods, in giving her their soul and genius, retained for themselves only immortality.
For further information of this extraordinary woman, see Lettres de la Mme. du Châtelet, Reunies pour la première fois, par Eugène Asse, Paris, 1882.