V O L V L 293 character. In the brief Traite dc Mctnphysiqnc the author makes his grand effort, but scarcely succeeds in doing more than show that he had no real conception of what metaphysic is. His Philo- fiophc Ignorant is a clever .skit on the contradictions of philosophers, his Lettrcs dc Memmius a fair instance of his habit of taking oblique shots at one thing under cover of another and while apparently aiming at a third. And all the minor works commonly called philosophical, though they are voluminous enough, come to little more than the same result. In general criticism and miscellaneous writing Voltaire is not inferior to himself in any of his other functions. Almost all his more substantive works, whether in verse or prose, are preceded by prefaces of one sort or another, which are models of hir own light pungent causerie; and in a vast variety of nondescript pamphlets and writings he shows himself a perfect journalist. In. literary criticism pure and simple his principal work is the Commcntaire sur Corncille, though he wrote a good deal more of the same kind sometimes (as in his Life and notices of Molierc) independently, sometimes as part of his Sieclcs. Nowhere, perhaps, except when lie is dealing with religion are Voltaire s defects felt more than here. His great acquaintance with stage matters often enabled him to make valuable technical criticism in that department, and his unrivalled acuteness of course served him in literary as in other matters. But he was quite unacquainted with the history of his own language and literature, and more here than anywhere else he showed the extraordinarily limited and conventional spirit which accompanied the revolt of the French 18th century against limits and conventions in theological, ethical, and political matters. There remains only the huge division of Voltaire s correspondence, which fills some three thousand pages, double-columned, large, and closely printed, in the compactest editions, which is constantly being augmented by fresh discoveries, and which, according to M. Georges Bengesco, the best living authority, has never been fully or correctly printed, even in some of the parts longest known. In this great mass Voltaire s personality is of course best shown, and perhaps his literary qualities not worst. His immense energy and versatility, his adroit and unhesitating flattery when he chose to flatter, his ruthless sarcasm when he chose to be sarcastic, his rather unscrupulous business faculty, his more than rather un scrupulous resolve to double and twist in any fashion so as to escape his enemies, all these things appear throughout the whole mass of letters. After giving an account of Voltaire s personal character, and a sketch of the characteristics of the different sections of his work, his intellectual and literary position in history can be briefly summed up, though the summary is not one to be lightly under taken. Most judgments of him have been unduly coloured by sympathy with or dislike of what may be briefly called his polemical side. When sympathy and dislike are both carefully discarded or allowed for, he remains certainly one of the most astonishing, if not exactly one of the most admirable, figures of letters. That he never, as Carlyle complains, gave utterance to one great thought is strictly true. That his characteristic is for the most part an almost superhuman cleverness rather than posi tive genius is also true. But that he was merely a mocker, which Carlyle and others have also said, is not strictly true or fair. In politics proper he seems indeed to have had few or no constructive ideas, and to have been entirely ignorant or quite reckless of the fact that his attacks were destroying a state of things for which as a whole he neither had nor apparently wished to have any substi tute. In religion he protested stoutly, and no doubt sincerely, that his own attitude was not purely negative ; but here also he seems to have failed altogether to distinguish between pruning and cutting down. Both here and elsewhere his great fault was an inveterate superficiality. But this superficiality was accompanied by such wonderful acuteness within a certain range, by such an absolutely unsurpassed literary aptitude and sense of style in all the lighter and some of the graver modes of literature, by such untiring energy and versatility in enterprise, that lie has no parallel among ready writers anywhere. Not the most elaborate work of Voltaire is of much value for matter ; but not the very slightest work of Voltaire is devoid of value as form. In literary craftsman ship, at once versatile and accomplished, lie has no superior and scarcely a rival. The bibliography of Voltaire is a very large subject, and it has for years been the special occupation of a Roumanian diplomatist of much erudition and judg ment, M. Georges ISengesco, the first volume of whose work was published at Paris in 18S2. The latest, and on the whole tlie best, edition of the works is that completed not long ago by M. Louis Moland in 52 volumes (Paris, Gamier); the handiest and most compact is that issued in 13 volumes royal octavo some fifty years ago by Furne, and kept in print by the house of Didot. Of the earlier editions, though their bulk is an objection, several are interesting and valuable. Especially may be noticed the so-called edition of Kelil, in which Voltaire himself, and later Bi-aumarchais, were concerned (70 vols., 1785-89); those of Dalibon and liaudouin, each in 97 vols. (from which "the hundred volumes of Voltaire" have become a not infrequent figure of speech); and the excellent edition of Bcuchot (1829) in 72 volumes. Editions of separate or selected works arc innumerable, and so are books upon Voltaire. There is no really good detailed life of him, with complete examination of his work, in any language as yet, though the works containing materials for such arc numerous, and (especially in the case of M. Desnoiresterres) sometimes excellent. In English the essays of Carlyle and Air John Jloiley are bolh in their way invaluable, and to a great extent correct one another. The principal detailed life in our language is that of an American writer, Mr James Parton, which nives the facts with very considerable detail and fair accuracy, but with no power of criticism. Fresh correspondence of Voltaire is constantly being discovered, sometimes showing that his published works have been considerably garbled, so that an edition definitive from such manuscripts as exist, and containing all the variants of his own constantly altered issues, is likely to be a matter long delayed. (G. SA.) VOLTERRA, a town of Italy, in the province of Pisa, 51 miles by rail east-south-east from Leghorn, and 35 by road west-north-west from Siena, stands on a commanding olive-clad eminence about 1600 feet above sea-level, and is surrounded by the massive remains of its ancient walls, some 4|- miles in circuit. The most important relic of its Etrurian period is the Porta dell Arco, an archway of dark grey stone, about 20 feet in height, the corbels of which are adorned with almost obliterated heads, probably representing the guardian deities of the city. Volterra possesses several public buildings of interest, dating from the period of its republican independence in the 13th century. The Palazzo dei Priori, or Palazzo Pubblico (1208-57), is a handsome building, unfortunately some what modernized in its windows and mouldings ; it con tains a very valuable collection of Etruscan antiquities, especially cinerary urns. The cathedral, consecrated in 1120, but enlarged and adorned by Niccolo Pisano in 1254, has a fine pulpit of that period, and on the high altar are sculptures by Mino da Fiesole; in the transept is a remark ably fine Annunciation by Luca Signorelli. The baptistery also, supposed to date in part from the 7th century, largely belongs to the 13th; the font is by Andrea di Sansovino, and the ciborium by Mino da Fiesole. The citadel, now a house of correction, consists of two portions, the Rocca Vecchia, built in 1343 by Walter de Brienne, duke of Athens, and the Rocca Nuova, built by the Florentines (1472). The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the manufacture of vases and other ornaments from alabaster, of good quality, found in the vicinity of Volterra and near Leghorn. The population in 1881 was 5347 (commune 14,063). Volaterrie (Etrurian Vc7athri) appears to have been one of the twelve confederate cities of Etruria (see ETBUKIA, vol. xiii. p. 636). It received a military colony under the triumvirate, but is included by Pliny among the municipal towns of Etruria. It was destroyed in the 10th century, and rebuilt under the Othos. In the 12th and 13th centuries it enjoyed free institutions ; in the 14th it fell under the power of Florence. Persius the satirist and Daniele da Volterra (see RICCIARELLI) were both natives of the town. VOLUNTEERS. Although it would be difficult to assign a period when the principle of volunteer organiza tion for national defence was first adopted in England, it is certain that societies to promote this object existed in various parts of the country in the reign of Henry VIII., who in fact granted a charter in 1537 to the " Fraternity or Guylde of Saint George : Majsters and Rulars of the said Science of Artillary as aforesaid rehearsed for long- bowes Cros-bowes and Hand-Gonnes." This ancient vol unteer corps is now the Honourable Artillery Company of London, whose muster-rolls have borne the names of many distinguished personages, including John Milton. Al though the Honourable Artillery Company has always been a distinct volunteer association, it was at one time (notably during the wars of the Commonwealth) a centre of instruc tion for the City trained bands, whose officers indeed were required by statute to be members also of the company. It is an interesting fact in connexion with this company that there exists at Boston, U.S., a volunteer corps bear ing the name of the "Antient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts." This legacy of the pilgrim- fathers was formed in 1638 after its London prototype, and its Puritan origin is still recognized in the " election sermon" which celebrates the anniversary of its formation.
It was not, however, until 1779 that volunteer organiza-