bed. This left a good deal of St Lambert's evening unoccupied, and it was in these trying circumstances that he sought to console himself with the society of Madame du Châtelet until it was time to go to supper with Madame de Boufflers. In these preliminary visits he made himself so agreeable that Voltaire's portrait in the ring shortly went after the Duke of Richelieu's, and was replaced by St Lambert's. Nor was Voltaire long left in doubt as to the new state of affairs, which at first made him very angry, but to which he soon reconciled himself so completely as to make the situation the subject of a little comedy in verse: this work, however, never was published.
This was in 1748; in the following year Madame du Châtelet died, after a very short illness. Of the three widowers whom she left, Voltaire was by far the most inconsolable. The Marquis's loss was not of a kind to be considered irreparable; St Lambert had Madame de Boufilers and other sources of consolation; but Voltaire fell into a transport of grief, and for long continued to appear stunned by the blow, remaining alone in his chamber plunged in the idlest torpor. This event ended his abode at Cirey; the chateau was handed over to the Marquis, and Voltaire took up his residence for a time in Paris, removing thither his furniture, pictures, busts, museums, and the material of his literary works. But it was still a long while before he recovered any degree of calm; nor does it appear that Madame du Châtelet had any successor in his regard, and she may therefore with propriety be styled the Last of Voltaire's Marquises.
