this was the seat to which he was welcomed. Voltaire's interest in Henry, which had such important results, was greatly heightened by another visit he paid in this year (1717) to M. de Caumartin, a high public functionary, at his chateau. This old gentleman possessed a most remarkable memory, stored with traditions of the French Court which went back to the times of the League, his forefathers for several generations having held important public offices, and his great-grandfather having been in the personal service of Henry. "Voltaire was carried away" (says his Autobiography) "by all that M. de Caumartin, very deeply versed in history, told him of Henri Quatre, of whom that venerable gentleman was an idolator; and he began the 'Henriade' through pure enthusiasm, and almost without thinking what he was about."
During his stay in the country he endeavoured to soften the Regent by addressing a poetical epistle to him, in which flattery was not spared. It began thus:—
"O Prince, beloved of gods! who art to-day
A father to thy king, thy people's stay;
Thou who the weight of State upbear'st alone,
For our fair land’s repose give up thine own"—
and ends by an appeal for pity on his "oppressed youth."
After a time Voltaire, with or without permission, returned to Paris, where D'Argenson's spies found fresh matter for report against him, and this time he was committed to the Bastille. He has left a versified account of his entrapment and lodgment in the fortress. The official who arrests him thus addresses him:—
