part of M. Arouet Senior; such that friends had to interfere, and
it was uncertain what would come of it. One judicious friend,
'M. Caumartin,' took the young fellow home to his house in the
country for a time;--and there, incidentally, brought him
acquainted with old gentlemen deep in the traditions of Henri
Quatre and the cognate topics; which much inflamed the young
fellow, and produced big schemes in the head of him.

"M. Arouet Senior stood strong for Law; but it was becoming daily
more impossible. Madrigals, dramas (not without actresses),
satirical wit, airy verse, and all manner of adventurous
speculation, were what this young man went upon; and was getting
more and more loved for; introduced, even, to the superior
circles, and recognized there as one of the brightest young
fellows ever seen. Which tended, of course, to confirm him in his
folly, and open other outlooks and harbors of refuge than the
paternal one.

"Such things, strange to M. Arouet Senior, were in vogue then;
wicked Regent d'Orleans having succeeded sublime Louis XIV., and
set strange fashions to the Quality. Not likely to profit this
fool Francois, thought M. Arouet Senior; and was much confirmed in
his notion, when a rhymed Lampoon against the Government having
come out (LES J'AI VU, as they call it ["I have seen (J'AI VU)"
this ignominy occur, "I have seen" that other,--to the amount of a
dozen or two;--"and am not yet twenty." Copy of it, and guess as
to authorship, in OEuvres de Voltaire, i. 321.]), and
become the rage, as a clever thing of the kind will, it was
imputed to the brightest young fellow in France, M. Arouet's Son.
Who, in fact, was not the Author; but was not believed on his