François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), better known by his pen-name, Voltaire, was an interesting playwright, novelist, poet and philosopher of the French Enlightenment.  Today, he is best known for his satirical novel, Candide, in which he mocked the idea of Gottfried Leibniz that this is the best of all possible worlds, because if a better world were possible, God would have made sure that we have it.  But the collected writings of Voltaire fill a 30-quarto-volume set of books.  He wrote on every imaginable subject.

He set about writing early in life, despite his father’s wish that he become a lawyer.  He was a vehement proponent of freedom of religion and speech, and was imprisoned a number of times for attacking the Church and the Kingdom of France in his writings.  However, Voltaire did not believe in democracy, because he was contemptuous of the intelligence of the masses, but looked rather to enlightened monarchy.

Around 1735, Voltaire set up housekeeping with the Marquise de Châtelet, Gabrielle Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, a nobleman’s wife, who had literary and philosophical inclinations similar to those of Voltaire.  They even had a laboratory between their private suites in the villa Voltaire bought to house their affair, which lasted 15 years.  In this period, Voltaire also spent time in England, where he lived in exile and became a devotee of Sir Isaac Newton.  Both Voltaire and the Marquise conducted physics experiments based upon Newton’s ideas.  They also studied history and philosophy together.

Upon the death of the Marquise, Voltaire took up residence in Prussia, the guest of Frederick the Great.  Voltaire instructed Frederick in the French language.  But he created some ill will there at a time when Frederick had a scheme to debase Prussian currency to fatten his own treasury.  Voltaire was privy to the scheme, and, seizing upon differing rates of exchange inside and outside Prussia, made a fortune by moving money out of Prussia into the hands of a Jewish confederate, who exchanged it favorably elsewhere.  Also, Voltaire had written satirical works about the director of the University of Berlin.  Expelled by Frederick from Prussia, Voltaire was arrested before he reached the frontier, and the books were seized.  So this long-time friendship ended in animosity.

Voltaire was also a contributor to l'Encyclopédie, an ambitious early encyclopedia in the French language, under the editorship of Denis Diderot and Jean d’Alembert.  Other contributors include Rousseau, Montesquieu and Jaucourt.

Voltaire carried on a years-long correspondence with Empress Catherine the Great of Russia.  She was a German woman who took over the Russian empire by murdering her husband, the Tsar Pyotr.  She was noted for her despotic nature and military conquests against Turkey, and it seems odd that she should have admired the humane, freedom-loving Voltaire.  However, with the French Revolution, whose ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity sound some overtones of Voltaire’s themes, Catherine rejected his ideas, fearing perhaps that Russia would follow in the footsteps of France and overthrow her.

Voltaire was considered a financial genius, making money not only in the Prussian debasement, but also in a number of equally dubious ventures.  He also dealt in black slaves.  Voltaire entertained what would today be considered very negative views of Jews and blacks, but in his age, such views were common enough.

Will Durant, in his monumental Story of Civilization gives Voltaire very high marks, rating him as the greatest writer of his age.  However, Durant, himself of French ancestry, seems to overvalue all things French.  Nonetheless, Voltaire was a remarkable person by anyone’s account.

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