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 hung up in the Marquis's hotel, apparently as a family picture.

The eight years succeeding the performance of "Œdipus," though no doubt very profitably employed by Voltaire, were the least productive of his literary life. In 1720 he produced another tragedy—"Artémise;" next year a third—"Mariamne;" and, in 1725, his first and best comedy—"L'Indiscret." But it is remarkable that while his tragedies kept the stage so long, and have been held in so high esteem as works of art, this pre-eminently witty man of the world and skilful writer did not succeed in comedy. His most noticeable work of this period is a poem, "Le Pour et le Contre; ou, Epître à Uranie." The nymph to whom it was addressed was a Madame de Rupelmonde, his companion in a journey to Brussels. She had spiritual doubts (which she finally settled, St Simon says, by going into a convent), and she appealed to Voltaire to tell her what she ought to believe in. He shaped his reply into verse, first stating how the acts of the Deity of the Old Testament and the life of the Messiah of the New seemed to him inconsistent with the character of eternal powers; then he appeals to the Deity, as he imagines Him to be, "to listen to a voice sad and sincere"—"the insensate blasphemes Thee," he says, "while I—I revere Thee… Believe, Uranie, that the everlasting wisdom of the Most High has graven in the depths of thy heart a natural religion. Know that before His throne, in all times, in all places, the heart of the just man is precious; know that a humble bonze, a benevolent dervish, will find grace in His eye sooner than a merciless Jansenist or an ambitious pontiff. What matters the title under