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 domination of priests and despots; here he saw what it was. Liberty was no longer an idea, but a fact; and thenceforth superstition, oppression, and ignorance were the "Gorgons and Hydras and Chimæras dire" against which he vowed to wage perpetual war.

Of this, and other important epochs of his early life, there remain but scanty records. When he grew famous, his letters became cherished possessions; but at this time very few had been preserved, An indefatigable letter-writer, with many correspondents to whom he could without reserve impart his projects, his opinions, and his affairs, abundant material for this part of his biography no doubt once existed, and in no scattered hands. He was more than commonly constant to his early friendships, and held sustained correspondence with the objects of them. Cideville, an advocate at Rouen, had been Voltaire's schoolfellow. Thiriot had become known to him when both were studying for the bar. Voltaire made him a sort of agent; and while the poet was in England, Thiriot, receiving on his behalf subscriptions for the English edition of the "Henriade," seems to have appropriated them to his own use. Nevertheless Voltaire forgave this injury, as he had done the treason of Genonville, and often befriended Thiriot, with whom his intimacy continued until that associate's death in 1772. Concluding a letter to M. de Formont, another Rouen friend of his youth, he says, "I embrace you with all my heart, and count myself something more than your very humble servant, for I am your friend, and tenderly attached to you for all my life." D'Argenson, son of the Police Minister, was another schoolfellow; the young Count D'Argental, another advocate, was also a friend