Page:Voltaire (Hamley).djvu/82



Voltaire's return to Paris in 1728, he for some time lived retired, almost concealed, in a remote faubourg, and began to develop his extraordinary talent for financial speculation. He had inherited from his father (who died in 1722) and his brother some little income, which, together with his pension, made up about £400 a-year; to this he had just added the English subscription for his "Henriade." But as his first financial successes seem to have come in the form of large winnings in a lottery, it is not necessary to look beyond these for the basis of his fortune. He largely increased his gains by investing them in various well-selected enterprises, such as the commerce with Cadiz and speculations in Barbary corn. He then acquired an interest in a contract for provisioning the army of Italy, by which he gained £30,000. His subsequent investments were so advantageous—in annuities, loans, and mortgages—that he lived and died the richest of all eminent men of letters, and was quite