into which many innocent men were cast and often forgotten. He was not allowed pen and ink for some time, but his active brain and wonderful memory allowed him to conceive and invent many things which he afterwards produced in writing. His imprisonment lasted a year, and he came out with his name changed to Voltaire, supposed to be an anagram on Arouet, L. J. (le jeune).
His father was enraged at his imprisonment. "I told you so! I knew his idleness would lead to disgrace," he said. But the boy did not feel at all disgraced. When he came home he set to work, and before the end of the year he brought out his first play, Œdipe, which was the real beginning of his brilliant career.
It was an immediate success, and attracted a great deal of attention. Even the Regent and his family came to one of the performances. In consequence of this, Voltaire was asked to grand houses and was the guest of great people, whom he amused and entertained in his original way. He received a pension from the Court, and when his father died more money came to him. He invested his capital very judiciously, and, unlike most geniuses, he thoroughly understood his bank-book, so that he never fell into need or poverty.
His next production was The Henriade, an epic poem on Henry of Navarre. The chief event in it was the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and this gave him
