[ Tallentyre's commentary: In 1717, Arouet, now one and twenty and beginning to be known as a man of letters, was held responsible for two stinging satires--which he had not written--on the evil state of France and on the evil life of the Regent of Orléans: and was put in the Bastille--an experience which all literary men of his time and country went through as certainly as children go through measles, and, sometimes, with no more suffering. Allowed pens and ink, as well as friends, good food, and wine, Arouet employed his leisure in conceiving and beginning his epic poem, the Henriade, and in changing his name to Voltaire. In April, 1718, he was released from the Bastille and exiled to Châtenay (the paternal home) before being allowed to return to Paris. This letter is notable for the extreme agility with which the writer catches the Lieutenant of Police and the Regent in a net of gratitude for past favors--to assure himself of more to come: and for the fact that, if Voltaire had not satirized the Regent, he was perfectly aware, for all his flattering protestations, that his character was remarkably corrupt in an age when in high places corruption was rather the rule than the exception. ]

Sir: The first use I must make of my liberty is to write and thank you for having given it to me. I can only prove my gratitude by being worthy of the kindness you have done me, and of your protection. I believe I have profited by my misfortunes, and can assure you that I am not less grateful to the Regent for my captivity than for my freedom. I have committed many faults, but I beg you, sir, to assure his Royal Highness that I never was so wicked nor so foolish as to have written anything against him. I have never spoken of him but in terms of admiration for his genius: and I should have expressed myself as warmly had he been a private person. I have always respected him the more because I know that he dislikes flattery as much as he deserves it. I know that in this respect you are like him, but still I cannot refrain from telling you how fortunate I think myself to be in your power, and how sure I am that you will use it to my advantage.

With the profoundest respect, I am, sir, your most humble, obedient servant,

Arouet.