The Henriade by Voltaire - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)

By Voltaire

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Henriade by Voltaire - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Collected Works of Voltaire’.

Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Voltaire includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

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* The complete unabridged text of ‘The Henriade by Voltaire - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jul 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781788777490

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The Collected Works of

VOLTAIRE

VOLUME 29 OF 43

The Henriade

Parts Edition

By Delphi Classics, 2015

Version 1

COPYRIGHT

‘The Henriade’

Voltaire: Parts Edition (in 43 parts)

First published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2017.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78877 749 0

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

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Voltaire: Parts Edition

This eBook is Part 29 of the Delphi Classics edition of Voltaire in 43 Parts. It features the unabridged text of The Henriade from the bestselling edition of the author’s Collected Works. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. Our Parts Editions feature original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of Voltaire, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily.

Visit here to buy the entire Parts Edition of Voltaire or the Collected Works of Voltaire in a single eBook.

Learn more about our Parts Edition, with free downloads, via this link or browse our most popular Parts here.

VOLTAIRE

IN 43 VOLUMES

Parts Edition Contents

The Philosophical Fiction

1, Zadig

2, Micromegas

3, Candide; Or, the Optimist

4, L’ingénu

5, The Man of Forty Crowns

6, Other Philosophical Tales

The Plays

7, Oedipus

8, Mariamne

9, Zaire

10, Caesar

11, The Prodigial

12, Merope

13, Olympia

14, The Orphan of China

15, Brutus

16, Mahomet

17, Amelia

18, Socrates

19, Alzire

20, Orestes

21, Sémiramis

22, Catiline

23, Pandora

24, The Scotch Woman

25, Nanine

26, The Prude

27, The Tatler

28, Prefaces to Plays

The Poetry

29, The Henriade

30, The Maid of Orleans

31, The Lisbon Earthquake and Other Poems

The Philosophical Works

32, Letters on England

33, Philosophical Letters

34, A Philosophical Dictionary

35, Toleration and Other Essays

36, An Essay on Crimes and Punishments

The Historical Works

37, Age of Louis Xiv

38, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

39, History of Charles Xii

The Criticism

40, The Criticism

The Biographies

41, Voltaire by John Morley

42, Voltaire: A Sketch of His Life and Works by G. W. Foote and J. M. Wheeler

43, Voltaire: Brief Biography by George Saintsbury

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The Henriade

Translated by William F. Fleming

The Henriade is an epic poem composed in 1723 while Voltaire was a young man enjoying literary success in his homeland. Composed in ten cantos, it is written in a revised version of the twelve-syllable Alexandrine metre. Although it is not one of his most critically acclaimed works, it was initially commercially successful and there were more than fifty editions during the eighteenth century, having translated into English in the early 1730’s.

The poem is a celebration of King Henry IV of France (1553-1610) and his efforts to unite the Huguenots and Catholics to end the Wars of Religion. Henry had been baptised in the Catholic faith, but was raised as a Protestant by his mother and as an adolescent he had supported the Huguenots army. He became King of Navarre in 1572 and narrowly escaped with his life during the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre, where thousands of Protestants were murdered. It was Henry’s wedding to Margaret of Valois, which provided the occasion for the slaughter, as the perpetrators knew many prominent Protestants would be in attendance.

In 1589, Henry became the nominal King of France, but the Catholic League, with support from the Spanish, refused to accept his claim and a series of battles and military conflicts occurred. However, despite internal conflicts within the Catholic League, Henry was still unable to take control of Paris. An essential development in his life was his rejection of Protestantism in 1593, allowing him to amass support from previously antagonist actors and he was crowned King of France in 1594. However, he demonstrated his desire for religious tolerance by signing the Edict of Nantes, granting Protestants rights, liberties and protections in France after years of persecution. This poem once again highlights Voltaire’s aversion to religious intolerance, dogma and fanaticism.

Title page from the 1778 edition

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

CANTO I.

CANTO II.

CANTO III.

CANTO IV.

CANTO V.

CANTO VI.

CANTO VII.

CANTO VIII.

CANTO IX.

CANTO X.

Henry IV

INTRODUCTION.

The Henriade, the only French epic, was begun when the author was a prisoner in the Bastille. The second Canto, describing the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, came to Voltaire in a dream, so he told his friend Wagniére, adding that he retained the lines until he had the chance to write them and he never found anything to change in it. The poem was ten years in the making. It was ready for printing in 1723, when he was in his thirtieth year. He had received a number of subscriptions for it before he realized that the tone of the Dedication and the poem would bring it under the ban of the censors.

The Dedication is unique of its kind. The young king, Louis XV., had just attained his majority.

"SIRE: Every work in which the great deeds of Henry IV. are spoken of, ought to be offered to your majesty. It is the blood of that hero which flows in your veins. You are king only because he was a great man, and France, that wishes you as much virtue as he possessed, and more happiness, flatters itself that the life and the throne which you owe to him will engage you to imitate him.

"Fortunate in having known adversity, he felt for the miseries of men, and softened the rigors of a rule from which he had suffered himself.  Other kings have courtiers; he had friends.  His heart was full of tenderness for his true servants.

That king, who truly loved his subjects, never regarded their complaints as sedition, nor the remonstrance of magistrates as encroachment upon the sovereign authority. Shall I say it, sire? Yes; truth commands me so to do. It is a thing very shameful to kings, this astonishment we experience when they sincerely love the happiness of their people. May you one day accustom us to regard that virtue as something appertaining to your crown! It was the true love of Henry IV. for France which made him adored by his subjects.

The poem was a brilliant protest against intolerance by the powers of Church and State. How, then, could itself be tolerated? The privilege of publication was denied. By the help of friends it was secretly printed in Rouen in 1724. It was smuggled into Paris and had an instant success, as a wonderful work, a masterpiece of the mind, as beautiful as Virgil. It has had a lasting popularity in seven languages. The English edition appeared in 1728 as the first edition published with the author’s sanction. This time the author dedicated The Henriade to Queen Caroline, whose husband had been one year king of England. She had been the friend of Sir Isaac Newton when Princess of Wales.

To the Queen:

MADAM: — It was the lot of Henry the Fourth to be protected by an English queen. He was assisted by the great Elizabeth, who was in her age the glory of her sex. By whom can his memory be so well protected as by her who resembles so much Elizabeth in her personal virtues? Your majesty will find in this book bold, impartial truths; morality unstained with superstition; a spirit of liberty, equally abhorrent of rebellion and of tyranny; the rights of kings always asserted and those of mankind never laid aside.

"The same spirit in which it was written gave me the confidence to offer it to the virtuous consort of a king who, among so many crowned heads, enjoys the almost inestimable honor of ruling a free nation: a king who makes his power consist in being beloved, and his glory in being just.

Our Descartes, who was the greatest philosopher in Europe before Sir Isaac Newton appeared, dedicated his Principles" to the celebrated Princess Palatine Elizabeth; not, said he, because she was a princess (for true philosophers respect princes, but never flatter them); but because of all his readers she understood him the best, and loved truth the most.

I beg leave, madam (without comparing myself to Descartes), to dedicate The Henriade" to your majesty upon the like account, not only as the protectress of all arts and sciences, but as the best judge of them.

"I am, with that profound respect which is due to the greatest virtue as well as the highest rank, may it please your majesty, your majesty’s most humble, most dutiful and most obliged servant,

VOLTAIRE.

The publication enriched its author, who was presented with two thousand crowns by the king and received other honors. The Henriade was at last privileged to be sold in France, in 1731. Frederick of Prussia wrote a glowing preface for a sumptuous edition he produced at lavish expense, in which he pronounced The Henriade the greatest of all epics, ancient or modern.

CANTO I.

THE ARGUMENT.

Henry III., joined by Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre, against the League, having blockaded Paris, sends Henry de Bourbon privately into England, in hopes of obtaining aid from Queen Elizabeth. A violent storm overtaking him in his voyage, he is obliged to put into an island, where an old hermit receives him, and foretells his change of religion, and accession to the throne. Description of England, and its government.

The chief renowned, who ruled in France, I sing.

By right of conquest and of birth, a king;

In various sufferings resolute and brave,

Faction he quelled: he conquered, and forgave.

Subdued the dangerous League, and factious Mayenne,

And curbed the headstrong arrogance of Spain.

He taught those realms he conquered to obey,

And made his subjects happy by his