| Citation |
NYM(G.760.007
17 Mar 1760:13,21 (396)
London, Decem. 20. . . . [1 paragraph] Extract of a letter
from Geneva, Nov. 6.
Two days after the news arrived of the taking of Quebec,
Mons. de Voltaire gave a grand entertainment at his house in
the country. In the evening, the company retired into a
noble gallery, at the end of which was erected an elegant
theatre, and a new piece called Le Patriot Insulaire was
performed, in which all the genius and fire of that
celebrated poet were exhausted in favour of the cause of
liberty. M. de Voltire himself appeared in the principal
character, and drew tears from the whole audience. The
scenes were decorted [=decorated] with emblems of liberty,
and over the stage was this inscription in Latin and
English: Libertati. Qvieti. Mvsis. Sacrvm sp. of. the.
F, The English lines means, spite of the French. The
meaning of the whole inscription, is, that M. de Voltare now
is in a free country that enjoys liberty and tranquillity,
in spite of the French, which that tyrannical and turbulent
nation had always refused him. After the play, the windows
of the gallery flew open, and presented a spacious court
finely illuminated and adorned with savage trophies. In the
middle of the court of magnificent firework was played off
accompanied with martial musick; the star of St. George
shooting forth innumerable rockets, and underneath a lively
representation, by girnndols, of the cataracts in Canada."
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