Voltaire. Whose original name was Francois Marie Arouet. Born in Paris in 1694. Educated by the Jesuits, and became a protégé of Ninon de l'Enclos. In 1717, Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille on suspicion of writing a libel on the king, and "Aedipe" was produced in 1718. After another imprisonment, he went to England where, in 1728, the "Henriade" was published. Voltaire escaped prosecution by disavowing his writings and, in 1736, began to correspond with Frederick the Great. After the rise of the Pompadour, he secured a reception at court and at the Academie. In 1750 he went to the court of Berlin, where he stayed three years, the result being a historical quarrel. Soon after this he settled at Ferney, where the rest of his life was spent; but before his death, he visited Paris and was received as a popular hero. He wrote numerous plays and romances (Candide, Zadig), etc., "Histoire de Charles XII," "Siecle de Louis XIV, and other historical works, and "Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations. Voltaire died in 1778.