Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

Excerpt from Voltaire in Exile: His Life and Works in France and Abroad (England, Holland, Belgium, Prussia, Switzerland); With Unpublished Letters of Voltaire and Mme; Du Chatelet This book is meant to be a faithful history of Vol taire, .a picture as unbiased and perfect as it could be photographed, so to speak, by the hand of an admiring but conscientious artist. The phases and evolutions of the great man's character are left to be' observed through the continuous panorama of his eventful and active life. We are first introduced to a young man in whom genius with all its concomitant temptations is already revealing itself to\ a nature which, with its inborn Epicurean tastes, was easily led' through the in uence of the surrounding. And general Christian, licentiousness into a participation in its dissolute ways. In his dav the lover, l'ami' intime, to use the words of a writer in the Argosy, was an indis pensable part of every fine lady's household. It is true that both. The fair dames and their cavaliers were frequently seen at mass and all sorts of relig ious ceremonies, but they went back to the salon to. irt and make love quite as briskly as ever. Vol taire simply lived as men of the world in his time lived. Therein lies. His only weakness, that, high as he towered in heart and intellect above the Chris, tian herd among which he lived, he did not rise above them in social morality. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

People use concepts such as time and date to structure their lives on a daily basis. They often measure their travel by marking points arranged along great circles on the globe. Yet most do not understand the origin and history of these terms and the stories of the intrepid adventurers, scientists, and seafarers who shaped our picture of the world today. Ariel transports readers to faraway lands and ancient cultures that span more than 3500 years of exploration. Phoenicians, Spaniards, Portuguese, British, French, and many others star in an epic that stretches from Lapland to Cape Horn, via Greenwich, Paris, the Andes and the Fortunate Islands. This book is a collection of stories and myths about geography, navigation, and geodesy— the science that deals with the Earth's figure and the interrelationship of selected points on its surface-that reaches far beyond dry scientific texts to concentrate on the people behind the discoveries. The knowledge and understanding of abstract notions such as the Prime Meridian, the Equator, and the International Date Line is conveyed through emphasis on the human spirit that motivated the pioneer scientists and sailors. It is a tale littered with heroes and villains, battles, tragedies and international intrigue. Readers will learn of a time when nothing was certain—even the shape and size of the earth were the subjects of fierce competition, conflict, and politics.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.