Lotteries were all the rage in eighteenth-century Paris.

June 22, 2016 12:33 PM

Voltaire’s Luck by Roger Pearson [Lapham's Quarterly] “It was once said of Voltaire, by his friend the Marquis d’Argenson, that “our great poet forever has one foot on Mount Parnassus and the other in the rue Quincampoix.” The rue Quincampoix was the Wall Street of eighteenth-century Paris; the country’s most celebrated writer of epic and dramatic verse had a keen eye for investment opportunities. By the time d’Argenson made his remark, in 1751, Voltaire had amassed a fortune. He owed it all to a lottery win. Or, to be more precise, to several wins.”
posted by Fizz (7 comments total)

Shortly thereafter he used this money to build himself a chateau (and village) on the (not yet quite) Swiss border so he could run and hide in Geneva if the king/French government came after him.

Thus ends my knowledge of Voltaire.
posted by maryr at 12:55 PM on June 22, 2016

I used to live in Ferney-Voltaire. They perform Candide every year at the Chateau. Only town I know where you can call yourself a philosopher and get respect.
posted by leibniz at 1:07 PM on June 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

Only town I know where you can call yourself a philosopher and get respect.
posted by leibniz

Eponysterical.
posted by Fizz at 1:08 PM on June 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Too right, everywhere else I have to pretend I invented bloody calculus
posted by leibniz at 1:14 PM on June 22, 2016 [16 favorites]

Too right, everywhere else I have to pretend I invented bloody calculus

It's probably for the best.
posted by thelonius at 1:28 PM on June 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh come on, everybody knows Calculon invented calculus. Leibniz obviously invented leiber, aka bodies.
posted by happyroach at 2:17 PM on June 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Casanova was hired to set up the lotteries for the king.
posted by njohnson23 at 6:39 PM on June 22, 2016