Voltaire 1774 · Ferney
Rise, receive visitors or work
12:00–14:00
“Sa vie ordinaire est de rester dans son lit jusqu’à midi. Il se lève & reçoit du monde jusqu’à deux heures, ou travaille.”
Verbatim excerpt · French original · Paul Claude Moultou
Line breaks and page markers omitted.
His usual way of life is to remain in bed until noon. He gets up and receives visitors until two, or works.
Letter from Ferney, 8 December 1774
Voltaire Society of America · Whitman College transcription from the Besterman correspondence edition
8 December 1774 · opening paragraph
Passage: Opening description of his usual day
Timing & context
Visitors and work are alternatives. Noon is his rising time, not a documented waking time.
Moultou describes a late-life routine with changing health. Remaining in bed until noon does not establish when Voltaire woke or whether he was working there.
1774 is the year of Moultou’s letter, which explicitly describes Voltaire’s usual routine. Supper depended on his health.