HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. OF PRUSSIA

FREDERICK THE GREAT

By Thomas Carlyle

BOOK XVI. --THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. --1746-1756. 

Chapter I. --SANS-SOUCI. 

Friedrich has now climbed the heights, and sees himself on the uppertable-land of Victory and Success; his desperate life-and-deathstruggles triumphantly ended. What may be ahead, nobody knows; but hereis fair outlook that his enemies and Austria itself have had enough ofhim. No wringing of his Silesia from this "bad Man. " Not to be overset, this one, by never such exertions; oversets US, on the contrary, plungesus heels-over-head into the ditch, so often as we like to apply to him;nothing but heavy beatings, disastrous breaking of crowns, to be hadon trying there! "Five Victories!" as Voltaire keeps counting on hisfingers, with upturned eyes, --Mollwitz, Chotusitz, Striegau, Sohr, Kesselsdorf (the last done by Anhalt; but omitting Hennersdorf, andthat sudden slitting of the big Saxon-Austrian Projects into a cloud offeathers, as fine a feat as any), --"Five Victories!" counts Voltaire;calling on everybody (or everybody but Friedrich himself, who is easilysated with that kind of thing) to admire. In the world are many opinionsabout Friedrich. In Austria, for instance, what an opinion; sinister, gloomy in the extreme: or in England, which derives from Austria, --onlywith additional dimness, and with gloomy new provocations of its ownbefore long! Many opinions about Friedrich, all dim enough: but this, that he is a very demon for fighting, and the stoutest King walking theEarth just now, may well be a universal one. A man better not be meddledwith, if he will be at peace, as he professes to wish being. 

Friedrich accordingly is not meddled with, or not openly meddled with;and has, for the Ten or Eleven Years coming, a time of perfect externalPeace. He himself is decided "not to fight with a cat, " if he can getthe peace kept; and for about eight years hopes confidently that this, by good management, will continue possible;--till, in the last threeyears, electric symptoms did again disclose themselves, and such hopemore and more died away. It is well known there lay in the fates a ThirdSilesian War for him, worse than both the others; which is now themain segment of his History still lying ahead for us, were thisHalcyon Period done. Halcyon Period counts from Christmas-day, Dresden, 1745, --"from this day, Peace to the end of my life!" had beenFriedrich's fond hope. But on the 9th day of September, 1756, Friedrichwas again entering Dresden (Saxony some twelve days before); and theCrowning Struggle of his Life was, beyond all expectation, found to bestill lying ahead for him, awfully dubious for Seven Years thereafter!--

Friedrich's History during this intervening Halcyon or Peace Periodmust, in some way, be made known to readers: but for a great manyreasons, especially at present, it behooves to be given in compressedform; riddled down, to an immense extent, out of those sad PrussianRepositories, where the grain of perennial, of significant and stillmemorable, lies overwhelmed under rubbish-mountains of the fairlyextinct, the poisonously dusty and forgettable;--ACH HIMMEL! Whichindispensable preliminary process, how can an English Editor, at thistime, do it; no Prussian, at any time, having thought of trying it! Froma painful Predecessor of mine, I collect, rummaging among his dismalPaper-masses, the following Three Fragments, worth reading here:--

1. "Friedrich was as busy, in those Years, as in the generality of hislife; and his actions, and salutary conquests over difficulties, weremany, profitable to Prussia and to himself. Very well worth keeping inmind. But not fit for History; or at least only fit in the summary form;to be delineated in little, with large generic strokes, --if we had themeans;--such details belonging to the Prussian Antiquary, rather thanto the English Historian of Friedrich in our day. A happy Ten Years oftime. Perhaps the time for Montesquieu's aphorism, 'Happy the Peoplewhose Annals are blank in History-Books!' The Prussian Antiquary, hadhe once got any image formed to himself of Friedrich, and of Friedrich'sHistory in its human lineaments and organic sequences, will glean manymemorabilia in those Years: which his readers then (and not till then)will be able to intercalate in their places, and get human good of. Butalas, while there is no intelligible human image, nothing of lineamentsor organic sequences, or other than a jumbled mass of HistoricalMarine-Stores, presided over by Dryasdust and Human Stupor (unsorted, unlabelled, tied up in blind sacks), the very Antiquary will have uphillwork of it, and his readers will often turn round on him with a gloomyexpression of countenance!"

2. "Friedrich's Life--little as he expected it, that day when he startedup from his ague-fit at Reinsberg, and grasped the fiery Opportunitythat was shooting past--is a Life of War. The chief memory that willremain of him is that of a King and man who fought consummately well. Not Peace and the Muses; no, that is denied him, --though he was sounwilling, always, to think it denied! But his Life-Task turned out tobe a Battle for Silesia. It consists of Three grand Struggles of War. And not for Silesia only;--unconsciously, for what far greater things tohis Nation and to him!

"Deeply unconscious of it, they were passing their 'Trials, ' his Nationand he, in the great Civil-Service-Examination Hall of this Universe:'Are you able to defend yourselves, then; and to hang together coherent, against the whole world and its incoherencies and rages?' A questionwhich has to be asked of Nations, before they can be recognized as such, and be baptized into the general commonwealth; they are mere Hordesor accidental Aggregates, till that Question come. Question which thisNation had long been getting ready for; which now, under this King, itanswered to the satisfaction of gods and men: 'Yes, Heaven assisting, wecan stand on our defence; and in the long-run (as with air when youtry to annihilate it, or crush it to NOTHING) there is even an infiniteforce in us; and the whole world does not succeed in annihilating us!'Upon which has followed what we term National Baptism;--or rather thiswas the National Baptism, this furious one in torrent whirlwinds offire; done three times over, till in gods or men there was no doubtleft. That was Friedrich's function in the world; and a great andmemorable one;--not to his own Prussian Nation only, but to Teutschlandat large, forever memorable. 

"'Is Teutschland a Nation; is there in Teutschland still a Nation?'Austria, not dishonestly, but much sunk in superstitions and involuntarymendacities, and liable to sink much farther, answers always, in gloomyproud tone, 'Yes, I am the Nation of Teutschland!'--but is mistaken, as turns out. For it is not mendacities, conscious or other, butveracities, that the Divine Powers will patronize, or even in the endwill put up with at all. Which you ought to understand better than youdo, my friend. For, on the great scale and on the small, and in allseasons, circumstances, scenes and situations where a Son of Adam findshimself, that is true, and even a sovereign truth. And whoever does notknow it, --human charity to him (were such always possible) would be, that HE were furnished with handcuffs as a part of his outfit in thisworld, and put under guidance of those who do. Yes; to him, Ishould say, a private pair of handcuffs were much usefuler than aballot-box, --were the times once settled again, which they are far frombeing!". . . 

"So that, if there be only Austria for Nation, Teutschland is in ominouscase. Truly so. But there is in Teutschland withal, very irrecognizableto Teutschland, yet authentically present, a Man of the properlyunconquerable type; there is also a select Population drilled for him:these two together will prove to you that there is a Nation. Conquestof Silesia, Three Silesian Wars; labors and valors as of Alcides, invindication of oneself and one's Silesia:--secretly, how unconsciously, that other and higher Question of Teutschland, and of its having in ita Nation, was Friedrich's sore task and his Prussia's at that time. AsTeutschland may be perhaps now, in our day, beginning to recognize; withhope, with astonishment, poor Teutschland!". . . 

3. "And in fine, leaving all that, there is one thing undeniable: In allhuman Narrative, it is the battle only, and not the victory, that canbe dwelt upon with advantage. Friedrich has now, by his SecondSilesian War, achieved Greatness: 'Friedrich the Great;' expresslyso denominated, by his People and others. The struggle upwards is theRomance; your hero once wedded, --to GLORY, or whoever the Bride maybe, --the Romance ends. Precise critics do object, That there maystill lie difficulties, new perils and adventures ahead:--which provesconspicuously true in this case of ours. And accordingly, our Book notbeing a Romance but a History, let us, with all fidelity, look outwhat these are, and how they modify our Royal Gentleman who has got hiswedding done. With all fidelity; but with all brevity, no less. For, inasmuch as"--

Well, brevity in most cases is desirable. And, privately, it must beowned there is another consideration of no small weight: That, our Prussian resources falling altogether into bankruptcy duringPeace-Periods, Nature herself has so ordered it, in this instance!Partly it is our Books (the Prussian Dryasdust reaching his acme onthose occasions), but in part too it is the Events themselves, that aresmall and want importance; that have fallen dead to us, in the huge newTime and its uproars. Events not of flagrant notability (like battles orwar-passages), to bridle Dryasdust, and guide him in some small measure. Events rather which, except as characteristic of one memorable Manand King, are mostly now of no memorability whatever. Crowd all theseindiscriminately into sacks, and shake them out pell-mell on us: that isDryasdust's sweet way. As if the largest Marine-Stores Establishment inall the world had suddenly, on hest of some Necromancer or maleficentperson, taken wing upon you; and were dancing, in boundless mad whirl, round your devoted head;--simmering and dancing, very much at its ease;no-whither; asking YOU cheerfully, "What is your candid opinion, then?""Opinion, " Heavens!--

You have to retire many yards, and gaze with a desperate steadiness;assuring yourself: "Well, it does, right indisputably, shadow forthSOMEthing. This was a Thing Alive, and did at one time stick together, as an organic Fact on the Earth, though it now dances in Dryasdust atsuch a rate!" It is only by self-help of this sort, and long survey, with rigorous selection, and extremely extensive exclusion and oblivion, that you gain the least light in such an element. "Brevity"--littlesaid, when little has been got to be known--is an evident rule!Courage, reader; by good eyesight, you will still catch some featuresof Friedrich as we go along. To SAY our little in a not unintelligiblemanner, and keep the rest well hidden, it is all we can do for you!--

FRIEDRICH DECLINES THE CAREER OF CONQUERING HERO; GOES INTO LAW-REFORM;AND GETS READY A COTTAGE RESIDENCE FOR HIMSELF. 

Friedrich's Journey to Pyrmont is the first thing recorded of him bythe Newspapers. Gone to take the waters; as he did after his former War. Here is what I had noted of that small Occurrence, and of one ortwo others contiguous in date, which prove to be of significance inFriedrich's History. 

"MAY 12-17th, 1746, " say the old Books, "his Majesty sets out forPyrmont, taking Brunswick by the way; arrives at Pyrmont May 17th; staystill June 8th;" three weeks good. "Is busy corresponding with the Kingof France about a General Peace; but, owing to the embitterment of bothparties, it was not possible at this time. " Taking the waters at least, and amusing himself. From Brunswick, in passing, he had brought with himhis Brother-in-law the reigning Duke; Rothenburg was there, and BrotherHenri; D'Arget expressly; Flute-player Quanz withal, and various musicalpeople: "in all, a train of above sixty persons. " I notice also thatPrince Wilhelm of Hessen was in Pyrmont at the time. With whom, onefancies, what speculations there might be: About the late and presentWar-passages, about the poor Peace Prospects; your Hessian "Siege" socalled "of Blair in Athol" (CULLODEN now comfortably done), and othercognate topics. That is the Pyrmont Journey. 

It is no surprise to us to hear, in these months, of new and continualattention to Army matters, to Husbandry matters; and to making good, onall sides, the ruins left by War. Of rebuilding (at the royal expense)"the town of Schmiedeberg, which had been burnt;" of rebuilding, andrepairing from their damage, all Silesian villages and dwellings; andstill more satisfactory, How, "in May, 1746, there was, in every Circleof the Country, by exact liquidation of Accounts [so rapidly got done], exact payment made to the individuals concerned, 1. Of all the hay, straw and corn that had been delivered to his Majesty's Armies; 2. Of all the horses that had perished in the King's work; 3. Of all thehorses stolen by the Enemy, and of all the money-contributions exactedby the Enemy: payment in ready cash, and according to the rules ofjustice (BAAR UND BILLIGMASSIG), by his Majesty. " [Seyfarth, ii. 22, 23. ]

It was from Pyrmont, May, 1746, --or more definitely, it was "at Potsdamearly in the morning, 15th September, " following, --that Friedrichlaunched, or shot forth from its moorings, after much previousattempting and preparing, a very great Enterprise; which he has neverlost sight of since the day he began reigning, nor will till his reignand life end: the actual Reform of Law in Prussia. "May 12th, 1746, "Friedrich, on the road to Pyrmont, answers his Chief Law-MinisterCocceji's REPORT OF PRACTICAL PLAN on this matter: "Yes; looks veryhopeful!"--and took it with him to consider at Pyrmont, during hisleisure. Much considering of it, then and afterwards, there was. Andfinally, September 15th, early in the morning, Cocceji had an Interviewwith Friedrich; and the decisive fiat was given: "Yes; start on it, inGod's name! Pommern, which they call the PROVINCIA LITIGIOSA; try itthere first!" [Ranke, ii. 392. ] And Cocceji, a vigorous old man ofsixty-seven, one of the most learned of Lawyers, and a very Hercules incleaning Law-Stables, has, on Friedrich's urgencies, --which have beenrepeated on every breathing-time of Peace there has been, and evensometimes in the middle of War (last January, 1745, for example;and again, express Order, January, 1746, a fortnight after Peace wassigned), --actually got himself girt for this salutary work. "Wash me outthat horror of accumulation, let us see the old Pavements of the placeagain. Every Lawsuit to be finished within the Year!"

Cocceji, who had been meditating such matters for a great while, ["1stMarch, 1738, " Friedrich Wilhelm's "Edict" on Law Reform: Cocceji ready, at that time;--but his then Majesty forbore. ] and was himself eagerto proceed, in spite of considerable wigged oppositions and secretreluctances that there were, did now, on that fiat of September 15th, get his Select Commission of Six riddled together and adjoined tohim, --the likeliest Six that Prussia, in her different Provinces, could yield;--and got the STANDE of Pommern, after due committeeing anddeliberating, to consent and promise help. December 31st, 1746, was theday the STANDE consented: and January 10th, 1747, Cocceji and his Sixset out for Pommern. On a longish Enterprise, in that Province and theothers;--of which we shall have to take notice, and give at least thedates as they occur. 

To sweep out pettifogging Attorneys, cancel improper Advocates, toregulate Fees; to war, in a calm but deadly manner, against pedantries, circumlocutions and the multiplied forms of stupidity, cupidity andhuman owlery in this department;--and, on the whole, to realize fromevery Court, now and onwards, "A decision to all Lawsuits within aYear after their beginning. " This latter result, Friedrich thinks, will itself be highly beneficial; and be the sign of all manner ofimprovements. And Cocceji, scanning it with those potent law-eyes ofhis, ventures to assure him that it will be possible. As, in fact, it proved;--honor to Cocceji and his King, and King's Father withal. "Samuel von Cocceji [says an old Note], son of a Law Professor, andhimself once such, --was picked up by Friedrich Wilhelm, for theOfficial career, many years ago. A man of wholesome, by no means weaklyaspect, --to judge by his Portrait, which is the chief 'Biography' Ihave of him. Potent eyes and eyebrows, ditto blunt nose; honest, almostcareless lips, and deep chin well dewlapped: extensive penetrative face, not pincered together, but potently fallen closed;--comfortable to see, in a wig of such magnitude. Friedrich, a judge of men, calls him 'aman of sterling character (CARACTERE INTEGRE ET DROIT), whosequalities would have suited the noble times of the Roman Republic. '"[--OEuvres, --iv. 2. ] He has his Herculean battle, his Master and hehave, with the Owleries and the vulturous Law-Pedantries, --which Ialways love Friedrich for detesting as he does:--and, during the nextfive years, the world will hear often of Cocceji, and of this PrussianLaw-Reform by Friedrich and him. 

His Majesty's exertions to make Peace were not successful; what does liein his power is, to keep out of the quarrel himself. It appears greathopes were entertained, by some in England, of gaining Friedrich over;of making him Supreme Captain to the Cause of Liberty. And prospectswere held out to him, quasi-offers made, of a really magnificentnature, --undeniable, though obscure. Herr Ranke has been among theArchives again; and comes out with fractional snatches of a very strange"Paper from England;" capriciously hiding all details about it, allintelligible explanation: so that you in vain ask, "Where, When, How, Bywhom?"--and can only guess to yourself that Carteret was somehow atthe bottom of the thing; AUT CARTERETUS AUT DIABOLUS. "What wouldyour Majesty think to be elected Stadtholder of Holland? Without aStadtholder, these Dutch are worth nothing; not hoistable, nor of usewhen hoisted, all palavering and pulling different ways. Must havea Stadtholder; and one that stands firm on some basis of his own. Stadtholder of Holland, King of Prussia, --you then, in such position, take the reins of this poor floundering English-Dutch GermanicAnti-French War, you; and drive it in the style you have. Conquer backthe Netherlands to us; French Netherlands as well. French and AustrianNetherlands together, yours in perpetuity; Dutch Stadtholderate as goodas ditto: this, with Prussia and its fighting capabilities, will be apleasant Protestant thing. Austria cares little about the Netherlands, in comparison. Austria, getting back its Lorraine and Alsace, will becontent, will be strong on its feet. What if it should even lose Italy?France, Spain, Sardinia, the Italian Petty Principalities and Anarchies:suppose they tug and tussle, and collapse there as they can? But letFrance try to look across the Rhine again; and to threaten Teutschland, England, and the Cause of Human Liberty temporal or spiritual!"

This is authentically the purport of Herr Ranke's extraordinaryDocument; [Ranke, iii. 359. ] guessable as due to CARTERETUS or DIABOLUS. Here is an outlook; here is a career as Conquering Hero, if that wereone's line! A very magnificent ground-plan; hung up to kindle the fancyof a young King, --who is far too prudent to go into it at all. Moredefinite quasi-official offers, it seems, were made him from the samequarter: Subsidies to begin with, such subsidies as nobody ever hadbefore; say 1, 000, 000 pounds sterling by the Year. To which Friedrichanswered, "Subsidies, your Excellency?" (Are We a Hackney-Coachman, then?)--and, with much contempt, turned his back on that offer. Nofighting to be had, by purchase or seduction, out of this young man. Will not play the Conquering Hero at all, nor the Hackney-Coachmanat all; has decided "not to fight a cat" if let alone; but to do andendeavor a quite other set of things, for the rest of his life. 

Friedrich, readers can observe, is not uplifted with his greatness. He has been too much beaten and bruised to be anything but modestlythankful for getting out of such a deadly clash of chaotic swords. Seemsto have little pride even in his "Five Victories;" or hides it well. Talks not overmuch about these things; talks of them, so far as we canhear, with his old comrades only, in praise of THEIR prowesses; asa simple human being, not as a supreme of captains; and at timesacknowledges, in a fine sincere way, the omnipotence of Luck in mattersof War. 

One of the most characteristic traits, extensively symbolical ofFriedrich's intentions and outlooks at this Epoch, is his installingof himself in the little Dwelling-House, which has since become socelebrated under the name of Sans-Souci. The plan of Sans-Souci--anelegant commodious little "Country Box, " quite of modest pretensions, one story high; on the pleasant Hill-top near Potsdam, with other littlegreen Hills, and pleasant views of land and water, all round--had beensketched in part by Friedrich himself; and the diggings and terracingsof the Hill-side were just beginning, when he quitted for the LastWar. "April 14th, 1745, " while he lay in those perilous enigmaticcircumstances at Neisse with Pandours and devouring bugbears round him, "the foundation-stone was laid" (Knobelsdorf being architect, once more, as in the old Reinsberg case): and the work, which had been steadilyproceeding while the Master struggled in those dangerous battles andadventures far away from it, was in good forwardness at his return. Anobject of cheerful interest to him; prophetic of calmer years ahead. 

It was not till May, 1747, that the formal occupation took place:"Mayday, 1747, " he had a grand House-heating, or "First Dinner, of 200covers: and May 19th-20th was the first night of his sleeping there. "For the next Forty Years, especially as years advanced, he spent themost of his days and nights in this little Mansion; which became moreand more his favorite retreat, whenever the noises and scenic etiquetteswere not inexorable. "SANS-SOUCI;" which we may translate "No-Bother. " Abusy place this too, but of the quiet kind; and more a home to himthan any of the Three fine Palaces (ultimately Four), which lay alwayswaiting for him in the neighborhood. Berlin and Charlottenburg areabout twenty miles off; Potsdam, which, like the other two, is ratherconsummate among Palaces, lies leftwise in front of him within a shortmile. And at length, to RIGHT hand, in a similar distance and direction, came the "NEUE SCHLOSS" (New Palace of Potsdam), called also the "PALACEof Sans-Souci, " in distinction from the Dwelling-House, or as it wereGarden-House, which made that name so famous. 

Certainly it is a significant feature of Friedrich; and discloses theinborn proclivity he had to retirement, to study and reflection, as thechosen element of human life. Why he fell upon so ambitious a title forhis Royal Cottage? "No-Bother" was not practically a thing he, of allmen, could consider possible in this world: at the utmost perhaps, bygood care, "LESS-Bother"! The name, it appears, came by accident. He hadprepared his Tomb, and various Tombs, in the skirts of this new Cottage:looking at these, as the building of them went on, he was heard to say, one day (Spring 1746), D'Argens strolling beside him: "OUI, ALORS JESERAI SANS SOUCI (Once THERE, one will be out of bother)!" A sayingwhich was rumored of, and repeated in society, being by such a man. Outof which rumor in society, and the evident aim of the Cottage Royal, there was gradually born, as Venus from the froth of the sea, this name, "Sans-Souci;"--which Friedrich adopted; and, before the Year was out, had put upon his lintel in gold letters. So that, by "Mayday, 1747, " thename was in all men's memories; and has continued ever since. [Preuss, i. 268, &c. ; Nicolai, iii. 1200. ] Tourists know this Cottage Royal:Friedrich's "Three Rooms in it; one of them a Library; in another, alittle Alcove with an iron Bed" (iron, without curtains; old softenedHAT the usual royal nightcap)--altogether a soldier's lodging:--all thisstill stands as it did. Cheerfully looking down on its garden-terraces, stairs, Greek statues, and against the free sky:--perhaps we may visitit in time coming, and take a more special view. In the Years now onhand, Friedrich, I think, did not much practically live there, onlyshifted thither now and then. His chief residence is still PotsdamPalace; and in Carnival time, that of Berlin; with Charlottenburg foroccasional festivities, especially in summer, the gardens there beingfine. 

This of Sans-Souci is but portion of a wider Tendency, wider set ofendeavors on Friedrich's part, which returns upon him now that Peace hasreturned: That of improving his own Domesticities, while he labors atso many public improvements. Gazing long on that simmering "Typhoonof Marine-stores" above mentioned, we do trace Three great Heads ofEndeavor in this Peace Period. FIRST, the Reform of Law; which, as abovehinted, is now earnestly pushed forward again, and was brought to whatwas thought completion before long. With much rumor of applause fromcontemporary mankind. Concerning which we are to give some indications, were it only dates in their order: though, as the affair turned outnot to be completed, but had to be taken up again long after, and is anaffair lying wide of British ken, --there need not, and indeed cannot, be much said of it just now. SECONDLY, there is eager Furthering of theHusbandries, the Commerces, Practical Arts, --especially at present, thatof Foreign Commerce, and Shipping from the Port of Embden. Which shallhave due notice. And THIRDLY, what must be our main topic here, thereis that of Improving the Domesticities, the Household Enjoyments suchas they were;--especially definable as Renewal of the old ReinsbergProgram; attempt more strenuous than ever to realize that beautifulideal. Which, and the total failure of which, and the consequentquasi-abandonment of it for time coming, are still, intrinsically and byaccident, of considerable interest to modern readers. 

Curious, and in some sort touching, to observe how that old originalLife-Program still re-emerges on this King: "Something of melodiouspossible in one's poor life, is not there? A Life to the PracticalDuties, yes; but to the Muses as well!"--Of Friedrich's success inhis Law-Reforms, in his Husbandries, Commerces and Furtherances, conspicuously great as it was, there is no possibility of makingcareless readers cognizant at this day. Only by the great results--a"Prussia QUADRUPLED" in his time, and the like--can studious readersconvince themselves, in a cold and merely statistic way. But in respectof Life to the Muses, we have happily the means of showing that inactual vitality; in practical struggle towards fulfillment, --and howextremely disappointing the result was. In a word, Voltaire pays hisFifth and final Visit in this Period; the Voltaire matter comes to itsconsummation. To that, as to one of the few things which are perfectlyknowable in this Period of TEN-YEARS PEACE, and in which mankind stilltake interest, we purpose mostly to devote ourselves here. 

Ten years of a great King's life, ten busy years too; and nothingvisible in them, of main significance, but a crash of Author's Quarrels, and the Crowning Visit of Voltaire? Truly yes, reader; so it has beenordered. Innumerable high-dressed gentlemen, gods of this lower world, are gone all to inorganic powder, no comfortable or profitable memory tobe held of them more; and this poor Voltaire, without implement exceptthe tongue and brain of him, --he is still a shining object to all thepopulations; and they say and symbol to me, "Tell us of him! He is theman!" Very strange indeed. Changed times since, for dogs barking at theheels of him, and lions roaring ahead, --for Asses of Mirepoix, for foulcreatures in high dizenment, and foul creatures who were hungry valetsof the same, --this man could hardly get the highways walked! Andindeed had to keep his eyes well open, and always have covert withinreach, --under pain of being torn to pieces, while he went about in theflesh, or rather in the bones, poor lean being. Changed times; withinthe Century last past! For indeed there was in that man what fartranscends all dizenment, and temporary potency over valets, overlegions, treasure-vaults and dim millions mostly blockhead: a sparkof Heaven's own lucency, a gleam from the Eternities (in smallmeasure);--which becomes extremely noticeable when the Dance is over, when your tallow-dips and wax-lights are burnt out, and the brawl of thenight is gone to bed. 

Chapter II. --PEEP AT VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE (BY CANDLELIGHT) INTHE TIDE OF EVENTS. 

Public European affairs require little remembrance; the War burning wellto leeward of us henceforth. A huge world of smoky chaos; the specialfires of it, if there be anything of fire, are all the more clear farin the distance. Of which sort, and of which only, the reader is to havenotice. Marechal de Saxe--King Louis oftenest personally there, togive his name and countenance to things done--is very glorious inthe Netherlands; captures, sometimes by surprisal, place after place(beautiful surprisal of Brussels last winter); with sieges of Antwerp, Mons, Charleroi, victoriously following upon Brussels: and, before theend of 1746, he is close upon Holland itself; intent on having Namur andMaestricht; for which the poor Sea-Powers, with a handful of Austrians, fight two Battles, and are again beaten both times. [1. Battle ofRoucoux, 11th October, 1746; Prince Karl commanding, English takingmainly the stress of fight;--Saxe having already outwitted poor Karl, and got Namur. 2. Battle of Lawfelt, or Lauffeld, called also of VAL, 2dJuly, 1747; Royal Highness of Cumberland commanding (and taking mostof the stress; Ligonier made prisoner, &c. ), --Dutch fighting ill, andBathyani and his Austrians hardly in the fire at all. ] A glorious, ever-victorious Marechal; and has an Army very "high-toned, " in morethan one sense: indeed, I think, one of the loudest-toned Armies everon the field before. Loud not with well-served Artillery alone, but withplay-actor Thunder-barrels (always an itinerant Theatre attends), withgasconading talk, with orgies, debaucheries, --busy service of the Devil, AND pleasant consciousness that we are Heaven's masterpiece, and arein perfect readiness to die at any moment;--our ELASTICITY and agility("ELAN" as we call it) well kept up, in that manner, for the time being. 

Hungarian Majesty, contrary to hope, neglects the Netherlands, "Hollandand England, for their own sake, will manage there!"--and directs allher resources, and her lately Anti-Prussian Armies (General Browneleading them) upon Italy, as upon the grand interest now. Little to thecomfort of the Sea-Powers. But Hungarian Majesty is decided to cutin upon the French and Spaniards, in that fine Country, --who had beentriumphing too much of late; Maillebois and Senor de Gages doing theirmutual exploits (though given to quarrel); Don Philip wintering in Milaneven (1745-1746); and the King of Sardinia getting into French coursesagain. 

Strong cuts her Hungarian Majesty does inflict, on the Italian side;tumbles Infant Philip out of Milan and his Carnival gayeties, in plentyof hurry; besieges Genoa, Marquis Botta d'Adorno (our old acquaintanceBotta) her siege-captain, a native of this region; brings back thewavering Sardinian Majesty; captures Genoa, and much else. CapturesGenoa, we say, --had not Botta been too rigorous on his countrymen, andprovoked a revolt again, Revolt of Genoa, which proved difficult tosettle. In fine, Hungarian Majesty has, in the course of this year 1746, with aid of the reconfirmed Sardinian Majesty, satisfactorily beaten theFrench and Spaniards. Has--after two murderous Battles gained over theMaillebois-Gages people--driven both French and Spaniards into corners, Maillebois altogether home again across the Var;--nay has descended inactual Invasion upon France itself. And, before New-year's day, 1747, General Browne is busy besieging Antibes, aided by EnglishSeventy-fours; so that "sixty French Battalions" have to hurry home, from winter-quarters, towards those Provencal Countries; and Marechal deBelleisle, who commands there, has his hands full. Triumphant enoughher Hungarian Majesty, in Italy; while in the Netherlands, the poorSea-Powers have met with no encouragement from the Fates or her. ["Battle of Piacenza" (Prince Lichtenstein, with whom is Browne, VERSUSGages and Maillebois), 16th June, 1746 (ADELUNG, v. 427); "Battle ofRottofreddo" (Botta chief Austrian there, and our old friend Barenklaugetting killed there), 12th August, 1746 (IB. 462); whereupon, 7thSEPTEMBER, Genoa (which had declared itself Anti-Austrian latterly, notwithout cause, and brought the tug of War into those parts) is coercedby Botta to open its gates, on grievous terms (IB. 484-489); so that, NOVEMBER 30th, Browne, no Bourbon Army now on the field, enters Provence(crosses the Var, that day), and tries Antibes: 5th-11th DECEMBER, Popular Revolt in Genoa, and Expulsion of proud Botta and his Austrians(IB. 518-523); upon which surprising event (which could not be mendedduring the remainder of the War), Browne's enterprise became impossible. See Buonamici, --Histoire de la derniere Revolution de Genes;--Adelung, v. 516; vi. 31, &c. &c. ] All which the reader may keep imagining at hisconvenience;--but will be glad rather, for the present, to go with usfor an actual look at M. De Voltaire and the divine Emilie, whom we havenot seen for a long time. Not much has happened in the interim; one ortwo things only which it can concern us to know;--scattered fragments ofmemorial, on the way thus far:--

1. M. DE VOLTAIRE HAS, IN 1745, MADE WAY AT COURT. Divine Emilie pickedup her Voltaire from that fine Diplomatic course, and went home with himout of our sight, in the end of 1743; the Diplomatic career graduallydeclaring itself barred to him thenceforth. Since which, nevertheless, he has had his successes otherwise, especially in his old Literarycourse: on the whole, brighter sunshine than usual, though never withouttempestuous clouds attending. Goes about, with his divine Emilie, nowwearing browner and leaner, both of them; and takes the good and evil oflife, mostly in a quiet manner; sensible that afternoon is come. 

The thrice-famous Pompadour, who had been known to him in the Chrysalisstate, did not forget him on becoming Head-Butterfly of the Universe. Byher help, one long wish of his soul was gratified, and did not hunger orthirst any more. Some uncertain footing at Court, namely, was at lengthvouchsafed him:--uncertain; for the Most Christian Majesty always rathershuddered under those carbuncle eyes, under that voice "sombre andmajestious, " with such turns lying in it:--some uncertain footing atCourt; and from the beginning of 1745, his luck, in the Court spheres, began to mount in a wonderful and world-evident manner. On groundstragically silly, as he thought them. On the Dauphin's Wedding, --aTermagant's Infanta coming hither as Dauphiness, at this time, --thereneeded to be Court-shows, Dramaticules, Transparencies, Feasts ofLanterns, or I know not what. Voltaire was the chosen man; Voltaire andRameau (readers have heard of RAMEAU'S NEPHEW, and musical readers stillesteem Rameau) did their feat; we may think with what perfection, withwhat splendor of reward. Alas, and the feat done was, to one of theparties, so unspeakably contemptible! Voltaire pensively surveying Life, brushes the sounding strings; and hums to himself, the carbuncle eyescarrying in them almost something of wet:--

 "MON Henri Quatre ET MA Zaire, ET MON AMERICAIN Alzire, NE M'ONT VALU JAMAIS UN SEUL REGARD DU ROI; J'AVAIS MILLE ENNEMIS AVEC TRES PEU DE GLOIRE: LES HONNEURS ET LES BIENS PLEUVENT ENFIN SUR MOI POUR UN FARCE DE LA FOIRE. "

["My HENRI QUATRE, my ZAIRE, my ALZIRE [high works very many], couldnever purchase me a single glance of the King; I had multitudes ofenemies, and very little fame:--honors and riches rain on me, at last, for a Farce of the Fair" (--OEuvres, --ii. 151). The "Farce" (which by nomeans CALLED itself such) was PRINCESSE DE NAVARRE (--OEuvres, --lxxiii. 251): first acted 23d February, 1745, Day of the Wedding. Gentlemanshipof the Chamber thereupon (which Voltaire, by permission, sold, shortlyafter, for 2, 500 pounds, with titles retained), and appointment asHistoriographer Royal. Poor Dauphiness did not live long; Louis XVI. 'sMother was a SECOND Wife, Saxon-Polish Majesty's Daughter. ] Yes, myfriend; it is a considerable ass, this world; by no means the PerfectlyWise put at the top of it (as one could wish), and the Perfectly Foolishat the bottom. Witness--nay, witness Psyche Pompadour herself, is notshe an emblem! Take your luck without criticism; luck good and badvisits all. 

2. AND GOT INTO THE ACADEMY NEXT YEAR, IN CONSEQUENCE. In 1746, theAcademy itself, Pompadour favoring, is made willing; Voltaire seeshimself among the Forty: soul, on that side too, be at ease, and hungernot nor thirst anymore. ["May 9th, 1746, Voltaire is received at theAcademy; and makes a very fine Discourse" (BARBIER, ii. 488). --OEuvresde Voltaire, --lxxiii. 355, 385, and i. 97. ] This highest of felicitiescould not be achieved without an ugly accompaniment from the surroundingPopulace. Desfontaines is dead, safe down in Sodom; but wants not fora successor, for a whole Doggery of such. Who are all awake, and givingtongue on this occasion. There is M. Roi the "Poet, " as he was thenreckoned; jingling Roi, who concocts satirical calumnies; who collectsold ones, reprints the same, --and sends Travenol, an Opera-Fiddler, to vend them. From which sprang a Lawsuit, PROCES-TRAVENOL, of famousmelancholy sort. As Voltaire had rather the habit of such sad melancholyLawsuits, we will pause on this of Travenol for a moment:--

3. SUMMARY OF TRAVENOL LAWSUIT. "Monday, 9th May, 1746, was the Dayor reception at the Academy; reception and fruition, thrice-savory toVoltaire. But what an explosion of the Doggeries, before, during andafter that event! Voltaire had tried to be prudent, too. He had beencorresponding with Popes, with Cardinals; and, in a fine frank-lookingway, capturing their suffrages:--not by lying, which in general hewishes to avoid, but by speaking half the truth; in short, by advancing, in a dexterous, diplomatic way, the uncloven foot, in those Vaticanprecincts. And had got the Holy Father's own suffrage for MAHOMET (thinkof that, you Ass of Mirepoix!), among other cases that might rise. Whenthis seat among the Forty fell vacant, his very first measure--mark it, Orthodox reader--was a Letter to the Chief Jesuit, Father Latour, Headof one's old College of Louis le Grand. A Letter of fine filialtenor: 'My excellent old Schoolmasters, to whom I owe everything; therepresentatives of learning, of decorum, of frugality and modest humanvirtue:--in what contrast to the obscure Doggeries poaching about inthe street-gutters, and flying at the peaceable passenger!'[In--Voltairiana, ou Eloges Amphigouriques, --&c. (Paris, 1748), i. 150-160, the LETTER itself, "Paris, 7th February, 1746;" omitted(without need or real cause on any side) in the common Collectionsof--OEuvres de Voltaire. --] Which captivated Father Latour; and madematters smooth on that side; so that even the ANCIEN DE MIREPOIX saidnothing, this time: What could he say? No cloven foot visible, and theAuthorities strong. 

"Voltaire had started as Candidate with these judicious preliminaries. Voltaire was elected, as we saw; fine Discourse, 9th May; and on theOfficial side all things comfortable. But, in the mean while, theDoggeries, as natural, seeing the thing now likely, had risen toa never-imagined pitch; and had filled Paris, and, to Voltaire'sexcruciated sense, the Universe, with their howlings and theirhyena-laughter, with their pasquils, satires, old and new. So thatVoltaire could not stand it; and, in evil hour, rushed downstairsupon them; seized one poor dog, Travenol, unknown to him as Fiddler orotherwise; pinioned Dog Travenol, with pincers, by the ears, him forone;--proper Police-pincers, for we are now well at Court;--and had amomentary joy! And, alas, this was not the right dog; this, we say, wasTravenol a Fiddler at the Opera, who, except the street-noises, knewnothing of Voltaire; much less had the least pique at him; but had takento hawking certain Pasquils (Jingler Roi's COLLECTION, it appears), toturn a desirable penny by them. 

"And mistakes were made in the Affair Travenol, --old FATHER Travenolhaled to prison, instead of Son, --by the Lieutenant of Police andhis people. And Voltaire took the high-hand method (being well atCourt):--and thereupon hungry Advocates took up Dog Travenol and hispincered ears: 'Serene Judges of the Chatelet, Most Christian Populaceof Paris, did you ever see a Dog so pincered by an Academical Gentlemanbefore, merely for being hungry?' And Voltaire, getting madder andmadder, appealed to the Academy (which would not interfere); filedCriminal Informations; appealed to the Chatelet, to the Courts aboveand to the Courts below; and, for almost a year, there went on the'PROCES-TRAVENOL:' [About Mayday, 1746, Seizure of Travenol; Pleadingsare in vigor August, 1746; not done April, 1747. _In--Voltairiana, --_ii. 141-206, Pleadings, &c. , copiously given; and most of the originalLibels, in different parts of that sad Book (compiled by Travenol'sAdvocate, a very sad fellow himself): see also--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxiii. 355 n. , 385 n. ; IB. I. 97; BARBIER, ii. 487. All in avery jumbled, dateless, vague and incorrect condition. ] Olympian Jovein distressed circumstances VERSUS a hungry Dog who had eaten dirtypuddings. Paris, in all its Saloons and Literary Coffee-houses (figurethe ANTRE DE PROCOPE, on Publication nights!), had, monthly or so, the exquisite malign banquet; and grinned over the Law Pleadings: whatMagazine Serial of our day can be so interesting to the emptiest mind!

"Lasted, I find, for above a year. From Spring, 1746, till towardsAutumn, 1747: Voltaire's feelings being--Haha, so exquisite, all thewhile!--Well, reader, I can judge how amusing it was to high and low. And yet Phoebus Apollo going about as mere Cowherd of Admetus, andexposed to amuse the populace by his duels with dogs that have bittenhim? It is certain Voltaire was a fool, not to be more cautious ofgetting into gutter-quarrels; not to have a thicker skin, in fact. "

PROCES-TRAVENOL escorting one's Triumphal Entry; what an adjunct! Alwaysso: always in your utmost radiance of sunshine a shadow; and in yoursoftest outburst of Lydian or Spheral symphonies something of eatingCare! Then too, in the Court-circle itself, "is Trajan pleased, " or areall things well? Readers have heard of that "TRAJAN EST-IL CONTENT?" Itoccurred Winter, 1745 (27th November, 1745, a date worth marking), whilethings were still in the flush of early hope. That evening, our TEMPLEDE LA GLOIRE (Temple of Glory) had just been acted for the first time, in honor of him we may call "Trajan, " returning from a "Fontenoyand Seven Cities captured:" [Seven of them; or even eight of a kind:Tournay, Ghent, Bruges, Nieuport, Dendermond, Ath, Ostend; and nothinglost but Cape Breton and one's Codfishery. ]--

 "Reviens, divin Trajan, vainqueur doux et terrible; Le monde est mon rival, tous les coeurs sont a toi; Mais est-il un coeur plus sensible, Et qui t'adore plus que moi?" [TEMPLE DE LA GLOIRE, Acte iv. (--OEuvres, --xii. 328). ]

 "Return, divine Trajan, conqueror sweet and terrible; The world is my rival, all hearts are thine; But is there a heart more loving, Or that adores thee more than I?"

An allegoric Dramatic Piece; naturally very admirable at Versailles. Issuing radiant from Fall of the Curtain, Voltaire had the farther honorto see his Majesty pass out; Majesty escorted by Richelieu, one'sold friend in a sense: "Is Trajan pleased?" whispered Voltaire to hisRichelieu; overheard by Trajan, --who answered in words nothing, but ina visible glance of the eyes did answer, "Impertinent Lackey!"--Trajanbeing a man unready with speech; and disliking trouble with the peoplewhom he paid for keeping his boots in polish. O my winged Voltaire, to what dunghill Bubbly-Jocks (COQS D'INDE) you do stoop with homage, constrained by their appearance of mere size!--

Evidently no perfect footing at Court, after all. And then thePompadour, could she, Head-Butterfly of the Universe, be an anchor thatwould hold, if gales rose? Rather she is herself somewhat of a gale, ofa continual liability to gales; unstable as the wind! Voltaire didhis best to be useful, as Court Poet, as director of PrivateTheatricals;--above all, to soothe, to flatter Pompadour; and neverneglected this evident duty. But, by degrees, the envious Lackey-peoplemade cabals; turned the Divine Butterfly into comparative indifferencefor Voltaire; into preference of a Crebillon's poor faded Pieces:"Suitabler these, Madame, for the Private Theatricals of a MostChristian Majesty. " Think what a stab; crueler than daggers throughone's heart: "Crebillon?" M. De Voltaire said nothing; looked nothing, in those sacred circles; and never ceased outwardly his worship, andassiduous tuning, of the Pompadour: but he felt--as only Phoebus Apolloin the like case can!"Away!" growled he to himself, when this atrocityhad culminated. And, in effect, is, since the end of 1746 or so, prettymuch withdrawn from the Versailles Olympus; and has set, privately inthe distance (now at Cirey, now at Paris, in our PETIT PALAIS there), with his whole will and fire, to do Crebillon's dead Dramas intoliving oues of his own. Dead CATILINA of Crebillon into ROME SAUVEE ofVoltaire, and the other samples of dead into living, --that stupid oldCrebillon himself and the whole Universe may judge, and even Pompadourfeel a remorse!--Readers shall fancy these things; and that the world iscoming back to its old poor drab color with M. De Voltaire; his divineEmilie and he rubbing along on the old confused terms. One face-to-facepeep of them readers shall now have; and that is to be enough, or morethan enough:--

VOLTAIRE AND THE DIVINE EMILIE APPEAR SUDDENLY, ONE NIGHT, AT SCEAUX. 

About the middle of August, 1747, King Friedrich, I find, was athome;--not in his new SANS-SOUCI by any means, but running to and fro;busy with his Musterings, "grand review, and mimic attack on Bornstadt, near Berlin;" INVALIDEN-HAUS (Military Hospital) getting built; SilesianReviews just ahead; and, for the present, much festivity and movingabout, to Charlottenburg, to Berlin and the different Palaces;Wilhelmina, "August 15th, " having come to see him; of which fine visit, especially of Wilhelmina's thoughts on it, --why have the envious Fatesleft us nothing!

While all this is astir in Berlin and neighborhood, there is, among theinnumerable other visits in this world, one going on near Paris, in theMansion or Palace of Sceaux, which has by chance become memorable. Avisit by Voltaire and his divine Emilie, direct from Paris, I suppose, and rather on the sudden. Which has had the luck to have a LETTERwritten on it, by one of those rare creatures, a seeing Witness, whocan make others see and believe. The seeing Witness is little Madame deStaal (by no means Necker's Daughter, but a much cleverer), known as oneof the sharpest female heads; she from the spot reports it to Madame duDeffand, who also is known to readers. There is such a glimpse affordedhere into the actuality of old things and remarkable human creatures, that Friedrich himself would be happy to read the Letter. 

Duchesse du Maine, Lady of Sceaux, is a sublime old personage, with whomand with whose high ways and magnificent hospitalities at Sceaux, atAnet and elsewhere, Voltaire had been familiar for long years past. [In--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxxiii. 434 n, x. 8, &c. , "Clog. " andothers represent THIS Visit as having been to Anet, --though the recordotherwise is express. ] This Duchess, grand-daughter of the great Conde, now a dowager for ten years, and herself turned of seventy, has been anotable figure in French History this great while: a living fragmentof Louis le Grand, as it were. Was wedded to Louis's "Legitimated"Illegitimate, the Duc du Maine; was in trouble with the Regent d'Orleansabout Alberoni-Cellamare conspiracies (1718), Regent having stript herhusband of his high legitimatures and dignities, with little ceremony;which led her to conspire a good deal, at one time. [DUC DU MAINEwith COMTE DE TOULOUSE were products of Louis XIV. And Madame deMontespan:--"legitimated" by Papa's fiat in 1673, while still only youngchildren; DISlegitimated again by Regent d'Orleans, autumn, 1718; grandscene, "guards drawn out" and the like, on this occasion (BARBIER, i. 8-11, ii. 181); futile Conspiracies with Alberoni thereupon; arrestof Duchess and Duke (29th December, 1718), and closure of that poorbusiness. Duc du Maine died 1736; Toulouse next year; ages, each aboutsixty-five. "Duc de Penthievre, " Egalite's father-in-law, was Toulouse'sson; Maine has left a famous Dowager, whom we see. Nothing more ofnotable about the one or the other. ] She was never very beautiful; buthad a world of grace and witty intelligence; and knew a Voltaire whenshe saw him. Was the soul of courtesy and benignity, though proudenough, and carrying her head at its due height; and was always verycharming, in her lofty gracious way, to mankind. Interesting to all, were it only as a living fragment of the Grand Epoch, --kind of FrenchFulness of Time, when the world was at length blessed with a LouisQuatorze, and Ne-plus-ultra of a Gentleman determined to do the handsomething in this world. She is much frequented by high people, especiallyif of a Literary or Historical turn. President Henault (of the ABREGECHRONOLOGIQUE, the well-frilled, accurately powdered, most correct oldlegal gentleman) is one of her adherents; Voltaire is another, that maystand for many: there is an old Marquis de St. Aulaire, whom she calls"MON VIEUX BERGER (my old shepherd, " that is to say, sweetheart or flameof love); [BARBIER, ii. 87; see ib. (i. 8-11; ii. 181, 436; &c. ) formany notices of her affairs and her. ] there is a most learned Presidentde Mesmes, and others we have heard of, but do not wish to know. LittleDe Staal was at one time this fine Duchess's maid; but has far outgrownall that, a favorite guest of the Duchess's instead; holds now mainly byMadame du Deffand (not yet fallen blind), --and is well turned of fifty, and known for one of the shrewdest little souls in the world, at thetime she writes. Her Letter is addressed "TO MADAME DU DEFFAND, atParis;" most free-flowing female Letter; of many pages, runs on, dayafter day, for a fortnight or so;--only Excerpts of it introduciblehere:--

"SCEAUX, TUESDAY, 15th AUGUST, 1747. . . . Madame du Chatelet and Voltaire, who had announced themselves as for to-day, and whom nobody had heardof otherwise, made their appearance yesternight, near midnight; like twoSpectres, with an odor of embalmment about them, as if just out of theirtombs. We were rising from table; the Spectres, however, were hungryones: they needed supper; and what is more, beds, which were not ready. The Housekeeper (CONCIERGE), who had gone to bed, rose in great haste. Gaya [amiable gentleman, conceivable, not known], who had offered hisapartment for pressing cases, was obliged to yield it in this emergency:he flitted with as much precipitation and displeasure as an armysurprised in its camp; leaving a part of his baggage in the enemy'shands. Voltaire thought the lodging excellent, but that did not at allconsole Gaya. 

"As to the Lady, her bed turns out not to have been well made; theyhave had to put her in a new place to-day. Observe, she made thatbed herself, no servants being up, and had found a blemish or DEFAUTof"--word wanting: who knows what?--"in the mattresses; which I believehurt her exact mind, more than her not very delicate body. She has got, in the interim, an apartment promised to somebody else; and she willhave to leave it again on Friday or Saturday, and go into that ofMarechal de Maillebois, who leaves at that time. "

--Yes; Maillebois in the body, O reader. This is he, with the oldape-face renewed by paint, whom we once saw marching with an "Armyof Redemption, " haggling in the Passes about Eger, unable to redeemBelleisle; marching and haggling, more lately, with a "Middle-RhineArmy, " and the like non-effect; since which, fighting his best inItaly, --pushed home last winter, with Browne's bayonets in his back;Belleisle succeeding him in dealing with Browne. Belleisle, and the"Revolt of Genoa" (fatal to Browne's Invasion of us), and the Defenceof Genoa and the mutual worryings thereabout, are going on at a greatrate, --and there is terrible news out of those Savoy Passes, whileMaillebois is here. Concerning which by and by. He is grandson of therenowned Colbert, this Maillebois. A Field-Marshal evidently extant, youperceive, in those vanished times: is to make room for Madame on Friday, says our little De Staal; and take leave of us, --if for good, so muchthe better!

"He came at the time we did, with his daughter and grand-daughter: theone is pretty, the other ugly and dreary [l'UNE, L'AUTRE; no sayingwhich, in such important case! Madame la Marechale, the motherand grandmother, I think must be dead. Not beautiful she, nor verybenignant, "UNE TRES-MECHANTE FEMME, very cat-witted woman, " saysBarbier; "shrieked like a devil, at Court, upon the Cardinal, " aboutthat old ARMY-OF-REDEMPTION business; but all her noise did nothing]. [Barbier, ii, 332 ("November, 1742"). ]--M. Le Marechal has hunted herewith his dogs, in these fine autumn woods and glades; chased a bit ofa stag, and caught a poor doe's fawn: that was all that could be gotthere. 

"Our new Guests will make better sport: they are going to have theirComedy acted again [Comedy of THE EXCHANGE, much an entertainment withthem]: Vanture [conceivable, not known] is to do the Count de Boursoufle(DE BLISTER or DE WINDBAG); you will not say this is a hit, any morethan Madame du Chatelet's doing the Hon. Miss Piggery (LA COCHONNIERE), who ought to be fat and short. " [L'ECHANGE, The Exchange, or WHEN SHALLI GET MARRIED? Farce in three acts:--OEuvres, x. 167-222; used to beplayed at Cirey and elsewhere (see plenty of details upon it, exact ornot quite so, IB. 7-9). ]--Little De Staal then abruptly breaks off, toask about her Correspondent's health, and her Correspondent's friend oldPresident Henault's health; touches on those "grumblings and discords inthe Army (TRACASSERIES DE L'ARMEE), " which are making such astir; how M. D'Argenson, our fine War-Minister, man of talent amid blockheads, willmanage them; and suddenly exclaims: "O my queen, what curious animalsmen and women are! I laugh at their manoeuvres, the days when I haveslept well; if I have missed sleep, I could kill them. These changes oftemper prove that I do not break off kind. Let us mock other people, andlet other people mock us; it is well done on both sides. --[Poorlittle De Staal: to what a posture have things come with you, in thatfast-rotting Epoch, of Hypocrisies becoming all insolvent!]

"WEDNESDAY, 16th. Our Ghosts do not show themselves by daylight. Theyappeared yesterday at ten in the evening; I do not think we shall seethem sooner to-day: the one is engaged in writing high feats [SIECLE DELOUIS XV. , or what at last became such]; the other in commenting Newton. They will neither play nor walk: they are, in fact, equivalent toZEROS in a society where their learned writings are of nosignificance. --[Pauses, without notice given: for some hours, perhapsdays; then resuming:] Nay, worse still: their apparition to-night hasproduced a vehement declamation on one of our little social diversionshere, the game of CAVAGNOLE: ["Kind of BIRIBI, " it would appear; in theheight of fashion then. ] it was continued and maintained, " on the partof Madame du Chatelet, you guess, "in a tone which is altogether unheardof in this place; and was endured, " on the part of Serene Highness, "with a moderation not less surprising. But what is unendurable is mybabble"--And herewith our nimble little woman hops off again into thegeneral field of things; and gossips largely, How are you, my queen, Whither are you going, Whither we; That the Maillebois people areaway, and also the Villeneuves, if anybody knew them now; then howthe Estillacs, to the number of four, are coming to-morrow; and CousinSoquence, for all his hunting, can catch nothing; and it is a continualcoming and going; and how Boursoufle is to be played, and a Dame Dufouris just come, who will do a character. Rubrics, vanished Shadows, nearlyall those high Dames and Gentlemen; LA PAUVRE Saint-Pierre, "eaten withgout, " who is she? "Still drags herself about, as well as she can;but not with me, for I never go by land, and she seems to have thehydrophobia, when I take to the water. [Thread of date is gone! I almostthink we must have got to Saturday by this time:--or perhaps it is onlyThursday, and Maillebois off prematurely, to be out of the way ofthe Farce? Little De Staal takes no notice; but continues gossipingrapidly:]

"Yesterday Madame du Chatelet got into her third lodging: she could notany longer endure the one she had chosen. There was noise in it, smokewithout fire:--privately meseems, a little the emblem of herself! As tonoise, it was not by night that it incommoded her, she told me, but byday, when she was in the thick of her work: it deranges her ideas. Sheis busy reviewing her PRINCIPLES"--NEWTON'S PRINCIPIA, no doubt, but DeStaal will understand it only as PRINCIPES, Principles in general:--"itis an exercise she repeats every year, without which the Principlesmight get away, and perhaps go so far she would never find them again[You satirical little gypsy!]. Her head, like enough, is a kind oflock-up for them, rather than a birthplace, or natural home: and that isa case for watching carefully lest they get away. She prefers the highair of this occupation to every kind of amusement, and persists in notshowing herself till after dark. Voltaire has produced some gallantverses [unknown to Editors] which help off a little the bad effect ofsuch unusual behavior. 

"SUNDAY, 27th. I told you on Thursday [no, you did n't; you only meantto tell] that our Spectres were going on the morrow, and that the Piecewas to be played that evening: all this has been done. I cannot give youmuch of Boursoufle [done by one Vanture]. Mademoiselle Piggery [DELA COCHONNIERE, Madame du Chatelet herself] executed so perfectly theextravagance of her part, that I own it gave me real pleasure. ButVanture only put his own fatuity into the character of Boursoufle, whichwanted more: he played naturally in a Piece where all requires to beforced, like the subject of it. "--What a pity none of us has read thisfine Farce! "One Paris did the part of MUSCADIN (Little Coxcomb), whichname represents his character: in short, it can be said the Farce waswell given. The Author ennobled it by a Prologue for the Occasion;which he acted very well, along with Madame Dufour as BARBE (GovernessBarbara), --who, but for this brilliant action, could not have put upwith merely being Governess to Piggery. And, in fact, she disdained thesimplicity of dress which her part required;--as did the chief actress, "Du Chatelet herself (age now forty-one); "who, in playing PIGGERY, preferred the interests of her own face to those of the Piece, andmade her entry in all the splendor and elegant equipments of a CourtLady, "--her "PRINCIPLES, " though the key is turned upon them, not unlikejumping out of window, one would say! "She had a crow to pluck" [MAILLE APARTIR, "clasp to open, " which is better] with Voltaire on this point:but she is sovereign, and he is slave. I am very sorry at their going, though I was worn out with doing her multifarious errands all the timeshe was here. 

"WEDNESDAY, 30th. M. Le President [Henault] has been asked hither; andhe is to bring you, my Queen! Tried all I could to hinder; but theywould not be put off. If your health and disposition do suit, it willbe charming. In any case, I have got you a good apartment: it is the onethat Madame du Chatelet had seized upon, after an exact review of allthe Mansion. There will be a little less furniture than she had put init; Madame had pillaged all her previous apartments to equip this one. We found about seven tables in it, for one item: she needs them of allsizes; immense, to spread out her papers upon; solid, to support herNECESSAIRE; slighter, for her nicknacks (POMPONS), for her jewels. Andthis fine arrangement did not save her from an accident like that ofPhilip II. , when, after spending all the night in writing, he got hisdespatches drowned by the oversetting of an ink-bottle. The Lady did notpretend to imitate the moderation of that Prince; at any rate, he wasonly writing on affairs of state; and the thing they blotted, on thisoccasion, was Algebra, much more difficult to clean up again. 

"This subject ought to be exhausted: one word more, and then it doesend. The day after their departure, I receive a Letter of four pages, and a Note enclosed, which announces dreadful burly-burly: M. DeVoltaire has mislaid his Farce, forgotten to get back the parts, andlost his Prologue: I am to find all that again [excessively tremulousabout his Manuscripts, M. De Voltaire; of such value are they, of suchdanger to him; there is LA PUCELLE, for example, --enough to hang a man, were it surreptitiously launched forth in print!]--I am to send him thePrologue instantly, not by post, because they would copy it; to keep theparts for fear of the same accident, and to lock up the Piece 'undera hundred keys. ' I should have thought one padlock sufficient for thistreasure! I have duly executed his orders. " [--Madame de Graffigny(Paris, 1820), pp. 283-291. ]

And herewith EXPLICIT DE STAAL. Scene closes: EXEUNT OMNES; are offto Paris or Versailles again; to Luneville and the Court of Stanislausagain, --where also adventures await them, which will be heard of!

"Figure to yourself, " says some other Eye-witness, "a lean Lady, withbig arms and long legs; small head, and countenance losing itself in acloudery of head-dress; cocked nose [RETROUSSE, say you? Very slightly, then; quite an unobjectionable nose!] and pair of small greenish eyes;complexion tawny, and mouth too big: this was the divine Emilie, whomVoltaire celebrates to the stars. Loaded to extravagance with ribbons, laces, face-patches, jewels and female ornaments; determined to besumptuous in spite of Economics, and pretty in spite of Nature:" Pooh, it is an enemy's hand that paints! "And then by her side, " continues he, "the thin long figure of Voltaire, that Anatomy of an Apollo, affectingworship of her, " [From Rodenbeck (quoting somebody, whom I have surelyseen in French; whom Rodenbeck tries to name, as he could have done, but curiously without success), i. 179. ]--yes, that thin long Gentleman, with high red-heeled shoes, and the daintiest polite attitudes andpaces; in superfine coat, laced hat under arm; nose and under-lip evermore like coalescing (owing to decay of teeth), but two eyes shining onyou like carbuncles; and in the ringing voice, such touches of speechwhen you apply for it! Thus they at Sceaux and elsewhere; walking theirLife-minuet, making their entrances and exits. 

One thing is lamentable: the relation with Madame is not now aflourishing one, or capable again of being: "Does not love me as he did, the wretch!" thinks Madame always;--yet sticks by him, were it but inthe form of blister. They had been to Luneville, Spring, 1747; happydull place, within reach of Cirey; far from Versailles and its cabals. They went again, 1748, in a kind of permanent way; Titular Stanislaus, an opulent dawdling creature, much liking to have them; and FatherMenou, his Jesuit, --who is always in quarrel with the TitularMistress, --thinking to displace HER (as you, gradually discover), andpromote the Du Chatelet to that improper dignity! In which he had notthe least success, says Voltaire; but got "two women on his ears insteadof one. " It was not to be Stanislaus's mistress; nor a TITULAR one atall, but a real, that Madame was fated in this dull happy place! Idlereaders know the story only too well;--concerning which, admit thisother Fraction and no more:--

"Stanislaus, as a Titular King, cannot do without some kind of TitularArmy, --were it only to blare about as Life-guard, and beat kettle-drumson occasion. A certain tall high-sniffing M. De St. Lambert, a youngLorrainer of long pedigree and light purse, had just taken refuge inthis Life-guard [Summer 1748, or so], I know not whether as Captain orLieutenant, just come from the Netherlands Wars: of grave stiff manners;for the rest, a good-looking young fellow; thought to have some poeticgenius, even;--who is precious, surely, in such an out-of-the-wayplace. Welcome to Voltaire, to Madame still more. Alas, readers know theHistory, --on which we must not dwell. Madame, a brown geometric Lady, age now forty-two, with a Great Man who has scandalously ceased tolove her, casts her eye upon St. Lambert: 'Yes, you would be theshoeing-horn, Monsieur, if one had time, you fine florid fellow, hardlyyet into your thirties--' And tries him with a little coquetry; Ialways think, perhaps in this view chiefly? And then, at any rate, as heresponded, the thing itself became so interesting: 'Our Ulysses-bow, we can still bend it, then, aha! 'And is not that a pretty stag withal, worth bringing down; florid, just entering his thirties, and with thesusceptibilities of genius! Voltaire was not blind, could he have helpedit, --had he been tremulously alive to help it. 'Your Verses to her, mySt. Lambert, --ah, Tibullus never did the like of them. Yes, to youare the roses, my fine young friend, to me are the thorns:' thussings Voltaire in response; [--OEuvres, --xvii. 223 (EPITRE A M. DEST. LAMBERT, 1749); &c. &c. In--Memoires sur Voltaire par Longchampet Wagniere--(Paris, 1826), ii. 229 et seq. , details enough and more. ]perhaps not thinking it would go so far. And it went, --alas, it went toall lengths, mentionable and not mentionable: and M. Le Marquis hadto be coaxed home in the Spring of 1749, --still earlier it had beensuitabler;--and in September ensuing, M. De St. Lambert looking hisdemurest, there is an important lying-in to be transacted!Newton's PRINCIPIA is, by that time, drawing diligently to itsclose;--complicated by such far abstruser Problems, not of the geometricsort! Poor little lean brown woman, what a Life, after all; what an Endof a Life!"--

WAR-PASSAGES IN 1747. 

The War, since Friedrich got out of it, does not abate in animosity, norwant for bloodshed, battle and sieging; but offers little now memorable. March 18th, 1747, a ghastly Phantasm of a Congress, "Congress of Breda, "which had for some months been attempting Peace, and was never able toget into conference, or sit in its chairs except for moments, flew awayaltogether; [In September, 1746, had got together; but would not takelife, on trying and again trying, and fell forgotten: February, 1747, again gleams up into hope: March 18th and the following days, vanishesfor good (ADELUNG, v. 50; vi. 6, 62). ] and left the War perhaps angrierthan ever, more hopelessly stupid than ever. Except, indeed, thatresources are failing; money running low in France, Parlements beginningto murmur, and among the Population generally a feeling that glory isexcellent, but will not make the national pot boil. Perhaps all thiswill be more effective than Congresses of Breda? Here are the few Notesworth giving:

APRIL 23d-30th, 1747, THE FRENCH INVADE HOLLAND; WHEREUPON, SUDDENLY, A STADTHOLDER THERE. "After Fontenoy there has been much sieging andcapturing in that Netherlands Country, a series of successes gloriouslydelightful to Marechal de Saxe and the French Nation: likewise (inbar of said sieging, in futile attempt to bar it) a Battle of Roucoux, October, 1746; with victory, or quasi-victory, to Saxe, at least withprostration to the opposite part. "

And farther on, there is a Battle of Lauffeld coming, 2d July, 1747;with similar results; frustration evident, retreat evident, victory notmuch to speak of. And in this gloriously delightful manner Saxe and theFrench Nation have proceeded, till in fact the Netherlands Territorywith all strongholds, except Maestricht alone, was theirs, --and theydecided on attacking the Dutch Republic itself. And (17th April, 1747)actually broke in upon the frontier Fortresses of Zealand; found thesame dry-rotten everywhere; and took them, Fortress after Fortress, atthe rate of a cannon salvo each: 'Ye magnanimous Dutch, see what youhave got by not sitting still, as recommended!' To the horror and terrorof the poor Zealanders and general Dutch Population. Who shrieked toEngland for help;--and were, on the very instant, furnished with amodicum of Seventy-fours (Dutch Courier returning by the same); whichlanded the Courier April 23d, and put Walcheren in a state of security. [Adelung, vi. 105, 125-134. ]

"Whereupon the Dutch Population turned round on its Governors, witha growl of indignation, spreading ever wider, waxing ever higher:'Scandalous laggards, is this your mode of governing a free Republic?Freedom to let the State go to dry-rot, and become the laughing-stockof mankind. To provide for your own paltry kindred in theState-employments; to palaver grandly with all comers; and publishmelodious Despatches of Van Hoey? Had not Britannic Majesty, for hisdear Daughter's sake, come to the rescue in this crisis, where had webeen? We demand a Stadtholder again; our glorious Nassau Orange, to keepsome bridle on you!' And actually, in this way, Populus and Plebs, bygeneral turning out into the streets, in a gloomily indignant manner, which threatens to become vociferous and dangerous, --cowed the Heads ofthe Republic into choosing the said Prince, with Princess and Family, asStadtholder, High-Admiral, High-Everything and Supreme of the Republic. Hereditary, no less, and punctually perpetual; Princess and Family toshare in it. In which happy state (ripened into Kingship latterly) theycontinue to this day. A result painfully surprising to Most ChristianMajesty; gratifying to Britannic proportionately, or more;--and indeedbeneficial towards abating dry-rot and melodious palaver in that poorLand of the Free. Consummated, by popular outbreak of vociferation, in the different Provinces, in about a week from April 23d, whenthose helpful Seventy-fours hove in sight. Stadtholdership had been inabeyance for forty-five years. [Since our Dutch William's death, 1702. ]The new Stadtholder did his best; could not, in the short life grantedhim, do nearly enough. --Next year there was a SECOND Dutch outbreak, or general turning into the streets; of much more violent character;in regard to glaringly unjust Excises and Taxations, and to 'instantdismissal of your Excise-Farmers, ' as the special first item. [Adelung, vi. 364 et seq. ; Raumer, 182-193 ("March-September, 1748"); or, in--Chesterfield's Works, --Dayrolles's Letters to Chesterfield: somewhatunintelligent and unintelligible, both Raumer and he. ] Which salutaryobject being accomplished (new Stadtholder well aiding, in a valiant andjudicious manner), there has no third dose of that dangerous remedy beenneeded since. 

"JULY 19th, FATE OF CHEVALIER DE BELLEISLE. At the Fortress of Exilles, in one of those Passes of the Savoy Alps, --Pass of Col di Sieta, memorable to the French Soldier ever since, --there occurred a lamentablething;" doubtless much talked of at Sceaux while Voltaire was there. "The Revolt of Genoa (popular outburst, and expulsion of our poor friendBotta and his Austrians, then a famous thing, and a rarer than now)having suddenly recalled the victorious General Browne from his Siegeof Antibes and Invasion of Provence, --Marechal Duc de Belleisle, well reinforced and now become 'Army of Italy' in general, followedsteadfastly for 'Defence of Genoa' against indignant Botta, Browne andCompany. For defence of Genoa; nay for attack on Turin, which wouldhave been 'defence' in Genoa and everywhere, --had the captious Spaniardconsented to co-operate. Captious Spaniard would not; Couriers toMadrid, to Paris thereupon, and much time lost;--till, at the eleventhhour, came consent from Paris, 'Try it by yourself, then!' Belleisletries it; at least his Brother does. His Brother, the Chevalier, is toforce that Pass of Exilles; a terrible fiery business, but the backboneof the whole adventure: in which, if the Chevalier can succeed, he toois to be Marechal de France. Forward, therefore, climb the Alpine stairsagain; snatch me that Fort of Exilles. 

"And so, July 19th, 1747, the Chevalier comes in sight of the Place;scans a little the frowning buttresses, bristly with guns; the dumbAlps, to right and left, looking down on him and it. Chevalier deBelleisle judges that, however difficult, it can and must be possibleto French valor; and storms in upon it, huge and furious (20, 000, orif needful 30, 000);--but is torn into mere wreck, and hideous recoil;rallies, snatches a standard, 'We must take it or die, '--and dies, doesnot take it; falls shot on the rampart, 'pulling at the palisades withhis own hands, ' nay some say 'with his teeth, ' when the last momentscame. Within one hour, he has lost 4, 000 men; and himself and hisBrother's Enterprise lie ended there. [Voltaire, xxv. 221 et seq. (SIECLE DE LOUIS QUINZE, c. 22); Adelung, vi 174. ] Fancy his poorBrother's feelings, who much loved him! The discords about War-matters(TRACASSERIES DE L'ARMEE) were a topic at Sceaux lately, as De Staalintimated. 'Why starve our Italian Enterprises; heaping every resourceupon the Netherlands and Saxe?' Diligent Defence of Genoa (chiefly byflourishing of swords on the part of France, for the Austrians werenot yet ready) is henceforth all the Italian War there is; and thisexplosion at Exilles may fitly be finis to it here. Let us only say thatInfant Philip did, when the Peace came, get a bit of Apanage (Parma andPiacenza or some such thing, contemptibly small to the Maternal heart), and that all things else lapsed to their pristine state, MINUS only thewaste and ruin there had been. "

JULY 12th-SEPTEMBER 18th: SIEGE OF THE CHIEF DUTCH FORTRESS. "UnexpectedSiege of Bergen-op-Zoom; two months of intense excitement to the DutchPatriots and Cause-of-Liberty Gazetteers, as indifferent and totallydead as it has now become. Marechal de Saxe, after his victory atLauffeld, 2d July, did not besiege Maestricht, as had been the universalexpectation; but shot off an efficient lieutenant of his, one Lowendahl, in due force, privately ready, to overwhelm Bergen-op-Zoom with suddenSiege, while he himself lay between the beaten enemy and it. Bergen isthe heart, of Holland, key of the Scheld, and quite otherwise importantthan Maestricht. 'Coehorn's masterpiece!' exclaim the Gazetteers;'Impregnable, you may depend!' 'We shall see, ' answered Saxe, answeredLowendahl the Dane (who also became Marechal by this business); andafter a great deal of furious assaulting and battering, took thePlace September 18th, before daylight, " by a kind of surprisal orquasi-storm;--"the Commandant, one Cronstrom, a brave old Swede, agetowards ninety, not being of very wakeful nature! 'Did as well as couldbe expected of him, ' said the Court-Martial sitting on his case, andforbore to shoot the poor old man. "

[Adelung, vi. 184, 206;--"for Cronstrom, " if any one is curious, "seeSchlotzer, --Schwedische Biographie, --ii. 252 (in voce). "] A sore stroke, this of Bergen, to Britannic Majesty and the Friends of Liberty; whonevertheless refuse to be discouraged. "

DECEMBER 25th, RUSSIANS IN BEHALF OF HUMAN LIBERTY. "March of 36, 000Russians from the City of Moscow, this day; on a very long journey, inthe hoary Christmas weather! Most, Christian Majesty is ruinously shortof money; Britannic Majesty has still credit, and a voting Parliament, but, owing to French influence on the Continent, can get no recruits tohire. Gradually driven upon Russia, in such stress, Britannic Majestyhas this year hired for himself a 35, 000 Russians; 30, 000 regular foot;4, 000 ditto horse, and 1, 000 Cossacks;--uncommonly cheap, only 150, 000pounds the lot, not, 4 pounds per head by the year. And, in spiteof many difficulties and hagglings, they actually get on march, fromMoscow, 25th December, 1747; and creep on, all Winter, through thefrozen peats wildernesses, through Lithuania, Poland, towards Bohmen, Mahren: are to appear in the Rhine Countries, joined by certainAustrians; and astonish mankind next Spring. Their Captain is oneRepnin, Prince Repnin, afterwards famous enough in those PolishCountries;"--which is now the one point interesting to us in the thing. 

"Their Captain WAS, first, to be Lacy, old Marshal Lacy; then, failingLacy, 'Why not General Keith?'--but proves to be Repnin, after muchhustling and intriguing:" Repnin, not Keith, that is the interestingpoint. 

"Such march of the Russians, on behalf of Human Liberty, in pay ofBritannic Majesty, is a surprising fact; and considerably discomposesthe French. Who bestir themselves in Sweden and elsewhere against Russiaand it: with no result, --except perhaps the incidental one, of gettingour esteemed old friend Guy Dickens, now Sir Guy, dismissed fromStockholm, and we hope put on half-pay on his return home. " [Adelung, vi. 250, 302:--Sir Guy, not yet invalided, "went to Russia, " and othererrands. ]

MARSHAL KEITH COMES TO PRUSSIA (September, 1747). 

"Much hustling and intriguing, " it appears, in regard to the Captaincyof these Russians. Concerning which there is no word worthy to besaid, --except for one reason only, That it finished off the connectionof General Keith with Russia. That this of seeing Repnin, his junior andinferior, preferred to him, was, of many disgusts, the last drop whichmade the cup run over;--and led the said General to fling it from him, and seek new fields of employment. From Hamburg, having got so far, he addresses himself, 1st September, 1747, to Friedrich, with offerof service; who grasps eagerly at the offer: "Feldmarschall your rank;income, $1, 200 a year; income, welcome, all suitable:"--and, October28th, Feldmarschall Keith finishes, at Potsdam, a long Letter to hisBrother Lord Marischal, in these words, worth giving, as those of a veryclear-eyed sound observer of men and things:--

"I have now the honor, and, which is still more, the pleasure, of beingwith the King at Potsdam; where he ordered me to come, " 17th current, "two days after he declared me Fieldmarshal: Where I have the honor todine and sup with him almost every day. He has more wit than I have witto tell you; speaks solidly and knowingly on all kinds of subjects; andI am much mistaken if, with the experience of Four Campaigns, he isnot the best Officer of his Army. He has several persons, " Rothenburg, Winterfeld, Swedish Rudenskjold (just about departing), not to speak ofD'Argens and the French, "with whom he lives in almost the familiarityof a friend, --but has no favorite;--and shows a natural politeness foreverybody who is about him. For one who has been four days about hisperson, you will say I pretend to know a great deal of his character:but what I tell you, you may depend upon. With more time, I shall knowas much of him as he will let me know;--and all his Ministry knowsno more. " [Varnhagen van Ense, --Leben des Feldmarschalls JakobKeith--(Berlin, 1844, ) p. 100; Adelung, vi. 244. ]

A notable acquisition to Friedrich;--and to the two Keiths withal; forFriedrich attached both of them to his Court and service, after theirunlucky wanderings; and took to them both, in no common degree. As willabundantly appear. 

While that Russia Corps was marching out of Moscow, Cocceji and hisCommissions report from Pommern, that the Pomeranian Law-stables arecompletely clear; that the New Courts have, for many months back, beenin work, and are now, at the end of the Year, fairly abreast with it, according to program;--have "decided of Old-Pending Lawsuits 2, 400, all that there were (one of them 200 years old, and filling seventyVolumes); and of the 994 New ones, 772; not one Lawsuit remaining overfrom the previous Year. " A highly gratifying bit of news to his Majesty;who answers emphatically, EUGE! and directs that the Law Herculesproceed now to the other Provinces, --to the Kur-Mark, now, and Berlinitself, --with his salutary industries. Naming him "Grand Chancellor, "moreover; that is to say, under a new title, Head of Prussian Law, --oldArnim, "Minister of Justice, " having shown himself disaffected toLaw-Reform, and got rebuked in consequence, and sulkily gone intoprivate life. [Stenzel, iv. 321; Ranke, iii. 389. ]

In February of this Year, 1747, Friedrich had something like a strokeof apoplexy; "sank suddenly motionless, one day, " and sat insensible, perhaps for half an hour: to the terror and horror of those abouthim. Hemiplegia, he calls it; rush of blood to the head;--probablyindigestion, or gouty humors, exasperated by over-fatigue. Whichoccasioned great rumor in the world; and at Paris, to Voltaire's horror, reports of his death. He himself made light of the matter: [To Voltaire, 22d February, 1747 (--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 164); see IB. 164n. ] and it did not prove to have been important; was never followed byanything similar through his long life; and produced no change in hisoften-wavering health, or in his habits, which were always steady. Heis writing MEMOIRS; settling "Colonies" (on his waste moors); improvingHarbors. Waiting when this European War will end; politely deaf to theoffers of Britannic Majesty as to taking the least personal share in it. 

Chapter III. --EUROPEAN WAR FALLS DONE: TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 

The preparations for Campaign 1748 were on a larger scale than ever. Britannic Subsidies, a New Parliament being of willing mind, are opulentto a degree; 192, 000 men, 60, 000 Austrians for one item, shall be in theNetherlands;--coupled with this remarkable new clause, "And they are tobe there in fact, and not on paper only, " and with a tare-and-tret of30 or 40 per cent, as too often heretofore! Holland, under its newStadtholder, is stanch of purpose, if of nothing else. The 35, 000Russians, tramping along, are actually dawning over the horizon, towardsTeutschland, --King Friedrich standing to arms along his Silesian Border, vigilant "Cordon of Troops all the way, " in watch of such questionabletransit. [In ADELUNG, vi. 110, 143, 167, 399 ("April, 1747-August, 1748"), account of the more and more visible ill-will of the Czarina:"jealousy" about Sweden, about Dantzig, Poland, &c. &c. ] BritannicMajesty and Parliament seem resolute to try, once more, to the utmost, the power of the breeches-pocket in defending this sacred Cause ofLiberty so called. 

Breeches-pocket MINUS most other requisites: alas, with such methods asyou have, what can come of it? Royal Highness of Cumberland is avaliant man, knowing of War little more than the White Horse of Hanoverdoes;--certain of ruin again, at the hands of Marechal de Saxe. Sothink many, and have their dismal misgivings. "Saxe having eatenBergen-op-Zoom before our eyes, what can withstand the teeth of Saxe?"In fact, there remains only Maestricht, of considerable; and thenHolland is as good as his! As for King Louis, glory, with funds runningout, and the pot ceasing to boil, has lost its charm to an afflictedFrance and him. King Louis's wishes are known, this long while;--andLigonier, generously dismissed by him after Lauffeld, has broughtexpress word to that effect, and outline of the modest terms proposed inone's hour of victory, with pot ceasing to boil. 

On a sudden, too, "March 18th, "--wintry blasts and hailstorms stillraging, --Marechal de Saxe, regardless of Domestic Hunger, took thefield, stronger than ever. Manoeuvred about; bewildering the mind ofRoyal Highness and the Stadtholder ("Will he besiege Breda? Will he dothis, will he do that?")--poor Highness and poor Stadtholder; who "didnot agree well together, " and had not the half of their forces come in, not to speak of handling them when come! Bewilderment of these two oncecompleted, Marechal de Saxe made "a beautiful march upon Maestricht;"and, April 15th, opened trenches, a very Vesuvius of artillery, beforethat place; Royal Highness gazing into it, in a doleful manner, from theadjacent steeple-tops. Royal Highness, valor's self, has to admit: "Suchan outlook; not half of us got together! The 60, 000 Austrians are but30, 000; the--In fact, you will have to make Peace, what else?" [HisLetters, in Coxe's--Pelham--("March 29th-April 2d, 1748"), i. 405-410. ]Nothing else, as has been evident to practical Official People(especially to frugal Pelham, Chesterfield and other leading heads) forthese two months last past. 

In a word, those 35, 000 Russians are still far away under the horizon, when thoughts of a new Congress, "Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, " arebusying the public mind: "Mere moonshine again?" "Something real thistime?"--And on and from March 17th (Lord Sandwich first on the ground, and Robinson from Vienna coming to help), the actual Congress beginsassembling there. April 24th, the Congress gets actually to business;very intent on doing it; at least the three main parties, France, England, Holland, are supremely so. Who, finding, for five diligentdays, nothing but haggle and objection on the part of the others, didby themselves meet under cloud of night, "night of April 29th-30th;"and--bring the Preliminaries to perfection. And have them signed beforedaybreak; which is, in effect, signing, or at least fixing as certain, the Treaty itself; so that Armistice can ensue straightway, and the Waressentially end. 

A fixed thing; the Purseholders having signed. On the safe rear ofwhich, your recipient Subsidiary Parties can argue and protest (as theEmpress-Queen and her Kaunitz vehemently did, to great lengths), andgradually come in and finish. Which, in the course of the next sixmonths, they all did, Empress-Queen and Excellency Kaunitz not excepted. And so, October 18th, 1748, all details being, in the interim, eithergot settled, or got flung into corners as unsettleable (mostly thelatter), --Treaty itself was signed by everybody; and there was "Peaceof Aix-la-Chapelle. " Upon which, except to remark transiently howinconclusive a conclusion it was, mere end of war because your powder isrun out, mere truce till you gather breath and gunpowder again, we willspend no word in this place. [Complete details in ADELUNG, vi. 225-409:"October, 1747, " Ligonier returning, and first rumor of new Congress(226); "17th March, 1748, " Sandwich come (323); "April 29th-30th, "meet under cloud of night (326); Kaunitz protesting (339): "2d August, "Russians to halt and turn (397); "are over into the Oberpfalz, magazinesahead at Nurnberg;" in September, get to Bohmen again, and winter there:"18th October, 1748, " Treaty finished (398, 409); Treaty itself given(IB. , Beylage, 44). See--Gentleman's Magazine, --and OLD NEWSPAPERS of1748; Coxe's--Pelham, --ii. 7-41, i. 366-416. ]

"The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was done in a hurry and a huddle; greatlyto Maria Theresa's disgust. 'Why not go on with your expenditures, yeSea-Powers? Can money and life be spent better? I have yet conquerednext to nothing for the Cause of Liberty and myself!' But the Sea-Powerswere tired of it; the Dutch especially, who had been hoisted with suchdifficulty, tended strongly, New Stadtholder notwithstanding, to plumpdown again into stable equilibrium on the broad-bottom principle. Huddleup the matter; end it, well if you can; any way end it. The Treatycontained many Articles, now become forgettable to mankind. There isonly One Article, and the Want of One, which shall concern us in thisplace. The One Article is: guarantee by all the European Powers toFriedrich's Treaty of Dresden. Punctually got as bargained for, --Frenchespecially willing; Britannic Majesty perhaps a little languid, but hisMinisters positive on the point; so that Friedrioh's Envoy had not muchdifficulty at Aix. And now, Friedrich's Ownership of Silesia recognizedby all the Powers to be final and unquestionable, surely nothing more iswanted? Nothing, --except keeping of this solemn stipulation by all thePowers. How it was kept by some of them; in what sense some of them arekeeping it even now, we shall see by and by. 

"The Want of an Article was, on the part of England, concerningJENKINS'S EAR. There is not the least conclusion arrived at on thatimportant Spanish-English Question; blind beginning of all theseconflagrations; and which, in its meaning to the somnambulant Nation, is so immense. No notice taken of it; huddled together, some hastyshovelful or two of diplomatic ashes cast on it, 'As good as extinct, you see!' Left smoking, when all the rest is quenched. Considerablefeeling there was, on this point, in the heart of the poor somnambulantEnglish Nation; much dumb or semi-articulate growling on such aPeace-Treaty: 'We have arrived nowhere, then, by all this fighting, andsquandering, and perilous stumbling among the chimney-pots? Spain (onits own showing) owed us 95, 000 pounds. Spain's debt to Hanover; yes, you take care of that; some old sixpenny matter, which nobody ever heardof before: and of Spain's huge debt to England you drop no hint; ofthe 95, 000 pounds, clear money, due by Spain; or of one's liberty tonavigate the High Seas, none!' [PROTEST OF ENGLISH MERCHANTS AGAINST, &c. ("May, 1748") given in ADELUNG, vi. 353-358. ] A Peace the reverse ofapplauded in England; though the wiser Somnambulants, much more Pittand Friends, who are broad awake on these German points, may well bethankful to see such a War end on any terms. "--Well, surely this oldadmitted 95, 000 pounds should have been paid! And, to a moral certainty, Robinson and Sandwich must have made demand of it from the Spaniard. Butthere is no getting old Debts in, especially from that quarter. "KingFriedrich [let me interrupt, for a moment, with this poor compositeNote] is trying in Spain even now, --ever since 1746, when Termagant'sHusband died, and a new King came, --for payment of old debt: Two oldDebts; quite tolerably just both of them. King Friedrich keeps tryingtill 1749, three years in all: and, in the end, gets nothing whatever. Nothing, --except some Merino Rams in the interim, " gift from the newKing of Spain, I can suppose, which proved extremely useful in our WoolIndustries; "and, from the same polite Ferdinand VI. , a Porcelain Vasefilled with Spanish Snuff. " That was all!--

King Friedrich, let me note farther, is getting decidedly deep intosnuff; holds by SPANIOL (a dry yellow pungency, analogous to Lundy-footor Irish-Blackguard, known to snuffy readers); always by Spaniol, wesay; and more especially "the kind used by her Majesty of Spain, " thenow Dowager Termagant: [Orders this kind, from his Ambassador in Paris, "30th September, 1743:" the earliest extant trace of his snuffing habits(Preuss, i. 409). --NOTE FARTHER (if interesting): "The Termagant stilllasted as Dowager, consuming SPANIOL at least, for near twenty years(died 11th July, 1766);--the new King, Ferdinand VI. , was her STEPson, not her son; he went mad, poor soul, and died (10th August, 1759): uponwhich, Carlos of Naples, our own 'Baby Carlos' that once was, succeededin Spain, 'King Carlos III. Of Spain;' leaving his Son, a young boyunder tutelage, as King of the Two Sicilies (King 'Ferdinand IV. , ' whodid not die, but had his difficulties, till 1825). Don Philip, who hadfought so in those Savoy Passes, and got the bit of Parmesan Country, died 1765, the year before Mamma. "] which, also, is to be remembered. Dryasdust adds, in his sweetly consecutive way: "Friedrich was veryexpensive about his snuff-boxes; wore two big rich boxes in his pockets;five or six stood on tables about; and more than a hundred in store, coming out by turns for variety. The cheapest of them cost 300 pounds(2, 000 thalers); he had them as high as 1, 500 pounds. At his death, there were found 130 of various values: they were the substance of allthe jewelry he had; besides these snuff-boxes, two gold watches only, and a very small modicum of rings. Had yearly for personal Expenditure1, 200, 000 thalers [180, 000 pounds of Civil List, as we should say];SPENT 33, 000 pounds of it, and yearly gave the rest away in Royalbeneficences, aid of burnt Villages, inundated Provinces, andmultifarious PATER-PATRIAE objects. " [Preuss, i. 409, 410, ]--In regardto JENKINS'S EAR, my Constitutional Friend continues:--

"SILESIA and JENKINS'S EAR, we often say, were the two bits of realitiesin this enormous hurly-burly of imaginations, insane ambitions, andzeros and negative quantities. Negative Belleisle goes home, not withGermany cut in Four and put under guidance of the First Nation of theUniverse (so extremely fit for guiding self and neighbors), but withthe First Nation itself reduced almost to wallet and staff; bankrupt, beggared--'Yes, ' it answers, 'in all but glory! Have not we gainedFontenoy, Roucoux, Lauffeld; and strong-places innumerable [mostly in astate of dry-rot]? Did men ever fight as we Frenchmen; combining itwith theatrical entertainments, too! Sublime France, First Nation of theUniverse, will try another flight (ESSOR), were she breathed a little!'

"Yes, a new ESSOR ere long, and perhaps surprise herself and mankind!The losses of men, money and resource, under this mad empty Enterpriseof Belleisle's, were enormous, palpable to France and all mortals: butperhaps these were trifling to the replacement of them by such GLOIREas there had been. A GLOIRE of plunging into War on no cause at all; andwith an issue consisting only of foul gases of extreme levity. Messieursare of confessed promptitude to fight; and their talent for it, in somekinds, is very great indeed. But this treating of battle and slaughter, of death, judgment and eternity, as light play-house matters; this ofrising into such transcendency of valor, as to snap your fingers in theface of the Almighty Maker; this, Messieurs, give me leave to say so, isa thing that will conduct you and your PREMIERE NATION to the Devil, ifyou do not alter it. Inevitable, I tell you! Your road lies that way, then? Good morning, Messieurs; let me still hope, Not!"

Diplomatist Kaunitz gained his first glories in this Congress of Aix;which are still great in the eyes of some. Age now thirty-seven; anative of these Western parts; but henceforth, by degrees ever more, theshining star and guide of Austrian Policies down almost to our own NewEpoch. As, unluckily, he will concern us not a little, in time coming, let us read this Note, as foreshadow of the man and his doings:--

"The glory of Count, ultimately Prince, von Kaunitz-Rietberg, isgreat in Diplomatic Circles of the past Century. 'The greatest ofDiplomatists, ' they all say;--and surely it is reckoned something tobecome the greatest in your line. Farther than this, to the readers ofthese times, Kaunitz-Rietberg's glory does not go. A great character, great wisdom, lasting great results to his Country, readers do not tracein Kaunitz's diplomacies, --only temporary great results, or what he andthe by-standers thought such, to Kaunitz himself. He was the SupremeJove, we perceive, in that extinct Olympus; and regards with sublimepity, not unallied to contempt, all other diplomatic beings. A mansparing of words, sparing even of looks; will hardly lift his eyelidsfor your sake, --will lift perhaps his chin, in slight monosyllabicfashion, and stalk superlatively through the other door. King of thevanished Shadows. A determined hater of Fresh Air; rode under glasscover, on the finest day; made the very Empress shut her windows whenhe came to audience; fed, cautiously daring, on boiled capons: more Iremember not, --except also that he would suffer no mention of the wordDeath by any mortal. [Hormayr, --OEsterreichischer Plutarch, --iv. (3tes), 231-283. ] A most high-sniffing, fantastic, slightly insolentshadow-king;--ruled, in his time, the now vanished Olympus; and had thedifficult glory (defective only in result) of uniting France and AustriaAGAINST the poor old Sea-Power milk-cows, for the purpose of recoveringSilesia from Friedrich, a few years hence!"--These are wondrous results;hidden under the horizon, not very far either; and will astonishBritannic Majesty and all readers, in a few years. 

MARECHAL DE SAXE PAYS FRIEDRICH A VISIT. 

In Summer, 1749, Marechal de Saxe, the other shiny figure of this madBusiness of the Netherlands, paid Friedrich a visit; had the honor tobe entertained by him three days (July 13th-16th, 1749), in his RoyalCottage of Sans-Souci seemingly, in his choicest manner. Curiosity, which is now nothing like so vivid as it then was, would be glad tolisten a little, in this meeting of two Suns, or of one Sun and oneimmense Tar-Barrel, or Atmospheric Meteor really of shining nature, and taken for a Sun. But the Books are silent; not the least detail, orhint, or feature granted us. Only Fancy;--and this of Smelfungus, by wayof long farewell to one of the parties:--

. . . "It was at Tongres, or in head-quarters near it, 10th October, 1746, --Battle expected on the morrow [Battle of ROUCOUX, over towardsHerstal, which we used to know], -that M. Favart, Saxe's Playwright andTheatre-Director, gave out in cheerful doggerel on fall of the Curtain, the announcement:--

 --'Demain nous donnerons relache, Quoique le Directeur s'en fache, Vous voir combleroit nos desirs:--

 'To-morrow is no Play, To the Manager's regret, Whose sole study is to keep you happy: --On doit ceder tout a la gloire; Vous ne songes qu'a la victoire, Nous ne songeons qu'a vos plaisires'--

 [--Biographic Universelle, --xiv. 209, ? Favart; Espagnac, ii. 162. ]

 But, you being bent upon victory, What can he do?-- Day after to-morrow, '--

'Day after to-morrow, ' added he, taking the official tone, (in honor ofyour laurels) [gained already, since you resolve on gaining them], wewill have the honor of presenting'--such and such a gay Farce, to asmany of you as remain alive! which was received with gay clapping ofhands: admirable to the Universe, at least to the Parisian UNIVERS andoneself. Such a prodigality of light daring is in these Frenchgentlemen, skilfully tickled by the Marechal; who uses this Playwright, among other implements, for keeping them at the proper pitch. Was thereever seen such radiancy of valor? Very radiant indeed;--yet, it seems tome, gone somewhat into the phosphorescent kind; shining in the dark, asfish will do when rotten! War has actually its serious character; nor isDeath a farcical transaction, however high your genius may go. But whatthen? it is the Marechal's trade to keep these poor people at thecutting pitch, on any terms that will hold for the moment. 

"I know not which was the most dissolute Army ever seen in the world;but this of Saxe's was very dissolute. Playwright Favart had withala beautiful clever Wife, --upon whom the courtships, munificentblandishments, threatenings and utmost endeavors of Marechal de Saxe(in his character of goat-footed Satyr) could not produce the leastimpression. For a whole year, not the least. Whereupon the Goat-footedhad to get LETTRE DE CACHET for her; had to--in fact, produce thebrutalest Adventure that is known of him, even in this brutal kind. PoorFavart, rushing about in despair, not permitted to run him through thebelly, and die with his Wife undishonored, had to console himself, heand she; and do agreeable theatricalities for a living as heretofore. Let us not speak of it!

"Of Saxe's Generalship, which is now a thing fallen pretty much intooblivion, I have no authority to speak. He had much wild naturalingenuity in him; cunning rapid whirls of contrivance; and gained ThreeBattles and very many Sieges, amid the loudest clapping of hands thatcould well be. He had perfect intrepidity; not to be flurried by anyamount of peril or confusion; looked on that English Column, advancingat Fontenoy with its FUE INFERNAL, steadily through his perspective;chewing his leaden bullet: 'Going to beat me, then? Well--!' Nobodyneeded to be braver. He had great good-nature too, though of hot temperand so full of multifarious veracities; a substratum of inarticulategood sense withal, and much magnanimity run wild, or run to seed. Abig-limbed, swashing, perpendicular kind of fellow; haughty of face, but jolly too; with a big, not ugly strut;--captivating to the FrenchNation, and fit God of War (fitter than 'Dalhousie, ' I am sure!) forthat susceptive People. Understood their Army also, what it was thenand there; and how, by theatricals and otherwise, to get a great deal offire out of it. Great deal of fire;--whether by gradual conflagrationor not, on the road to ruin or not; how, he did not care. In respect ofmilitary 'fame' so called, he had the great advantage of fighting alwaysagainst bad Generals, sometimes against the very worst. To his fame anadvantage; to himself and his real worth, far the reverse. Had he fallenin with a Friedrich, even with a Browne or a Traun, there might havebeen different news got. Friedrich (who was never stingy in suchmatters, except to his own Generals, where it might do hurt) is profusein his eulogies, in his admirations of Saxe; amiable to see, and notinsincere; but which, perhaps, practically do not mean very much. 

"It is certain the French Army reaped no profit from its experienceof Marechal de Saxe, and the high theatricalities, ornamentalblackguardisms, and ridicule of death and life. In the long-run a graverface would have been of better augury. King Friedrich's soldiers, oneobserves, on the eve of battle, settle their bits of worldly business;and wind up, many of them, with a hoarse whisper of prayer. OliverCromwell's soldiers did so, Gustaf Adolf's; in fact, I think allgood soldiers: Roucoux with a Prince Karl, Lauffeld with a Duke ofCumberland; you gain your Roucoux, your Lauffeld, Human Stupiditypermitting: but one day you fall in with Human Intelligence, in anextremely grave form;--and your 'ELAN, ' elastic outburst, the quickestin Nature, what becomes of it? Wait but another decade; we shallsee what an Army this has grown. Cupidity, dishonesty, flounderingstupidity, indiscipline, mistrust; and an elastic outspurt (ELAN) turnedoften enough into the form of SAUVE-QUI-PEUT!

"M. Le Marechal survived Aix-la-Chapelle little more than two years. Lived at Chambord, on the Loire, an Ex-Royal Palace; in such splendor asnever was. Went down in a rose-pink cloud, as if of perfect felicity; ofglory that would last forever, --which it has by no means done. He madedespatch; escaped, in this world, the Nemesis, which often waits on whatthey call 'fame. ' By diligent service of the Devil, in ways not worthspecifying, he saw himself, November 21st, 1750, flung prostratesuddenly: 'Putrid fever!' gloom the doctors ominously to one another:and, November 30th, the Devil (I am afraid it was he, though clad inroseate effulgence, and melodious exceedingly) carried him home on thosekind terms, as from a Universe all of Opera. 'Wait till 1759, --till1789!' murmured the Devil to himself. "

TRAGIC NEWS, THAT CONCERN US, OF VOLTAIRE AND OTHERS. 

About two months after those Saxe-Friedrich hospitalities at Sans-Souci, Voltaire, writing, late at night, from the hospitable Palace of TitularStanislaus, has these words, to his trusted D'Argental:--

LUNEVILLE, 4th SEPTEMBER, 1749. . . . "Madame du Chatelet, this night, while scribbling over her NEWTON, felt a little twinge; she calleda waiting-maid, who had only time to hold out her apron, and catch alittle Girl, whom they carried to its cradle. The Mother arranged herpapers, went to bed; and the whole of that (TOUT CELA) is sleeping likea dormouse, at the hour I write to you. " My guardian angels, "poor Isha'n't have so easy a delivery of my CATILINA" (my ROME SAVED, forthe confusion of old Crebillon and the cabals)! [--OEuvres, --lxxiv. 57(Voltaire to D'Argental). ]. . . 

And then, six days later, hear another Witness present there:--

LUNEVILLE PALACE, 10th SEPTEMBER. "For the first three or four days, the health of the Mother appeared excellent; denoting nothing but theweakness inseparable from her situation. The weather was very warm. Milk-fever came, which made the heat worse. In spite of remonstrances, she would have some iced barley-water; drank a big glass of it;--and, some instants after, had great pain in her head; followed by other badsymptoms. " Which brought the Doctor in again, several Doctors, hastilysummoned; who, after difficulties, thought again that all was comingright. And so, on the sixth night, 10th September, inquiring friends hadleft the sick-room hopefully, and gone down to supper, "the rather asMadame seemed inclined to sleep. There remained none with her but M. DeSt. Lambert, one of her maids and I. M. De St. Lambert, as soon as thestrangers were gone, went forward and spoke some moments to her; butseeing her sleepy, drew back, and sat chatting with us two. Eight or tenminutes after, we heard a kind of rattle in the throat, intermixed withhiccoughs: we ran to the bed; found her, senseless; raised her to asitting posture, tried vinaigrettes, rubbed her feet, knocked into thepalms of her hands;--all in vain; she was dead!

"Of course the supper-party burst up into her room; M. Le Marquis deChatelet, M. De Voltaire, and the others. Profound consternation: totears, to cries succeeded a mournful silence. Voltaire and St. Lambertremained the last about her bed. At length Voltaire quitted the room;got out by the Grand Entrance, hardly knowing which way he went. At thefoot of the Outer Stairs, near a sentry's box, he fell full length onthe pavement. His lackey, who was a step or two behind, rushed forwardto raise him. At that moment came M. De St. Lambert; who had taken thesame road, and who now hastened to help. M. De Voltaire, once on hisfeet again, and recognizing who it was, said, through his tears and withthe most pathetic accent, 'AH, MON AMI, it is you that have killedher to me!'--and then suddenly, as if starting awake, with the tone ofreproach and despair, 'EH, MON DIEU, MONSIEUR, DE QUOI VOUS AVISIEZ-VOUSDE LUI FAIRE UN ENFANT (Good God, Sir, what put it into your headto--to--)!'" [Longchamp et Wagniere, --Memoires sur Voltaire, --ii. 250, 251;--Longchamp LOQUITUR. ]

Poor M. De Voltaire; suddenly become widower, and flung out upon hisshifts again, at his time of life! May now wander, Ishmael-like, whitherhe will, in this hard lonesome world. His grief is overwhelming, mixedwith other sharp feelings clue on the matter; but does not last verylong, in that poignant form. He will turn up on us, in his new capacityof single-man, again brilliant enough, within year and day. 

Last Autumn, September, 1748, Wilhelmina's one Daughter, one child, waswedded; to that young Durchlaucht of Wurtemberg, whom we saw gallantingthe little girl, to Wilhelmina's amusement, some years ago. About thewedding, nothing; nor about the wedded life, what would have been morecurious:--no Wilhelmina now to tell us anything; not even whether Mammathe Improper Duchess was there. From Berlin, the Two youngest Princes, Henri and Ferdinand, attended at Baireuth;--Mannstein, our old Russianfriend, now Prussian again, escorting them. [Seyfarth, ii. 76. ] TheKing, too busy, I suppose, with Silesian Reviews and the like, sendshis best wishes, --for indeed the Match was of his sanctioning andadvising;--though his wishes proved mere disappointment in the sequel. Friedrich got no "furtherance in the Swabian-Franconian Circles, "or favor anywhere, by means of this Durchlaucht; in the end, farthe reverse!--In a word, the happy couple rolled away to Wurtemberg(September 26th, 1748); he twenty, she sixteen, poor young creatures;and in years following became unhappy to a degree. 

There was but one child, and it soon died. The young Serene Lady wasof airy high spirit; graceful, clever, good too, they said; perhaps athought too proud:--but as for her Reigning Duke, there was seldom seenso lurid a Serenity; and it was difficult to live beside him. A mostarbitrary Herr, with glooms and whims; dim-eyed, ambitious, voracious, and the temper of an angry mule, --very fit to have been haltered, in ajudicious manner, instead of being set to halter others! Enough, insix or seven years time, the bright Pair found itself grown thunderous, opaque beyond description; and (in 1759) had to split asunder for good. "Owing to the reigning Duke's behavior, " said everybody. "Has behavedso, I would run him through the body, if we met!" said his own Brotheronce:--Brother Friedrich Eugen, a Prussian General by that time, whom weshall hear of. [Preuss, iv. 149; Michaelis, iii. 451. ] What thoughtsfor our dear Wilhelmina, in her latter weak years;--lapped in eternalsilence, as so much else is. 

Chapter IV. COCCEJI FINISHES THE LAW-REFORM; FRIEDRICH IS PRINTING HISPOESIES. 

In these years, Friedrich goes on victoriously with his Law-Reform;Herculean Cocceji with Assistants, backed by Friedrich, beneficentlyconquering Province after Province to him;--Kur-Mark, Neu-Mark, Cleve (all easy, in comparison, after Pommern), and finally Preussenitself;--to the joy and profit of the same. Cocceji's method, so faras the Foreign on-looker can discern across much haze, seems to bethree-fold:--

1. Extirpation (painless, were it possible) of the Petti-fogger Species;indeed, of the Attorney Species altogether: "Seek other employments;disappear, all of you, from these precincts, under penalty!" TheAdvocate himself takes charge of the suit, from first birth of it; andsees it ended, --he knows within what limit of time. 

2. Sifting out of all incompetent Advocates, "Follow thatAttorney-Company, you; away!"--sifting out all these, and retaining ineach Court, with fees accurately settled, with character stamped sound, or at least SOUNDEST, the number actually needed. In a milder way, butstill more strictly, Judges stupid or otherwise incompetent are riddledout; able Judges appointed, and their salaries raised. 

3. What seems to be Friedrich's own invention, what in outcome he thinkswill be the summary of all good Law-Procedure: A final Sentence (three"instances" you can have, but the third ends it for you) within theYear. Good, surely. A justice that intends to be exact must front thecomplicacies in a resolute piercing manner, and will not be tedious. Naya justice that is not moderately swift, --human hearts waiting for it, the while, in a cancerous state, instead of hopefully following theirwork, --what, comparatively, is the use of its being never so exact!--

Simple enough methods; rough and ready. Needing, in the execution, clearhuman eyesight, clear human honesty, --which happen to be present here, and without which no "method" whatever can be executed that will reallyprofit. 

In the course of 1748, Friedrich, judging by Pommern and the othersymptoms that his enterprise was safe, struck a victorious Medal uponit: "FRIDERICUS BORUSSORUM REX, " pressing with his sceptre the obliqueBalance to a level posture; with Epigraph, "EMENDATO JURE. " [Letterto Cocceji, accompanying Copy of the Medal in Gold, "24th June, 1748"(Seyfarth, ii. 67 n. ). ] And by New-year's day, 1750, the matter was ineffect completed; and "justice cheap, expeditious, certain, " a fact inall Prussian Lands. 

Nay, in 1749-1751, to complete the matter, Cocceji's "Project of ageneral Law-Code, " PROJEKT DES CORPORIS JURIS FRIDERICIANI, came forthin print: [Halle, 2 vols. Folio (Preuss, i. 316; see IB. 315 n. , as tothe LAW-PROCEDURE, $c. Now settled by Cocceji). ] to the admiration ofmankind, at home and abroad; "the First Code attempted since Justinian'stime, " say they. PROJECT translated into all languages, and read in allcountries. A poor mildewed copy of this CODEX FRIDERICIANUS--done atEdinburgh, 1761, not said by whom; evidently bought at least TWICE, andmostly never yet read (nor like being read)--is known to me, for yearspast, in a ghastly manner! Without the least profit to this present, orto any other Enterprise;--though persons of name in Jurisprudence callit meritorious in their Science; the first real attempt at a Code inModern times. But the truth is, this Cocceji CODEX remained a PROJECTmerely, never enacted anywhere. It was not till 1773, that Friedrichmade actual attempt to build a Law-Code and did build one (thefoundation-story of one, for his share, completed since), in which thisof Cocceji had little part. In 1773, the thing must again be mentioned;the "Second Law-Reform, " as they call it. What we practically know fromthis time is, That Prussian Lawsuits, through Friedrich's Reign, do allterminate, or push at their utmost for terminating, within one year frombirth; and that Friedrich's fame, as a beneficent Justinian, rosehigh in all Countries (strange, in Countries that had thought hima War-scourge and Conquering Hero); strange, but undeniable;[See--Gentleman's Magazine, --xx. 215-218 ("May, 1750"): eloquent, enthusiastic LETTER, given there, "of Baron de Spon to ChancellorD'Aguessan, " on these inimitable Law Achievements. ] and that his ownPeople, if more silently, yet in practice very gladly indeed, welcomedhis Law-Reform; and, from day to day, enjoyed the same, --no doubt withoccasional remembrance who the Donor was. 

Of Friedrich's Literary works, nobody, not even Friedrich himself, willthink it necessary that we say much. But the fact is, he is doing agreat many things that way: in Prose, the MEMOIRS OF BRANDENBURG, comingout as Papers in the Academy from time to time; [From 1746 and onward:first published complete (after slight revision by Voltaire), Berlin, 1751. ] in Verse, very secret as yet, the PALLADION ("exquisiteBurlesque, " think some), the ART OF WAR (reckoned truly his best Piecein verse):--and wishes sometimes he had Voltaire here to perfect hima little. This too would be one of the practical charms of Voltaire. [Friedrich's Letter to Algarotti (--OEuvres, --xviii. 66), "12thSeptember, 1749. "] For though King Friedrich knows and remembers always, that these things, especially the Verse part, are mere amusements incomparison, he has the creditable wish to do these well; one wouldnot fantasy ILL even on the Flute, if one could help it. "Why does n'tVoltaire come; as Quantz of the Flute has done?" Friedrich, now thatVoltaire has fallen widower, renews his pressings, "Why don't you come?"Patience, your Majesty; Voltaire will come. 

Nobody can wish details in this Department: but there is one thingnecessary to be mentioned, That Friedrich in these years, 1749-1752, has Printers out at Potsdam, and is Printing, "in beautiful quartoform, with copperplates, " to the extent of twelve copies, the OEUVRES(Poetical, that is) DU PHILOSOPHE DE SANS-SOUCI. Only twelve copies, I have heard; gift of a single copy indicating that you are among thechoicest of the chosen. Copies have now fallen extremely rare (and arenot in request at all, with my readers or me); but there was one Copywhich, or the Mis-title of which, as OEUVRE DE "POESHIE" DU ROI MONMAITRE, became miraculously famous in a year or two;--and is stillmemorable to us all! On Voltaire's arrival, we shall hear more of thesethings. Enough to say at present that the OEUVRES DU PHILOSOPHE DESANS-SOUCI: AU DONJON DU CHATEAU: AVEC PRIVILEGE D'APOLLON, --"threethinnish quarto volumes, all the Poetry then on hand, "--was finishedearly in 1750, before Voltaire came. That, when Voltaire came, a revisalwas undertaken, a new Edition, with Voltaire's corrections and otherchanges (total suppression of the PALLADION, for one creditablechange): that this Edition was to have been in Two Volumes; that One, accordingly, rather thicker than the former sort, was got finished in1752 (same TITLE, only the new Date, and "no DONJON DU CHATEAU thistime"), One Volume in 1752; after which, owing to the explosions thatensued, no Second came, nor ever will;--and that the actual contents ofthat far-famed OEUVRE DE "POESHIE" (number of volumes even) are pointsof mystery to me, at this day. [Herr Preuss--in the CHRONOLOGICAL LISTof Friedrich's Writings (a useful accurate Piece otherwise), and in twoother places where he tries--is very indistinct on this of DONJON DUCHATEAU; and it is all but impossible to ascertain from him WHAT, in anindisputable manner, the OEUVRE DE "POESHIE" may have been. Here arethe places for groping, if another should be induced to try:--OEuvresde Frederic, --x. (Preface, p. Ix); IB. Xi. (Preface, p. Ix); IB. --TableChhronologique--(in what Volume this is, you cannot yet say; seemspreliminary to a GENERAL INDEX, which is infinitely wanted, but has notyet appeared to this Editor's aid), p. 14. ]

Friedrich's other employments are multifarious as those of a Land'sHusband (not inferior to his Father in that respect); and, like thebenefits of the diurnal Sun, are to be considered incessant, innumerableand, in result to us-ward, SILENT also, impossible to speak of in thisplace. From the highest pitch of State-craft (Russian Czarina now fallenplainly hostile, and needing lynx-eyed diplomacy ever and anon), downto that of Dredging and Fascine-work (as at Stettin and elsewhere), ofOder-canals, of Soap-boiler Companies, and Mulberry-and-Silk Companies;nay of ordaining Where, and where not, the Crows are to be shot, and(owing to cattle-murrain) No VEAL to be killed: [Seyfarth, ii. 71, 83, 81; Preuss, --Buch fur Jedermann, --i. 101-109; &c. ] daily comes the tideof great and of small, and daily the punctual Friedrich keeps abreastof it, --and Dryasdust has noted the details, and stuffed them into blindsacks, --for forty years. 

The Review seasons, I notice, go somewhat as follows. For Berlin andneighborhood, May, or perhaps end of April (weather now bright, andground firm); sometimes with considerable pomp ("both Queens out, " andbeautiful Female Nobilities, in "twenty-four green tents"), and oftenwith great complicacy of manoeuvre. In June, to Magdeburg, round byCleve; and home again for some days. July is Pommern: Onward thence toSchlesien, oftenest in August; Schlesien the last place, and generallynot done with till well on in September. But we will speak of thesethings, more specially, another time. Such "Reviews, " for strictness ofinspection civil and military, as probably were not seen in the worldsince, --or before, except in the case of this King's Father only. 

Chapter V. STRANGERS OF NOTE COME TO BERLIN, IN 1750. 

British Diplomacies, next to the Russian, cause some difficultiesin those years: of which more by and by. Early in 1748, whileAix-la-Chapelle was starting, Ex-Exchequer Legge came to Berlin; on someobscure object of a small Patch of Principality, hanging loose duringthose Negotiations: "Could not we secure it for his Royal Highnessof Cumberland, thinks your Majesty?" Ex-Exchequer Legge was here;[Coxe's--Pelham, --i. 431, &c. ; Rodenbeck, pp. 155, 160 (first audience1st May, 1748);--recalled 22d November, Aix being over. ] got handsomeassurances of a general nature; but no furtherance towards his obscure, completely impracticable object; and went home in November following, toa new Parliamentary Career. 

And the second year after, early in 1750, came Sir Hanbury Williams, famed London Wit of Walpole's circle, on objects which, in the main, were equally chimerical: "King of the Romans, much wanted;" "No Damageto your Majesty's Shipping from our British Privateers;" and thelike;--about which some notice, and not very much, will be duefarther on. Here, in his own words, is Hanbury's Account of his FirstAudience:--

. . . "On Thursday, " 16th July, 1750, "I went to Court by appointment, at11 A. M. The King of Prussia arrived about 12 [at Berlin; King in fromPotsdam, for one day]; and Count Podewils immediately introduced me intothe Royal closet; when I delivered his Britannic Majesty's Letters intothe King of Prussia's hands, and made the usual compliments to him inthe best manner I was able. To which his Prussian Majesty replied, tothe best of my remembrance, as follows:--"'I have the truest esteemfor the King of Britain's person; and I set the highest value on hisfriendship. I have at different times received essential proofs of it;and I desire you would acquaint the King your Master that I will (SIC)never forget them. ' His Prussian Majesty afterwards said something withrespect to myself, and then asked me several questions about indifferentthings and persons. He seemed to express a great deal of esteem formy Lord Chesterfield, and a great deal of kindness for Mr. Villiers, "useful in the Peace-of-Dresden time; "but did not once mention LordHyndford or Mr. Legge, "--how singular!

"I was in the closet with his Majesty exactly five minutes and a half. My audience done, Prussian Majesty came out into the general room, whereForeign Ministers were waiting. He said, on stepping in, just one word"to the Austrian Excellency; not even one to the Russian Excellency, nor to me the Britannic; "conversed with the French, Swedish, Danish;"--happy to be off, which I do not wonder at; to dine with Mammaat Monbijou, among faces pleasant to him; and return to his Businessesand Books next day. [Walpole, --George the Second, --i. 449; Rodenbeck, i. 204. ]

Witty Excellency Hanbury did not succeed at Berlin on the "Romish-KingQuestion, " or otherwise; and indeed went off rather in a hurry. But forthe next six or seven years he puddles about, at a great rate, in thoseNorthern Courts; giving away a great deal of money, hatching many futileexpensive intrigues at Petersburg, Warsaw (not much at Berlin, after thefirst trial there); and will not be altogether avoidable to us in timecoming, as one could have wished. Besides, he is Horace Walpole's friendand select London Wit: he contributed a good deal to the English notionsabout Friedrich; and has left considerable bits of acrid testimony onFriedrich, "clear words of an Eye-witness, " men call them, --which arestill read by everybody; the said Walpole, and others, having sinceprinted them, in very dark condition. [In Walpole, --George theSecond--(i. 448-461), the Pieces which regard Friedrich. In--Sir CharlesHanbury Williams's Works--(edited by a diligent, reverential, butignorant gentleman, whom I could guess to be Bookseller Jefferyin person: London, 1822, 3 vols. Small 8vo) are witty Verses, andconsiderable sections of Prose, relating to other persons and objectsnow rather of an obsolete nature. ] Brevity is much due to Hanbury andhis testimonies, since silence in the circumstances is not allowable. Here is one Excerpt, with the necessary light for reading it:--

. . . It is on this Romish-King and other the like chimerical errands, that witty Hanbury, then a much more admirable man than we now find him, is prowling about in the German Courts, off and on, for some tenyears in all, six of them still to come. A sharp-eyed man, of shrewishquality; given to intriguing, to spying, to bribing; anxious to win hisDiplomatic game by every method, though the stake (as here) is oftenestzero: with fatal proclivity to Scandal, and what in London circles hehas heard called Wit. Little or nothing of real laughter in the soulof him, at any time; only a labored continual grin, always of maliciousnature, and much trouble and jerking about, to keep that up. Hadevidently some modicum of real intellect, of capacity for being wise;but now has fatally devoted it nearly all to being witty, on thosepoor terms! A perverse, barren, spiteful little wretch; the grin of himgenerally an affliction, at this date. His Diplomatic Correspondence Ido not know. [Nothing of him is discoverable in the State-PaperOffice. Many of his Papers, it would seem, are in the Earl of Essex'shands;--and might be of some Historical use, not of very much, could theBritish Museum get possession of them. Abundance of BACKSTAIRSHistory, on those Northern Courts, especially on Petersburg, andWarsaw-Dresden, --authentic Court-gossip, generally malicious, oftennot true, but never mendacious on the part of Williams, --is one likelyitem. ] He did a great deal of Diplomatic business, issuing in zero, ofwhich I have sometimes longed to know the exact dates; seldom anythingfarther. His "History of Poland, " transmitted to the Right Hon. Henry Fox, by instalments from Dresden, in 1748, is [See--Hanbury'sWorks, --vol. Iii. ]--Well, I should be obliged to call it worthier ofGoody Two-Shoes than of that Right Hon. Henry, who was a man of parts, but evidently quite a vacuum on the Polish side!

Of Hanbury's News-Letters from Foreign Courts, four or five, incidentally printed, are like the contents of a slop-pail;uncomfortable to the delicate mind. Not lies on the part of Hanbury, but foolish scandal poured into him; a man more filled with credulousincredible scandal, evil rumors, of malfeasances by kings and magnates, than most people known. His rumored mysteries between poor PolishMajesty and pretty Daughter-in-law (the latter a clever and gracefulcreature, Daughter of the late unfortunate Kaiser, and a distinguishedCorrespondent of Friedrich's) are to be regarded as mere poisoned wind. [See--Hanbury's Works, --ii. 209-240. ] That "Polish Majesty gets into hisdressing-gown at two in the afternoon" (inaccessible thenceforth, poorlazy creature), one most readily believes; but there, or pretty muchthere, one's belief has to stop. The stories, in WALPOLE, on the King ofPrussia, have a grain of fact in them, twisted into huge irrecognizablecaricature in the Williams optic-machinery. Much else one can discernto be, in essence, false altogether. Friedrich, who could not stand thatintriguing, spying, shrewish, unfriendly kind of fellow at his Court, applied to England in not many months hence, and got Williams sent away:["22d January, 1751" (MS. LIST in State-Paper Office). ] on to Russia, orI forget whither;--which did not mend the Hanbury optical-machinery onthat side. The dull, tobacco-smoking Saxon-Polish Majesty, about whom heidly retails so many scandals, had never done him any offence. 

On the whole, if anybody wanted a swim in the slop-pails of that extinctgeneration, Hanbury, could he find an Editor to make him legible, mightbe printed. For he really was deep in that slop-pail or extinct-scandaldepartment, and had heard a great many things. Apart from that, inalmost any other department, --except in so far as he seems to DATErather carefully, --I could not recommend him. The Letters and Excerptsgiven in Walpole are definable as one pennyworth of bread, --much ruinedby such immersion, but very harmless otherwise, could you pick itout and clean it, --to twenty gallons of Hanbury sherris-sack, orchamber-slop. I have found nothing that seems to be, in all points, true or probable, but this; worth cutting out, and rendering legible, onother accounts. Hanbury LOQUITUR (in condensed form):

"In the summer of last year, 1749, there was, somewhere in Mahren, agreat Austrian Muster or Review;" all the more interesting, as it wasbelieved, or known, that the Prussian methods and manoeuvres were now tobe the rule for Austria. Not much of a Review otherwise, this of 1749;Empress-Queen and Husband not personally there, as in coming Years theyare wont to be; that high Lady being ardent to reform her Army, root andbranch, according to the Prussian model, --more praise to her. [--MariaTheresiens Leben, --p. 160 (what she did that way, ANNO 1749); p. 162(PRESENT at the Reviews, ANNO 1750). ] "At this Muster in Mahren, ThreePrussian Officers happened to make their appearance, --for severalimaginable reasons, of little significance: 'For the purpose ofinveigling people to desert, and enlist with them!' said the AustrianAuthorities; and ordered the Three Prussian Officers unceremoniously offthe ground. Which Friedrich, when he heard of it, thought an unhandsomepipe-clay procedure, and kept in mind against the Austrian Authorities. 

"Next Summer, " next Spring, 1750, "an Austrian Captain being inMecklenburg, travelling about, met there an old acquaintance, oneChapeau [HAT! can it be possible?], who is in great favor with the Kingof Prussia:"--very well, Excellency Hanbury; but who, in the name ofwonder, can this HAT, or Chapeau, have been? After study, one perceivesthat Hanbury wrote Chazeau, meaning CHASOT, an old acquaintance of ourown! Brilliant, sabring, melodying Chasot, Lieutenant-Colonel of theBaireuth Dragoons; who lies at Treptow, close on Mecklenburg, and isa declared favorite of the Duchess, often running over to the RESIDENZthere. Often enough; but HONI SOIT, O reader; the clever Lady is towardssixty, childless, musical; and her Husband--do readers recollect him atall?--is that collapsed TAILORING Duke whom Friedrich once visited, --andwhose Niece, Half-Niece, is Charlotte, wise little hard-favored creaturenow of six, in clean bib and tucker, Ancestress of England that is tobe; whose Papa will succeed, if the Serene Tailor die first, --which hedid not quite. To this Duchess, musical gallant Chasot may well be aresource, and she to him. Naturally the Austrian Captain, having cometo Mecklenburg, dined with Serene Highness, he and Chasot together, withconcert following, and what not, at the Schloss of Neu-Strelitz:--Andnow we will drop the 'Chapeau, ' and say Chasot, with comfort, and ashade of new interest. 

"'The grand May Review at Berlin just ahead, won't you look in; it isstraight on your road home?' suggests Chasot to his travelling friend. 'One would like it, of all things, ' answered the other: 'but the King?''Tush, ' said Chasot; 'I will make that all straight!' And applies tothe King accordingly: 'Permission to an Austrian Officer, a goodacquaintance of mine. ' 'Austrian Officer?' Friedrich's eyes lighten; andhe readily gives the permission. This was at Berlin, on the very eveof the Review; and Chasot and his Austrian are made happy in that smallmatter. And on the morrow [end of May, 1750], the Austrian attendsaccordingly; but, to his astonishment, has hardly begun to taste themanoeuvres, when--one of Friedrich's Aides-de-Camp gallops up: 'By theKing's command, Mein Herr, you retire on the instant!'

"Next day, the Austrian is for challenging Chasot. 'As you like, thatway, ' answers Chasot; 'but learn first, that on your affront I rodeup to the King; and asked, publicly, Did not your Majesty grant mepermission? Unquestionably, Monsieur Chasot;--and if he had not come, how could I have paid back the Moravian business of last year!'"[Walpole, --George the Second, --i. 457, 459. ]--This is much inFriedrich's way; not the unwelcomer that it includes a satirical twitchon Chasot, whom he truly likes withal, or did like, though now alittle dissatisfied with those too frequent Mecklenburg excursions andextra-military cares. Of this, merely squeezing the Hanbury venom out ofit, I can believe every particular. 

"Did you ever hear of anything so shocking?" is Hanbury's meaning hereand elsewhere. "I must tell you a story of the King of Prussia's regardfor the Law of Nations, " continues he to Walpole? [Ib. I. 458. ] Whichproves to be a story, turned topsy-turvy, of one Hofmann, BrunswickEnvoy, who (quite BEYOND commission, and a thing that must not bethought of at all!) had been detected in dangerous intriguings with theever-busy Russian Excellency, or another; and got flung into Spandau, [Adelung, v. 534; vii. 132-144. ]--seemingly pretty much his due in thematter. And so of other Hanbury things. "What a Prussia; for rigor ofcommand, one huge prison, in a manner!" King intent on punctuality, andall his business upon the square. Society, official and unofficial, kept rather strictly to their tackle; their mode of movement not thatof loose oxen at all! "Such a detestable Tyrant, "--who has ordered ME, Hanbury, else-whither with my exquisite talents and admired wit!--

CANDIDATUS LINSENBARTH (QUASI "Lentil-beard") LIKEWISE VISITS BERLIN. 

By far the notablest arrival in Berlin is M. De Voltaire's July 10th; afew days before Hanbury got his First Audience, "five minutes long. " Butthat arrival will require a Chapter to itself;--most important arrival, that, of all! The least important, again, is probably that of CandidatusLinsenbarth, in these same weeks;--a rugged poverty-strickenold Licentiate of Theology; important to no mortal in Berlin orelsewhere:--upon whom, however, and upon his procedures in that City, wepropose, for our own objects, to bestow a few glances; rugged Narrativeof the thing, in singular exotic dialect, but true every word, having fortunately come to us from Linsenbarth's own hand. [ThroughRodenbeck, --Beitrage, --i. 463 et seq. ]

Berlin, it must be admitted, after all one's reading in poor Dryasdust, remains a dim empty object; Teutschland is dim and empty: and out ofthe forty blind sacks, or out of four hundred such, what picture canany human head form to itself of Friedrich as King or Man? A triflingAdventure of that poor individual, called Linsenbarth CANDIDATUSTHEOLOGIAE, one of the poorest of mortals, but true and credible inevery particular, comes gliding by chance athwart all that; and like theglimmer of a poor rushlight, or kindled straw, shows it us for moments, a thing visible, palpable, as it worked and lived. In the great dearth, Linsenbarth, if I can faithfully interpret him for the modern reader, will be worth attending to. 

Date of Linsenbarth's Adventure is June-August, 1750. "Schloss ofBeichlingen" and "Village of Hemmleben" are in the Thuringen HillCountry (Weimar not far off to eastward): the Hero himself, a tallawkward raw-boned creature, is, for perhaps near forty years past, aCANDIDATUS, say Licentiate, or Curate without Cure. Subsists, I shouldguess, by schoolmastering--cheapest schoolmaster conceivable, wages merenothing--in the Villages about; in the Village of Hemmleben latterly;age, as I discover, grown to be sixty-one, in those straitened but byno means forlorn circumstances. And so, here is veteran Linsenbarth ofHemmleben, a kind of Thuringian Dominie Sampson; whose Interview withsuch a brother mortal as Friedrich King of Prussia may be worth lookingat, --if I can abridge it properly. 

Well, it appears, in the year 1750, at this thrice-obscure Village ofHemmleben, the worthy old pastor Cannabich died;--worthy old man, howhe had lived there, modestly studious, frugal, chiefly onfarm-produce, with tobacco and Dutch theology; a modest blessing tohis fellow-creatures! And now he is dead, and the place vacant. Twenty pounds a Year certain; let us guess it twenty, with glebe-land, piggeries, poultry-hutches: who is now to get all that? Linsenbarthstarts with his Narrative, in earnest. 

Linsenbarth, who I guess may have been Assistant to the deceasedCannabich, and was now out of work, says: "I had not the least thoughtof profiting by this vacancy; but what happened? The Herr Graf vonWerthern, at Schloss Beichlingen, sent his Steward [LEHNSDIRECTOR, FIEF-DIRECTOR is the title of this Steward, which gives rise toobsolete thought of mill-dues, road-labor, payments IN NATURA], hisLehnsdirector, Herr Kettenbeil, over to my LOGIS [cheap boardingquarters]; who brought a gracious salutation from his Lord; sayingfarther, That I knew too well [excellent Cannabich gone from us, alas!] the Pastorate of Hemmleben was vacant; that there had variouscompetitors announced themselves, SUPPLICANDO, for the place; the HerrGraf, however, had yet given none of them the FIAT, but waited alwaystill I should apply. As I had not done so, he (the Lord Graf) wouldnow of his own motion give me the preference, and hereby confer thePastorate upon me!"--

"Without all controversy, here was a VOCATIO DIVINA, to be received withthe most submissive thanks! But the lame second messenger came hitchingin [HALTING MESSENGER, German proverb] very soon. Kettenbeil beganagain: 'He must mention to me SUB ROSA, Her Ladyship the Frau Grafinwanted to have her Lady's-maid provided for by this promotion, too; Imust marry her, and take the living at the same time. '"

Whew! And this is the noble Lady's way of thinking, up in her fineSchloss yonder? Linsenbarth will none of it. "For my notion fell atonce, " says he, "when I heard it was DO UT FACIAS, FACIO UT FACIAS (Igive that thou mayest do, I do that thou mayest do; Wilt have the kirk, then take the irk, WILLST DU DIE PFARRE, SO NIMM DIE QUARRE); on thoseterms, my reply was: 'Most respectful thanks, Herr Fief-judge, and No, for such a vocation! And why? The vocation must have LIBERTATEM, theremust be no VITIUM ESSENTIALE in it; it must be right IN ESSENTIALI, otherwise no honest man can accept it with a good conscience. This werea marriage on constraint; out of which a thousand INCONVENIENTIAE mightspring!'" Hear Linsenbarth, in the piebald dialect, with the soundheart, and preference of starvation itself to some other things!Kettenbeil (CHAIN-AXE) went home; and there was found another Candidatuswilling for the marriage on constraint, "out of which INCONVENIENTIAEmight spring, " in Linsenbarth's opinion. 

"And so did the sneakish courtly gentleman [HOFMANN, courtier asLinsenbarth has it], who grasped with both hands at my rejected offer, experience before long, " continues Linsenbarth. "For the loose thing ofcourt-tatters led him such a life that, within three years, age yet onlythirty, he had to bite the dust" (BITE AT THE GRASS, says Linsenbarth, proverbially), which was an INCONVENIENTIA including all others. "And Ihad LEGITIMAM CAUSAM to refuse the vocation CUM TALI CONDITIONE. 

"However, it was very ill taken of me. All over that Thuringian regionI was cried out upon as a headstrong foolish person: The Herr Graf vonWerthern, so ran the story, had of his own kindness, without request ofmine, offered me a living; RARA AVIS, singular instance; and I, rash andwithout head, flung away such gracious offer. In short, I was told tomy face [by good-natured friends], Nobody would ever think of me forpromotion again;"--universal suffrage giving it clear against poorLinsenbarth, in this way. 

"To get out of people's sight at least, " continues he, "I decided toleave my native place, and go to Berlin, " 250 miles away or more. "Andso it was that, on June the 20th, 1750, I landed at Berlin for thefirst time: and here straightway at the PACKHOF (or Custom-house), insearching of my things, 400 THALERS (some 60 pounds), all in NurnbergBATZEN, were seized from me;"--BATZEN, quarter-groats we may say; 7and a half batzen go to a shilling; what a sack there must have beenof them, 9, 000 in all, about the size of herring-scales, in bad silver;fruit of Linsenbarth's stern thrift from birth upwards:--all snatchedfrom him at one swoop. "And why?" says he, quite historically: Yes, Why? The reader, to understand it wholly, would need to readin Mylius's--Edicten-Sammlung, --in SEYFARTH and elsewhere;[Mylius, --Edict--xli. , January, 1744, &c. &c. ] and to know thescandalous condition of German coinage at this time and long after;every needy little Potentate mixing his coin with copper at discretion, and swindling mankind with it for a season; needing to be peremptorilyforbidden, confiscated or ordered home, by the like of Friedrich. Linsenbarth answers his own "And why?" with historical calmness:--

"The king had, some (six) years ago, had the batzen utterly cried down(GANZ UND GAR); they were not to circulate at all in his Countries;and I was so bold, I had brought batzen hither into the King's Capital, KONIGLICHE RESIDENZ itself! At the Packhof, there was but one answer, 'Contraband, Contraband!'"--Here was a welcome for a man. "I made myexcuses: Did not the least know; came straight from Thuringen, manymiles of road; could not guess there What His Majesty the King had beenpleased to forbid in His (THEIRO) Countries. 'You should haveinformed yourself, ' said the Packhof people; and were deaf to suchconsiderations. 'A man coming into such a Residenz Town as Berlin, withintent to abide there, should have inquired a little what was what, especially what coins were cried down, and what allowed, ' said they ofthe Packhof. " Poor Linsenbarth!"'But what am I to do now? How am I tolive, if you take my very money from me?' 'That is your outlook, 'said they;--and added, He must even find stowage for his stack ofherring-scales or batzen, as soon as it was sealed up; 'we have no roomfor it in the Packhof!'" for a man: Here is a roughish welcome "I mustleave all my money here; and find stowage for it, in a day or two. 

"There was, accordingly, a truck-porter called in; he loaded my effectson his barrow, and rolled away. He brought me to the WHITE SWAN in theJUDENSTRASSE [none of the grandest of streets, that Berlin JEWRY], threwmy things out, and demanded four groschen. Two of my batzen" 2 and ahalf exact, "would have done; but I had no money at all. The landlordcame out: seeing that I had a stuffed feather-bed [note the luggage ofLinsenbarth: "FEDER-BETT, " of extreme tenuity], a trunk full of linens, a bag of Books and other trifles, he paid the man; and sent me to asmall room in the court-yard [Inn forms a Court, perhaps four storieshigh]: 'I could stay there, ' he said; 'he would give me food and drinkin the meanwhile. ' And so I lived in this Inn eight weeks long, withoutone red farthing, in mere fear and anxiety. " June 20th PLUS eight weeksbrings us to August 15th; Voltaire in HEIGHT of feather; and very greatthings just ahead! ["Grand Carrousel, 25th August;" &c. ]--of which soon. 

The White Swan was a place where Carriers lodged: some limb of the Law, of Subaltern sort, whom Linsenbarth calls "DER ADVOCAT B. " (one of theOusted of Cocceji, shall we fancy!), had to do with Carriers and theirpie-powder lawsuits. Advocat B. Had noticed the gray dreary CANDIDATUS, sitting sparrow-like in remote corners; had spoken to him;--undertookfor a LOUIS D'OR, no purchase no pay, to get back his batzen forhim. They went accordingly, one morning, to "a grand House;" it wasa Minister's (name not given), very grand Official Man: he heard theAdvocat B. 's short statement; and made answer: "Monsieur, and is ityou that will pick holes in the King's Law? I have understood you wererather aiming at the HAUSVOGTEI [Common Jail of Berlin]: Go on in thatway, and you are sure of your promotion!"--Advocat B. Rushed out withLinsenbarth into the street; and there was neither pay nor purchase inthat quarter. 

Poor Linsenbarth was next advised, by simple neighbors, to go direct tothe King; as every poor man can, at certain hours of the day. "Write outyour Case (Memorial) with extreme brevity, " said they; "nothing butthe essential points, and those clear. " Linsenbarth, steam at thehigh-pressure, composed (CONZIPIRTE) a Memorial of that right laconicsort; wrote it fair (MUNDIRTE ES);--and went off therewith "at openingof the Gates (middle time of August, 1750, no date farther), [August21st? (See Rodenbeck, DIARY, which we often quote, i. 205. )]--withoutone farthing in my pocket, in God's name, to Potsdam. " He continues:--

"And at Potsdam I was lucky enough to see the King; my first sight ofhim. He was on the Palace Esplanade there, drilling his troops [finetrim sanded Expanse, with the Palace to rear, and Garden-walks and Riverto front; where Friedrich Wilhelm sat, the last day he was out, andordered Jockey Philips's house to be actually set about; where thetroops do evolutions every morning;--there is Friedrich with cocked-hatand blue coat; say about 11 A. M. ]. 

"When the drill was over, his Majesty went into the Garden, and thesoldiers dispersed; only four Officers remained lounging upon theEsplanade, and walked up and down. For fright I knew not what to do;I pulled the Papers out of my pocket, --these were my Memorial, twoCertificates of character, and a Thuringen Pass [poor soul]. TheOfficers noticed this; came straight to me, and said, 'What letters hasHe there, then?' I thankfully and gladly imparted the whole; and whenthe Officers had read them, they said, 'We will give you [Him, not evenTHEE] a good advice, The King is extra-gracious to-day, and is gonealone into the Garden. Follow him straight. Thou wilt have luck. '

"This I would not do; my awe was too great. They thereupon laid handson me [the mischievous dogs, not ill-humored either]: one took me by theright arm, another by the left, 'Off, off; to the Garden!' Having gotme thither, they looked out for the King. He was among the gardeners, examining some rare plant; stooping over it, and had his back to us. Here I had to halt; and the Officers began, in underhand tone [thedogs!], to put me through my drill: 'Hat under left arm!--Right footforemost!--Breast well forward!--Head up!--Papers from pouch!--Papersaloft in right hand!--Steady! Steady!'--And went their ways, lookingalways round, to see if I kept my posture. I perceived well enough theywere pleased to make game of me; but I stood, all the same, like a wall, being full of fear. The Officers were hardly out of the Garden, whenthe King turned round, and saw this extraordinary machine, "--telegraphfigure or whatever we may call it, with papers pointing to the sky. "Hegave such a look at me, like a flash of sunbeams glancing through you;and sent one of the gardeners to bring my papers. Which having got, hestruck into another walk with them, and was out of sight. In few minuteshe appeared again at the place where the rare plant was, with my Papersopen in his left hand; and gave me a wave with them To come nearer. Iplucked up a heart, and went straight towards him. Oh, how thrice andfour-times graciously this great Monarch deigned to speak to me!--

KING. "'My good Thuringian (LIEBER THURINGER), you came to Berlin, seeking to earn your bread by industrious teaching of children; andhere, at the Packhof, in searching your things, they have taken yourThuringen hoard from you. True, the batzen are not legal here; but thepeople should have said to you: You are a stranger, and did n't know theprohibition;--well then, we will seal up the Bag of Batzen; you send itback to Thuringen, get it changed for other sorts; we will not take itfrom you!--

"'Be of heart, however; you shall have your money again, and interesttoo. --But, my poor man, Berlin pavement is bare, they don't giveanything gratis: you are a stranger; before you are known and getteaching, your bit of money is done; what then?'

"I understood the speech right well; but my awe was too great to say:'Your Majesty will have the all-highest grace to allow me something!'But as I was so simple and asked for nothing, he did not offer anything. And so he turned away; but had scarcely gone six or eight steps, whenhe looked round, and gave me a sign I was to walk by him; and then begancatechising:--

KING. "'Where did you (ER) study?'

LINSENBARTH. "'Your Majesty, in Jena. '

KING. "'What years?'

LINSENBARTH. "'From 1716 to 1720. ' ["Born 1689" (Rodenbeck, p. 474);twenty-five when he went. ]

KING. "'Under what Pro-rector were you inscribed?'

LINSENBARTH. "'Under the PROFESSOR THEOLOGIAE Dr. Fortsch. '

KING. "'Who were your other Professors in the Theological Faculty?'"

LINSENBARTH--names famed men; sunk now, mostly, in the bottomlesswaste-basket: "Buddaus" (who did a DICTIONARY of the BAYLE sort, weighing four stone troy, out of which I have learned many a thing), "Buddaeus, " "Danz, " "Weissenborn, " "Wolf" (now back at Halle after histribulations, --poor man, his immortal System of Philosophy, where isit!). 

KING. "'Did you study BIBLICA diligently?'

LINSENBARTH. "'With Buddaeus (BEYM BUDDAO). '

KING. "'That is he who had such quarrelling with Wolf?'

LINSENBARTH. "'Yea, your Majesty! He was--'

KING (does not want to know what he was). "'What other useful Courses ofLectures (COLLEGIA) did you attend?'

LINSENBARTH. "'Thetics and Exegetics with Fortsch [How the deuce didFortsch teach these things?]; Hermeneutics and Polemics with Walch[editor of--Luther's Works, --I suppose]; Hebraics with Dr. Danz;Homiletics with Dr. Weissenborn; PASTORALE [not Pastoral Poetry, butthe Art of Pastorship] and MORALE with Dr. Buddaeus. ' [There, yourMajesty!--what a glimpse, as into infinite extinct Continents, filledwith ponderous thorny inanities, invincible nasal drawling of didacticTitans, and the awful attempt to spin, on all manner of wheels, road-harness out of split cobwebs: Hoom! Hoom-m-m! Harness not to be hadon those terms. Let the dreary Limbus close again, till the general Dayof Judgment for all this. ]

KING (glad to get out of the Limbus). "'Were things as wild then atJena, in your time, as of old, when the Students were foreverscuffling and ruffling, and the Couplet went:--

 --"Wer kommt von Jena ungeschlagen, Der hat von grossen Gluck zu sagen. -- "He that comes from Jena SINE BELLO, He may think himself a lucky fellow"?'

LINSENBARTH. "'That sort of folly is gone quite out of fashion; anda man can lead a silent and quiet life there, just as at otherUniversities, if he will attend to the DIC, CURHIC? [or know what hisreal errand is]. In my time their Serene Highnesses, the Nursing-fathersof the University (NUTRITORES ACADEMIAE), --of the Ernestine Line[Weimar-Gotha Highnesses, that is], were in the habit of having theRufflers (RENOMISTEN), Renowners as they are called, who made so muchdisturbance, sent to Eisenach to lie in the Wartburg a while; there theylearned to be quiet. ' [Clock strikes Twelve, --dinner-time of Majesty. ]

KING. "'Now I must go: they are waiting for their soup'" (and so endsDialogue for the present). 'Did the King bid me wait?

"When we got out of the Garden, " says Linsenbarth, silent on this point, "the four Officers were still there upon the Esplanade [Captains ofGuard belike]; they went into the Palace with the King, "--clearlymeaning to dine with his Majesty. 

"I remained standing on the Esplanade. For twenty-seven hours I had nottasted food: not a farthing IN BONIS [of principal or interest] toget bread with; I had waded twenty miles hither, in a sultry morning, through the sand. Not a difficult thing to keep down laughter in suchcircumstances!"--Poor soul; but the Royal mind is human too. --"In thistremor of my heart, there came a KAMMER-HUSSAR [Soldier-Valet, Valetreduced to his simplest expression] out of the Palace, and asked, 'Whereis the man that was with my King (MEINEM KONIG, --THY King particularly?)in the Garden?' I answered, 'Here!' And he led me into the Schloss, toa large Room, where pages, lackeys, and Kammer-hussars were about. MyKammer-hussar took me to a little table, excellently furnished; withsoup, beef; likewise carp dressed with garden-salad, likewise game withcucumber-salad: bread, knife, fork, spoon and salt were all there [and Iwith an appetite of twenty-seven hours; I too was there]. My hussar setme a chair, said: 'This that is on the table, the King has ordered to beserved for you (IHM): you are to eat your fill, and mind nobody; and Iam to serve. Sharp, then, fall to!'--I was greatly astonished, and knewnot what to do; least of all could it come into my head that the King'sKammer-hussar, who waited on his Majesty, should wait on me. I pressedhim to sit by me; but as he refused, I did as bidden; sat down, took myspoon, and went at it with a will (FRISCH)!

"The hussar took the beef from the table, set it on the charcoal dish(to keep it hot till wanted); he did the like with the fish androast game; and poured me out wine and beer--[was ever such a luckyBarmecide!] I ate and drank till I had abundantly enough. Dessert, confectionery, what I could, --a plateful of big black cherries, and aplateful of pears, my waiting-man wrapped in paper and stuffed them intomy pockets, to be a refreshment on the way home. And so I rose from theRoyal table; and thanked God and the King in my heart, that I had sogloriously dined, "--HERRLICH, "gloriously" at last. Poor excellentdown-trodden Linsenbarth, one's heart opens to him, not one's larderonly. 

"The hussar took away. At that moment a Secretary came; brought me asealed Order (Rescript) to the Packhof at Berlin, with my Certificates(TESTIMONIA), and the Pass; told down on the table five Tail-ducats(SCHWANZ-DUKATEN), and a Gold Friedrich under them [about 3 pounds 10s. , I think; better than 10 pounds of our day to a common man, and betterthan 100 pounds to a Linsenbarth], --saying, The King sent me this totake me home to Berlin again. 

"And if the hussar took me into the Palace, it was now the Secretarythat took me out again. And there, yoked with six horses, stood a royalProviant-wagon; which having led me to, the Secretary said: 'You people, the King has given order you are to take this stranger to Berlin, andalso to accept no drink-money from him. ' I again, through the HERRNSECRETARIUM, testified my most submissive thankfulness for all Royalgraciousnesses; took my place, and rolled away. 

"On reaching Berlin, I went at once to the Packhof, straight to theoffice-room, "--standing more erect this time, --"and handed them my RoyalRescript. The Head man opened the seal; in reading, he changed color, went from pale to red; said nothing, and gave it to the second man toread. The second put on his spectacles; read, and gave it to the third. However, he [the Head man] rallied himself at last: I was to comeforward, and be so good as write a quittance (receipt), 'That I hadreceived, for my 400 thalers all in Batzen, the same sum in Brandenburgcoin, ready down, without the least deduction. ' My cash was at onceaccurately paid. And thereupon the Steward was ordered, To go with me tothe White Swan in the Judenstrasse, and pay what I owed there, whatevermy score was. For which end they gave him twenty-four thalers; and ifthat were not enough, he was to come and get more. " On these high termsLinsenbarth marched out of the Packhof for the second time; the sublimehead of him (not turned either) sweeping the very stars. 

"That was what the King had meant when he said, "You shall have yourmoney back and interest too:' VIDELICET, that the Packhof was to pay myexpenses at the White Swan. The score, however, was only 10 thaler, '4 groschen, 6 pfennigs [30 shillings, 5 pence, and 2 or perhaps3 quarter-farthings], for what I had run up in eight weeks, "--anuncommonly frugal rate of board, for a man skilled in Hermeneutics, Hebraics, Polemics, Thetica, Exegetics, Pastorale, Morale (and PracticalChristianity and the Philosophy of Zeno, carried to perfection, ornearly so)!"And herewith this troubled History had its desired finish. "And our gray-whiskered, raw-boned, great-hearted Candidatus lay down tosleep, at the White Swan; probably the happiest man in all Berlin, forthe time being. 

Linsenbarth dived now into Private-teaching, "INFORMATION, " as he callsit; forming, and kneading into his own likeness, such of the youngBerliners as he could get hold of:--surely not without some good effecton them, the model having, besides Hermeneutics in abundance, so muchnatural worth about it. He himself found the mine of Informing a verybarren one, as to money: continued poor in a high degree, without honor, without emolument to speak of; and had a straitened, laborious, and whatwe might think very dark Life-pilgrimage. But the darkness was nothingto him, he carried such an inextinguishable frugal rushlight within. Meat, clothes and fire he did not again lack, in Berlin, for the timehe needed them, --some twenty-seven years still. And if he got no printedpraise in the Reviews, from baddish judges writing by the sheet, --hereand there brother mortals, who knew him by their own eyes andexperiences, looked, or transiently spoke, and even did, a most realpraise upon him now and then. And, on the whole, he can do withoutpraise; and will stand strokes even without wincing or kicking, wherethere is no chance. 

A certain Berlin Druggist ("Herr Medicinal-Assessor Rose, " whom we maycall Druggist First, for there were Two that had to do with Linsenbarth)was good and human to him. In Rose's House, where he had come to teachthe children, and which continued, always thenceforth, a home to himwhen needful, he wrote this NARRATIVE (Anno 1774); and died there, threeyears afterwards, --"24th August, 1777, of apoplexy, age 88, " say theBurial Registers. [In Rodenbeck, --Beitrage, --i. 472-475, these latterDetails (with others, in confused form); IB. 462-471, the NARRATIVEitself. ] Druggist Second, on succeeding the humane Predecessor, foundLinsenbarth's papers in the drug-stores of the place: Druggist Secondchanced to be one Klaproth, famed among the Scientific of the world; andby him the Linsenbarth Narrative was forwarded to publication, and suchfame as is requisite. 

SIR JONAS HANWAY STALKS ACROSS THE SCENE, TOO; IN A PONDERING ANDOBSERVING MANNER. 

Of the then very famous "Berlin Carrousel of 1750" we propose to saylittle; the now chief interesting point in it being that M. De Voltaireis curiously visible to us there. But the truth is, they were very greatdays at Berlin, those of Autumn, 1750; distinguished strangers comeor coming; the King giving himself up to entertainment of them, toenjoyment of them; with such a hearty outburst of magnificence, thisCarrousel the apex of it, as was rare in his reign. There were hisSisters of Schwedt and Baireuth, with suite, his dear Wilhelmina queenof the scene; ["Came 8th August" (Rodenbeck, 205). ] there were--Itwould be tedious to count what other high Herrschaften and DurchlauchtigPersons. And to crown the whole, and entertain Wilhelmina as a Queenshould be, there had come M. De Voltaire; conquered at length to us, aswe hope, and the Dream of our Youth realized. Voltaire's reception, July 10th and ever since, has been mere splendor and kindness; reallyextraordinary, as we shall find farther on. Reception perfect in allpoints, except that of the Pompadour's Compliments alone. "That sublimecreature's compliments to your Majesty; such her express command!"said Voltaire. "JE NE LA CONNAIS PAS, " answered Friedrich, with hisclear-ringing voice, "I don't know her;" [Voltaire to Madame Denis, "Potsdam, 11th August, 1750" (--OEuvres, --lxxiv. 184). ]--sufficientintimation to Voltaire, but painful and surprising. For which somediplomatic persons blame Friedrich to this day; but not I, or any readerof mine. A very proud young King; in his silent way, always the prouder;and stands in no awe of the Divine Butterflies and Crowned Infatuationsnever so potent, as more prudent people do. 

In a Berlin of such stir and splendor, the arrivals of Sir Jonas Hanway, of the "young Lord Malton" (famed Earl or Marquis of Rockingham thatwill be), or of the witty Excellency Hanbury, are as nothing;--SirJonas's as less than nothing. A Sir Jonas noticed by nobody; but himselftaking note, dull worthy man; and mentionable now on that account. Hereis a Scrap regarding him, not quite to be thrown away:

"Sir Jonas Hanway was not always so extinct as he has now become. Readers might do worse than turn to his now old Book of TRAVELS again, and the strange old London it awakens for us: A 'Russian TradingCompany, ' full of hope to the then mercantile mind; a Mr. Hanwaydespatched, years ago, as Chief Clerk, inexpressibly interested tomanage well;--and managing, as you may read at large. Has done his bestand utmost, all this while; and had such travellings through theNaphtha Countries, sailings on the Caspian; such difficulties, successes, --ultimately, failure. Owing to Mr. Elton and Thamas KouliKhan mainly. Thamas Kouli Khan--otherwise called Nadir Shah (and a veryhard-headed fellow, by all appearance)--wiled and seduced Mr. Elton, anEx-Naval gentleman, away from his Ledgers, to build him Ships; havingset his heart on getting a Navy. And Mr. Elton did build him (spite ofall I could say) a Bark or two on the Caspian;--most hopeful to the saidNadir Shah; but did it come to anything? It disgusted, it alarmedthe Russians; and ruined Sir Jonas, --who is returning at this period, prepared to render account of himself at London, in a loftily resignedframe of mind. [Jonas Hanway, --An Account of &c. --(or in brief, TRAVELS:London, 3 vols. 4to, 1753), ii. 183. "Arrived in Berlin, " from theCaspian and Petersburg side, "August 15th, 1750. "]

"The remarks of Sir Jonas upon Berlin--for he exercises everywhere asapient observation on men and things--are of dim tumidly insignificantcharacter, reminding us of an extinct Minerva's Owl; and reducethemselves mainly to this bit of ocular testimony, That his PrussianMajesty rides much about, often at a rapid rate; with a pleasantbusiness aspect, humane though imperative; handsome to look upon, thoughwith face perceptibly reddish [and perhaps snuff on it, were you near]. His age now thirty-eight gone; a set appearance, as if already got intohis forties. Complexion florid, figure muscular, almost tending to beplump. 

"Listen well through Hanway, you will find King Friedrich is an objectof great interest, personal as well as official, and much the theme inBerlin society; admiration of him, pride in him, not now the audiblesttone, though it lies at the bottom too: 'Our Friedrich the Great, ' afterall [so Hanway intimates, though not express as to epithets or wordsused]. The King did a beautiful thing to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith theother day [as some readers may remember]: to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith;that poor Keith who was nailed to the gallows for him (in effigy), atWesel long ago; and got far less than he had expected. The otherday, there had been a grand Review, part of it extending into MadamKnyphausen's grounds, who is Keith's Mother-in-law. 'Monsieur Keith, 'said the King to him, 'I am sorry we had to spoil Madam's fineshrubbery by our manoeuvres: have the goodness to give her that, with myapologies, '--and handed him a pretty Casket with key to it, and in theinterior 10, 000 crowns. Not a shrub of Madam's had been cut or injured;but the King, you see, would count it 1, 500 pounds of damage done, and here is acknowledgment for it, which please accept. Is not that agracious little touch?

"This King is doing something at Embden, Sir Jonas fears, or trying todo, in the Trade-and-Navigation way; scandalous that English capitalistswill lend money in furtherance of such destructive schemes by theForeigner! For the rest, Sir Jonas went to call on Lord Malton (Marquisof Rockingham that will be): an amiable and sober young Nobleman, come thus far on his Grand Tour, " and in time for the Carrousel. "HisLordship's reception at Court here, one regretted to hear, was nothingdistinguished; quite indifferent, indeed, had not the Queen-Mother steptin with amendments. The Courts are not well together; pity for it. MyLord and his Tutor did me the honor to return my visit; the rather aswe all quartered in the same Inn. Amiable young Nobleman, "--sodistinguished since, for having had unconsciously an Edmund Burke, and such torrents of Parliamentary Eloquence, in his breeches-pocket(BREECHES-POCKET literally; how unknown to Hanway!)--"Amiable youngNobleman, is not it one's duty to salute, in passing such a one? ThoughI would by no means have it over-done, and am a calmly independent man. 

"Sir Jonas also saw the Carrousel [of which presently]; and admired thegreat men of Berlin. Great men, all obsolete now, though then admiredto infinitude, some of them: 'You may abuse me, ' said the King to somestranger arrived in Berlin; 'you may abuse me, and perhaps hereand there get praise by doing it: but I advise you not to doubt ofLieberkuhn [the fashionable Doctor] in any company in Berlin, '" [Hanway, ii. 190, 202, &c. ]--How fashionable are men!

One Collini, a young Italian, quite new in Berlin, chanced also to be atthe Carrousel, or at the latter half of it, --though by no means inquest of such objects just at present, poor young fellow! As he cameafterwards to be Secretary or Amanuensis of Voltaire, and will turn upin that capacity, let us read this Note upon him:--

"Signor Como Alessandro Collini, a young Venetian gentleman of somefamily and education, but of no employment or resource, had in lateyears been asking zealously all round among his home circle, What am Ito do with myself? mere echo answering, What, --till a Signora Sisterof Barberina the Dancer's answered: 'Try Berlin, and King FRIDERICO ILGRANDE there? I could give you a letter to my Sister!' At which Collinigrasps; gets under way for Berlin, --through wild Alpine sceneries, foreign guttural populations; and with what thoughts, poor young fellow. It is a common course to take, and sometimes answers, sometimes not. Thecynosure of vague creatures, with a sense of faculty without direction. What clouds of winged migratory people gathering in to Berlin, allthrough this Reign. Not since Noah's Ark a stranger menagerie ofcreatures, mostly wild. Of whom Voltaire alone is, in our time, worthmention. 

"Collini gazed upon the Alpine chasms, and shaggy ice-palaces, withtender memory of the Adriatic; courageously steered his way through theinoffensive guttural populations; had got to Berlin, just in this time;been had to dinner daily by the hospitable Barberinas, young Coccejialways his fellow-guest, --'Privately, my poor Signorina's Husband!'whispered old Mamma. Both the Barberinas were very kind to Collini;cheering him with good auguries, and offers of help. Collini does notdate with any punctuality; but the German Books will do it for him. August 25th-27th was Carrousel; and Collini had arrived few daysbefore. " [Collini, --Mon Sejour aupres de Voltaire--(Paris, 1807), pp. 1-21. ]

And now it is time we were at the Carrousel ourselves, --in a brieftransient way. 

Chapter VI. --BERLIN CARROUSEL, AND VOLTAIRE VISIBLE THERE. 

Readers have heard of the PLACE DU CARROUSEL at Paris; and know probablythat Louis XIV. Held world-famous Carrousel there (A. D. 1662); and, in general, that Carrousel has something to do with Tourneying, orthe Shadow of Tourneying. It is, in fact, a kind of superb be-tailoredrunning at the ring, instead of be-blacksmithed running at one another. A Second milder Edition of those Tournament sports, and dangerous trialsof strength and dexterity, which were so grand a business in the Oldiron Ages. Of which, in the form of Carrousel or otherwise, downalmost to the present day, there have been examples, among puissantLords;--though now it is felt to have become extremely hollow; perhapsincapable of fully entertaining anybody, except children and theirnurses on a high occasion. 

A century ago, before the volcanic explosion of so many things whichit has since become wearisome to think of in this earnest world, theTournament, emblem of an Age of Chivalry, which was gone: but had notyet declared itself to be quite gone, and even to be turned topsy-turvy, had still substance as a mummery, --not enough, I should say, to spendmuch money upon. Not much real money: except, indeed, the money wereoffered you gratis, from other parties interested? Sir Jonas kindlyinforms us, by insinuation, that this was, to a good degree, Friedrich'scase in the now Carrousel: "a thing got up by the private efforts ofdifferent great Lords and Princes of the blood;" each party tailoring, harnessing and furbishing himself and followers; Friedrich contributinglittle but the arena and general outfit. I know not whether even the40, 000 lamps (for it took place by night) were of his purchase, thoughthat is likely; and know only that the Suppers and interior PalaceEntertainments would be his. "Did not cost the King much money, " saysSir Jonas; which is satisfactory to know. For of the Carrousel kind, or of the Royal-Mummery kind in general, there has been, for gracefularrangement, for magnificence regardless of expense, --inviting youramiable Lord Malton, and the idlers of all Countries, and awakening therapture of Gazetteers, --nothing like it since Louis the Grand's time. Nothing, --except perhaps that Camp of Muhlberg or Radowitz, where weonce were. Done, this one, not at the King's expense alone, but at otherpeople's chiefly: that is an unexpected feature, welcome if true; and, except for Sir Jonas, would not have helped to explain the puzzlefor us, as it did in the then Berlin circles. Muhlberg, in my humblejudgment, was worth two of this as a Mummery;--but the meritoriousfeature of Friedrich's is, that it cost him very little. 

It was, say all Gazetteers and idle eye-witnesses, a highly splendidspectacle. By much the most effulgent exhibition Friedrich ever made ofhimself in the Expensive-Mummery department: and I could give in extremedetail the phenomena of it; but, in mercy to poor readers, will not. Fancy the assiduous hammering and sawing on the Schloss-Platz, amidcrowds of gay loungers, giving cheerful note of preparation, in thoselatter days of August, 1750. And, on WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 25th AUGUST, look and see, --for the due moments only, and vaguely enough (as in thefollowing Excerpt):--

PALACE-ESPLANADE OF BERLIN, 25th AUGUST, 1750 (dusk sinking into dark):"Under a windy nocturnal sky, a spacious Parallelogram, enclosed forjousting as at Aspramont or Trebisond. Wide enough arena in the centre;vast amphitheatre of wooden seats and passages, firm carpentry andfitted for its business, rising all round; Audience, select thoughmultitudinous, sitting decorous and garrulous, say since half-pasteight. There is royal box on the ground-tier; and the King in it, King, with Princess Amelia for the prizes: opposite to this is entrance forthe Chevaliers, --four separate entrances, I think. Who come, --lo, atlast!--with breathings and big swells of music, as Resuscitations fromthe buried Ages. 

"They are in four 'Quadrilles, ' so termed: Romans, Persians, Carthaginians, Greeks. Four Jousting Parties, headed each by a Princeof the Blood:--with such a splendor of equipment for jewels, silverhelmets, sashings, housings, as eye never saw. Prancing on theirglorious battle-steeds (sham-battle, steeds not sham, but champing theirbits as real quadrupeds with fire in their interior):--how many in all, I forgot to count. Perhaps, on the average, sixty in each Quadrille, fifteen of them practical Ritters; the rest mythologic wingedstandard-bearers, blackamoors, lictors, trumpeters and shining melodiousphantasms as escort, --of this latter kind say in round numbers TwoHundred altogether; and of actual Ritters threescore. [Blumenthal, --Lifeof De Ziethen--(Ziethen was in it, and gained a prize), i. 257-263 etseq. ; Voltaire's LETTERS to Niece Denis (--OEuvres, --lxxiv. 174, 179, 198);--and two contemporary 4tos on the subject, with Drawings &c. , which may well continue unknown to every reader. ] Who run at rings, atTurks' heads, and at other objects with death-doing lance; and pranceand flash and career along: glorious to see and hear. Under proudflourishings of drums and trumpets, under bursts and breathings ofwind-music; under the shine of Forty Thousand Lamps, for one item. AllBerlin and the nocturnal firmament looking on, --night rather gusty, 'which blew out many of the lamps, ' insinuates Hanway. 

"About midnight, Beauty in the form of Princess Amelia distributes theprizes; Music filling the air; and human 'EUGE'S, ' and the survivinglamps, doing their best. After which the Principalities and Ritterswithdraw to their Palace, to their Balls and their Supper of the gods;and all the world and his wife goes home again, amid various commentaryfrom high and low. 'JAMAIS, Never, ' murmured one high Gentleman, of theImpromptu kind, at the Palace Supper-table:--

 --'Jamais dans Athene et dans Rome On n'eut de plus beaux jours, ni de plus digne prix. J'ai vu le fils de Mars sous les traits de Paris, Et Venus qui donnait la pomme. '"--

["Never in Athens or Rome were there braver sights or a worthier prize:I have seen the son of Mars [King Friedrich] with Paris's features, andVenus [Amelia] crowning the victorious. " (--OEuvres de Voltaire, --xviii. 320. )]

And Amphitheatre and Lamps lapse wholly into darkness, and the thing hasfinished, for the time being. August 27th, it was repeated by daylight:if possible, more charming than ever; but not to be spoken of farther, under penalties. To be mildly forgotten again, every jot and tittleof it, --except one small insignificant iota, which, by accident, stillmakes it remarkable. Namely, that Collini and the Barberinas werethere; and that not only was Voltaire again there, among the Princes andPrincesses; but that Collini saw Voltaire, and gives us transientsight of him, --thanks to Collini. Thursday, 27th August, 1750, was theDaylight version of the Carrousel; which Collini, if it were of anymoment, takes to have PRECEDED that of the 40, 000 Lamps. Sure enoughCollini was there, with eyes open:--

"Madame de Cocceji [so one may call her, though the known alias isBarberina] had engaged places; she invited me to come and see thisFestivity. We went;" and very grand it was. "The Palace-Esplanade waschanged" by carpentries and draperies "into a vast Amphitheatre; theslopes of it furnished with benches for the spectators, and at the fourcorners of it and at the bottom, magnificently decorated boxes for theCourt. " Vast oval Amphitheatre, the interior arena rectangular, with itsFour Entrances, one for each of the Four Quadrilles. "The assemblage wasnumerous and brilliant: all the Court had come from Potsdam to Berlin. 

"A little while before the King himself made appearance, there rosesuddenly a murmur of admiration, and I heard all round me, fromeverybody, the name 'Voltaire! Voltaire!' Looking down, I saw Voltaireaccordingly; among a group of great lords, who were walking over theArena, towards one of the Court Boxes. He wore a modest countenance, but joy painted itself in his eyes: you cannot love glory, and not feelgratefully the prize attached to it, "--attained as here. "I lost sightof him in few instants, " as he approached his Box "the place where I wasnot permitting farther view. " [Collini, --Mon Sejour, --p. 21. ]

This was Collini's first sight of that great man (DE CE GRAND HOMME). With whom, thanks to Barberina, he had, in a day or two, the honor of anInterview (judgment favorable, he could hope); and before many months, Accident also favoring, the inexpressible honor of seeing himself thegreat man's Secretary, --how far beyond hope or aspiration, in theseCarrousel days!

Voltaire had now been here some Seven Weeks, --arrived 10th July, aswe often note;--after (on his own part) a great deal of haggling, hesitating and negotiating; which we spare our readers. The poor manhaving now become a Quasi-Widower; painfully rallying, with his wholestrength, towards new arrangements, --now was the time for Friedrich tourge him: "Come to me! Away from all that dismal imbroglio; hither, Isay!" To which Voltaire is not inattentive; though he hesitates; cannot, in any case, come without delay;--lingers in Paris, readjusting manythings, the poor shipwrecked being, among kind D'Argentals and friends. Poor Ishmael, getting gray; and his tent in the desert suddenly carriedoff by a blast of wind!

To the legal Widower, M. Le Marquis, he behaves in money matters likea Prince; takes that Paris Domicile, in the Rue Traversiere, all tohimself; institutes a new household there, --Niece Denis to be femalepresident. Niece Denis, widow without encumbrances; whom in her marriedstate, wife to some kind of Commissariat-Officer at Lille, we have seentransiently in that City, her Uncle lodging with her as he passed. Agadding, flaunting, unreasonable, would-be fashionable female--(a DuChatelet without the grace or genius, and who never was in love withyou!)--with whom poor Uncle had a baddish life in time coming. All whichsettled, he still lingers. Widowed, grown old and less adventurous!'That House in the Rue Traversiere, once his and Another's, now hisalone, --for the time being, it is probably more like a Mausoleum thana House to him. And Versailles, with its sulky Trajans, its Crebilloncabals, what charm is in Versailles? He thinks of going to Italy for awhile; has never seen that fine Country: of going to Berlin for a while:of going to--In fact, Berlin is clearly the place where he will land;but he hesitates greatly about lifting anchor. Friedrich insists, in abright, bantering, kindly way; "You were due to me a year ago; you saidalways, 'So soon as the lying-in is over, I am yours:'--and now, whydon't you come?"

Friedrich, since they met last, has had some experiences of Voltaire, which he does not like. Their roads, truly--one adulating Trajanin Versailles, and growing great by "Farces of the Fair;" the otherbattling for his existence against men and devils, Trajan and Companyincluded--have lain far apart. Their Correspondence perceptiblylanguishing, in consequence, and even rumors rising on the subject, Voltaire wrote once: "Give me a yard of ribbon, Sire [your ORDER OFMERIT, Sire], to silence those vile rumors!" Which Friedrich, on suchfree-and-easy terms, had silently declined. "A meddlesome, forward kindof fellow; always getting into scrapes and brabbles!" thinks Friedrich. But is really anxious, now that the chance offers again, to have sucha Levite for his Priest, the evident pink of Human Intellect; and triesvarious incitements upon him;--hits at last (I know not whether bydevice or by accident) on one which, say the French Biographers, didraise Voltaire and set him under way. 

A certain M. Baculard d'Arnaud, a conceited, foolish young fellow, muchpatronized by Voltaire, and given to write verses, which are unknown tome, has been, on Voltaire's recommending, "Literary Correspondent"to Friedrich (Paris Book-Agent and the like) for some time past;corresponding much with Potsdam, in a way found entertaining; and is now(April, 1750) actually going thither, to Friedrich's Court, or perhapshas gone. At any rate, Friedrich--by accident or by device--had answeredsome rhymes of this D'Arnaud, "Yes; welcome, young sunrise, sinceVoltaire is about to set!" [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xiv. 95 (Verses "AD'ARNAUD, " of date December, 1749. )] I hope it was by device; D'Arnaudis such a silly fellow; too absurd, to reckon as morning to anybody'ssunset. Except for his involuntary service, for and against, inthis Voltaire Journey, his name would not now be mentionable atall. "Sunset?" exclaimed Voltaire, springing out of bed (say theBiographers), and skipping about indignantly in his shirt: "I willshow them I am not set yet!" [Duvernet (Second), p. 159. ] And instantlyresolved on the Berlin Expedition. Went to Compiegne, where the Courtthen was; to bid his adieus; nay to ask formally the Royal leave, --forwe are Historiographer and titular Gentleman of the Chamber, and King'sservant in a sense. Leave was at once granted him, almost huffingly; wehope not with too much readiness? For this is a ticklish point: one isgoing to Prussia "on a Visit" merely (though it may be longish); onewould not have the door of France slammed to behind one! The tone atCourt did seem a little succinct, something almost of sneer in it. But from the Pompadour herself all was friendly; mere witty, cheery graciosities, and "My Compliments to his Majesty ofPrussia, "--Compliments how answered when they came to hand: "JE NE LACONNAIS PAS!"

In short, M. De Voltaire made all his arrangements; got under way;piously visited Fontenoy and the Battle-fields in passing: and is here, since July 10th, --in very great splendor, as we see:--on his Fifth Visitto Friedrich. Fifth; which proved his Last, --and is still extremelycelebrated in the world. Visit much misunderstood in France andEngland, down to this day. By no means sorted out into accuracy andintelligibility; but left as (what is saying a great deal!) probably thewastest chaos of all the Sections of Friedrich's History. And has, aloneof them, gone over the whole world; being withal amusing to read, and therefore well and widely remembered, in that mendacious andsemi-intelligible state. To lay these goblins, full of noise, ignoranceand mendacity, and give some true outline of the matter, with whatbrevity is consistent with deciphering it at all, is now our sadtask, --laborious, perhaps disgusting; not impossible, if readers willloyally assist. 

Voltaire had taken every precaution that this Visit should succeed, orat least be no loss to one of the parties. In a preliminary Letter fromParis, --prose and verse, one of the cleverest diplomatic pieces everpenned; Letter really worth looking at, cunning as the song of Apollo, Voltaire symbolically intimates: "Well, Sire, your old Danae, poormalingering old wretch, is coming to her Jove. It is Jove she wants, not the Shower of Jove; nevertheless"--And Friedrich (thank Hanbury, in part, for that bit of knowledge) had remitted him in hard money 600pounds "to pay the tolls on his road. " [Walpole, i. 451 ("Had it fromPrincess Amelia herself"); see Voltaire to Friedrich, "Paris, 9thJune, 1750;" Friedrich to Voltaire, "Potsdam, 24th May" (--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxiv. 158, 155). ] As a high gentleman would; to have donewith those base elements of the business. 

Nay furthermore, precisely two days before those splendors of theCarrousel, Friedrich, --in answer to new cunning croakeries andcontrivances ("Sire, this Letter from my Niece, who is inconsolable thatI should think of staying here;" where, finding oneself so divinized, one is disposed to stay), --has answered him like a King: By Gold Key ofChamberlain, Cross of the Order of Merit, and Pension of 20, 000 francs(850 pounds) a year, --conveyed in as royal a Letter of Business as Ihave often read; melodious as Apollo, this too, though all in businessprose, and, like Apollo, practical God of the SUN in this case. ["Berlin, 23d August, 1750" (--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 255);--Voltaire to Niece Denis, "24th August" (misprinted "14th"); toD'Argental, "28th August" (--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxxiv. 185, 196). ]Dated 23d August, 1750. This Letter of Friedrich's I fancy to be whatVoltaire calls, "Your Majesty's gracious Agreement with me, " and oftenappeals to, in subsequent troubles. Not quite a Notarial Piece, onFriedrich's part; but strictly observed by him as such. 

Four days after which, Collini sees Voltaire serenely shining among thePrinces and Princesses of the world; Amphitheatre all whispering withbated breath, "Voltaire! Voltaire!" But let us hear Voltaire himself, from the interior of the Phenomenon, at this its culminating point:--

Voltaire to his D'Argentals, --to Niece Denis even, with whom, if withno other, he is quite without reserve, in showing the bad and thegood, --continues radiantly eloquent in these first months: . . . "Carrousel, twice over; the like never seen for splendor, for [rathercopious on this sublimity]--After which we played ROME SAUVEE [myAnti-Crebillon masterpiece], in a pretty little Theatre, which I havegot constructed in the Princess Amelia's Antechamber. I, who speak toyou, I played CICERO. " Yes; and was manager and general stage-king andcontriver; being expert at this, if at anything. And these beautifulTheatricals had begun weeks ago, and still lasted many weeks;[Rodenbeck, "August-October, " 1750. ]--with such divine consultings, directings, even orderings of the brilliant Royalties concerned. --Duvernet (probably on D'Arget's authority) informs us that "once, in oneof the inter-acts, finding the soldiers allowed him for Pretorian Guardsnot to understand their business here, " not here, as they did atHohenfriedberg and elsewhere, "Voltaire shrilled volcanically out tothem [happily unintelligible): 'F----, Devil take it, I asked for men;and they have sent me Germans (J'AI DEMANDE DES HOMMES, ET L'ON M'ENVOIEDES ALLEMANDS)!' At which the Princesses were good-natured enough toburst into laughter. " [Duvernet (Second), p. 162, --time probably 15thOctober. ] Voltaire continues: "There is an English Ambassador here whoknows Cicero's Orations IN CATILINAM by heart;" an excellent Etonian, surely. "It is not Milord Tyrconnell" (blusterous Irish Jacobite), OURAmbassador, note him, fat Valori having been recalled); no, "it is theEnvoy from England, " Excellency Hanbury himself, who knows his Cicero byheart. "He has sent me some fine verses on ROME SAUVEE; he says it is mybest work. It is a Piece appropriate for Ministerial people; Madame laChanceliere, " Cocceji's better half, "is well pleased with it. [--OEuvres, --lxxiv. (LETTERS, to the D'Argentals and Denis, "20th August-23d September, 1750"), pp. 187, 219, 231, &c. &c. ]And then, "--But enough. 

In Princess Amelia's Antechamber, there or in other celestial places, in Palace after Palace, it goes on. Gayety succeeding gayety; merePrincesses and Princes doing parts; in ROME SAUVEE, and in masterpiecesof Voltaire's, Voltaire himself acting CICERO and elderly characters, LUSIGNAN and the like. Excellent in acting, say the witnesses;superlative, for certain, as Preceptor of the art, --though impatient nowand then. And wears such Jewel-ornaments (borrowed partly from a Hebrew, of whom anon), such magnificence of tasteful dress;--and walks hisminuet among the Morning Stars. Not to mention the Suppers of the King:chosen circle, with the King for centre; a radiant Friedrich flashingout to right and left, till all kindles into coruscation round him; andit is such a blaze of spiritual sheet-lightnings, --wonderful to thinkof; Voltaire especially electric. Never, or seldom, were seen suchsuppers; such a life for a Supreme Man of Letters so fitted with theplace due to him. Smelfungus says:--

"And so your Supreme of Literature has got into his due place atlast, --at the top of the world, namely; though, alas, but for moments orfor months. The King's own Friend; he whom the King delights to honor. The most shining thing in Berlin, at this moment. Virtually a kindof PAPA, or Intellectual Father of Mankind, " sneers Smelfungus; "Popeimprovised for the nonce. The new Fridericus Magnus does as the oldPipinus, old Carolus Magnus did: recognizes his Pope, in despite of thebase vulgar; elevates him aloft into worship, for the vulgar and foreverybody! Carolus Magnus did that thrice-salutary feat [sublimelyhuman, if you think of it, and for long centuries successful more orless]; Fridericus Magnus, under other omens, unconsciously does thelike, --the best he can! Let the Opera Fiddlers, the Frerons, Travenolsand Desfontaines-of-Sodom's Ghost look and consider!"--

Madame Denis, an expensive gay Lady, still only in her thirties, improvable by rouge, carries on great work in the Rue Traversiere;private theatricals, suppers, flirtations with Italian travellingMarquises;--finds Intendant Longchamp much in her way, with his rigorousaccount-books, and restriction to 100 louis per month; wishes evenher Uncle were back, and cautions him, Not to believe in Friedrich'sflattering unctions, or put his trust in Princes at all. Voltaire, withthe due preliminaries, shows Friedrich her Letter, one of her Letters, [Now lost, as most of them are; Voltaire's Answer to it, already cited, is "24th August, 1750" (misprinted "14th August, "--OEuvres, --lxxiv. 185;see IB. Lxxv. 135); King Friedrich's PRACTICAL Answer (so munificentto Denis and Voltaire), "Your Majesty's gracious Agreement, " bore date"August 23d. "]--with result as we saw above. 

Formey says: "In the Carnival time, which Voltaire usually passed atBerlin, in the Palace, people paid their court to him as to a declaredFavorite. Princes, Marshals, Ministers of State, Foreign Ambassadors, Lords of the highest rank, attended his audience; and were received, "says Formey, nowhere free from spite on this subject, "in a sufficientlylofty style (HAUTEUR ASSEZ DEDAIGNEUSE). [Formey, --Souvenirs, --i. 235, 236. ] A great Prince had the complaisance to play chess with him; andto let him win the pistoles that were staked. Sometimes even the pistoledisappeared before the end of the game, " continues Formey, greenwith spite;--and reports that sad story of the candle-ends; bits ofwax-candle, which should have remained as perquisite to the valets, but which were confiscated by Voltaire and sent across to thewax-chandler's. So, doubtless, the spiteful rumor ran; probably littlebut spite and fable, Berlin being bitter in its gossip. Stupid Thiebaultrepeats that of the candle-ends, like a thing he had seen (twelve yearsBEFORE his arrival in those parts); and adds that Voltaire "put them inhis pocket, "--like one both stupid and sordid. Alas, the brighter yourshine, the blacker is the shadow you cast. 

Friedrich, with the knowledge he already had of his yoke-fellow, --oneof the most skittish, explosive, unruly creatures in harness, --cannotbe counted wise to have plunged so heartily into such an adventure withhim. "An undoubted Courser of the Sun!" thought Friedrich;--and forgottoo much the signs of bad going he had sometimes noticed in him on thecommon highways. There is no doubt he was perfectly sincere and simplein all this high treatment of Voltaire. "The foremost, literaryspirit of the world, a man to be honored by me, and by all men; theTrismegistus of Human Intellects, what a conquest to have made; howcheap is a little money, a little patience and guidance, for suchsolacement and ornament to one's barren Life!" He had rashly hoped thatthe dreams of his youth could hereby still be a little realized; andsomething of the old Reinsberg Program become a fruitful and blessedfact. Friedrich is loyally glad over his Voltaire; eager in all ways tocontent him, make him happy; and keep him here, as the Talking Bird, theSinging Tree and the Golden Water of intelligent mankind; the glory ofone's own Court, and the envy of the world. "Will teach us the secretof the Muses, too; French Muses, and help us in our bits of Literature!"This latter, too, is a consideration with Friedrich, as why should itnot, --though by no means the sole or chief one, as the French give itout to be. 

On his side, Voltaire is not disloyal either; but is nothing like socompletely loyal. He has, and continued always to have, not unmixed withfear, a real admiration for Friedrich, that terrible practical Doer, with the cutting brilliances of mind and character, and the irrefragablecommon sense; nay he has even a kind of love to him, or something likeit, --love made up of gratitude for past favors, and lively anticipationof future. Voltaire is, by nature, an attached or attachable creature;flinging out fond boughs to every kind of excellence, and especiallyholding firm by old ties he had made. One fancies in him a mixed set ofemotions, direct and reflex, --the consciousness of safe shelter, werethere nothing more; of glory to oneself, derived and still derivablefrom this high man:--in fine, a sum-total of actual desire to livewith King Friedrich, which might, surely, have almost sufficed even forVoltaire, in a quieter element. But the element was not quiet, --far fromit; nor was Voltaire easily sufficeable!

PERPETUAL PRESIDENT MAUPERTUIS HAS A VISIT FROM ONE KONIG, OUT OFHOLLAND, CONCERNING THE INFINITELY LITTLE. 

Whether Maupertuis, in red wig with yellow bottom, saw these highgauderies of the Carrousel, the Plays in Princess Amelia's Antechamber, and the rest of it, I do not know: but if so, he was not in the topplace; nor did anybody take notice of him, as everybody did of Voltaire. Meanwhile, I have something to quote, as abridged and distilled fromvarious sources, chiefly from Formey; which will be of much concernmentfarther on. 

Some four weeks after those Carrousel effulgencies, Perpetual PresidentMaupertuis had a visit (September 21st, just while the Sun was crossingthe Line; thanks to Formey for the date, who keeps a Note-book, useful in these intricacies): visit from Professor Konig, an effectivemathematical man from the Dutch parts. Whom readers have forgottenagain; though they saw him once: in violent quarrel, about theInfinitely Little, with Madame du Chatelet, Voltaire witnessing withpain;--it was just as they quitted Cirey together, ten years ago, forthese new courses of adventure. Do readers recall the circumstance?Maupertuis, referee in that quarrel, had, with a bluntness offensive tothe female mind, declared Konig indisputably in the right; and there hadfollowed a dryness between the divine Emilie and the Flattener of theEarth, scarcely to be healed by Voltaire's best efforts. 

Konig has gone his road since then; become a fine solid fellow;Professor in a Dutch University; more latterly Librarian to the DutchStadtholder: still frank of speech, and with a rugged free-and-easyturn, but of manful manners; really a person of various culture, and asis still noticeable, of a solid geometric turn of mind. Having now, asLibrarian at the Hague, more leisure and more money, he has made a runto Berlin, --chiefly or entirely to see his Maupertuis again, whom hestill remembers gratefully as his first Patron in older times, and a manof sound parts, though rather blusterous now and then, A little bit ofscientific business also he has with him. Konig is Member of the BerlinAcademy, for some years back; and there is a thing he would speak withthe Perpetual President upon. "Wants nothing else in Berlin, " saysFormey: a hearing by the road that Maupertuis was not there, he hadactually turned homewards again: but got truer tidings, and came on. "The more was the pity, as perhaps will appear!"He arrived September 20th[if you will be particular on cheese-parings]; called on me that day, being lodged in my neighborhood; and next day, found Maupertuis athome;" [Formey, i. 176-179. ]--and flew into his arms again, like a goodboy long absent. 

Maupertuis, not many months ago, had, in Two successive Papers, I thinkTwo, communicated to the Academy a Discovery of Metaphysico-Mathematicalor altogether Metaphysical nature, on the Laws of Motion;--Discoverywhich he has, since that, brought to complete perfection, and sent forthto the Universe at large, in his sublime little Book of COSMOLOGY; [InLa Beaumelle, --Vie de Maupertuis--(Paris, 1856), pp. 105-130, confusedaccount of this "Discovery, " and of the gradual Publication of it tomankind, --very gradual; first of all in the old Paris times; in theBerlin ACADEMY latterly; and in fine, to all the world, in this ESSAIDE COSMOLOGIE (Berlin, Summer of 1750). ]--grateful Academy striving toadmire, and believe, with its Perpetual President, that the Discoverywas sublime to a degree; second only to the flattening of the Earth; andwould probably stand thenceforth as a milestone in the Progress of HumanThought. "Which Discovery, then?" Be not too curious, reader; take onlyof it what shall concern you!

It is well known there have been, to the metaphysical head, difficultiesalmost insuperable as to How, in the System of Nature, Motion is?How, in the name of wonder, it can be; and even, Whether it is at all?Difficulties to the metaphysical head, sticking its nose into the gutterthere;--not difficult to my readers and me, who can at all times walkacross the room, and triumphantly get over them. But stick your noseinto any gutter, entity, or object, this of Motion or another, with obstinacy, --you will easily drown, if that be yourdetermination!--Suffice it for us to know in this matter, thatMaupertuis, intensely watching Nature, has discovered, That the key ofher enigma (or at least the ultimate central DOOR, which hides allher Motional enigmas, the key to WHICH cannot even be imagined asdiscoverable!) is, that "Nature is superlatively THRIFTY in this affairof motion;" that she employs, for every Motion done or do-able, "aMINIMUM OF ACTION;" and that, if you well understand this, you will, atleast, announce all her procedures in one proposition, and have foundthe DOOR which leads to everything. Which will be a comfort to you;still looking vainly for the key, if there is still no key conceivable. 

Perpetual President Maupertuis, having surprised Nature in this manner, read Papers upon it to an Academy listening with upturned eyes; newPapers, perfected out of old, --for he has long been hatching thesePhoenix-eggs; and has sent them out complete, quite lately, in a littleBook called COSMOLOGIE, where alone I have had the questionable benefitof reading them. Grandly brief, as if coming from Delphi, the utteranceis; loftily solemn, elaborately modest, abstruse to the now human mind;but intelligible, had it only been worth understanding:--a painfullittle Book, that COSMOLOGIE, as the Perpetual President's generallyare. "Minimum of Action, LOI D'EPARGNE, Law of Thrift, " he calls thissublime Discovery;--thinks it will be Sovereign in Natural Theologyas well: "For how could Nature be a Save-all, without Designerpresent?"--and speaks, of course, among other technical points, about"VIS VIVA, or Velocity multiplied by the Square of the Time:" which twopoints, "LOI D'EPARGNE, " and that "the VIS VIVA is always a Minimum, "the reader can take along with him; I will permit him to shake theothers into Limbo again, as forgettable by human nature at this epochand henceforth. 

In La Beaumelle's--Vie de Maupertuis--(printed at last, Paris, 1856, after lying nearly a century in manuscript, an obtuse worthless leadenlittle Book), there is much loud droning and detailing, about thisCOSMOLOGIE, this sublime "Discovery, " and the other sublime Discoveries, Insights and Apocalyptic Utterances of Maupertuis; though in so confuseda fashion, it is seldom you can have the poor pleasure of learningexactly when, or except by your own severe scrutiny, exactly what. Forreasons that will appear, certain of those Apocalyptic Utterances byPerpetual President Maupertuis have since got a new interest, and onehas actually a kind of wish to read the IPSISSIMA VERBA of them, atthis date! But in La Beaumelle (his modern Editor lying fast asleepthroughout) there is no vestige of help. Nay Maupertuis's own Book, [--OEuvres de Maupertuis, --Lyon, 1756, 4 vols. 4to. ] luxuriouscream-paper Quartos, or Octaves made four-square by margin, --which youbuy for these and the cognate objects, --proves altogether worthlessto you. The Maupertuis Quartos are not readable for their own sake(solemnly emphatic statement of what you already know; concentratedstruggle to get on wing, and failure by so narrow a miss; struggle whichgets only on tiptoe, and won't cease wriggling and flapping); andthen (to your horror) they prove to be carefully cleaned of allthe Maupertuis-VOLTAIRE matter;--edition being SUBSEQUENT to thatworld-famous explosion. CAVEAT EMPTOR. --Our Excerpt proceeds:--

"Industrious Konig, like other mathematical people, has been listeningto these Oracles on the 'Law of Minimum, ' by the Perpetual President;and grieves to find, after study, That said Law does not quite hold;that in fact it is, like Descartes's old key or general door, worthlittle or nothing; as Leibnitz long ago seems to have transientlyrecognized. Konig has put his strictures on paper: but will not dreamof publishing, till the Perpetual President have examined them andsatisfied himself; and that is Konig's business at present, as he knockson Maupertuis, while Sol is crossing the Line. Maupertuis has a House ofthe due style: Wife a daughter of Minister Borck's (high Borcks, 'oldas the DIUVEL'); no children;--his back courts always a good deal dirtywith pelicans, bustards, perhaps snakes and other zoological wretches, which sometimes intrude into the drawing-rooms, otherwise very fine. Aman of some whims, some habits; arbitrary by nature, but really honest, though rather sublimish in his interior, with red Wig and yellow bottom. 

"Konig, all filial gladness, is received gladly;--though, by degrees, with some surprise, on the paternal part, to find Konig ripened out ofson, client and pupil, into independent posture of a grown man. Franklycertain enough about himself, and about the axioms of mathematics. Standing, evidently, on his own legs; kindly as ever, but on thesenew terms, --in fact rather an outspoken free-and-easy fellow (I shouldguess), not thinking that offence can be taken among friends. Formeyconfesses, this was uncomfortable to Maupertuis; in fact, a shock whichhe could not recover from. They had various meetings, over dinner audotherwise, at the Perpetual President's, for perhaps two weeks atthis time (dates all to be had in Formey's Note-book, if anybody wouldconsult); in the whole course of which the shock to the PerpetualPresident increased, instead of diminishing. Republican freedom andequality is evidently Konig's method; Konig heeds not a whit theoracular talent or majestic position of Maupertuis; argues with thefrankest logic, when he feels dissent;--drives a majestic PerpetualPresident, especially in the presence of third parties, much out ofpatience. Thus, one evening, replying to some argument of the PerpetualPresident's, he begins: 'My poor friend, MON PAUVRE AMI, don't youperceive, then'--Upon which Maupertuis sprang from his chair, violentlystamping, and pirouetted round the room, 'Poor friend, poor friend?are you so rich: then!' frank Konig merely grinning till the paroxysmpassed. [Formey, i. 177. ] Konig went home again, RE INFECTA about theend of the month. "

Such a Konig--had better not have come! As to his strictures on the LAWOF THRIFT, the arguings on them, alone together, or with friends by, merely set Maupertuis pirouetting: and as to the Konig Manuscriptson them "to be published in the Leipzig ACTA, after your remarks andpermission, " Maupertuis absolutely refused to look at said Manuscripts:"Publish them there, here, everywhere, in the Devil and hisGrandmother's name; and then there is an end, Monsieur!" Konig went hisways therefore, finding nothing else for it; published his strictures, in the Leipzig ACTA in March next, --and never saw Maupertuis again, forone result, out of several that followed! I have no doubt he was out toVoltaire, more than once, in this fortnight; and eat "the King's roast"pleasantly with that eminent old friend. Voltaire always thought hima BON GARCON (justly, by all the evidence I have); and finds his talkagreeable, and his Berlin news--especially that of Maupertuis and hisexplosive pirouettings. Adieu, Herr Professor; you know not, withyour Leipzig ACTA and Fragment of Leibnitz, what an explosion you arepreparing!

Chapter VII. --M. DE VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 

Voltaire's Terrestrial Paradise at Berlin did not long continue perfect. Scarcely had that grand Carrousel vanished in the azure firmaments, when little clouds began rising in its stead; and before long, blackthunder-storms of a very strange and even dangerous character. 

It must have been a painful surprise to Friedrich to hear from hisVoltaire, some few weeks after those munificences, That he, Voltaire, was in very considerable distress of mind, from the bad, not to call itthe felonious and traitorous, conduct of M. D'Arnaud, --once Friedrich'sshoeing-horn and "rising-sun" for Voltaire's behoof; now a vagueflaunting creature, without significance to Friedrich or anybody! ThatD'Arnaud had done this and done that, of an Anti-Voltairian, treasonousnature;--and that, in short, life was impossible in the neighborhood ofsuch a D'Arnaud!"D'Arnaud has corrupted my Clerk (Prince Henri hungeringin vain for LA PUCELLE, has got sight of it, in this way); [Clerk wasdismissed accordingly (one Tinois, an ingenious creature), --and COLLINIappointed in his stead. ] D'Arnaud has been gossiping to Freron and theParis Newspapers; D'Arnaud has" [Voltaire to Friedrich (--OEuvres deFrederic, --xxii. 257), undated, "November, 1750. "]--Has, in effect, been a flaunting young fool; of dissolute, esurient, slightly profligateturn; occasionally helping in the Theatricals, and much studious to makehimself notable, and useful to the Princely kind. A D'Arnaud of nearlyno significance, to Friedrich or to anybody. A D'Arnaud whose bits offooleries and struttings about, in the peacock or jackdaw way, mightsurely have been below the notice of a Trismegistus!

Friedrich, painfully made sensible what a skinless explosiveTrismegistus he has got on hand, answers, I suppose, in words little ornothing, --in Letters, I observe, answers absolutely nothing, to Voltairerepeating and re-repeating;--does simply dismiss D'Arnaud (a "BONDIABLE, " as Voltaire, to impartial people, calls him), or acceptD'Arnaud's demission, and cut the poor fool adrift. Who sallies out intoinfinite space, to Paris latterly ("alive there in 1805"); and claimshenceforth perpetual oblivion from us and mankind. And now there will bepeace in our garden of the gods, and perpetual azure will return?

Alas, D'Arnaud is not well gone, when there has begun brewing inthreefold secrecy a mass of galvanic matter, which, in few weeks more, filled the Heavens with miraculous foul gases and the blackness ofdarkness;--which, in short, exploded about New-year's time, as theworld-famous VOLTAIRE-HIRSCH LAWSUIT, still remembered, though only as aportent and mystery, by observant on-lookers. Of which it is now our sadduty to say something; though nowhere, in the Annals of Jurisprudence, is there a more despicable thing, or a deeper involved in lies anddeliriums by current reporters of it, about which the sane mind can becalled upon accidentally to speak a word. Beaten, riddled, shovelled, washed in many waters, by a patient though disgusted Predecessor inthis field, there lies by me a copious but wearisome Narrative of thismatter;--the more vivid portions of which, if rightly disengaged, andshown in sequence, may satisfy the curious. 

Duvernet (who, I can guess, had talked with D'Arget on the subject) has, alone of the French Biographers, some glimmer of knowledge about it;Duvernet admits that it was a thing of Illegal Stock-jobbing; that--

1. "That M. De Voltaire had agreed with a Jew named Hirsch to go toDresden and, illegally, PURCHASE a good lot of STEUER-SCHEINE [SaxonExchequer Bills, which are payable in gold to a BONA FIDE PRUSSIANholding them, but are much in discount otherwise, as readers mayremember]; and given Hirsch a Draft on Paris, due after some weeks, forpayment of the same; Hirsch leaving him a stock of jewels in pledge tillthe STEUER-SCHEINE themselves come to hand. 

2. "That Hirsch, having things of his own in view with the money, sentno STEUER-SCHEINE from Dresden, nothing but vague lying talk insteadof STEUER: so that Voltaire's suspicions naturally kindling, he stoppedpayment of the Paris Draft, and ordered Hirsch to come home at once. 

3. "That Hirsch coming, a settlement was tried: 'Give me back my Drafton Paris, you objectionable blockhead of a Hirsch; there are yourDiamonds, there is something even for your expenses (some fair moiety, I think); and let me never see your unpleasant face again!' Towhich Hirsch, examining the diamonds, answered [says Duvernet, notsubstantially incorrect hitherto, though stepping along in totaldarkness, and very partial on Voltaire's behalf], --Hirsch, examining thediamonds, answered, 'But you have changed some of them! I cannot takethese!'--and drove Voltaire quite to despair, and into the Law-Courts;which imprisoned Hirsch, and made him do justice. " [Duvernet (T. J. D. V. ), 170, 173, 175:--vague utterly; dateless (tries one date, and is mistakeneven in the Year); wrong in nearly every detail; "the 'STAIRE or STEUERwas a BANK?" &c. &c. ]

In which last clause, still more in the conclusion, that it was "to thetriumph of Voltaire, " Duvernet does substantially mistake! And indeed, except as the best Parisian reflex of this matter, his Account isworth nothing:--though it may serve as Introduction to the followingirrefragable Documents and more explicit featurings. We learn from him, and it is the one thing we learn of credible, That "Voltaire, whenit came to Law Procedures, begged Maupertuis to speak for him to M. Jarriges, " a Prussian Frenchman, "one of the Judges; and that Maupertuisanswered, 'I cannot interfere in a bad business (ME MELER D'UNE MAUVAISEAFFAIRE). '" The other French Biographies, definable as "IGNOR-AMUSspeaking in a loud voice to IGNOR-ATIS, " require to be altogether sweptaside in this matter. Even "Clog. " jumbling Voltaire's undated LETTERSinto confusion thrice confounded, and droning out vituperatively in thedark, becomes a MINUS quantity in these Friedrich affairs. In regardto the Hirsch Process, our one irrefragable set of evidences is: ThePrussian LAW-REPORT by KLEIN, --especially the Documents produced inCourt, and the Sentence given. [Ernst Ferdinand Klein, --Annalender Gesetzgebung und Rechtsgelehrsamkeit in den PreussischenStaaten--(Berlin und Stettin), 1790, v. 215-260. ] Other lights are tobe gathered, with severe scrutiny and caution, from the circumambientcontemporary rumor, --especially from the PREFACE to a "Comedy" so calledof "TANTALE EN PROCES (Tantalus, " Voltaire, "at Law");--which PREFACE isevidently Hirsch's own Story, put into language for him by some humanefriend, and addressed to a "clear-seeing Public. " [TANTALE EN PROCES(ascribed to Friedrich himself, by some wonderful persons!) isin--Supplement aux OEuvres Posthumes de Frederic II. --(Cologne, 1789), i. 319 et seq. Among the weakest of Comedies (might be by D'Arnaud, orsome such hand); nothing in it worth reading except the Preface. ] "Andin fine, " says my Manuscript, "by sweeping out the distinctly false, and well discriminating the indubitable from what is still in partdubitable, sufficient twilight [abridgable in a high degree, I hope!]rises over the Affair, to render it visible in all its main features. "

THE VOLTAIRE-HIRSCH TRANSACTION: PART I. ORIGIN OF LAWSUIT (10thNovember-25th December, 1750). 

"Saxon STEUER-SCHEIN, some readers know, is, in the rough, equivalent toExchequer Bill. Payable at the Saxon Treasury; to Prussians, in gold; toall other men, in paper only, --which (thanks to Bruhl and his unheard-ofexpenditures and financierings) is now at a discount say of 25, or even30 per cent. By Article Eleventh of the Dresden TREATY OF PEACE, KingFriedrich, if our readers have not forgotten, got stipulated, That allPrussian holders of these SCHEINE should be paid in gold; interestat the due days; and at the due days principal itself:--in gold they, whatever became of others. No farther specifications, as to proof, method, limits or conditions of any kind, occur in regard to thisEleventh Article; which is a just one, beyond doubt, but most carelesslydrawn up. Apparently it trusts altogether to the personal honesty of allPrussian subjects: 'Prove yourself a Prussian subject, and we pay yourSteuer-Schein in real money. ' But now if a Saxon or other Non-Prussian, who can get no payment save in paper, were to have his Note smuggled ortrafficked over into Prussia, and presented as a Prussian one? In ourtime, such traffic would start on the morrow morning; and in a week ortwo, all Notes whatsoever would be presented as Prussian, payable ingold! Not so in those days;--though a small contraband of that kind doesby degrees threaten to establish itself, and Friedrich had to publishsevere rescripts (one before this Hirsch-Voltaire business, [10thAugust, 1748 (Seyfarth, i. 62). ] one still severer after), and menaceit down again. The malpractice seems to have proved menaceable in thatmanner; nor was any new arrangement made upon it, --no change, till theSteuer-Scheine, by their gradual terms, were all paid either in realmoney or imaginary, and thus, in the course of years, the thing burnt tothe socket, and went out. "

Voltaire's rash Adventure, dangerous Navigation and gradual Wreck, in this Forbidden Sea of Steuer-Scheine, --will become conceivable toreaders, on study diligent enough of the following Documents and selectDetails:--

DOCUMENT FIRST (a small Missive, in Voltaire's hand). 

"Je prie instamment monsieur hersch de venir demain mardi matin apotsdam pour affaire pressante, et d'aporter (SIC) avec luy les diamantsqui doivent servir pour la representation de la tragedie qui se jouera acinq heures de soir chez S. A. R. Monseigneur le Prince henri Ce lundy amidy. VOLTAIRE. "

Which being interpreted, rightly spelt, and dated (as by chance we cando) with distinctness, will run as follows in English:--

"POTSDAM, Monday, 9th November, 1750. "I earnestly request Mr. Hirsch tocome to-morrow Tuesday morning to Potsdam, on business that is urgent;and to bring with him the Diamonds needed for the Tragedy which is tobe represented, at five in the evening, in His Royal Highness PrinceHenry's Apartment. " [Klein, v. 260. ]

"On Tuesday the 10th, " say the Old Newspapers, "was ROME SAUVEE;"--withVoltaire, perceptible there as "CICERON, " [Rodenbeck, i. 209. ] in due A glorious enough Cicero;--and such a piece of "urgent business" donewith your Hirsch, just before emerging on the stage!

"Hirsch, in that NARRATIVE, describes himself as a young innocentcreature. Not very old, we will believe: but as to innocence!--Forcertain, he is named Abraham Hirsch, or Hirschel: a Berlin Jew of thePeriod; whom one inclines to figure as a florid oily man, of Semiticfeatures, in the prime of life; who deals much in jewels, moneys, loans, exchanges, all kinds of Jew barter; whether absolutely in old clothes, we do not know--certainly not unless there is a penny to be turned. Theman is of oily Semitic type, not old in years, --there is a fraternalHirsch, and also a paternal, who is head of the firm;--and thisyoung one seems to be already old in Jew art. Speaks French and otherdialects, in a Hebrew, partially intelligible manner; supplies Voltairewith diamonds for his stage-dresses, as we perceive. To all appearance, nearly destitute of human intellect, but with abundance of vulpineinstead. Very cunning; stupid, seemingly, as a mule otherwise;--and, on the whole, resembling in various points of character a mule put intobreeches, and made acquainted with the uses of money. He is come 'onpressing business, '--perhaps not of stage-diamonds alone? Here now isDOCUMENT SECOND; nearly of the same date; may be of the very same;--morelikely is a few days later, and betokens mysterious dialogue andconsultation held on Tuesday 10th. It is in two hands: written on somescrap or TORN bit of paper, to judge by the length of the lines. "

DOCUMENT SECOND. 

"In Voltaire's hand, this part:--

--'Savoir s'il est encore tems de declarer les billets qu'on a sur lasteure. Si on en specifie le numero dans la declaration. '--

'If it is still time to declare [to announce in Saxony and demandpayment for] Notes one holds on the Steuer? If one is to specify the No. In the declaration?'

"In Hirsch's hand, this part:--

--'l'on peut declarer des billets sur lasteure, qu'on a en depost en pays etranger, et dont on ne pourra savoirle numero que dans quinze jours ou trois Semaines. '--[Klein, 259. ]

'One can declare Notes on the Steuer, which one holds in deposit inForeign Countries; and of which one cannot state the No. Till after afortnight or three weeks. '

"Which of these Two was the Serpent, which the Eve, in thisSTEUER-SCHEIN Tree of Knowledge, that grew in the middle of Paradise, remains entirely uncertain. Hirsch, of course, says it was Voltaire;Voltaire (not aware that DOCUMENT SECOND remained in existence)had denied that his Hirsch business was in any way concerned withSTEUER;--and must have been a good deal struck, when DOCUMENT SECONDcame to light; though what could he do but still deny! Hirsch assertshimself to have objected the 'illegality, the King's anger;' but thatVoltaire answered in hints about his favor with the King; 'about hispower to make one a Court-Jeweller, ' if he liked; and so at lasttempted the baby innocence of Hirsch;--for the rest, admits that theSteuer-Notes were expected to yield a Profit--of 35 per cent:--and, in fact, a dramatic reader can imagine to himself dialogue enough, atdifferent times, going on, partly by words, partly by hint, innuendoand dumb-show, between this Pair of Stage-Beauties. But, for near afortnight after DOCUMENT FIRST, there is nothing dated, or that can beclearly believed, --till, "MONDAY, 23d NOVEMBER, 1750. It is credibly certain the Jew Hirschcame again, this day, to the Royal Schloss of Potsdam, to Voltaire'sapartment there [right overhead of King Friedrich's, it is!]--where, after such dialogue as can be guessed at, there was handed to Hirschby Voltaire, in the form of Two negotiable Bills, a sum of about 2, 250pounds; with which the Jew is to make at once for Dresden, andbuy Steuer-Scheine. [Hirsch's Narrative, in Preface to--Tantale enProces, --p. 340. ] Steuer-Scheine without fail: 'but in talking orcorresponding on the matter, we are always to call them FURSor DIAMONDS, '--mystery of mysteries being the rule for us. Thisconsiderable sum of 2, 250 pounds may it not otherwise, contrivesVoltaire, be called a 'Loan' to Jeweller Hirsch, so obliging a Jeweller, to buy 'Furs' or 'Diamonds' with? At a gain of 35 per 100 Pieces, therewill be above 800 pounds to me, after all expenses cleared: a verypretty stroke of business do-able in few days!"--

"Monday, 23d November:" The beautiful Wilhelmina, one remarks, is justmaking her packages; right sad to end such a Visit as this had been!Thursday night, from her first sleeping-place, there is a touchingFarewell to her Brother;--tender, melodiously sorrowful, as the Songof the Swan. [Wilhelmina to Friedrich, "Brietzen, 26th November, JOURFUNESTE POUR MOI" (--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxvii. I. 197). ] To Voltaireshe was always good; always liked Voltaire. Voltaire would be sayinghis Adieus, in state, among the others, to that high Being, --just in thehours while such a scandalous Hirsch-Concoction went, on underground!

"As to the Two Bills and Voltaire's security for them, readers are tonote as follows. Bill FIRST is a Draft, on Voltaire's Paris Banker for40, 000 livres (about 1, 600 pounds), not payable for some weeks: 'This Ilend you, Monsieur Hirsch; mind, LEND you, --to buy Furs!' 'Yes, truly, what we call Furs;--and before the Bill falls payable, there will beeffects for it in Monseigneur de Voltaire's hand; which is securityenough for Monseigneur. ' The SECOND Bill, again"--Truth is, there werein succession two Second Bills, an INTENDED-Second (of this same Monday23d), which did not quite suit, and an ACTUAL-Second (two days later), which did. INTENDED-Second Bill was one for 4, 000 thalers (about 600pounds), drawn by Voltaire on the Sieur Ephraim, --a very famous Jewof Berlin now and henceforth, with whom as money-changer, if not yetotherwise (which perhaps Ephraim thinks unlucky), Voltaire, it wouldseem, is in frequent communication. This Bill, Ephraim would not accept;told Hirsch he owed M. De Voltaire nothing; "turned me rudely away, "says Hirsch (two of a trade, and no friends, he and I!)--so that thereis nothing to be said of this Ephraim Bill; and except as it elucidatessome dark portions of the whirlpools, need not have been noticed at all. "Hirsch, " continues my Authority, "got only Two available Bills; thefirst on Paris for 1, 600 pounds, payable in some weeks; and, after a dayor two, this other: The ACTUAL BILL SECOND; which is a Draft for 4, 430thalers (about 650 pounds), by old Father Hirsch, head of the Firm, onVoltaire himself:--'Furs too with that, Monsieur Hirsch, at the rateof 35 per piece, you understand?' 'Yea, truly, Monseigneur!'--Draftaccepted by Voltaire, and the cash for it now handed to Hirsch Son: theonly absolutely ready money he has yet got towards the affair. 

"For these Two Bills, especially for this Second, I perceive, Voltaireholds borrowed jewels (borrowed in theatrical times, or partly bought, from the Hirsch Firm, and not paid for), which make him sure till he seethe STEUER Papers themselves. --(And now off, my good Sieur Hirsch; andknow that if you please ME, there are--things in my power which wouldsuit a man in the Jeweller and Hebrew line!) Hirsch pushes home toBerlin; primed and loaded in this manner; Voltaire naturally auxiousenough that the shot may hit. Alas, the shot will not even go off, forsome time: an ill omen!

"SUNDAY, 29th NOVEMBER, Hirsch, we hear, is still in Berlin. Fancy thehumor of Voltaire, after such a week as last! (TUESDAY, December 1st)Hirsch still is not off: 'Go, you son of Amalek!' urges Voltaire; andsends his Servant Picard, a very sharp fellow, for perhaps the thirdtime, --who has orders now, as Hirsch discovers, to stay with him, notquit sight of him till he do go. [Hirsch's Narrative; see Voltaire'sLetter to D'Arget (--OEuvres, --lxiv. 11). ] Hirsch's hour of departurefor Dresden is not mentioned in the ACTS; but I guess he could hardlyget over Wednesday, with Picard dogging him on these terms; and musthave taken the diligence on Wednesday night: to arrive in Dresden aboutDecember 4th. 'Well; at least, our shot is off; has not burst out, andlodged in our person here, --thanked be all the gods!'

"Off, sure enough:--and what should we say if the whole matter werealready oozing out; if, on this same Sunday evening, November 29th) notquite a week's time yet, the matter (as we learn long afterwards) hadbeen privately whispered to his Majesty: 'That Voltaire has sent offa Jew to buy Steuer-Scheine, and has promised to get him madeCourt-Jeweller!' [Voltaire, --OEuvres, --lxxiv. 314 ("Letter to Friedrich, February, 1751, "--AFTER Catastrophe). ], So; within a week, and beforeHirsch is even gone! For men are very porous; weighty secrets oozing outof them, like quicksilver through clay jars. I could guess, Hirsch, by way of galling insolent Ephraim, had blabbed something: and in thecourse of five days, it has got to the very King, --this KammerherrVoltaire being such a favorite and famous man as never was; thevery bull's-eye of all kinds of Berlin gossip in these days. 'Hm, Steuer-Scheine, and the Jew Hirsch to be Court-Jeweller, you say?'thinks the King, that Sunday night; but locks the rumor in his Royalmind, he, for his part; or dismisses it as incredible: 'There ought tobe impervious vessels too, among the porous!' Voltaire notices nothingparticular, or nothing that he speaks of as particular. This musthave been a horrid week to him, till Hirsch got away. " Hirsch is away(December 2d); in Dresden, safe enough; but--

"But, the fortnight that follows is conceivable as still worse. Hirschwriting darkly, nothing to the purpose; Voltaire driving often intoBerlin, hearing from Ephraim hints about, 'No connection with thatHouse;' 'If Monseigneur have intrusted Hirsch with money, --may there bea good account of it!' and the like. Black Care devouring Monseigueur;but nothing definite; except the fact too evident, That Hirsch does notsend or bring the smallest shadow of Steuer-Scheine, --'Peltries, ' or'Diamonds, ' we mean, --or any value whatever for that Paris Bill of ours, payable shortly, and which he has already got cashed in Dresden. Nothingbut excuses, prevarications; stupid, incoherently deceptive jargon, as of a mule intent on playing fox with you. Vivid Correspondence isconceivable; but nothing of it definite to us, except this sample"(which we give translated):--

DOCUMENT THIRD (torn fraction in Voltaire's hand: To Hirsch, doubtless;early in December). . . . "Not proper (IL NE FALLAIT PAS) to negotiateBills of Exchange, and never produce a single diamond"--bit of peltry, or ware of any kind, you son of Amalek! "Not proper to say: I have gotmoney for your bills of exchange, and I bring you nothing back; and Iwill repay your money when you shall no longer be here [in Germany atall]. Not proper to promise at 35 louis, and then say 30. To say 30, and then next morning 25. You should at least have produced goods (ILFALLAIT EN DONNER) at the price current; very easy to do when one wason the spot. All your procedures have been faults hitherto. [Klein, v. 259. ]

"These are dreadful symptoms. Steuer-Notes, promised at 35 discount, arenot to be had except at 30. Say 30 then, and get done with it, mule ofa scoundrel! Next day the 30 sinks to 25; and not a Steuer-Note, on anyterms, comes to hand. And the mule of a scoundrel has drawn money, inDresden yonder, for my Bill on Paris, --excellent to him for trade of hisown! What is to be done with such an Ass of Balaam? He has got the bitin his teeth, it would seem. Heavens, he too is capable of stoppingshort, careless of spur and cudgel; and miraculously speaking to a NEWProphet [strange new "Revealer of the Lord's Will, " in modern dialect], in this enlightened Eighteenth Century itself!--One thing the newProphet, can do: protest his Paris Bill. 

"DECEMBER 12th [our next bit of certainty], Voltaire writes, haste, haste, to Paris, 'Don't pay;' and intimates to Hirsch, 'You will haveto return your Dresden Banker his money for that Paris Bill. At ParisI have protested it, mark me; and there it never will be paid to himor you. And you must come home again instantly, job undone, lies notuntold, you--!' Hirsch, with money in hand, appears not to have wantedfor a briskish trade of his own in the Dresden marts. But this ofcutting off his supplies brings him instantly back:"--and at Berlin, DECEMBER 16th, new facts emerge again of a definite nature. 

"WEDNESDAY, 16th DECEMBER, 1750. 'To-day the King with Court andVoltaire come to Berlin for the Carnival;' [Rodenbeck, i. 209. ] to-dayalso Voltaire, not in Carnival humor, has appointed his Jew to meethim. In the Royal Palace itself, --we hope, well remote from Friedrich'sApartment!--this sordid conference, needing one's choicest diplomacywithal, and such exquisite handling of bit and spur, goes on. Andprobably at great length. Of which, as the FINALE, and one clearfeature significant to the fancy, here is, --for record of what they call'COMPLETE SETTLEMENT, ' which it was far from turning out to be:--

DOCUMENT FOURTH (in Hirsch's hand, First Piece of it). 

--"'Pour quittance generale promettant de rendre a Mr. De Voltaire tousbillets, ordres et lettres de change a moy donnez jusqu'a ce jour, 16Decembre, 1750. --

"'Account all settled; I promising to return M. DeVoltaire all Letters, Orders and Bills of Exchange given me to this day, 16th December, 1750. 

[Hirsch signs. But you have forgotten something, Monsieur Hirsch!Whereupon]--et promets de donner a Mr. De Voltaire dans le jour dedemain ou apres au plustard deux cent guatre-vingt frederics d'or aulieu de deux cent quatre-vingt louis d'or, que je lui ai payez, le toutpour quittance generale, ce 16 Decembre, 1750, a berlin--And promiseto give M. De Voltaire, in the course of to-morrow, or the day afterto-morrow at latest, 280 FREDERICS D'OR, instead of 280 LOUIS D'OR [goldFREDERICS the preferabe coin, say experts] which I have now paid him;whereby All will be settled. 

[Hirsch again signs; but has again forgotten something, most importantthing. And]--je lui remettrai surtout les 40, 000 livres de billets dechange sur paris qu'il mavoit donnez et fiez'--I will especially returnhim the Bill on Paris for 40, 000 livres (1, 600 pounds) which he hadgiven and trusted to me, '--but has since protested, as is too evident. 

[And Hirsch signs for the last time]. " [Klein, pp. 258, 260. ]--

Symptomatic, surely, of a haggly settlement, these THREE shots insteadof one!--"Voltaire's return is:--

--"'Pour quittance generale de tout compte solde entre nous, tout payeau sieur abraham hersch a berlin, 16 Decembre, 1750. --Voltaire'--"'Account all settled between us, payment of the Sieur Abraham Hirsch infull: Berlin, 16th Deember, 1750. '

[which Second Piece, we perceive, is to lie in Hirsch's hand, to keep, if he find it valuable]. 

"This 'COMPLETE SETTLEMENT, '--little less than miraculous to Voltaireand us, --one finds, after sifting, to have been the fruit of Voltaire'sexquisite skill in treating and tuning his Hirsch (no harshness ofrebuke, rather some gleam of hope, of future bargains, help at Court):(Your expenses; compensation for protesting of that Bill on Paris? Tush, cannot we make all that good! In the first place, I will BUY of youthese Jewels [this one discovers to have been the essence of theoperation!], all or the best part of them, which I have here in pawn forPapa's Bill: 650 pounds was it not? Well, suppose I on the instant take450 pounds worth, or so, of these Jewels (I want a great many jewels);and you to pay me down a 200 or so of gold LOUIS as balance, --goldLOUIS, no, we will say FREDERICS rather. There now, that is settled. Nothing more between us but settles itself, if we continue friends!'Upon which Hirsch walked home, thankful for the good job in Jewels;wondering only what the Allowance for Expenses and Compensation willbe. And Voltaire steps out, new-burnished, into the Royal Carnivalsplendors, with a load rolled from his mind. 

"This COMPLETE SETTLEMENT, meanwhile, rests evidently on two legs, bothof which are hollow. 'What will the handsome Compensation be, I wonder?'thinks Hirsch;--and is horror-struck to find shortly, that Voltaireconsiders 60 thalers (about 9 pounds) will be the fair sum! 'More thanten times that!' is Hirsch's privately fixed idea. On the other hand, Voltaire has been asking himself, 'My 450 pounds worth of Jewels, werethey justly valued, though?' Jew Ephraim (exaggerative and an enemy tothis Hirsch House) answers, 'Justly? I would give from 300 pounds to 250pounds for them!'--So that the legs both crumbling to powder, CompleteSettlement crashes down into chaos: and there ensues, "--But we mustendeavor to be briefer!

There ensues, for about a week following, such an inextricable scramblebetween the Sieur Hirsch and M. De Voltaire as, --as no reader, nothimself in the Jew-Bill line, or paid for understanding it, couldconsent to have explained to him. Voltaire, by way of mending the badjewel-bargain, will buy of Hirsch 200 pounds worth more jewels; getsthe new 200 pounds worth in hand, cannot quite settle what articles willsuit: "This, think you? That, think you?" And intricately shuffles themabout, to Hirsch and back. Hirsch, singular to notice, holds fast bythat Protested Paris Bill; on frivolous pretexts, always forgets tobring that: "May have its uses, that, in a Court of Justice yet!"Meetings there are, almost daily, in the Voltaire Palace-Apartment;DECEMBER 19th and DECEMBER 24th) there are Two DOCUMENTS (which we mustspare the reader, though he will hear of them again, as highly notable, especially of one of them, as notable in the extreme!)--indicating theabstrusest jewel-bargainings, scramblings, re-bargainings. 

"My Jewels are truly valued!" asseverates Hirsch always: "Ephraim is myenemy; ask Herr Reklam, chief Jeweller in Berlin, an impartial man!"The meetings are occasionally of stormy character; Voltaire's patiencenearly out: "But did n't I return you that Topaz Ring, value 75 pounds?And you have NOT deducted it; you--!" "One day, Picard and he pulled aRing [doubtless this Topaz] off my finger, " says the pathetic Hirsch, "and violently shoved me out of the room, slamming their door, "--andsent me home, along the corridors, in a very scurvy humor! Thus, under askin of second settlement, there are two galvanic elements, getting evermore galvanic, which no skin of settlement can prevent exploding beforelong. 

Explosion there accordingly was; most sad and dismal; which rang throughall the Court circles of Berlin; and, like a sound of hooting and ofweeping mixed, is audible over seas to this day. But let not the readerinsist on tracing the course of it henceforth. Klein, though faithfuland exact, is not a Pitaval; and we find in him errors of the press. Theacutest Actuary might spend weeks over these distracted Money-accounts, and inconsistent Lists of Jewels bought and not bought; and would beunreadable if successful. Let us say, The business catches fire atthis point; the Voltaire-Hirsch theatre is as if blown up into merewhirlwinds of igneous rum and smoky darkness. Henceforth all plungesinto Lawsuit, into chaos of conflicting lies, --undecipherable, not worthdeciphering. Let us give what few glimpses of the thing are clearlydiscernible at their successive dates, and leave the rest to pictureitself in the reader's fancy. 

It appears, that Meeting of DECEMBER 24th, above alluded to, wasfollowed by another on Christmas-day, which proved the final one. Finaltotal explosion took place at this new meeting;--which, we find farther, was at Chasot's Lodging (the CHAPEAU of Hanbury), who is now in Town, like all the world, for Carnival. Hirsch does not directly venture onnaming Chasot: but by implication, by glimmers of evidence elsewhere, one sufficiently discovers that it is he: Lieutenant-Colonel, King'sFriend, a man glorious, especially ever since Hohenfriedberg, andthat haul of the "sixty-seven standards" all at once. In the way ofArbitration, Voltaire thinks Chasot might do something. In regard tothose 450 pounds worth of bought Jewels, there is not such a judge inthe world! Hirsch says: "Next morning [December 25th, morrow after thatjumbly Account, with probable slamming of the door, and still worse!], Voltaire went to a Lieutenant-Colonel in the King's service; and askhim to send for me. " [Duvernet (Second), p. 172; Hirsch's Narrative(in--Tantale, --p. 344). ] This is Chasot; who knows these jewels well. Duvernet, --who had talked a good deal with D'Arget, in latter years, andalone of Frenchmen sometimes yields a true particle of feature in thingsPrussian, --Duvernet tells us, these Jewels were once Chasot's own: givenhim by a fond Duchess of Mecklenburg, --musical old Duchess, vergingtowards sixty; HONI SOIT, my friend! What Hirsch gave Chasot for theseJewels is not a doubtful quantity; and may throw conviction into Hirsch, hopes Voltaire. 

DECEMBER 25th, 1750. The interview at Chasot's was not lengthy, but itwas decisive. Hirsch never brings that Paris Bill; privately fixed, on that point. Hirsch's claims, as we gradually unravel the intricatemule-mind of him, rise very high indeed. "And as to the value of thoseJewels, and what I allowed YOU for them, Monsieur Chasot; that is norule: trade-profits, you know"--Nay, the mule intimates, as a lastshift, That perhaps they are not the same Jewels; that perhaps M. DeVoltaire has changed some of them! Whereupon the matter catches fire, irretrievably explodes. M. De Voltaire's patience flies quite done; and, fire-eyed fury now guiding, he springs upon the throat of Hirsch like acat-o'-mountain; clutches Hirsch by the windpipe; tumbles him about theroom: "Infamous canaille, do you know whom you have got to do with? Thatit is in my power to stick you into a hole underground for the restof your life? Sirrah, I will ruin and annihilate you!"--and "tossed meabout the room with his fist on my throat, " says Hirsch; "offering tohave pity nevertheless, if I would take back the Jewels, and returnall writings. " [Narrative (in--Tantale--). ] Eyes glancing like arattlesnake's, as we perceive; and such a phenomenon as Hirsch had notexpected, this Christmas! In short, the matter has here fairly exploded, and is blazing aloft, as a mass of intricate fuliginous ruin, not to bedeciphered henceforth. Such a scene for Chasot on the Christmas-day atBerlin! And we have got to

PART II. THE LAWSUIT ITSELF (30th December, 1750-18th and 26th February, 1751). 

Hirsch slunk hurriedly home, uncertain whether dead or alive. OldHirsch, hearing of such explosion, considered his house and familyruined; and, being old and feeble, took to bed upon it, threateningto break his heart. Voltaire writes to Niece Denis, on the morrow; nothinting at the Hirsch matter, far from that; but in uncommonly drearyhumor: "My splendor here, my glory, never was the like of it; MAIS, MAIS, " BUT, and ever again BUT, at each new item, --in fact, the humor ofa glorious Phoenix-Peacock suddenly douched and drenched in dirty water, and feeling frost at hand! ["To Madame Denis" (lxxiv. 279, "BerlinPalace, 26th December, 1750;"--and ib. 249, 257, &c. Of other dates). ]Humor intelligible enough, when dates are compared. 

Better than that, Voltaire is applying, on all points of the compass, toLegal and Influential Persons, for help in a Court of Law. To ChancellorCocceji; to Jarriges (eminent Prussian Frenchman), President of Court;to Maupertuis, who knows Jarriges, but "will not meddle in a badbusiness;"--at last, even to dull reverend Formey, whom he had notcalled on hitherto. Cocceji seems to have answered, to the effect, "Mostcertainly: the Courts are wide open;"--but as to "help"! December30th, the Suit, Voltaire VERSUS Hirsch, "comes to Protocol, "--that is, Cocceji, Jarriges, Loper, three eminent men, have been named to try it;and Herr Hofrath Bell, Advocate for Voltaire Plaintiff, hands in hisFirst Statement that day. Berlin resounds, we may fancy how! Rumor, laughter and wonder are in all polite quarters; and continue, more orless vivid, for above two months coming. Here is one direct glimpse ofPlaintiff, in this interim; which we will give, though the eyes are noneof the best: "The first visit I, " Formey, "had from Voltaire was in theafternoon of January 8th) 1751 [Suit begun ten days ago]. I had, at thetime, a large party of friends. Voltaire walked across the Apartment, without looking at anybody; and, taking me by the hand, made me lead himto a cabinet adjoining. His Lawsuit with a Jew was the matter on hand. He talked to me at large about his Lawsuit, and with the greatestvehemence; he wound up by asking me to speak to Law-President M. DeJarriges (since Chancellor): I answered what was suitable;"--probablydid speak to Jarriges, but might as well have held my tongue. "Voltairethen took his leave: stepping athwart the former Apartment with someprecipitation, he noticed my eldest little girl, then in her fourthyear, who was gazing at the diamonds on his Cross of the Order ofMerit. 'Bagatelles, bagatelles, MON ENFANT!' said he, and disappeared. "[Formey, i. 232. ]

On New-Year's day, Friday, 1st January, 1751, Voltaire had legallyapplied to Herr Minister von Bismark, for Warrant to arrest Hirsch, asa person that will not give up Papers not belonging to him. Warrant wasgranted, and Hirsch lodged in Limbo. Which worsens the state of poor oldFather Hirsch; threatening now really to die, of heart-break and othercauses. Hirsch Son, from the interior of Limbo, appeals to Bismark, "Lord Chancellor Cocceji is seized of my Plea, your graciousLordship!"--"All the same, " answers Bismark; "produce CAUTION, or youcan't get out. " Hirsch produces caution; and gets out, after a day ortwo;--and has been "brought to Protocol January 4th. " No delay in thisCourt: both parties, through their Advocates, are now brought to book;the points they agree in will be sifted out, and laid on this side astruth; what they differ in, left lying on that side, as a mixture oflies to be operated on by farther processes and protocols. 

We will not detail the Lawsuit;--what I chiefly admire in it is itsbrevity. Cocceji has not reformed in vain. Good Advocates, none otherallowed; and no Advocate talks; he merely endeavors to think, see anddiscover; holds his tongue if he can discover nothing: that doubtlessis one source of the brevity!--Many lies are stated by Hirsch, many byVoltaire: but the Judges, without difficulty, shovel these aside; andcome step by step upon the truth. Hirsch says plainly, He was sent tobuy STEUER-SCHEINE at 35 per cent discount; Voltaire entirely deniesthe Steuer-Notes; says, It was an affair of Peltries and Jewelries, originating in loans of money to this ungrateful Jew. Which necessitatesmuch wriggling on the part of M. De Voltaire;--but he has himselfwritten in a Lawyer's Office, in his young days, and knows how totwist a turn of expression. The Judges are not there to judgeabout Steuer-Notes; but they give you to understand that Voltaire'sPeltry-and-Jewelry story is moonshine. Hirsch produces the VoltaireScraps of Writing, already known to our readers; Voltaire says, "Mere extinct jottings; which Hirsch has furtively picked out of thegrate, "--or may be said to have picked; Papers annihilated by ourBargain of December 16th, and which should have been in the grate, ifthey were not; this felon never having kept his word in that respect. Peltries and Jewelries, I say: he will not give me back that ParisBill which was protested; pays me the other 3, 000 crowns (Draft of 650pounds) in Jewels overvalued by half. --"Jewels furtively changed sincePlaintiff had them of me!" answers Hirsch;--and the steady Judges keeptheir sieves going. 

The only Documents produced by Voltaire are Two; of 19th DECEMBER and of24th DECEMBER;--which the reader has not yet seen, but ought now to gainsome notion of, if possible. They affect once more, as that of December16th had done, to be "Final Settlements" (or Final Settlement of 19th, with CODICIL of 24th); and turn on confused Lists of Jewels, bought, returned, re-bought (that "Topaz ring" torn from one's hand, aconspicuous item), which no reader would have patience to understand, except in the succinct form. Let all readers note them, however, --atleast the first of them, that of December 19th; especially the words wemark in Italics, which have merited a sad place for IT in the historyof human sin and misery. Klein has given both Documents in engravedfac-simile; we must help ourselves by simpler methods. Berlin, December19th, 1750; Voltaire writes, Hirsch signs;--and the Italics are believedto be words foisted in by M. De Voltaire, weeks after, while the Hirschpleadings were getting stringent! Read, --a very sad memorial of M. DeVoltaire, --

DOCUMENT FIFTH (in Voltaire's hand, written at two times; and the oldwriting MENDED in parts, to suit the new!). --"FOR PAYMENT OF 3, 000THALERS BY ME DUE, I have sold to M. De Voltaire, at the pricecosting by estimation and tax, with 2 per cent for my commission ["ORGRATIFICATION, " written above], the following Diamonds, taxed [blottedinto "TAXABLE"], as here adjoined; viz. "--seven pieces of jewelry, pendeloques, &c. , with price affixed, among which is the violatedTopaz, --"the whole estimated by him ["him" crossed out, and "ME" writtenover it], being 3, 640 thalers. Whereupon, received from Monsieur deVoltaire [what is very strange; not intelligible without study!] the sumof 2, 940 thalers, and he has given me back the Topaz, with 60 crowns formy trouble. --Berlin, 19th December, 1750. " (Hitherto in Voltaire's hand;after which Hirsch writes:) "APROUVE, A. Hirschel. " [Sic: that is alwayshis SIGNATURE; "Abraham HirschEL, " so given by Klein, while Klein andeverybody CALL him Hirsch (STAG), as we have done, --if only to save asyllable on the bad bargain. ] And between these two lines (". . . 1750"and "APPROVED. . . "), there is crushed in, as afterthought, "VALUED BYMYSELF [Hirsch's self], 2, 940, ADD 60, IS 3, 000. " And, in fine, belowthe Hirsch signature, on what may be called the bottom margin, thereis, --I think, avowedly Voltaire's and subsequent, --this: "N. B. ThatHirsch's valuing of all the jewels [present lot and former lot] is, byreal estimation, between twice and thrice too high;" of which, it ishoped, your Lordships will take notice!

Was there ever seen such a Paper; one end of it contradicting the other?Payment TO M. De Voltaire, and payment BY M. De Voltaire;--with otherblottings and foistings, which print and italics will not represent!Hirsch denies he ever signed this Paper. Is not that your writing, then:"APROUVE, A. Hirschel"?--"No!" and they convict him of falsity in thatrespect: the signature IS his, but the Paper has been altered since hesigned it. That is what the poor dark mortal meant to express; and inhis mulish way, he has expressed into a falsity what was in itself atruth. There is not, on candid examination of Klein's Fac-similes andthe other evidence, the smallest doubt but Voltaire altered, added andintercalated, in his own privacy, those words which we have printed initalics; TAXES changed into TAXABLES ("estimated at" into "estimableat"), HIM for ME, and so on; and above all, the now first line of thePaper, FOR PAYMENT OF 3, 000 THALERS BY ME DUE, and in last linethe words VALUED BY MYSELF, &c. , are palpable interpolations, sheerfalsifications, which Hirsch is made to continue signing after his backis turned!

No fact is more certain; and few are sadder in the history of M. DeVoltaire. To that length has he been driven by stress of Fortune. Nay, when the Judges, not hiding their surprise at the form of this Document, asked, Will you swear it is all genuine? Voltaire answered, "Yes, certainly!"--for what will a poor man not do in extreme stress ofFortune? Hirsch, as a Jew, is not permitted to make oath, where aQuasi-Christian will swear to the contrary, or he gladly would; andmight justly. The Judges, willing to prevent chance of perjury, did notbring Voltaire to swearing, but contrived a way to justice without that. 

FEBRUARY 18th, 1751, the Court arrives at a conclusion. Hirsch'sDiamonds, whatever may have been written or forged, are not, norwere, worth more than their value, think the Judges. The Paris Bill isadmitted to be Voltaire's, not Hirsch's, continue they;--and if Hirschcan prove that Voltaire has changed the Diamonds, not a likely fact, let him do so. The rest does not concern us. And to that effect, on theabove day, runs their Sentence: "You, Hirsch, shall restore the ParisBill; mutual Papers to be all restored, or legally annihilated. Jewelsto be valued by sworn Experts, and paid for at that price. Hirsch, if hecan prove that the Jewels were changed, has liberty to try it, in a newAction. Hirsch, for falsely denying his Signature, is fined ten thalers(thirty shillings), such lie being a contempt of court, whatever more. "

"Ha, fined, you Jew Villain!" hysterically shrieks Voltaire: "in thewrong, weren't you, then; and fined thirty shillings?" hystericallytrying to believe, and make others believe, that he has come offtriumphant. "Beaten my Jew, haven't I?" says he to everybody, thoughinwardly well enough aware how it stands, and that he is a Phoenixdouched, and has a tremor in the bones! Chancellor Cocceji was farfrom thinking it triumphant to him. Here is a small Note of Cocceji's, addressed to his two colleagues, Jarriges and Loper, which has beenfound among the Law Papers:

"BERLIN, 20th FEBRUARY, 1751. The Herr President von Jarriges andPrivy-Councillor Loper are hereby officially requested to bring theremainder of the Voltaire Sentence to its fulfilment: I am myself notwell, and can employ my time much better. The Herr von Voltaire hasgiven in a desperate Memorial (EIN DESPERATES MEMORIAL) to this purport:'I swear that what is charged to me [believed of me] in the Sentence istrue; and now request to have the Jewels valued. ' I have returnedhim this Paper, with notice that it must be signed by anAdvocate. --COCCEJI. " [Klein, 256. ]

So wrote Chancellor Cocceji, on the Saturday, washing his hands of thissorry business. Voltaire is ready to make desperate oath, if needful. Wesaid once, M. De Voltaire was not given to lying; far the reverse. But yet, see, if you drive him into a corner with a sword at histhroat, --alas, yes, he will lie a little! Forgery lay still less in hishabits; but he can do a stroke that way, too (one stroke, unique in hislife, I do believe), if a wild boar, with frothy tusks, is upon him. Tell it not in Gath, --except for scientific purposes! And be judicial, arithmetical, in passing sentence on it; not shrieky, mobbish, andflying off into the Infinite!

Berlin, of course, is loud on these matters. "The man whom the Kingdelighted to honor, this is he, then!" King Friedrich has quitted Town, some while ago; returned to Potsdam "January 30th. " Glad enough, I suppose, to be out of all this unmusical blowing of catcalls andindecent exposure. To Voltaire he has taken no notice; silently leavesVoltaire, in his nook of the Berlin Schloss, till the foul business getdone. "VOLTAIRE FILOUTE LES JUIFS (picks Jew pockets), " writes he onceto Wilhelmina: "will get out of it by some GAMBADE (summerset), "writes he another time; "but" ["31st December, 1750" (--OEuvres deFrederic, --xxvii, i. 198); "3d February, 1751" (ib. 201). ]--And takesthe matter with boundless contempt, doubtless with some vexation, butwith the minimum of noise, as a Royal gentleman might. Jew Hirsch isbusy preparing for his new desperate Action; getting together proof thatthe Jewels have been changed. In proof Jew Hirsch will be weak; but inpleading, in public pamphlets, and keeping a winged Apollo flutteringdisastrously in such a mud-bath, Jew Hirsch will be strong. Voltaire, "out of magnanimous pity to him, " consents next week to an Agreement. Agreement is signed on Thursday, 26th February, 1751:--Papers all tobe returned, Jewels nearly all, except one or two, paid at Hirsch's ownprice. Whereby, on the whole, as Klein computes, Voltaire lost about 150pounds;--elsewhere I have seen it computed at 187 pounds: not the leastmatter which. Old Hirsch has died in the interim ("Of broken heart!"blubbers the Son); day not known. 

And, on these terms, Voltaire gets out of the business; glad to closethe intolerable rumor, at some cost of money. For all tongues werewagging; and, in defect of a TIMES Newspaper, it appears, there hadPamphlets come out; printed Satires, bound or in broadside;--sapid, exhilarative, for a season, and interesting to the idle mind. Of which, TANTALE EN PROCES may still, for the sake of that PREFACE to it, beconsidered to have an obscure existence. And such, reduced to itsauthenticities, was the Adventure of the Steuer-Notes. A very badAdventure indeed; unspeakably the worst that Voltaire ever tried, whohad such talent in the finance line. On which poor History is reallyashamed to have spent so much time; sorting it into clearness, in thedisgust and sorrow of her soul. But perhaps it needed to be done. Letus hope, at least, it may not now need to be done again. [Besides theKLEIN, the TANTALE EN PROCES and the Voltaire LETTERS cited above, thereis (in--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxiv. Pp. 61-106, as SUPPLEMENT there), written off-hand, in the very thick of the Hirsch Affair, a considerableset of NOTES TO D'ARGET, which might have been still more elucidative;but are, in their present dateless topsy-turvied condition; a verywonder of confusion to the studious reader!]

This is the FIRST ACT of Voltaire's Tragic-Farce at the Court of Berlin:readers may conceive to what a bleared frost-bitten condition ithas reduced the first Favonian efflorescence there. He considerablyrecovered in the SECOND ACT, such the indelible charm of the Voltairegenius to Friedrich. But it is well known, the First Act rules allthe others; and here, accordingly, the Third Act failed not to provetragical. Out of First Act into Second the following EXTRACTS OFCORRESPONDENCE will guide the reader, without commentary of ours. 

Voltaire, left languishing at Berlin, has fallen sick, now that all isover;--no doubt, in part really sick, the unfortunate Phoenix-Peafowl, with such a tremor in his bones;--and would fain be near Friedrich andwarmth again; fain persuade the outside world that all is sunshine withhim. Voltaire's Letters to Friedrich, if he wrote any, in this Jew time, are lost; here are Friedrich's Answers to Two, --one lost, which hadbeen written from Berlin AFTER the Jew affair was out of Court; and toanother (not lost) after the Jew affair was done. 

1. KING FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE AT BERLIN. 

"POTSDAM, 24th February, 1751. "I was glad to receive you in my house; Iesteemed your genius, your talents and acquirements; and I had reason tothink that a man of your age, wearied with fencing against Authors, andexposing himself to the storm, came hither to take refuge as in a safeharbor. 

"But, on arriving, you exacted of me, in a rather singular manner, Notto take Freron to write me news from Paris; and I had the weakness, orthe complaisance, to grant you this, though it is not for you to decidewhat persons I shall take into my service. D'Arnaud had faults towardsyou; a generous man would have pardoned them; a vindictive man huntsdown those whom he takes to hating. In a word, though to me D'Arnaud haddone nothing, it was on your account that he had to go. You werewith the Russian Minister, speaking of things you had no concern with[Russian Excellency Gross, off home lately, in sudden dudgeon, like anangry sky-rocket, nobody can guess why! Adelung, vii. 133 (about 1stDecember, 1750). ]--and it was thought I had given you Commission. " "Youhave had the most villanous affair in the world with a Jew. It has madea frightful scandal all over Town. And that Steuer-Schein business is sowell known in Saxony, that they have made grievous complaints of it tome. 

"For my own share, I have preserved peace in my house till yourarrival: and I warn you, that if you have the passion of intriguing andcaballing, you have applied to the wrong hand. I like peaceable composedpeople; who do not put into their conduct the violent passions ofTragedy. In case you can resolve to live like a Philosopher, I shallbe glad to see you; but if you abandon yourself to all the violences ofyour passions, and get into quarrels with all the world, you will do meno good by coming hither, and you may as well stay in Berlin. " [Preuss, xxii. 262 (WANTING in the French Editions). ]--F. 

To which Voltaire sighing pathetically in response, "Wrong, ah yes, yourMajesty;--and sick to death" (see farther down), --here is Friedrich'sSecond in Answer:--

2. FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE AGAIN. 

"POTSDAM, 28th February, 1751. "If you wish to come hither, you can doso. I hear nothing of Lawsuits, not even of yours. Since you have gainedit, I congratulate you; and I am glad that this scurvy affair is done. I hope you will have no more quarrels, neither with the OLD nor with theNew TESTAMENT. Such worryings (CES SORTES DE COMPROMIS) leave their markon a man; and with the talents of the finest genius in France, you willnot cover the stains which this conduct would fasten on your reputationin the long-run. A Bookseller Gosse [read JORE, your Majesty? Nobodyever heard of Gosse as an extant quantity: Jore, of Rouen, you mean, andhis celebrated Lawsuit, about printing the HENRIADE, or I know not what, long since] [Unbounded details on the Jore Case, and from 1731 to 1738continual LETTERS on it, in--OEuvres de Voltaire;----came to a headin 1736 (ib. Lxix. 375); Jore penitent, 1738 (ib. I. 262), &c. &c. ], aBookseller Jore, an Opera Fiddler [poor Travenol, wrong dog pincered bythe ear], and a Jeweller Jew, these are, of a surety, names which inno sort of business ought to appear by the side of yours. I write thisLetter with the rough common-sense of a German, who speaks what hethinks, without employing equivocal terms, and loose assuagements whichdisfigure the truth: it is for you to profit by it. --F. " [--OEuvres deFrederic, --xxii. 265. ]

So that Voltaire will have to languish: "Wrong, yes;--and sick, nighdead, your Majesty! Ah, could not one get to some Country Lodge nearyou, 'the MARQUISAT' for instance? Live silent there, and see your facesometimes?" [In--OEuvres de Frederic--(xxii. 259-261, 263-266) are Fourlamenting and repenting, wheedling and ultimately whining, LETTERS fromVoltaire, none of them dated, which have much about "my dreadful stateof health, " my passion" for reposing in that MARQUISAT, " &c. ;--to oneof which Four, or perhaps to the whole together, the above No. 2 ofFriedrich seems to have been Answer. Of that indisputable "MARQUISAT" noNicolai says a word; even careful Preuss passes "Gosse" and it with shutlips. ] Languishing very much;--gives cosy little dinners, however. Hereare two other Excerpts; and these will suffice:--

VOLTAIRE TO FORMEY ("BERLIN PALACE;" DATABLE, FIRST DAYS OF MARCH):"Will you, Monsieur, come and eat the King's roast meat (ROT DU ROI), to-day, Thursday, at two o'clock, in a philosophic, warm and comfortablemanner (PHILOSOPHIQUEMENT ET CHAUDEMENT ET DOUCEMENT). A couple ofphilosophers, without being courtiers, may dine in the Palace of aPhilosopher-King: I should even take the liberty of sending one of hisMajesty's Carriages for you, -at two precise. After dinner, you would beat hand for your Academy meeting. " [Formey, i. 234. ]--V. How cosy!--AndKing Friedrich has relented, too; grants me the Marquisat; can refuse menothing!

VOLTAIRE TO D'ARGENTAL (POTSDAM, 15th MARCH 1751). . . . "I could notaccompany our Chamberlain [Von Ammon, gone as Envoy to Paris, on a smallmatter ["Commercial Treaty;" which he got done. See LONGCHAMP, if anyone is curious otherwise about this Gentleman: "D'Hamon" they callhim, and sometimes "DAMON", --to whom Niece Denis wanted to be Phyllis, according to Longchamp. ]], through the muds and the snows, --where Ishould have been buried; I was ill, " and had to go to the MARQUISAT. "D'Arnaud and the pack of Scribblers would have been too glad. D'Arnaud, animated with the true love of glory, and not yet grown sufficientlyillustrious by his own immortal Works, has done ONE of that kind, "--byhis behavior here. Has behaved to me--oh, like a miserable, envious, intriguing, lying little scoundrel; and made Berlin too hot for him:seduced Tinois my Clerk, stole bits of the Pucelle (brief SIGHT of bits, for Prince Henri's sake) to ruin me. 

"D'Arnaud sent his lies to Freron for the Paris meridian [that is hisreal crime]; delightful news from canaille to canaille: 'How Voltairehad lost a great Lawsuit, respectable Jew Banker cheated by Voltaire;that Voltaire was disgraced by the King, ' who of course loves Jews;'that Voltaire was ruined; was ill; nay at last, that Voltaire wasdead. '" To the joy of Freron, and the scoundrels that are printing one'sPUCELLE. "Voltaire is still in life, however, my angels; and the Kinghas been so good to me in my sickness, I should be the ungratefulestof men if I didn't still pass some months with him. When he left Berlin[30th January, six weeks ago], and I was too ill to follow him, I wasthe sole animal of my species whom he lodged in his Palace there [whata beautiful bit of color to lay on!]--He left me equipages, cooks ETCETERA; and his mules and horses carted out my temporary furniture(MEUBLES DE PASSADE) to a delicious House of his, close by Potsdam[MARQUISAT to wit, where I now stretch myself at ease; Niece Deniscoming to live with me there, --talks of coming, if my angels knewit], --and he has reserved for me a charming apartment in his Palace ofPotsdam, where I pass a part of the week. 

"And, on close view, I still admire this Unique Genius; and he deigns tocommunicate himself to me;--and if I were not 300 leagues from you, andhad a little health, I should be the happiest of men. " [--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxiv. 320. ]. . . Oh, my angels--

And, in short, better or worse, my SECOND ACT is begun, as youperceive!--And certain readers will be apt to look in again, before allis over. 

Chapter VIII. OST-FRIESLAND AND THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. 

Two Foreign Events, following on the heel of the Hirsch Lawsuit, were ofinterest to our Berlin friends, though not now of much to us or anybody. April 5th, 1751, the old King of Sweden, Landgraf of Hessen-Cassel, died; whereby not only our friend Wilhelm, the managing Landgraf, becomes Landgraf indeed (if he should ever turn up on us again), butPrincess Ulrique is henceforth Queen of Sweden, her Husband thenew King. No doubt a welcome event to Princess Ulrique, the highbrave-minded Lady; but which proved intrinsically an empty one, not tosay worse than empty, to herself and her friends, in times following. Friedrich's connection with Sweden, which he had been tightening latelyby a Treaty of Alliance, came in the long-run to nothing for him, on theSwedish side; and on the Russian has already created umbrages, kindledabstruse suspicions, indignations, --Russian Excellency Gross, abruptly, at Berlin, demanding horses, not long since, and posting home withoutother leave-taking, to the surprise of mankind;--Russian Czarinaevidently in the sullens against Friedrich, this long while; dullimpenetrable clouds of anger lodging yonder, boding him no good. Allwhich the Accession of Queen Ulrique will rather tend to aggravate thanotherwise. [Adelung, vii. 205 (Accession of Adolf Friedrich); ib. 133(Gross's sudden Departure). ]

The Second Foreign Event is English, about a week prior in date, andis of still less moment: March 31st, 1751, Prince Fred, the RoyalHeir-Apparent, has suddenly died. Had been ill, more or less, for aneight days past; was now thought better, though "still coughing, andbringing up phlegm, "--when, on "Wednesday night between nine and ten, "in some lengthier fit of that kind, he clapt his hand on his breast; andthe terrified valet heard him say, "JE SUIS MORT!"--and before hispoor Wife could run forward with a light, he lay verily dead. [Walpole, GEORGE THE SECOND, i. 71. ] The Rising Sun in England is vanished, then. Yes; and with him his MOONS, and considerable moony workings, andslushings hither and thither, which they have occasioned, in the muddytide-currents of that Constitutional Country. Without interest to ushere; or indeed elsewhere, --except perhaps that our dear Wilhelminawould hear of it; and have her sad reflections and reminiscencesawakened by it; sad and many-voiced, perhaps of an almost dolefulnature, being on a sick-bed at this time, poor Lady. She quitted Berlinmonths ago, as we observed, --her farewell Letter to Friedrich, writtenfrom the first stage homewards, and melodious as the voice of sorrowfultrue hearts to us and him, dates "November 24th, " just while Voltaire(whom she always likes, and in a beautiful way protects, "FREREVOLTAIRE, " as she calls him) was despatching Hirsch on that ill-omenedPredatory STEUER-Mission. Her Brother is in real alarm for Wilhelmina, about this time; sending out Cothenius his chief Doctor, and the like:but our dear Princess re-emerges from her eclipse; and we shall see heragain, several times, if we be lucky. 

And so poor Fred is ended;--and sulky people ask, in their cruel way, "Why not?" A poor dissolute flabby fellow-creature; with a sad destiny, and a sadly conspicuous too. Could write Madrigals; be set to makeOpposition cabals. Read this sudden Epitaph in doggerel; an uncommonlysuccessful Piece of its kind; which is now his main monument withposterity. The "Brother" (hero of Culloden), the "Sister" (Amelia, our Friedrich's first love, now growing gossipy and spiteful, poorPrincess), are old friends:--

 "Here lies Prince Fred, Who was alive and is dead: Had it been his Father, I had much rather; Had it been his Brother, Sooner than any other;

 Had it been his Sister, There's no one would have missed her; Had it been his whole generation, Best of all for the Nation: But since it's only Fred, There's no more to be said. " [Walpole, i. 436. ]

FRIEDRIAH VISITS OST-FRIESLAND. 

A thing of more importance to us, two months after that catastrophe inLondon, is Friedrich's first Visit to Ost-Friesland. May 31st, havingdone his Berlin-Potsdam Reviews and other current affairs, Friedrichsets out on this Excursion. With Ost-Friesland for goal, but muchbusiness by the way. Towards Magdeburg, and a short visit to theBrunswick Kindred, first of all. There is much reviewing in theMagdeburg quarter, and thereafter in the Wesel; and reviewing andvisiting all along: through Minden, Bielfeld, Lingen: not till July13th does he cross the Ost-Friesland Border, and enter Embden. Histhree Brothers, and Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, were with him. [--Helden-Geschichte, --iii. 506; Seyfarth, ii. 145; Rodenbeck, i. 216(who gives a foolish German myth, of Voltaire's being passed off for theKing's Baboon, &c. ; Voltaire not being there at all). ] On catching viewof Ost-Friesland Border, see, on the Border-Line, what an Arch goton its feet: Triumphal Arch, of frondent ornaments, inscriptions andinsignia; "of quite extraordinary magnificence;" Arch which "setsevery one into the agreeablest admiration. " Above a hundred suchArches spanned the road at different points; multitudinous enthusiasmreverently escorting, "more than 20, 000" by count: till we enter Embden;where all is cannon-salvo, and three-times-three; the thunder-shotscontinuing, "above 2, 000 of them from the walls, not to speak ofresponse from the ships in harbor. " Embden glad enough, as would appear, and Ost-Friesland glad enough, to see their new King. July 13th, 1751;after waiting above six years. 

Next day, his Majesty gave audience to the new "Asiatic ShippingCompany" (of which anon), to the Stande, and Magisterial persons;--withmany questions, I doubt not, about your new embankments, newimprovements, prospects; there being much procedure that way, in allmanner of kinds, since the new Dynasty came in, now six years ago. Embankments on your River, wide spaces changed from ooze to meadow; onthe Dollart still more, which has lain 500 years hidden from thesun. Does any reader know the Dollart? Ost-Friesland has awakened towonderful new industries within these six years; urged and guided bythe new King, who has great things in view for it, besides what are inactual progress. 

That of dikes, sea-embankments, for example; to Ost-Friesland, as toHolland, they are the first condition of existence; and, in the pasttimes, of extreme Parliamentary vitality, have been slipping a good dealout of repair. Ems River, in those flat rainy countries, has ploughedout for itself a very wide embouchure, as boundary between Groningenand Ost-Friesland. Muddy Ems, bickering with the German Ocean, does notforget to act, if Parliamentary Commissioners do. These dikes, 120miles of dike, mainly along both banks of this muddy Ems River, are nowwater-tight again, to the comfort of flax and clover: and this is butone item of the diking now on foot. Readers do not know the Dollart, that uppermost round gulf, not far from Embden itself, in the wasteembouchure of Ems with its continents of mud and tide. Five hundredyears ago, that ugly whirl of muddy surf, 100 square miles in area, wasa fruitful field, "50 Villages upon it, one Town, several Monasteriesand 50, 000 souls:" till on Christmas midnight A. D. 1277, the winds andthe storm-rains having got to their height, Ocean and Ems did, "aboutmidnight, " undermine the place, folded it over like a friable bedquiltor monstrous doomed griddle-cake, and swallowed it all away. Most ofit, they say, that night, the whole of it within ten years coming;[Busching, --Erdbeschreibung, --v. 845, 846; Preuss, i. 308, 309. ]--andthere it has hung, like an unlovely GOITRE at the throat of Embden, ever since. One little dot of an Island, with six houses on it, nearthe Embden shore, is all that is left. Where probably his Majesty landed(July 15th, being in a Yacht that day); but did not see, afar off, the"sunk steeple-top, " which is fabled to be visible at low-water. 

Upon this Dollart itself there is now to be diking tried; King'sDomain-Kammer showing the example. Which Official Body did accordingly(without Blue-Books, but in good working case otherwise) breakground, few months hence; and victoriously achieved a POLDER, or DikedTerritory, "worth about 2, 000 pounds annually;" "which, in 1756, wassold to the STANDE;" at twenty-five years purchase, let us say, or for50, 000 pounds. An example of a convincing nature; which many others, andever others, have followed since; to gradual considerable diminution ofthe Dollart, and relief of Ost-Friesland on this side. Furtherance ofthese things is much a concern of Friedrich's. The second day after hisarrival, those audiences and ceremonials done, Friedrich and suite goton board a Yacht, and sailed about all over this Dollart, twenty milesout to sea; dined on board; and would have, if the weather was bright(which I hope), a pleasantly edifying day. The harbor is much in needof dredging, the building docks considerably in disrepair; but shallbe refitted if this King live and prosper. He has declared Embden a"Free-Haven, " inviting trade to it from all peaceable Nations;--andreaders do not know (though Sir Jonas Hanway and the jealous mercantileworld well did) what magnificent Shipping Companies and Sea-Enterprises, of his devising, are afoot there. Of which, one word, and no secondshall follow:

"September 1st, 1750, those Carrousel gayeties scarce done, 'The AsiaticTrading Company' stept formally into existence; Embden the Head-quartersof it; [Patent, or FREYHEITS-BRIEF in--Helden-Geschichte, --iii. 457, 458. ] chief Manager a Ritter De la Touche; one of the Directorsour fantastic Bielfeld, thus turned to practical value. A Companypatronized, in all ways, by the King; but, for the rest, founded, not onhis money; founded on voluntary shares, which, to the regret of Hanwayand others, have had much popularity in commercial circles. Will tradeto China. A thing looked at with umbrage by the English, by the Dutch. A shame that English people should encourage such schemes, saysHanway. Which nevertheless many Dutch and many English private personsdo, --among the latter, one English Lady (name unknown, but I alwayssuspect 'Miss Barbara Wyndham, of the College, Salisbury'), concerningwhom there will be honorable notice by and by. 

"At the time of Friedrich's visit, the Asiatic Company is in full vogue;making ready its first ship for Canton. First ship, KONIG VON PREUSSEN(tons burden not given), actually sailed 17th February next (1752); andwas followed by a second, named TOWN OF EMBDEN, on the 19th of Septemberfollowing; both of which prosperously reached Canton, and prosperouslyreturned with cargoes of satisfactory profit. The first of them, KONIGVON PREUSSEN, had been boarded in the Downs by an English CaptainThomson and his Frigate, and detained some days, --till Thomson 'tookSeven English seamen out of her. ' 'Act of Parliament, express!' saidhis Grace of Newcastle. Which done, Thomson found that the Englishjealousies would have to hold their hand; no farther, whatever one'swishes may be. 

"Nay within a year hence, January 24th, 1753, Friedrich founded anotherCompany for India: 'BENGALISCHE HANDELS-GESELLSCHAFT;' which also sentout its pair of ships, perhaps oftener than once; and pointed, as theother was doing, to wide fields of enterprise, for some time. Butluck was wanting. And, 'in part, mismanagement, ' and, in whole, theSeven-Years War put an end to both Companies before long. Friedrich isfull of these thoughts, among his other Industrialisms; and never quitsthem for discouragement, but tries again, when the obstacles cease tobe insuperable. Ever since the acquisition of Ost-Friesland, thefurtherance of Sea-Commerce had been one of Friedrich's chosen objects. 'Let us carry our own goods at least, Silesian linens, Memel timbers, stock-fish; what need of the Dutch to do it?' And in many branches hisprogress had been remarkable, --especially in this carrying trade, whilethe War lasted, and crippled all Anti-English belligerents. Upon which, indeed, and the conduct of the English Privateers to him, there is aControversy going on with the English Court in those years (beganin 1747), most distressful to his Grace of Newcastle;--which in partexplains those stingy procedures of Captain Thomson ('Home, youseven English sailors!') when the first Canton ship put to sea. ThatControversy is by no means ended after three years, but on the contrary, after two years more, comes to a crisis quite shocking to his Graceof Newcastle, and defying all solution on his Grace's side, --the otherParty, after such delays, five years waiting, having settled it forhimself!" Of which, were the crisis come, we will give some account. 

On the third day of his Visit, Friedrich drove to Aurich, the seatof Government, and official little capital of Ost-Friesland; wheretriumphal arches, joyful reverences, concourses, demonstrations, sumptuous Dinner one item, awaited his Majesty: I know not if, in theway thither or back, he passed those "Three huge Oaks [or the rottedstems or roots of them] under which the Ancient Frisians, Lords of allbetween Weser and Rhine, were wont to assemble in Parliament" (WITHOUTFourth Estate, or any Eloquence except of the purely Business sort), --orwhat his thoughts on the late Ost-Friesland Bandbox Parliaments mayhave been! He returned to Embden that night; and on the morrow startedhomewards; we may fancy, tolerably pleased with what he had seen. 

"King Friedrich's main Objects of Pursuit in this Period, " says acertain Author, whom we often follow, "I define as being Three. 1. Reform of the Law; 2. Furtherance of Husbandry and Industry in allkinds, especially of Shipping from Embden; 3. Improvement of his ownDomesticities and Household Enjoyments, "--renewal of the ReinsbergProgram, in short. 

"In the First of these objects, " continues he, "King Friedrich's successwas very considerable, and got him great fame in the world. In hisSecond head of efforts, that of improving the Industries and Husbandriesamong his People, his success, though less noised of in foreign parts, was to the near observer still more remarkable. A perennial businesswith him, this; which, even in the time of War, he never neglects; andwhich springs out like a stemmed flood, whenever Peace leaves him freefor it. His labors by all methods to awaken new branches of industry, to cherish and further the old, are incessant, manifold, unwearied; andwill surprise the uninstructed reader, when he comes to study them. An airy, poetizing, bantering, lightly brilliant King, supposed to beserious mainly in things of War, how is he moiling and toiling, likean ever-vigilant Land-Steward, like the most industrious City Merchant, hardest-working Merchant's Clerk, to increase his industrial Capital byany the smallest item!

"One day, these things will deserve to be studied to the bottom; and tobe set forth, by writing hands that are competent, for the instructionand example of Workers, --that is to say, of all men, Kings most of all, when there are again Kings. At present, I can only say they astonish me, and put me to shame: the unresting diligence displayed in them, and theimmense sum-total of them, --what man, in any the noblest pursuit, cansay that he has stood to it, six-and-forty years long, in the style ofthis man? Nor did the harvest fail; slow sure harvest, which sufficeda patient Friedrich in his own day; harvest now, in our day, visible toeverybody: in a Prussia all shooting into manufactures, into commerces, opulences, --I only hope, not TOO fast, and on more solid terms than areuniversal at present! Those things might be didactic, truly, in variouspoints, to this Generation; and worth looking back upon, from itshigh LAISSEZ-FAIRE altitudes, its triumphant Scrip-transactions andcontinents of gold-nuggets, --pleasing, it doubts not, to all the gods. To write well of what is called 'Political Economy' (meaning therebyincrease of money's-worth) is reckoned meritorious, and our nearestapproach to the rational sublime. But to accomplish said increase ina high and indisputable degree; and indisputably very much by your ownendeavors wisely regulating those of others, does not that approachstill nearer the sublime?

"To prevent disappointment, I ought to add that Friedrich is the reverseof orthodox in 'Political Economy;' that he had not faith in Free-Trade, but the reverse;--nor had ever heard of those ultimate Evangels, unlimited Competition, fair Start, and perfervid Race by all the world(towards 'CHEAP-AND-NASTY, ' as the likeliest winning-post for all theworld), which have since been vouchsafed us. Probably in the world therewas never less of a Free-Trader! Constraint, regulation, encouragement, discouragement, reward, punishment; these he never doubted were themethod, and that government was good everywhere if wise, bad only if notwise. And sure enough these methods, where human justice and the earnestsense and insight of a Friedrich preside over them, have results, whichdiffer notably from opposite cases that can be imagined! The desperatenotion of giving up government altogether, as a relief from humanblockheadism in your governors, and their want even of a wish to be justor wise, had not entered into the thoughts of Friedrich; nor drivenhim upon trying to believe that such, in regard to any Human Interestwhatever, was, or could be except for a little while in extremelydeveloped cases, the true way of managing it. How disgusting, accordingly, is the Prussia of Friedrich to a Hanbury Williams; who hasbad eyes and dirty spectacles, and hates Friedrich: how singular andlamentable to a Mirabeau Junior, who has good eyes, and loves him!No knave, no impertinent blockhead even, can follow his own beautifuldevices here; but is instantly had up, or comes upon a turnpike strictlyshut for him. 'Was the like ever heard of?' snarls Hanbury furiously (asan angry dog might, in a labyrinth it sees not the least use for): 'Whatunspeakable want of liberty!'--and reads to you as if he were lyingoutright; but generally is not, only exaggerating, tumbling upside down, to a furious degree; knocking against the labyrinth HE sees not theleast use for. Mirabeau's Gospel of Free-Trade, preached in 1788, [MONARCHIE PRUSSIENNE he calls it (A LONDRES, privately Paris, 1788), 8 vols. 8vo; which is a Dead-Sea of Statistics, compiled by industriousMajor Mauvillon, with this fresh current of a "Gospel" shining throughit, very fresh and brisk, of few yards breadth;--dedicated to Papa, thetrue PROTevangelist of the thing. ]--a comparatively recent Performance, though now some seventy or eighty years the senior of an English(unconscious) Fac-simile, which we have all had the pleasure ofknowing, --will fall to be noticed afterwards [not by this Editor, wehope!]

"Many of Friedrich's restrictive notions, --as that of watching with suchanxiety that 'money' (gold or silver coin) be not carried out of theCountry, --will be found mistakes, not in orthodox Dismal Science as nowtaught, but in the nature of things; and indeed the Dismal Science willgenerally excommunicate them in the lump, --too. Heedless that Fact hasconspicuously vindicated the general sum-total of them, and declared itto be much truer than it seems to the Dismal Science. Dismal Science(if that were important to me) takes insufficient heed, and does notdiscriminate between times past and times present, times here and timesthere. "

Certain it is, King Friedrich's success in National Husbandry was verygreat. The details of the very many new Manufactures, new successfulever-spreading Enterprises, fostered into existence by Friedrich; hisCanal-makings, Road-makings, Bog-drainings, Colonizings and unweariedendeavorings in that kind, will require a Technical Philosopher one day;and will well reward such study, and trouble of recording in a humanmanner; but must lie massed up in mere outline on the present occasion. Friedrich, as Land-Father, Shepherd of the People, was great on theHusbandry side also; and we are to conceive him as a man of excellentpractical sense, doing unweariedly his best in that kind, all his lifelong. Alone among modern Kings; his late Father the one exception; andeven his Father hardly surpassing him in that particular. 

In regard to Embden and the Shipping interests, Ost-Friesland awakenedvery ardent speculations, which were a novelty in Prussian affairs;nothing of Foreign Trade, except into the limited Baltic, had been heardof there since the Great Elector's time. The Great Elector had ships, Forts on the Coast of Africa; and tried hard for Atlantic Trade, --out ofthis same Embden; where, being summoned to protect in the troubles, hehad got some footing as Contingent Heir withal, and kept a "PrussianBattalion" a good while. And now, on much fairer terms, not lessdiligently turned to account, it is his Great-Grandson's turn. Friedrich's successes in this department, the rather as Embden andOst-Friesland have in our time ceased to be Prussian, are not much worthspeaking of; but they connect themselves with some points still slightlymemorable to us. How, for example, his vigilantes and endeavors on thisscore brought him into rubbings, not collisions, but jealousies andgratings, with the English and Dutch, the reader will see anon. 

Law-reform is gloriously prosperous; Husbandry the like, and ShippingInterest itself as yet. But in the Third grand Head, that of realizingthe Reinsberg Program, beautifying his Domesticities, and bringing hisown Hearth and Household nearer the Ideal, Friedrich was nothing likeso successful; in fact had no success at all. That flattering ReinsbergProgram, it is singular how Friedrich cannot help trying it by everynew chance, nor cast the notion out of him that there must be a kindof Muses'-Heaven realizable on Earth! That is the Biographic Phenomenonwhich has survived of those Years; and to that we will almostexclusively address ourselves, on behalf of ingenuous readers. 

Chapter IX. --SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 

Voltaire's Visit lasted, in all, about Thirty-two Months; and isdivisible into Three Acts or Stages. The first we have seen: howit commenced in brightness as of the sun, and ended, by that Hirschbusiness, in whirlwinds of smoke and soot, --Voltaire retiring, on hispassionate prayer, to that silent Country-house which he calls theMarquisat; there to lie in hospital, and wash himself a little, and letthe skies wash themselves. 

The Hirsch business having blown over, as all things do, Voltaireresumed his place among the Court-Planets, and did his revolutions;striving to forget that there ever was a Hirsch, or a soot-explosion ofthat nature. In words nobody reminded him of it, the King least of all:and by degrees matters were again tolerably glorious, and all might havegone well enough; though the primal perfect splendor, such fuliginousreminiscence being ineffaceable, never could be quite re-attained. Thediamond Cross of Merit, the Chamberlain gold Key, hung bright upon theman; a man the admired of men. He had work to do: work of his own whichhe reckoned priceless (that immortal SIECLE DE LOUIS QUATORZE; whichhe stood by, and honestly did, while here; the one fixed axis in thosefooleries and whirlings of his);--work for the King, "two hours, one hour, a day, " which the King reckoned priceless in its sort. ForFriedrich himself Voltaire has, with touches of real love coming outnow and then, a very sincere admiration mixed with fear; and delightsin shining to him, and being well with him, as the greatest pleasure nowleft in life. Besides the King, he had society enough, French in type, and brilliant enough: plenty of society; or, at his wish, what was stillbetter, none at all. He was bedded, boarded, lodged, as if beneficentfairies had done it for him; and for all these things no price asked, you might say, but that he would not throw himself out of window! Hadthe man been wise--But he was not wise. He had, if no big gloomy devilin him among the bright angels that were there, a multitude of raveningtumultuary imps, or little devils very ILL-CHAINED; and was lodged, he and his restless little devils, in a skin far too thin for him andthem!--

Reckoning up the matter, one cannot find that Voltaire ever could havebeen a blessing at Berlin, either for Friedrich or himself; and it is tobe owned that Friedrich was not wise in so longing for him, or claspinghim so frankly in his arms. As Friedrich, by this time, probably beginsto discover;--though indeed to Friedrich the thing is of finite moment;by no means of infinite, as it was to Voltaire. "At worst, nothing buta little money thrown away!" thinks Friedrich: "Sure enough, this is astrange Trismegistus, this of mine: star fire-work shall we call him, orterrestrial smoke-and-soot work? But one can fence oneself against theblind vagaries of the man; and get a great deal of good by him, in thelucid intervals. " To Voltaire himself the position is most agitating;but then its glories, were there nothing more! Besides he is alwaysthinking to quit it shortly; which is a great sedative in troubles. What with intermittencies (safe hidings in one's MARQUISAT, or vacantinterlunar cave), with alternations of offence and reconcilement; whatwith occasional actual flights to Paris (whitherward Voltaire is alwaysbusy to keep a postern open; and of which there is frequent talk, andalmost continual thought, all along), flights to be called "visits, "and privately intending to be final, but never proving so, --theVoltaire-Friedrich relation, if left to itself, might perhaps long havestaggered about, and not ended as it did. 

But, alas, no relation can be left to itself in this world, --especiallyif you have a porous skin! There were other French here, as well asVoltaire, revolving in the Court-circle; and that, beyond all others, proved the fatal circumstance to him. "NE SAVEZ-VOUS PAS, Don't youknow, " said he to Chancellor Jarriges one day, "that when there are twoFrenchmen in a Foreign Court or Country, one of them must die (FAUT QUEL'UN DES DEUX PERISSE)?" [Seyfarth, ii. 191; &c. &c. ] Which shocked themind of Jarriges; but had a kind of truth, too. Jew Hirsch, run into forlow smuggling purposes, had been a Cape of Storms, difficult to weather;but the continual leeshore were those French, --with a heavy gale on, andone of the rashest pilots! He did strike the breakers there, at last;and it is well known, total shipwreck was the issue. Our Second Act, holding out dubiously, in continual perils, till Autumn, 1752, will haveto pass then into a Third of darker complexion, and into a Catastrophevery dark indeed. 

Catastrophe which, by farther ill accident, proved noisy in the extreme;producing world-wide shrieks from the one party, stone-silence from theother; which were answered by unlimited hooting, catcalling and haha-ingfrom all parts of the World-Theatre, upon both the shrieky and thesilent party; catcalling not fallen quite dead to this day. To Friedrichthe catcalling was not momentous (being used to such things); though topoor Voltaire it was unlimitedly so:--and to readers interested in thismemorable Pair of Men, the rights and wrongs of the Affair ought tobe rendered authentically conceivable, now at last. Were it humanlypossible, --after so much catcalling at random! Smelfungus has a right tosay, speaking of this matter:--

"Never was such a jumble of loud-roaring ignorances, delusions andconfusions, as the current Records of it are. Editors, especially FrenchEditors, treating of a Hyperborean, Cimmerian subject, like this, areeasy-going creatures. And truly they have left it for us in a wonderfulstate. Dateless, much of it, by nature; and, by the lazy Editors, MISdated into very chaos; jumbling along there, in mad defiance of topand bottom; often the very Year given wrong:--full everywhere of lazydarkness, irradiated only by stupid rages, ill-directed mockeries:--andfor issue, cheerfully malicious hootings from the general mob ofmankind, with unbounded contempt of their betters; which is notpleasant to see. When mobs do get together, round any signal object; andeditorial gentlemen, with talent for it, pour out from their respectivebarrel-heads, in a persuasive manner, instead of knowledge, ignoranceset on fire, they are capable of carrying it far!--Will it be possibleto pick out the small glimmerings of real light, from this mad dance ofwill-o'-wisps and fire-flies thrown into agitation?"

It will be very difficult, my friend;--why did not you yourself do it?Most true, "those actual Voltaire-Friedrich LETTERS of the time area resource, and pretty much the sole one: Letters a good few, stillextant; which all HAD their bit of meaning; and have it still, if welltortured till they give it out, or give some glimmer of it out:"--butyou have not tortured them; you have left it to me, if I would! AsI assuredly will not (never fear, reader!)--except in the thriftiestdegree. 

DETACHED FEATURES (NOT FABULOUS) OF VOLTAIRE AND HIS BERLIN-POTSDAMENVIRONMENT IN 1751-1752. 

To the outside crowd of observers, and to himself in good moments, Voltaire represents his situation as the finest in the world:--

"Potsdam is Sparta and Athens joined in one; nothing but reviewing andpoetry day by day. The Algarottis, the Maupertuises, are here; have eachhis work, serious for himself; then gay Supper with a King, who is agreat man and the soul of good company. ". . . Sparta and Athens, I tellyou: "a Camp of Mars and the Garden of Epicurus; trumpets and violins, War and Philosophy. I have my time all to myself; am at Court and infreedom, --if I were not entirely free, neither an enormous Pension, nora Gold Key tearing out one's pocket, nor a halter (LICOU), which theycall CORDON of an ORDER, nor even the Suppers with a Philosopher whohas gained Five Battles, could yield me the least happiness. "[--OEuvres, --lxxiv. 325, 326, 333 (Letters, to D'Argental and others, "27th April-8th May, 1751"). ] Looked at by you, my outside friends, --ah, had I health and YOU here, what a situation!

But seen from within, it is far otherwise. Alongside of these warblingsof a heart grateful to the first of Kings, there goes on a seriesof utterances to Niece Denis, remarkable for the misery driven intomeanness, that can be read in them. Ill-health, discontent, vagueterror, suspicion that dare not go to sleep; a strange vague terror, shapeless or taking all shapes--a body diseased and a mind diseased. Fear, quaking continually for nothing at all, is not to be borne in ahandsome manner. And it passes, often enough (in these poor LETTERS), into transient malignity, into gusts of trembling hatred, with atendency to relieve oneself by private scandal of the house we are in. Seldom was a miserabler wrong-side seen to a bit of royal tapestry. Aman hunted by the little devils that dwell unchained within himself;like Pentheus by the Maenads, like Actaeon by his own Dogs. Nay, withoutdevils, with only those terrible bowels of mine, and scorbutic gums, it is bad enough: "Glorious promotions to me here, " sneers he bitterly;"but one thing is indisputable, I have lost seven of my poor residue ofteeth since I came!" In truth, we are in a sadly scorbutic state; andthat, and the devils we lodge within ourselves, is the one real evil. Could not Suspicion--why cannot she!--take her natural rest; and allthese terrors vanish? Oh, M. De Voltaire!--The practical purport, toNiece Denis, always is: Keep my retreat to Paris open; in the name ofHeaven, no obstruction that way!

Miserable indeed; a man fatally unfit for his present element! But hehas Two considerable Sedatives, all along; two, and no third visibleto me. Sedative FIRST: that, he can, at any time, quit this illustriousTartarus-Elysium, the envy of mankind;--and indeed, practically, he isalways as if on the slip; thinking to be off shortly, for a time, or inpermanence; can be off at once, if things grow too bad. Sedative SECONDis far better: His own labor on LOUIS QUATORZE, which is steadily goingon, and must have been a potent quietus in those Court-whirlwinds inwardand outward. 

From Berlin, already in Autumn, 1750, Voltaire writes to D'Argental:"I sha'n't go to Italy this Autumn [nor ever in my life], as I hadprojected. But I will come to see YOU in the course of November" (farfrom it, I got into STEUER-SCHEINE then!)--And again, after someweeks: "I have put off my journey to Italy for a year. Next Winter too, therefore, I shall see you, " on the road thither. "To my Country, sinceyou live in it, I will make frequent visits, " very!" Italy and theKing of Prussia are two old passions with me; but I cannot treatFrederic-le-Grand as I can the Holy Father, with a mere look inpassing. " [To D'Argental, "Berlin, 14th September, --Potsdam, 15thOctober, 1750" (--OEuvres, --lxxiv. 220, 237). ] Let this one, to whichmany might be added, serve as sample of Sedative First, or the power andintention to be off before long. 

In regard to Sedative Second, again:. . . "The happiest circumstance is, brought with me all my LOUIS-FOURTEENTH Papers and Excerpts. 'I getfrom Leipzig, if no nearer, whatever Books are needed;'" and laborfaithfully at this immortal Production. Yes, day by day, to see growing, by the cunning of one's own right hand, such perennial Solomon's-Templeof a SIECLE DE LOUIS QUATORZE:--which of your Kings, or truculent, Tiglath-Pilesers, could do that? To poor me, even in the Potsdamtempests, it is possible: what ugliest day is not beautiful that seesa stone or two added there!--Daily Voltaire sees himself at work on hisSIECLE, on those fine terms; trowel in one hand, weapon of war in theother. And does actually accomplish it, in the course of this Year1751, --with a great deal of punctuality and severe painstaking; whichreaders of our day, fallen careless of the subject, are little aware of, on Voltaire's behalf. Voltaire's reward was, that he did NOT go mad inthat Berlin element, but had throughout a bower-anchor to ride by. "TheKing of France continues me as Gentleman of the Chamber, say you; buthas taken away my Title of Historiographer? That latter, however, shallstill be my function. 'My present independence has given weight to myverdicts on matters. Probably I never could have written this Book atParis. ' A consolation for one's exile, MON ENFANT. " [To Niece Denis(--OEuvres, --lxxiv. 247, &c. &c. ), "28th October, 1750, " and subsequentdates. ]

It is proper also to observe that, besides shining at the King's Supperslike no other, Voltaire applies himself honestly to do for his Majestythe small work required of him, --that of Verse-correcting now and then. Two Specimens exist; two Pieces criticised, ODE AUX PRUSSIENS, and THEART OF WAR: portions of that Reprint now going on ("to the extent ofTwelve Copies, "--woe lies in one of them, most unexpected at this time!)"AU DONJON DU CHATEAU;"--under benefit of Voltaire's remarks. Whichone reads curiously, not without some surprise. [In--OEuvres deFrederic, --x. 276-303. ] Surprise, first at Voltaire's official fidelity;his frankness, rigorous strictness in this small duty: then at the kindof correcting, instructing and lessoning, that had been demanded of himby his Royal Pupil. Mere grammatical stylistic skin-deep work: nothing(or, at least, in these Specimens nothing) of attempt upon the interiorstructure, or the interior harmony even of utterance: solely theParisian niceties, graces, laws of poetic language, the FAS and theNEFAS in regard to all that: this is what his Majesty would fain betaught from the fountain-head;--one wonders his Majesty did not learnto spell, which might have been got from a lower source!--And all thisVoltaire does teach with great strictness. For example, in the veryfirst line, in the very first word, set, before him:--

"PRUSSIENS, QUE LA VALEUR CONDUISIT A LA GLOIRE, " so Friedrich hadwritten (ODE AUX PRUSSIENS, which is specimen First); and thus Voltairecriticises: "The Hero here makes his PRUSSIENS of two syllables; andafterwards, in another strophe, he grants them three. A King is masterof his favors. At the same time, one does require a little uniformity;and the IENS are usually of two syllables, as LIENS, SILESIENS, AUTRICHIENS; excepting the monosyllables BIEN, RIEN"--Enough, enough!--Asevere, punctual, painstaking Voltaire, sitting with the schoolmaster'sbonnet on head; ferula visible, if not actually in hand. For which, asappears, his Majesty was very grateful to the Trismegistus of men. 

Voltaire's flatteries to Friedrich, in those scattered little Billetswith their snatches of verse, are the prettiest in the world, --andapproach very near to sincerity, though seldom quite attaining it. Something traceable of false, of suspicious, feline, nearly always, inthose seductive warblings; which otherwise are the most melodiousbits of idle ingenuity the human brain has ever spun from itself. Forinstance, this heading of a Note sent from one room to another, --perhapswith pieces of an ODE AUX PRUSSIENS accompanying:--

 --"Vou gui daignez me departir Les fruits d'une Muse divine, O roi! je ne puis consentir Que, sans daigner m'en avertir, Vous alliez prendre medecine. Je suis votre malade-ne, Et sur la casse et le sene, J'ai des notions non communes. Nous sommes de mene metier; Faut-il de moi vous defier, Et cacher vos bonnes fortunes?"--

Was there ever such a turn given to taking physic! Still better is thisother, the topic worse, --HAEMORRHOIDS (a kind of annual or periodicalaffair with the Royal Patient, who used to feel improved after):--

. . . (Ten or twelve verses on another point; then suddenly--)

 --"Que la veine hemorroidale De votre personne royale Cesse de troubler le repos! Quand pourrai-je d'une style honnete Dire: 'Le cul de mon heros Va tout aussi bien que sa tete'?"-- [In--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 283, 267. ]

A kittenish grace in these things, which is pleasant in so old a cat. 

Smelfungus says: "He is a consummate Artist in Speech, our Voltaire:that, if you take the word SPEECH in its widest sense, and consider themuch that can be spoken, and the infinitely more that cannot and shouldnot, is Voltaire's supreme excellency among his fellow-creatures; neverrivalled (to my poor judgment) anywhere before or since, --nor worthrivalling, if we knew it well. "

Another fine circumstance is, that Voltaire has frequent leave ofabsence; and in effect passes a great deal of his time altogether byhimself, or in his own way otherwise. What with Friedrich's ReviewJourneys and Business Circuits, considerable separations do occur ofthemselves; and at any time, Voltaire has but to plead illness, which heoften does; with ground and without, and get away for weeks, safeinto the distance more or less remote. He is at the Marquisat (aswe laboriously make out); at Berlin, in the empty Palace, perhaps inLodgings of his own (though one would prefer the GRATIS method); nursinghis maladies, which are many; writing his LOUIS QUATORZE; "lonelyaltogether, your Majesty, and sad of humor, "--yet giving his cosylittle dinners, and running out, pretty often, if well invited, into thebrilliancies and gayeties. No want of brilliant social life here, which can shine, more or less, and appreciate one's shining. The King'sSupper-parties--Yes, and these, though the brightest, are not the onlybright things in our Potsdam-Berlin world. Take with you, reader, oneor two of the then and there Chief Figures; Voltaire's fellow-players;strutting and fretting their hour on that Stage of Life. They are mostlynot quite strangers to you. 

We know the sublime Perpetual President in his red wig, and sublimesupremacy of Pure Science. A gloomy set figure; affecting thesententious, the emphatic and a composed impregnability, --like the Joveof Science. With immensities of gloomy vanity, not compressible at alltimes. Friedrich always strove to honor his Perpetual President, andduly adore the Pure Sciences in him; but inwardly could not quite manageit, though outwardly he failed in nothing. Impartial witnesses confess, the King had a great deal of trouble with his gloomings and him. "Who isthis Voltaire?" gloomily thinks the Perpetual President to himself. "Afellow with a nimble tongue, that is all. Knows nothing whatever of PureSciences, except what fraction or tincture he has begged or stolen frommyself. And here is the King of the world in raptures with him!"

Voltaire from of old had faithfully done his kowtows to this King ofthe Sciences; and, with a sort of terror, had suffered with incrediblepatience a great deal from him. But there comes an end to all things;Voltaire's patience not excepted. It lay in the fates that Maupertuisshould steadily accumulate, day after day, and now more than everheretofore, upon the sensitive Voltaire. Till, as will be seen, thesensitive Voltaire could endure it no longer; but had to explode uponthis big Bully (accident lending a spark); to go off like a Vesuvius ofcrackers, fire-serpents and sky-rockets; envelop the red wig, and muchelse, in delirious conflagration;--and produce the catastrophe of thisBerlin Drama. 

D'Argens, poor dissolute creature, is the best of the French lot. He hasmarried, after so many temporary marriages with Actresses, one Actressin permanence, Mamsell Cochois, a patient kind being; and settled now, at Potsdam here, into perfectly composed household life. Really lovesFriedrich, they say; the only Frenchman of them that does. Has abundanceof light sputtery wit, and Provencal fire and ingenuity; no ill-natureagainst any man. Never injures anybody, nor lies at all about anything. A great friend of fine weather; regrets, of his inheritances inProvence, chiefly one item, and this not overmuch, --the bright southernsun. Sits shivering in winter-time, wrapping himself in more and moreflannel, two dressing-gowns, two nightcaps:--loyal to this King, in goodtimes and in evil. 

Was the King's friend for thirty years; helped several meritoriouspeople to his Majesty's notice; and never did any man a mischief in thatquarter. An erect, guileless figure; very tall; with vivid countenance, chaotically vivid mind: full of bright sallies, irregular ingenuities;had a hot temper too, which did not often run away with him, butsometimes did. He thrice made a visit to Provence, --in fact ran awayfrom the King, feeling bantered and roasted to a merciless degree, --butthrice came back. "At the end of the first stage, he had alwaysprivately forgiven the King, and determined that the pretended visitshould really be a visit only. " "Reads the King's Letters, " whichare many to him, "always bare-headed, in spite of the draughts!"[Nicolai, --Anekdoten, --i. 11-75, &c. &c. ]

Algarotti is too prudent, politely egoistic and self-contained, to takethe trouble of hurting anybody, or get himself into trouble for love orhatred. He fell into disfavor not long after that unsuccessful littlemission in the first Silesian War, of which the reader has lostremembrance. Good for nothing in diplomacy, thought Friedrich, butagreeable as company. "Company in tents, in the seat of War, has itsunpleasantness, " thought Algarotti;--and began very privately soundingthe waters at Dresden for an eligible situation; so that there hasensued a quarrel since; then humble apologies followed by profoundsilence, --till now there is reconcilement. It is admitted Friedrich hadsome real love for Algarotti; Algarotti, as we gather, none at all forhim; but only for his greatness. They parted again (February, 1753)without quarrel, but for the last time; [Algarotti-Correspondence(--OEuvres de Frederic, --xviii. 86). ]--and I confess to a relief on theoccasion. 

Friedrich, readers know by this time, had a great appetite forconversation: he talked well, listened well; one of his chief enjoymentswas, to give and receive from his fellow-creatures in that way. I hope, and indeed have evidence, that he required good sense as the staple;but in the form, he allowed great latitude. He by no means affectedsolemnity, rather the reverse; goes much upon the bantering vein; fartoo much, according to the complaining parties. Took pleasure (cruelmortal!) in stirring up his company by the whip, and even by the whipapplied to RAWS; for we find he had "established, " like the DublinHackney-Coachman, "raws for himself;" and habitually plied his implementthere, when desirous to get into the gallop. In an inhuman manner, saidthe suffering Cattle; who used to rebel against it, and go off in thesulks from time to time. It is certain he could, especially in hisyounger years, put up with a great deal of zanyism, ingenious fooleryand rough tumbling, if it had any basis to tumble on; though with yearshe became more saturnine. 

By far his chief Artist in this kind, indeed properly the only one, wasLa Mettrie, whom we once saw transiently as Army-Surgeon at Fontenoy: heis now out of all that (flung out, with the dogs at his heels); has beensafe in Berlin for three years past. Friedrich not only tolerates thepoor madcap, but takes some pleasure in him: madcap we say, though poorLa Mettrie had remarkable gifts, exuberant laughter one of them, andwas far from intending to be mad. Not Zanyism, but Wisdom of the highestnature, was what he drove at, --unluckily, with open mouth, and mind allin tumult. La Mettrie had left the Army, soon after that busy Fontenoyevening: Chivalrous Grammont, his patron and protector, who had savedhim from many scrapes, lay shot on the field. La Mettrie, rushing onwith mouth open and mind in tumult, had, from of old, been continuallygetting into scrapes. Unorthodox to a degree; the Sorbonne greedyfor him long since; such his audacities in print, his heavy hits, boisterous, quizzical, logical. And now he had set to attacking theMedical Faculty, to quizzing Medicine in his wild way; Doctor Astruc, Doctor This and That, of the first celebrity, taking it very ill. Sothat La Mettrie had to demit; to get out of France rather in a hurry, lest worse befell. 

He had studied at Leyden, under Boerhaave. He had in fact considerablemedical and other talent, had he not been so tumultuous andopen-mouthed. He fled to Leyden; and shot forth, in safety there, hisfiery darts upon Sorbonne and Faculty, at his own discretion, --which wasalways a MINIMUM quantity:--he had, before long, made Leyden also toohot for him. His Books gained a kind of celebrity in the world; awokelaughter and attention, among the adventurous of readers; astonishmentat the blazing madcap (a BON DIABLE, too, as one could see); and arestill known to Catalogue-makers, --though, with one exception, L'HOMMEMACHINE, not otherwise, nor read at all. L'HOMME MACHINE (Man a Machine)is the exceptional Book; smallest of Duodecimos to have so much wildfirein it, This MAN A MACHINE, though tumultuous La Mettrie meant nothingbut open-mouthed Wisdom by it, gave scandal in abundance; so that eventhe Leyden Magistrates were scandalized; and had to burn the afflictinglittle Duodecimo by the common hangman, and order La Mettrie todisappear instantly from their City. 

Which he had to do, --towards King Friedrich, usual refuge of thepersecuted; seldom inexorable, where there was worth, even under badforms, recognizable; and not a friend to burning poor men or theirbooks, if it could be helped. La Mettrie got some post, like D'Arget's, or still more nominal; "readership;" some small pension to live upon;and shelter to shoot forth his wildfire, when he could hold it nolonger: fire, not of a malignant incendiary kind, but pleasantlylambent, though maddish, as Friedrich perceived. Thus had La Mettriefound a Goshen;--and stood in considerable favor, at Court and in BerlinSociety in the years now current. According to Nicolai, Friedrich neveresteemed La Mettrie, which is easy to believe, but found him a jesterand ingenious madcap, out of whom a great deal of merriment could behad, over wine or the like. To judge by Nicolai's authentic specimen, their Colloquies ran sometimes pretty deep into the cynical, undershowers of wildfire playing about; and the high-jinks must have beenhighish. [--Anekdoten, --vi. 197-227. ] When there had been enough ofthis, Friedrich would lend his La Mettrie to the French Excellency, Milord Tyrconnel, to oblige his Excellency, and get La Mettrie outof the way for a while. Milord is at Berlin; a Jacobite Irishman, ofblusterous Irish qualities, though with plenty of sagacity and roughsense; likes La Mettrie; and is not much a favorite with Friedrich. 

Tyrconnel had said, at first, --when Rothenburg, privately fromFriedrich, came to consult him, "What are, in practical form, those'assistances from the Most Christian Majesty, ' should we MAKEAlliance with him, as your Excellency proposes, and chance to beattacked?"--"MORBLEU, assistance enough [enumerating several]: MAISMORBLEU, SI VOUS NOUS TROMPEX, VOUS SEREZ ECRASES (if you deceive us, you will be squelched)!" [Valori, ii. 130, &c. ] "He had been chosenfor his rough tongue, " says Valori; our French Court being piqued atFriedrich and his sarcasms. Tyrconnel gives splendid dinners: Voltaireoften of them; does not love Potsdam, nor is loved by it. Nay, Isometimes think a certain DEMON NEWSWRITER (of whom by and by), but donot know, may be some hungry Attache of Tyrconnel's. Hungry Attache, shut out from the divine Suppers and upper planetary movements, andreduced to look on them from his cold hutch, in a dog-like angry andhungry manner? His flying allusions to Voltaire, "SON (Friedrich's)SQUELETTE D'APOLLON, skeleton of an Apollo, " and the like, are barkingsalmost rabid. 

Of the military sort, about this time, Keith and Rothenburg appearmost frequently as guests or companions. Rothenburg had a great deal ofFriedrich's regard: Winterfeld is more a practical Counseller, and doesnot shine in learned circles, as Rothenburg may. A fiery soldier too, this Rothenburg, withal;--a man probably of many talents and qualities, though of distinctly decipherable there is next to no record of him orthem. He had a Parisian Wife; who is sometimes on the point ofcoming with Niece Denis to Berlin, and of setting up their two Frenchhouseholds there; but never did it, either of them, to make an Uncleor a Husband happy. Rothenburg was bred a Catholic: "he headed thesubscription for the famous 'KATHOLISCHE KIRCHE, '" so delightful to thePope and liberal Christians in those years; "but never gave a sixpenceof money, " says Voltaire once: Catholic KIRK was got completed withdifficulty; stands there yet, like a large washbowl set, bottomuppermost, on the top of a narrowish tub; but none of Rothenburg's moneyis in it. In Voltaire's Correspondence there is frequent mention of him;not with any love, but with a certain secret respect, rather inclinedto be disrespectful, if it durst or could: the eloquent vocal individualnot quite at ease beside the more silent thinking and acting one. Whatwe know is, Friedrich greatly loved the man. There is some straggle ofCORRESPONDENCE between Friedrich and him left; but it is worth nothing;gives no testimony of that, or of anything else noticeable:--and that isthe one fact now almost alone significant of Rothenburg. Much loved andesteemed by the King; employed diplomatically, now and then; perhapstalked with on such subjects, which was the highest distinction. Poor man, he is in very bad health in these months; has never rightlyrecovered of his wounds; and dies in the last days of 1751, --to thebitter sorrow of the King, as is still on record. A highly respectabledim figure, far more important in Friedrich's History than he looks. AsKing's guest, he can in these months play no part. 

Highly respectable too, and well worth talking to, though left very dimto us in the Books, is Marshal Keith; who has been growing graduallywith the King, and with everybody, ever since he came to these partsin 1747. A man of Scotch type; the broad accent, with its sagacities, veracities, with its steadfastly fixed moderation, and its slytwinkles of defensive humor, is still audible to us through the foreignwrappages. Not given to talk, unless there is something to be said; butwell capable of it then. Friedrich, the more he knows him, likes himthe better. On all manner of subjects he can talk knowingly, and withinsight of his own. On Russian matters Friedrich likes especially tohear him, --though they differ in regard to the worth of Russian troops. "Very considerable military qualities in those Russians, " thinks Keith:"imperturbably obedient, patient; of a tough fibre, and are beautifullystrict to your order, on the parade-ground or off. " "Pooh, mere rubbish, MON CHER, " thinks Friedrich always. To which Keith, unwilling to arguetoo long, will answer: "Well, it is possible enough your Majesty may trythem, some day; if I am wrong, it will be all the better for us!" WhichFriedrich had occasion to remember by and by. Friedrich greatly respectsthis sagacious gentleman with the broad accent: his Brother, the LordMarischal, is now in France: Ambassador at Paris, since September, 1751:["Left Potsdam 28th August" (Rodenbeck, i. 220). ] "Lord Marischal, aJacobite, for Prussian Ambassador in Paris; Tyrconnel, a Jacobite, forFrench Ambassador in Berlin!" grumble the English. 

FRACTIONS OF EVENTS AND INDICATIONS, FROM VOLTAIRE HIMSELF, IN THISTIME; MORE OR LESS ILLUMINATIVE WHEN REDUCED TO ORDER. 

Here, selected from more, are a few "fire-flies, "--not dancing ordistracted, but authentic all, and stuck each on its spit; shedding afeeble glimmer over the physiognomy of those Fifteen caliginous Months, to an imagination that is diligent. Fractional utterances of Voltaire toFriedrich and others (in abridged form, abridgment indicated): theexact dates are oftenest irretrievably gone; but the glimmer of lightis indisputable, all the more as, on Voltaire's part, it is mostlyinvoluntary. Grouping and sequence must be other than that of Time. 

POTSDAM, 5th JUNE, 1751. --King is off on that Ost-Friesland jaunt;Voltaire at Potsdam, "at what they call the Marquisat, " in completesolitude, --preparing to die before long, --sends his Majesty some poortrifles of Scribbling, proofs of my love, Sire: "since I live solitary, when you are not at Potsdam, it would seem I came for you only" (notethat, your Majesty)!. . . "But in return for the rags here sent, Iexpect the Sixth Canto of your ART [ART DE LA GUERRE, one of the Twopupil-and-schoolmaster "Specimens" mentioned above]; I expect theROOF to the Temple of Mars. It is for you, alone of men, to build thatTemple; as it was for Ovid to sing of Love, and for Horace to give anART OF POETRY. " (Laying it on pretty thick!). . . 

Then again, later (after severe study, ferula in hand): "Sire, I returnyour Majesty your Six Cantos; I surrender at discretion (LUI LAISSECARTE-BLANCHE) on that question of 'VICTOIRE. ' The whole Poem is worthyof you: if I had made this Journey only to see a thing so unique, Iought not to regret my Country. ". . . And again (still no date): "GRANDDIEU! is not all that [HISTORY OF THE GREAT ELECTOR, by your Majesty, which I am devouring with such appetite] neat, elegant, precise, and, above all, philosophical!"--"Sire, you are adorable; I will pass my daysat your feet. Oh, never make game of me (DES NICHES)!" Has he been atthat, say you! "If the Kings of Denmark, Portugal, Spain, &c. Did it, Ishould not care a pin; they are only Kings. But you are the greatest manthat perhaps ever reigned. " [[In--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 271, 273. ]

IS ON LEAVE OF ABSENCE, NEAR BY; WISHES TO BE CALLED AGAIN (Nodate). --"Sire, if you like free criticism, if you tolerate sincerepraises, if you wish to perfect a Work [ART DE LA GUERRE, or some otheras sublime], which you alone in Europe are capable of doing, you haveonly to bid a Hermit come upstairs. At your orders for all his life. "[Ib. 261. ]

IN BERLIN PALACE: PLEASE DON'T TURN ME OUT! (No date)--. . . "Next to you, I love work and retirement. Nobody whatever complains of me. I ask ofyour Majesty, in order to keep unaltered the happiness I owe to you, this favor, Not to turn me out of the Apartment you deigned to give meat Berlin, till I go for Paris [always talking of that]. If I were toleave it, they would put in the Gazettes that I"--Oh, what would n'tthey put in, of one that, belonging to King Friedrich, lives as it werein the Disc of the Sun, conspicuous to everybody!--"I will go out [ofthe Apartment] when some Prince, with a Suite needing it to lodge in, comes; and then the thing will be honorable. Chasot [gone to Paris]has been talking"--unguarded things of me!"I have not uttered the leastcomplaint of Chasot: I never will of Chasot, nor of those who have sethim on [Maupertuis belike]: I forgive everything, I!" [Ib. 270. ]

ROTHENBURG IS ILL; VOLTAIRE HAS BEEN TO SEE HIM ("Berlin, 14th, "no month; year, too surely, 1751, as we shall find! Letter is INVERSE). --"Lieberkuhn was going to kill poor Rothenburg; to send him offto Pluto, --for liking his dish a little;--monster Lieberkuhn! ButDoctor Joyous, " your reader, La Mettrie, --led by, need I say whom?--"hasbrought him back to us:--think of Lieberkuhn's solemn stare! Prettycontrasts, those, of sublime Quacksalverism, with Sense under the maskof Folly. May the haemorrhoidal vein"--follows HERE, note it, exquisitereader, that of "CUL DE MON HEROS, " cited above!--. . . 

And then (a day or two after; King too haemorrhoidal to come twentymiles, but anxious to know): "Sire, no doubt Doctor Joyous (LE MEDECINJOYEUX) has informed your Majesty that when we arrived, the Patient wassleeping tranquil; and Cothenius assured us, in Latin, that there wasno danger. I know not what has passed since, but I am persuaded yourMajesty approves my journey" (of a street or two), --MUST you speak ofit, then!

GOES TO AN EVENING-PARTY NOW AND THEN (To Niece Denis). --. . . "MadameTyrconnel [French Excellency's Wife] has plenty of fine people at herhouse on an evening; perhaps too many" (one of the first houses inBerlin, this of my Lord Tyrcannel's, which we frequent a good deal). . . . "Madame got very well through her part of ANDROMAQUE [in those oldplay-acting times of ours]: never saw actresses with finer eyes, "--howshould you!

"As to Milord Tyrconnel, he is an Anglais of dignity, "--Irish inreality, and a thought blusterous. "He has a condensed (SERRE) causticway of talk; and I know not what of frank which one finds in theEnglish, and does not usually find in persons of his trade. FrenchTragedies played at Berlin, I myself taking part; an Englishman Envoy ofFrance there: strange circumstances these, are n't they?" [To D'Argentalthis (--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxxiv. 289). ] Yes, that latter especially;and Milord Marischal our Prussian Envoy with you! Which the Englishnote, sulkily, as a weather-symptom. 

AT POTSDAM, BIG DEVILS OF GRENADIERS (No date). --. . . "But, Sire, one isn't always perched on the summit of Parnassus; one is a man. There aresicknesses about; I did not bring an athlete's health to these parts;and the scorbutic humor which is eating my life renders me truly, ofall that are sick, the sickest. I am absolutely alone from morning tillnight. My one solace is the necessary pleasure of taking the air, Ibethink me of walking, and clearing my head a little, in your Gardens atPotsdam. I fancy it is a permitted thing; I present myself, musing;--Ifind huge devils of Grenadiers, who clap bayonets in my belly, whocry FURT, SACRAMENT, and DER KONIG [OFF, SACKERMENT, THE KING, quitetolerably spelt]! And I take to my heels, as Austrians and Saxons woulddo before them. Have you ever read, that in Titus's or Marcus-Aurelius'sGardens, a poor devil of a Gaulish Poet"--In short, it shall be mended. [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 273. ]

HAVE BEEN LAYING IT ON TOO THICK (No date; IN VERSE). --"Marcus Aureliuswas wont to"--(Well, we know who that is: What of Marcus, then?)--"Acertain lover of his glory [STILL IN VERSE] spoke once, at Supper, ofa magnanimity of Marcus's;--at which Marcus [flattery too thick] rathergloomed, and sat quite silent, --which was another fine saying of his[ENDS VERSE, STARTS PROSE]:--

"Pardon, Sire, some hearts that are full of you! To justify myself, Idare supplicate your Majesty to give one glance at this Letter (linespencil-marked), which has just come from M. De Chauvelin, Nephew of thefamous GARDE-DES-SCEAUX. Your Majesty cannot gloom at him, writing thesefrom the fulness of his heart; nor at me, who"--Pooh; no, then! Perhapsdo you a NICHE again, --poor restless fellow! [Ib. 280. ]

POTSDAM PALACE (No date): SIRE, NZAY I CHANGE MY ROOM?. . . "I ascendto your antechambers, to find some one by whom I may ask permission tospeak with you. I find nobody: I have to return:" and what I wanted wasthis, "your protection for my SIECLE DE LOUIS QUATORZE, which I am aboutto print in Berlin. " Surely, --but also this:--

"I am unwell, I am a sick man born. And withal I am obliged to work, almost as much as your Majesty. I pass the whole day alone. If you wouldpermit that I might shift to the Apartment next the one I have, --tothat where General Bredow slept last winter, --I should work morecommodiously. My Secretary (Collini) and I could work together there. Ishould have a little more sun, which is a great point for me. --Only thewhim of a sick man, perhaps! Well, even so, your Majesty will have pityon it. You promised to make me happy. " [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 277. ]

I SUSPECT THAT I AM SUSPECTED (No date). --"Sire, if I am not brief, forgive me. Yesterday the faithful D'Arget told me with sorrow that inParis people were talking of your Poem. " Horrible; but, O Sire, --me?--"Ishowed him the eighteen Letters that I received yesterday. They are fromCadiz, " all about Finance, no blabbing there! "Permit me to send you nowthe last six from my Niece, numbered by her own hand [no forgery, nosuppression]; deign to cast your eyes on the places I have underlined, where she speaks of your Majesty, of D'Argens, of Potsdam, of D'Ammon"(to whom she can't be Phyllis, innocent being)!-MON CHER VOLTAIRE, mustI again do some NICHE upon you, then? Tie some tin-canister to yourtoo-sensitive tail? What an element you inhabit within that poor skin ofyours! [Ib. 269. ]

MAJESTY INVITES US TO A LITERARY CHRISTENING, POTSDAM (No date. These"Six Twins" are the "ART DE LA GUERRE, " in Six Chants; part of thatrevised Edition which is getting printed "AU DONJON DU CHATEAU;" timemust be, well on in 1751). Friedrich writes to Voltaire:--

"I have just been brought to bed of Six Twins; which require to bebaptized, in the name of Apollo, in the waters of Hippocrene. LAHENRIADE is requested to become godmother: you will have the goodnessto bring her, this evening at five, to the Father's Apartment. D'ArgetLUCINA will be there; and the Imagination of MAN-A-MACHINE will hold thepoor infants over the Font. " [Ib. 266. ]

DEIGN TO SAY IF I HAVE OFFENDED. --. . . "As they write to me from Paristhat I am in disgrace with you, I dare to beg very earnestly that youwill deign to say if I have displeased in anything! May go wrong byignorance or from over-zeal; but with my heart never! I live in theprofoundest retreat; giving to study my whole"--"Your assurances oncevouchsafed [famous Document of August 23d]. I write only to my Niece. I" (a page more of this)--have my sorrows and merits, and absolutelyno silence at all! [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 289. ] "In the gift ofSpeech he is the most brilliant of mankind, " said Smelfungus; but in thegift of Silence what a deficiency! Friedrich will have to do that forTwo, it would seem. 

BERLIN, 28th DECEMBER, 1751: LOUIS QUATORZE; AND DEATH OFROTHENBURG. --"Our LOUIS QUATORZE is out. But, Heavens, see, yourMajesty: a Pirate Printer, at Frankfurt-on-Oder, has been going onparallel with us, all the while; and here is his foul blotch of anEdition on sale, too! Bielfeld, " fantastic fellow, "had proof-sheets;Bielfeld sent them to a Professor there, though I don't blame Bielfeld:result too evident. Protect me, your Majesty; Order all wagons, especially wagons for Leipzig, to be stopped, to be searched, and theBooks thrown out, --it costs you but a word!"

Quite a simple thing: "All Prussia to the rescue!" thinks an ardentProprietor of these Proof-sheets. But then, next day, hears thatRothenburg is dead. That the silent Rothenburg lay dying, while thevocal Voltaire was writing these fooleries, to a King sunk in grief. "Repent, be sorry, be ashamed!" he says to himself; and does instantlytry;--but with little success; Frankfurt-on-Oder, with its Bielfeldproof-sheets, still jangling along, contemptibly audible, for some time. [Ib. 285-287. ] And afterwards, from Frankfurt-on-Mayn new sorrow riseson LOUIS QUATORZE, as will be seen. --Friedrich's grief for Rothenburgwas deep and severe; "he had visited him that last night, " say theBooks; "and quitted his bedside, silent, and all in tears. " It is mainlywhat of Biography the silent Rothenburg now has. 

From the current Narratives, as they are called, readers will recollect, out of this Voltaire Period, two small particles of Event amid such anocean of noisy froth, --two and hardly more: that of the "Orange-Skin, "and that of the "Dirty Linen. " Let us put these two on their basis; andpass on:--

THE ORANGE-SKIN (Potsdam, 2d September, 1751, to Niece Denis)--GoodHeavens, MON ENFANT, what is this I hear (through the greatDionysius' Ear I maintain, at such expense to myself)!. . . "La Mettrie, a man of no consequence, who talks familiarly with the King after theirreading; and with me too, now and then: La Mettrie swore to me, that, speaking to the King, one of those days, of my supposed favor, and thebit of jealousy it excites, the King answered him: "I shall want himstill about a year:--you squeeze the orange, you throw away the skin (ONEN JETTE LECORCE)!'" Here is a pretty bit of babble (lie, most likely, and bit of mischievous fun) from Dr. Joyous. "It cannot be true, No!And yet--and yet--?" Words cannot express the agonizing doubts, thequestionings, occasionally the horror of Voltaire: poor sick soul, keeping a Dionysius'-Ear to boot! This blurt of La Mettrie's goesthrough him like a shot of electricity through an elderly sickHousehold-Cat; and he speaks of it again and ever again, --though we willnot farther. 

DIRTY LINEN (Potsdam, 24th July, 1752, To Niece Denis). --. . . "Maupertuishas discreetly set the rumor going, that I found the King's Works verybad; that I said to some one, on Verses from the King coming in, 'Will he never tire, then, of sending me his dirty linen to wash?' Youobliging Maupertuis!"

Rumor says, it was General Mannstein, once Aide-de-Camp in Russia, who had come to have his WORK ON RUSSIA revised (excellent Work, oftenquoted by us [Did get out at last, --in England, through Lord Marischaland David Hume: see PREFACE to it (London, 1760). ]), when theunfortunate Royal Verses came. Perhaps M. De Voltaire did say it:--whynot, had it only been prudent? He really likes those Verses much morethan I; but knows well enough, SUB ROSA, what kind of Verses theyare. This also is a horrible suspicion; that the King should hear ofthis, --as doubtless the King did, though without going delirious uponit at all. ["To Niece Denis, " dates as above (--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxiv. 408, lxxv. 17). ] Thank YOU, my Perpetual President, not the less!--

OF MAUPERTUIS, IN SUCCESSIVE PHASES. --. . . "Maupertuis is not of veryengaging ways; he takes my dimensions harshly with his quadrant: it issaid there enters something of envy into his DATA. . . . A somewhat surlygentleman; not too sociable; and, truth to say, considerably sunk here[ASSEZ BAISSE, my D'Argental]. 

. . . "I endure Maupertuis, not having been able to soften him. In allcountries there are insociable fellows, with whom you are obliged tolive, though it is difficult. He has never forgiven me for"--omitting tocite him, &c. --At Paris he had got the Academy of Sciences into trouble, and himself into general dislike (DETESTER); then came this Berlinoffer. "Old Fleuri, when Maupertuis called to take leave, repeated thatverse of Virgil, NEC TIBI REGNANDI VENIAT TAM DIRA CUPIDO. Fleuri mighthave whispered as much to himself: but he was a mild sovereign lord, andreigned in a gentle polite manner. I swear to you, Maupertuis does not, in his shop [the Academy here]--where, God be thanked, I never go. 

"He has printed a little Pamphlet on Happiness (SUR LE BONHEUR); itis very dry and miserable. Reminds you of Advertisements for thingslost, --so poor a chance of finding them again. Happiness is not whathe gives to those who read him, to those who live with him; he is nothimself happy, and would be sorry that others were [to Niece Denisthis]. 

. . . "A very sweet life here, Madame [Madame d'Argental, an outsideparty]: it would have been more so, if Maupertuis had liked. The wishto please, is no part of his geometrical studies; the problem ofbeing agreeable to live with, is not one he has solved. " [--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxiv. 330, 504 (4th May, 1751, and 14th March, 1752), to theD'Argentals; to Niece Denis (6th November, 1750, and 24th August, 1751), lxxiv. 250, 385. ]--Add this Anecdote, which is probably D'Arget's, andworth credit:--

"Voltaire had dinner-party, Maupertuis one of them; party still in thedrawing-room, dinner just coming up. 'President, your Book, SUR LEBONHEUR, has given me pleasure, ' said Voltaire, politely [very politely, considering what we have just read]; given me pleasure, --a fewobscurities excepted, of which we will talk together some evening. ''Obscurities?' said Maupertuis, in a gloomy arbitrary tone: 'There maybe such for you, Monsieur!' Voltaire laid his hand on the President'sshoulder [yellow wig near by], looked at him in silence, withmany-twinkling glance, gayety the topmost expression, but by no meansthe sole one: 'President, I esteem you, JE VOUS ESTIME, MON PRESIDENT:you are brave; you want war: we will have it. But, in the mean while, let us eat the King's roast meat. '" [Duvernet (2d FORM of him, always, p. 176. ]

Friedrich's Answers to these Voltaire Letters, if he wrote any, are allgone. Probably he answered almost nothing; what we have of his relatesalways to specific business, receipt of LOUIS QUATORZE, and the like;and is always in friendly tone. Handsomely keeping Silence for Two! Hereis a snatch from him, on neutral figures and movements of the time:--

FRIEDRICH TO WIILHELMINA (November 17th, 1751). --"I think the Margraf ofAnspach will not have stayed long with you. He is not made to taste thesweets of society: his passion for hunting, and the tippling life heleads this long time, throw him out when he comes among reasonablepersons. . . . "I expect my Sister of Brunswick, with the Duke and theireldest Girl, the 4th of next month, "--to Carnival here. "It is sevenyears since the Queen (our Mamma) has seen her. She holds a smallBoard of Wit at Brunswick; of which your Doctor [Doctor Superville, Dutch-French, whose perennial merit now is, That he did not burnWilhelmina's MEMOIRS, but left them safe to posterity, for longcenturies], --of which your Doctor is the director and oracle. You wouldburst outright into laughing when she speaks of those matters. Hernatural vivacity and haste has not left her time to get to the bottom ofanything; she skips continually from one subject to the other, andgives twenty decisions in a minute. " [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxvii. I. 202:--On Superville, see Preuss's Note, ib. 56. ]

About a month before Rothenburg's death, which was so tragical toFriedrich, there had fallen out, with a hideous dash of farce in it, thedeath of La Mettrie. Here are Two Accounts, by different hands, --whichrepresent to us an immensity of babble in the then Voltaire circle. 

LA METTRIE DIES. --Two Accounts: 1. King Friedrich's: to Wilhelmina. "21st November, 1751. . . . We have lost poor La Mettrie. He died for apiece of fun: ate, out of banter, a whole pheasant-pie; had a horribleindigestion; took it into his head to have blood let, and convince theGerman Doctors that bleeding was good in indigestion. But it succeededill with him: he took a violent fever, which passed into putrid; andcarried him off. He is regretted by all that knew him. He was gay; BONDIABLE, good Doctor, and very bad Author: by avoiding to read his Books, one could manage to be well content with himself. " [Ib. Xxvii. I. 203. ]

2. Voltaire's: to Niece Denis (NOT his first to her): Potsdam, 24thDecember, 1751. . . . "No end to my astonishment. Milord Tyrconnel, " alwaysailing (died here himself), "sends to ask La Mettrie to come and seehim, to cure him or amuse him. The King grudges to part with his Reader, who makes him laugh. La Mettrie sets out; arrives at his Patient's justwhen Madame Tyrconnel is sitting down to table: he eats and drinks, talks and laughs more than all the guests; when he has got crammed (EN AJUSQU'AU MENTON), they bring him a pie, of eagle disguised as pheasant, which had arrived from the North, plenty of bad lard, pork-hash andginger in it; my gentleman eats the whole pie, and dies next day at LordTyrconnel's, assisted by two Doctors, " Cothenius and Lieberkuhn, "whomhe used to mock at. . . . How I should have liked to ask him, atthe article of death, about that Orange-skin!" [--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxiv. 439, 450. ]

Add this trait too, from authentic Nicolai, to complete the matter: "AnIrish Priest, Father Macmahon, Tyrconnel's Chaplain [more power to him], wanted to convert La Mettrie: he pushed into the sick-room;--encouragedby some who wished to make La Mettrie contemptible to Friedrich [thecharitable souls]. La Mettrie would have nothing to do with this Priestand his talk; who, however, still sat and waited. La Mettrie, ina twinge of agony, cried out, 'JESUS MARIE!' 'AH, VOUS VOILA ENFINRETOURNE A CES NOMS CONSOLATEURS!' exclaimed the Irishman. To which LaMettrie answered (in polite language, to the effect), 'Bother you!' andexpired a few minutes after. " [Nicolai, --Anekdoten, --i. 20 n. ]

Enough of this poor madcap. Friedrich's ELOGE of him, read to theAcademy some time after, it was generally thought (and with greatjustice), might as well have been spared. The Piece has nothing noisy, nothing untrue; but what has it of importance? And surely the subjectwas questionable, or more. La Mettrie might have done without Eulogyfrom a King of men. 

. . . "He had been used to put himself at once on the most familiarfooting with the King [says Thiebault, UNbelievable]. Entered the King'sapartment as he would that of a friend; plunged down whenever he liked, which was often, and lay upon the sofas; if it was warm, took offhis stock, unbuttoned his waistcoat, flung his periwig on thefloor;" [Thiebault, v. 405 (calls him "La Metherie;" knows, as usual, nothing). ]--highly probable, thinks stupid Thiebault!

"The truth is, " says Nicolai, "the King put no real value on La Mettrie. He considered him as a merry-andrew fellow, who might amuse you, whenhalf seas-over (ENTRE DEUX VINS). De la Mettrie showed himself unworthyof any favor he had. Not only did he babble, and repeat about Town whathe heard at the King's table; but he told everything in a false way, and with malicious twists and additions. This he especially did at LordTyrconnel, the then French Ambassador's table, where at last he died. "[Nicolai, --Anekdoten, --i. 20. ] But could not take the ORANGE-SKIN alongwith him; alas, no!--

On the whole, be not too severe on poor Voltaire! He is very fidgety, noisy; something of a pickthank, of a wheedler; but, above all, heis scorbutic, dyspeptic; hag-ridden, as soul seldom was; and (in hisoblique way) APPEALS to Friedrich and us, --not in vain. And, inshort, we perceive, after the First Act of the Piece, beginning inpreternatural radiances, ending in whirlwinds of flaming soot, he hasbeen getting on with his Second Act better than could be expected. Gyrating again among the bright planets, circum-jovial moons, inthe Court Firmament; is again in favor, and might--Alas, he had hisFELLOW-moons, his Maupertuis above all! Incurable that Maupertuismisery; gets worse and worse, steadily from the first day. No smallestentity that intervenes, not even a wandering La Beaumelle with his Bookof PENSEES, but is capable of worsening it. Take this of Smelfungus;this Pair of Cabinet Sketches, --"hasty outlines; extant chiefly, " hedeclares, "by Voltaire's blame:"--

LA BEAUMELLE. --"Voltaire has a fatal talent of getting into I quarrelswith insignificant accidental people; and instead of silently, withcautious finger, disengaging any bramble that catches to him, andthankfully passing on, attacks it indignantly with potent steelimplements, wood-axes, war-axes; brandishing and hewing;--till hehas stirred up a whole wilderness of bramble-bush, and is himselfbramble-chips all over. M. Angliviel de la Beaumelle, for example, was nothing but a bramble: some conceited Licentiate of Theology, who, finding the Presbytery of Geneva too narrow a field, had gone toCopenhagen, as Professor of Rhetoric or some such thing; and, findingthat field also too narrow, and not to be widened by attempts atLiterature, MES PENSEES and the like, in such barbarous Country", --hadnow [end of 1751] come to Berlin; and has Presentation copies of MESPENSEES, OU LE QU'EN DIRA-T-ON, flying right and left, in hopes of doingbetter there. Of these PENSEES (Thoughts so called) I will give butone specimen" (another, that of "King Friedrich a common man, "being carefully suppressed in the Berlin Copies, of La Beaumelle'sdistributing):--

"There have been greater Poets than Voltaire; there was never any sowell recompensed: and why? Because Taste (GOUT, inclination) sets nolimits to its recompenses. The King of Prussia overloads men of talentwith his benefits for precisely the reasons which induce a little GermanPrince to overload with benefits a buffoon or a dwarf. " [--OEuvres deVoltaire, --xxvii. 220 n. ] Could there be a phenomenon more indisputablyof bramble nature?

"He had no success at Berlin, in spite of his merits; could not comenear the King at all; but assiduously frequented Maupertuis, theflower of human thinkers in that era, --who was very humane to him inconsequence. 'How is it, O flower of human thinkers, that I cannot geton with his Majesty, or make the least way?' (HELAS, MONSIEUR, you haveenemies!' answered he of the red wig; and told La Beaumelle (hear it, yeHeavens), That M. De Voltaire had called his Majesty's attention tothe PENSEE given above, one evening at Supper Royal; 'heard it myself, Monsieur--husht!' Upon which--

"'Upon which, see, paltry La Beaumelle has become my enemy for life!'shrieks Voltaire many times afterwards: 'And it was false, I declareto Heaven, and again declare; it was not I, it was D'Argens quizzingme about it, that called his Majesty's attention to that PENSEE ofBlockhead La Beaumelle, --you treacherous Perpetual President, stirringup enemies against me, and betraying secrets of the King's table. 'Sorrow on your red wig, and you!--It is certain La Beaumelle, soon afterthis, left Berlin: not in love with Voltaire. And there soon appeared, at Franfurt-on-Mayn, a Pirate Edition of our brand-new SIECLE DE LOUISQUATORZE (with Annotations scurrilous and flimsy);--La Beaumelle theprofessed Perpetrator; 'who received for the job 7 pounds 10s. Net!'[Ib. Xx. ] asseverates the well-informed Voltaire. Oh, M. De Voltaire, and why not leave it to him, then? Poor devil, he got put into theBastille too, by and by; Royal Persons being touched by some of hisstupid foot-notes. 

"La Beaumelle had a long course of it, up and down the world, in andout of the Bastille; writing much, with inconsiderable recompense, andalways in a wooden manure worthy of his First vocation in the Genevatime. 'A man of pleasing physiognomy, ' says Formey, 'and expressedhimself well. I received his visit 14th January, 1752, '--to which lattersmall circumstance (welcome as a fixed date to us here) La Beaumelle'sBiography is now pretty much reduced for mankind. [Formey, ii. 221. ] Hecontinued Maupertuis's adorer: and was not a bad creature, only a dullwooden one, with obstinate temper. A LIFE OF MAUPERTUIS of his writingwas sent forth lately, [--Vie de Maupertuis--(cited above), Paris, 1866. ] after lying hidden a hundred years: but it is dull, dead, painfully ligneous, like all the rest; and of new or of pleasant tellsus nothing. 

"His enmity to M. De Voltaire did prove perpetual:--a bramble that mighthave been dealt with by fingers, or by fingers and scissors, but couldnot by axes, and their hewing and brandishing. 'This is the ninety-fifthanonymous Calumny of La Beaumelle's, this that you have sent me!' saysVoltaire once. The first stroke or two had torn the bramble quiteon end: 'He says he will pursue you to Hell even, ' writes one of theVoltaire kind friends from Frankfurt, on that 7 pounds 10s. Business. 'AL'ENFER?' answers M. De Voltaire, with a toss: 'Well, I should think so, he, and at a good rate of speed. But whether he will find me there, mustbe a question!' If you want to have an insignificant accidental fellowtrouble you all your days, this is the way of handling him when he firstcatches hold. "

ABBE DE PRADES. --"De Prades, 'Abbe de Prades, Reader to the King, 'though happily not an enemy of Voltaire's, is in some sort LaBeaumelle's counterpart, or brother with a difference; concerningwhom also, one wants only to know the exact date of his arrival. As LaBeaumelle felt too strait-tied in the Geneva vestures (where it hadbeen good for him to adjust himself, and stay); so did De Prades inthe Sorbonne ditto, --and burst out, on taking Orders, not into eloquentPreachings or edifying Devotional Exercises; but into loud blurts ofmere heresy and heterodoxy. Blurts which were very loud, and I believevery stupid; which failed of being sublime even to the Philosophicworld; and kindled the Sorbonne into burning his Book, and almostburning himself, had not he at once run for it. 

"Ran to Holland, and there continued blurting more at large, --decidedlystupid for most part, thinks Voltaire, 'but with glorious Passages, worth your Majesty's attention;'--upon which, D'Alembert too helping, poor De Prades was invited to the Readership, vacant by La Mettrie'seagle-pie; and came gladly, and stayed. At what date? one occasionallyasks: for there are Royal Letters, dateless, but written in his hand, that raise such question in the utter dimness otherwise. Date is'September, 1752. ' [Preuss, i. 368; ii. 115. ] Farther question one doesnot ask about De Prades. Rather an emphatic intrusive kind of fellow, I should guess;--wrote, he, not Friedrich, that ABRIDGMENT OF PLEURY'SECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, and other the like dreary Pieces, which used tobe inflicted on mankind as Friedrich's. 

"For the rest, having place and small pension, --not, like La Beaumelle, obliged to pirate and annotate for 7 pounds 10s. --he went on steadily, agood while; got a Canonry of Glogau [small Catholic benefice, bad ifit was not better than its now occupant];--and unluckily, in theSeven-Years-War time, fell into treasonous Correspondence with hiscountrymen; which it was feared might be fatal, when found out. But no, not fatal. Friedrich did lock him in Magdeburg for some months; then lethim out: 'Home to Glogau, sirrah; stick to your Canonry henceforth, andlet us hear no more of you at all!' Which shall be his fate in thesepages also. "

Good, my friend; no more of him, then! Only recollect "September, 1752, "if dateless Royal Letters in De Prades's hand turn up. 

Chapter X. DEMON NEWSWRITER, OF 1752. 

It must be owned, the King's French Colony of Wits were a sorry set ofpeople. They tempt one to ask, What is the good of wit, then, if thisbe it? Here are people sparkling with wit, and have not understandingenough to discern what lies under their nose. Cannot live wisely withanybody, least of all with one another. 

In fact, it is tragic to think how ill this King succeeded in the matterof gathering friends. With the whole world to choose from, one fanciesalways he might have done better! But no, he could not;--and chiefly forthis reason: His love of Wisdom was nothing like deep enough, reverentenough; and his love of ESPRIT (the mere Garment or Phantasm of Wisdom)was too deep. Friends do not drop into one's mouth. One must know howto choose friends; and that of ESPRIT, though a pretty thing, is byno means the one requisite, if indeed it be a requisite at all. Thispresent Wit Colony was the best that Friedrich ever had; and we may allsee how good it was. He took, at last more and more, into bantering hisTable-Companions (which I do not wonder at), as the chief good he couldget of them. And had, as we said, especially in his later time, in themanner of Dublin Hackney-Coachmen, established upon each animal itsRAW; and makes it skip amazingly at touch of the whip. "Cruel mortal!"thought his cattle:--but, after all, how could he well help it, withsuch a set?

Native Literary Men, German or Swiss, there also were about Friedrich'sCourt: of them happily he did not require ESPRIT; but put them into hisAcademy; or employed them in practical functions, where honesty andgood sense were the qualities needed. Worthy men, several of these;but unmemorable nearly all. We will mention Sulzer alone, --and not forTHEORIES and PHILOSOPHIES OF THE FINE ARTS [--Allgemeine Theorie derSchonen Kunste, --3 vols. ; &c. &c. ] (which then had their multitudes ofreaders); but for a Speech of Friedrich's to him once, which hasoften been repeated. Sulzer has a fine rugged wholesome Swiss-Germanphysiognomy, both of face and mind; and got his admirations, as theBerlin HUGH BLAIR that then was: a Sulzer whom Friedrich always ratherliked. 

Friedrich had made him School Inspector; loved to talk a little withhim, about business, were it nothing else. "Well, Monsieur Sulzer, howare your Schools getting on?" asked the King one day, --long after this, but nobody will tell me exactly when, though the fact is certain enough:"How goes our Education business?" "Surely not ill, your Majesty; andmuch better in late years, " answered Sulzer. --"In late years: why?""Well, your Majesty, in former time, the notion being that mankind werenaturally inclined to evil, a system of severity prevailed in schools:but now, when we recognize that the inborn inclination of men israther to good than to evil, schoolmasters have adopted a more generousprocedure. "--"Inclination rather to good?" said Friedrich, shaking hisold head, with a sad smile: "Alas, dear Sulzer, ACH MEIN LIEBER SULZER, I see you don't know that damned race of creatures (ER KENNT NICHT DIESEVERDAMMTE RACE) as I do!" [Nicolai, iii. 274;--the thing appears tohave been said in French ("JE VOIS BIEN, MON CHER SULZER, QUE VOUSNE CONNAISSEZ PAS, COMME MOI, CETTE RACE MAUDITE A LAQUELLE NOUSAPPARTENONS"); but the German form is irresistibly attractive, and isnow heard proverbially from time to time in certain mouths. ] Here isa speech for you!"Pardon the King, who was himself so beneficent andexcellent a King!" cry several Editors of the rose-pink type. Thispresent Editor, for his share, will at once forgive; but how can he everforget!--

"Perhaps I mistake, " owns Voltaire, in his Pasquinade of a VIE PRIVEE, "but it seems to me, at these Suppers there was a great deal of ESPRIT(real wit and brilliancy) going. The King had it, and made others have;and, what is extraordinary, I never felt myself so free at any table. ""Conversation most pleasant, " testifies another, "most instructive, animated; not to be matched, I should guess, elsewhere in the world. "[Bielfeld, LETTERS; Voltaire, Vie Privee. ] Very sprightly indeed: and afund of good sense, a basis of practicality and fact, necessary to bein it withal; though otherwise it can foam over (if some La Mettrie bethere, and a good deal of wine in him) to very great heights. 

A DEMON NEWSWRITER GIVES AN "IDEA" OF FRIEDRICH; INTELLIGIBLE TO THEKNOWING CLASSES IN ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE. 

Practically, I can add only, That these Suppers of the gods begincommonly at half-past eight ("Concert just over"); and last till towardsmidnight, --not later conveniently, as the King must be up at five (inSummer-time at four), and "needs between five and six hours of sleep. "Or would the reader care to consult a Piece expressly treating on allthese points; kind of MANUSCRIPT NEWSPAPER, fallen into my hands, which seems to have had a widish circulation in its day. ["IDEE DE LAPERSONNE, DE LA MANIERE DE VIVRE, ET DE LA COUR DU ROI DE PRUSSE: juin, 1752. " In the--Robinson Papers--(one Copy) now in the British Museum. ]I have met with Two Copies of it, in this Country: one of them, toappearance, once the property of George Selwyn. The other is among theRobinson Papers: doubtless very luculent to Robinson, who is now homein England, but remembers many a thing. Judging from various symptoms, I could guess this MS. To have been much about, in the EnglishAristocratic Circles of that time; and to have, in some measure, givensaid Circles their "Idea" (as they were pleased to reckon it) of thatwonderful and questionable King:--highly distracted "Idea;" which, indiluted form, is still the staple English one. 

By the label, DEMON NEWSWRITER, it is not meant that the Author ofthis poor Paper was an actual Devil, or infernal Spiritual Essence ofmiraculous spectral nature. By no means! Beyond doubt, he is some poorFrenchman, more or less definable as flesh-and-blood; gesturing about, visibly, at Berlin in 1752; in cocked-hat and bright shoe-buckles;grinning elaborate salutations to certain of his fellow-creatures there. Possibly some hungry ATTACHE of Milord Tyrconnel's Legation; fatallyshut out from the beatitudes of this barbarous Court, and willing toseek solacement, and turn a dishonest penny, in the PER-CONTRA course?Who he is, we need not know or care: too evident, he has the sad qualityof transmuting, in his dirty organs, heavenly Brilliancy, more or less, into infernal Darkness and Hatefulness; which I reckon to have been, atall times, the principal function of a Devil;--function still carried onextensively, under Firms of another title, in this world. 

Some snatches we will give. For, though it does not much concern a Manor King, seriously busy, what the idle outer world may see good to talkof him, his Biographers, in time subsequent, are called to notice thematter, as part of his Life-element, and characteristic of the worldhe had round him. Friedrich's affairs were much a wonder to hiscontemporaries. Especially his Domesticities, an item naturally obscureto the outer world, were wonderful; sure to be commented upon, toall lengths; and by the unintelligent, first of all. Of contemporarymankind, as we have sometimes said, nobody was more lied of:--of which, let this of the Demon Newswriter be example, one instead of many. TheDemon Newswriter, deriving only from outside gossip and eavesdropping, is wrong very often, --in fact, he is seldom right, except on pointswhich have been Officially fixed, and are within reach of an inquisitiveClerk of Legation. Wrong often enough, even in regard to externalparticulars, how much more as to internal;--and will need checking, aswe go along. 

Demon speaks first of Friedrich's stature, 5ft. 6in. (as we know betterthan this Demon); "pretty well proportioned, not handsome, and evensomething of awkward (GAUCHE), acquired by a constrained bearing[head slightly off the perpendicular, acquired by his flute, saythe better-informed]. Is of the greatest politeness. Fine tone ofvoice, --fine even in swearing, which is as common with him as with agrenadier, " adds this Demon; not worth attending to, on such points. 

"Has never had a nightcap [sleeps bareheaded; in his later times, wouldsleep in his hat, which was always soft as duffel, kneaded to softnessas its first duty, and did very well]: Never a nightcap, dressing-gown, or pair of slippers [TRUE]; only a kind of cloth cloak [NOT QUITE], muchworn and very dirty, for being powdered in. The whole year round he goesin the uniform of his First Battalion of Guards:--blue with red facings, button-hole trimmings in silver, frogs at the inner end; his coatbuttons close to the shape; waistcoat is plain yellow [straw-color]; hat[three-cornered] has edging of Spanish lace, white plume [horizontal, resting on the lace all round]: boots on his legs all his life. Hecannot walk with shoes [pooh, you--!]. 

"He rises daily at five:"--No, he does n't at all! In fact, we hadbetter clap the lid on this Demon, ill-informed as to all these points;and, on such suggestion, give the real account of them, distilled fromPreuss, and the abundant authentic sources. 

Preuss says (if readers could but remember him): "An Almanac lies onthe King's Table, marking for each day what specific duties the day willbring. From five to six hours of sleep: in summer he rises about three, seldom after four; in winter perhaps an hour later. In his older time, seven hours' sleep came to be the stipulated quantity; and he wouldsleep occasionally eight hours or even nine, in certain medicalpredicaments. Not so in his younger years: four A. M. And five, the sethours then. Summer and winter, fire is lighted for him a quarter of anhour before. King rises; gets into his clothes: 'stockings, breeches, boots, he did sitting on the bed' (for one loves to be particular); therest in front of the fire, in standing posture. Washing followed; morecompendious than his Father's used to be. 

"Letters specifically to his address, a courier (leaving Berlin, 9P. M. ) had brought him in the dead of night: these, on the instant of theKing's calling 'Here!' a valet in the ante chamber brought in to him, tobe read while his hair was being done. His uniform the King did not atonce put on; but got into a CASAQUIN [loose article of the dressing-gownkind, only shorter than ours] of rich stuff, sometimes of velvet withprecious silver embroideries. These Casaquins were commonly sky-blue(which color he liked), presents from his Sisters and Nieces. Lettersbeing glanced over, and hair-club done, the Life-guard General-Adjutanthands in the Potsdam Report (all strangers that have entered Potsdam orleft it, the principal item): this, with a Berlin Report, which had comewith the Letters; and what of Army-Reports had arrived (Adjutant-Generaldelivering these), --were now glanced over. And so, by five o'clock inthe summer morning, by six in the winter, one sees, in the gross, whatone's day's-work is to be; the miscellaneous STONES of it are now mostlyhere, only mortar and walling of them to be thought of. General-Adjutantand his affairs are first settled: on each thing a word or two, whichthe General-Adjutant (always a highly confidential Officer, a Hacke, aWinterfeld, or the like) pointedly takes down. 

"General-Adjutant gone, the King, in sky-blue casaquin [often in veryfaded condition] steps into his writing-room; walks about, reading hisLetters more completely; drinking, first, several glasses of water; thencoffee, perhaps three cups with or without milk [likes coffee, andvery strong]. After coffee he takes his flute; steps about practising, fantasying: he has been heard to say, speaking of music and its effectson the soul, That during this fantasying he would get to consideringall manner of things, with no thought of what he was playing; and thatsometimes even the luckiest ideas about business-matters have occurredto him while dandling with the flute. Sauntering so, he is graduallybreakfasting withal: will eat, intermittently, small chocolate cakes;and after his coffee, cherries, figs, grapes, fruits in their season[very fond of fruit, and has elaborate hot-houses]. So passes the earlymorning. 

"Between nine and ten, most of one's plan-work being got through, thequestions of the day are settled, or laid hold of for settling. Betweennine and ten, King takes to reading the 'Excerpts' (I suppose, ofthe more intricate or lengthier things) of Yesterday, which his threeCabinet Raths [Clerk Eichel and the other Two] have prepared for him. King summons these Three, one after the other, according to theirDepartment; hands them the Letters just read, the Excerpts now decidedon, and signifies, in a minimum of words, what the answers are tobe, --Clerk, always in full dress, listening with both his ears, andpencil in hand. May have, of Answers, CABINET-ORDERS so called, perhapsa dozen, to be ready with before evening. ["In a certain Copy orFinal-Register Book [Herr Preuss's Windfall, of which INFRA] entitledKABINETSORDENKOPIALBUCH, of One of the three Clerks, years 1746-1752, there are, on the average, ten CABINET-ORDERS daily, Sundays included"(Preuss, i. 352 n. ). ]

"Eichel and Company dismissed, King flings off his casaquin, takes hisregimental coat; has his hair touched off with pomade, with powder; andis buttoned and ready in about five minutes;--ready for Parade, whichis at the stroke of eleven, instead of later, as it used to be in Papa'stime. If eleven is not yet come, he will get on horseback; go sweepingabout, oftenest with errands still, at all events in the free solitudeof air, till Parade-time do come. The Parole [Sentry's-WORD of theDay] he has already given his Adjutant-General. Parole, which only theAdjutant and Commandant had known till now, is formally given out; andthe troops go through their exercises, manoeuvres, under a strictnessof criticism which never abates. " "Parade he by no chance ever misses, "says our Demon friend. 

"At the stroke of twelve, " continues Preuss, "dinner is served. Dinnerthreefold; that is, a second table and a third. Only two courses, dishesonly eight, even at the King's Table, (eight also at the Marshal's orsecond Table); guests from seven to ten. Dinner plentiful and savory(for the King had his favorites among edibles), by no means caring tobe splendid, --yearly expense of threefold Dinner (done accurately bycontract) was 1, 800 pounds. " Linsenbarth we saw at the Third Table, and how he fared. "The dinner-service was of beautiful porcelain; notsilver, still less gold, except on the grandest occasions. Every guesteats at discretion, --of course!--and drinks at discretion, Moselle orPontac [kind of claret]; Champagne and Hungary are handed round on theKing's signal. King himself drinks Bergerac, or other clarets, withwater. Dinner lasts till two;--if the conversation be seductive, it hasbeen known to stretch to four. The King's great passion is for talk ofthe right kind; he himself talks a great deal, tippling wine-and-waterto the end, and keeps on a level with the rising tide. 

"With a bow from Majesty, dinner ends; guests gently, with a littlesaunter of talk to some of them, all vanish; and the King is in his ownApartment again. Generally flute-playing for about half an hour;till Eichel and the others come with their day's work: tray-loads ofCabinet-Orders, I can fancy; which are to be 'executed, ' that is, to beglanced through, and signed. Signature for most part is all; but thereare Marginalia and Postscripts, too, in great number, often of a spicybiting character; which, in our time, are in request among the curious. "Herr Preuss, who has right to speak, declares that the spice of mockeryhas been exaggerated; and that serious sense is always the aim both ofDocument and of Signer. Preuss had a windfall; 12, 000 of thesePieces, or more, in a lump, in the way of gift; which fell on him likemanna, --and led, it is said, to those Friedrich studies, extensivefaithful quarryings in that vast wilderness of sliding shingle andchaotic boulders. 

"Coffee follows this despatch of Eichel and Consorts; the day now one'sown. " Scandalous rumors, prose and verse, connect themselves with thisparticular epoch of the day; which appear to be wholly LIES. Of whichpresently. "In this after-dinner period fall the literary labors, "says Preuss:--a facile pen, this King's; only two hours of an afternoonallowed it, instead of all day and the top of the morning. "About six, or earlier even, came the Reader [La Mettrie or another], came artists, came learned talk. At seven is Concert, which lasts for anhour; half-past eight is Supper. " [Preuss, i. 344-347 (and, withintermittencies, pp. 356, 361, 363 &c. To 376), abridged. ]

Demon Newswriter says, of the Concert: "It is mostly ofwind-instruments, " King himself often taking part with his flute;"performers the best in Europe. He has three"--what shall we call them?of male gender, --"a counter-alt, and Mamsell Astrua, an Italian; theyare unique voices. He cannot bear mediocrity. It is but seldom he hasany singing here. To be admitted, needs the most intimate favor; now andthen some young Lord, of distinction, if he meet with such. " Concert, very well;--but let us now, suppressing any little abhorrences, hear himon another subject:--

"Dinner lasts one hour [says our Demon, no better informed]: upon whichthe King returns to his Apartment with bows. It pretty often happensthat he takes with him one of his young fellows. These are all handsome, like a picture (FAITS A PEINDRE), and of the beautifulest face, "--addshe, still worse informed; poisonous malice mixing itself, this time, with the human darkness, and reducing it to diabolic. This Demon'sPaper abounds with similar allusions; as do the more desperate sort ofVoltaire utterances, --VIE PRIVEE treating it as known fact; Letters toDenis in occasional paroxysms, as rumor of detestable nature, probablytrue of one who is so detestable, at least so formidable, to a guiltysinner his Guest. Others, not to be called diabolical, as Herr Dr. Busching, for example, speak of it as a thing credible; as good asknown to the well-informed. And, beyond the least question, there did athrice-abominable rumor of that kind run, whispering audibly, overall the world; and gain belief from those who had appetite. A mostmelancholy business. Solacing to human envy;--explaining also, to thedark human intellect, why this King had commonly no Women at his Court. A most melancholy portion of my raw-material, this; concerning which, since one must speak of it, here is what little I have to say:--

1. That proof of the NEGATIVE, in this or in any such case, is by thenature of it impossible. That it is indisputable Friedrich did not nowlive with his Wife, nor seem to concern himself with the empire ofwomen at all; having, except now and then his Sisters and some ForeignPrincess on short visit, no women in his Court; and though a great judgeof Female merits, graces and accomplishments, seems to worship womenin that remote way alone, and not in any nearer. Which occasioned greatastonishment in a world used so much to the contrary. And gave rise tomany conjectures among the idle of mankind, "What, on Earth, or underEarth, can be the meaning of it?"--and among others, to the abovescandalous rumor, as some solacement to human malice and impertinentcuriosity. 

2. That an opposite rumor--which would indeed have been pretty fatalto this one, but perhaps still more disgraceful in the eyes of a DemonNewswriter--was equally current; and was much elaborated by the curiousimpertinent. Till Nicolai got hold of it, in Herr Dr. Zimmermann'sresponsible hands; and conclusively knocked it on the head. [SeeZimmermann's--Fragmente, --and Nicolai patiently pounding it to powder(whoever is curious on this disgusting subject). ]

3". That, for me, proof in the affirmative, or probable indication thatway, has not anywhere turned up. Nowhere for me, in these extensiveminings and siftings. Not the least of probable indication; butcontrariwise, here and there, rather definite indications pointingdirectly the opposite way. [For example ("CORRESPONDENCE WITHFREDERSDORF"), --OEuvres, --xxvii. Iii. 145. ] Friedrich, in his ownutterances and occasional rhymes, is abundantly cynical; now and thenrises to a kind of epic cynicism, on this very matter. But at no timecan the painful critic call it cynicism as of OTHER than an observer;always a kind of vinegar cleanness in it, EXCEPT in theory. Cynicismof an impartial observer in a dirty element; observer epically sensible(when provoked to it) of the brutal contemptibilities which lie in HumanLife, alongside of its big struttings and pretensions. In Friedrich'sutterances there is that kind of cynicism undeniable;--and yet he hada modesty almost female in regard to his own person; "no servanthaving ever seen him in an exposed state. " [Preuss, i. 376. ] Whichhad considerably strengthened rumor No. 2. O ye poor impiousLong-eared, --Long-eared I will call you, instead of Two-horned and withonly One hoof cloven! Among the tragical platitudes of Human Nature, nothing so fills a considering brother mortal with sorrow and despair, as this innate tendency of the common crowd in regard to its Great Men, whensoever, or almost whensoever, the Heavens do, at long intervals, vouchsafe us, as their all-including blessing, anything of such!Practical "BLASPHEMY, " is it not, if you reflect? Strangely possiblethat sin, even now. And ought to be religiously abhorred by every soulthat has the least piety or nobleness. Act not the mutinous flunky, myfriend; though there be great wages going in that line. 

4. That in these circumstances, and taking into view the otherwise knownqualities of this high Fellow-Creature, the present Editor does not, for his own share, value the rumor at a pin's fee. And leaves it, andrecommends his readers to leave it, hanging by its own head, in the sadsubterranean regions, --till (probably not for a long while yet) it dropto a far Deeper and dolefuler Region, out of our way altogether. 

"Lamentable, yes, " comments Diogenes; "and especially so, that the idlepublic has a hankering for such things! But are there no obscene detailsat all, then? grumbles the disappointed idle public to itself, somethingof reproach in its tone. A public idle-minded; much depraved in everyway. Thus, too, you will observe of dogs: two dogs, at meeting, run, first of all, to the shameful parts of the constitution; institute astrict examination, more or less satisfactory, in that department. Thatonce settled, their interest in ulterior matters seems pretty muchto die away, and they are ready to part again, as from a problemdone. "--Enough, oh, enough!

Practically we are getting no good of our Demon;--and will dismiss him, after a taste or two more. 

This Demon Newswriter has, evidently, never been to Potsdam; whichhe figures as the abode of horrid cruelty, a kind of Tartarus onEarth;--where there is a dreadful scarcity of women, for one item;lamentable to one's moral feelings. Scarcity nothing like so great, evenamong the soldier-classes, as the Demon Newswriter imagines to himself;nor productive of the results lamented. Prussian soldiers are notencouraged to marry, if it will hurt the service; nor do their wivesmarch with the Regiment except in such proportions as there may besewing, washing and the like women's work fairly wanted in theirrespective Companies: the Potsdam First Battalion, I understand, ishardly permitted to marry at all. And in regard to lamentable results, that of "LIEBSTEN-SCHEINE, Sweetheart-TICKETS, "--or actual militarylegalizing of Temporary Marriages, with regular privileges attached, andfixed rules to be observed, --might perhaps be the notablest point, andthe SEMI-lamentablest, to a man or demon in the habit of lamenting. [Preuss, i. 426. ] For the rest, a considerably dreadful place thisPotsdam, to the flaccid, esurient and disorderly of mankind;--"andstrict as Fate [Demon correct for once] in inexorably punishing militarysins. 

"This King, " he says, "has a great deal of ESPRIT; much less of real, knowledge (CONNAISSANCES) than is pretended. He excels only in themilitary part; really excellent there. Has a facile expeditious pen andhead; understands what you say to him, at the first word. Not taking norwishing advice; never suffering replies or remonstrances, not even fromhis Mother. Pretty well acquainted with Works of ESPRIT, whether inProse or in Verse: burning [very hot indeed] to distinguish himself byperformance of that kind; but unable to reach the Beautiful, unlessheld up by somebody (ETAYE). It is said that, in a splenetic moment, hisSkeleton of an Apollo [SQUELETTE D'APOLLON, M. De Voltaire, who is leanexceedingly] exclaimed once, some time ago, 'When is it, then, that hewill have done sending me his dirty linen to wash?'

"The King is of a sharp mocking tongue withal; pricking into whoeverdispleases him; often careless of policy in that. Understands nothingof Finance, or still less of Trade; always looking direct towards moremoney, which he loves much; incapable of sowing [as some of US do!]for a distant harvest. Treats, almost all the world as slaves. All hissubjects are held in hard shackles. Rigorous for the least shortcoming, where his interest is hurt:--never pardons any fault which tends toinexactitude in the Military Service. Spandau very full, "--though I didnot myself count. "Keeps in his pay nobody but those useful to him, andcapable of doing employments well [TRUE, ALWAYS]; and the instant he hasno more need of them, dismissing them with nothing [FALSE, GENERALLY]. The Subsidies imposed on his subjects are heavy; in constant proportionto their Feudal Properties, and their Leases of Domains (CONTRATS ETBAUX); and, what is dreadful, are exacted with the same rigor if yourProperty gets into debt, "--no remission by the iron grip of this Kingin the name of the State! Sell, if you can find a Purchaser; or getconfiscated altogether; that is your only remedy. Surely a tyrant of aKing. 

"People who get nearest him will tell you that his Politeness is notnatural, but a remnant of old habit, when he had need of everybody, against the persecutions of his Father. He respects his Mother; the onlyFemale for whom he has a sort of attention. He esteems his Wife, andcannot endure her; has been married nineteen years, and has not yetaddressed one word to her [how true!]. It was but a few days ago shehanded him a Letter, petitioning some things of which she had themost pressing want. He took the Letter, with that smiling, polite andgracious air which he assumes at pleasure; and without breaking theseal, tore the Letter up before her face, made her a profound bow, andturned his back on her. " Was there ever such a Pluto varnished intoLiterary Rose-pink? Very proper Majesty for the Tartarus that here is. 

. . . "The Queen-Mother, " continues our Small Devil, "is a good fat woman, who lives and moves in her own way (RONDEMENT). She has l6, 000 pounds ayear for keeping up her House. It is said she hoards. Four days in theweek she has Apartment [Royal Soiree]; to which you cannot go withoutexpress invitation. There is supper-table of twenty-four covers; onlyeight dishes, served in a shabby manner (INDECEMMENT) by six littlescoundrels of Pages. Men and women of the Country [shivering Natives, cheering their dull abode] go and eat there. Steward Royal sends theinvitations. At eleven, everybody has withdrawn. Other days, this Queeneats by herself. Stewardess Royal and three Maids of Honor have theirseparate table; two dishes the whole. She is shabbily lodged [in myopinion], when at the Palace. Her Monbijou, which is close to Berlin[now well within it], would be pretty enough, for a private person. 

"The Queen Regnant is the best woman in the world. All the year [NOTQUITE] she dines alone. Has Apartment on Thursdays; everybody gone atnine o'clock. Her morsels are cut for her, her steps are counted, andher words are dictated; she is miserable, and does what she can to hideit"--according to our Small Devil. "She has scarcely the necessariesof life allowed her, "--spends regularly two-thirds of her income incharitable objects; translates French-Calvinist Devotional Works, forbenefit of the German mind; and complains to no Small Devil, of neverso sympathizing nature. "At Court she is lodged on the second floor[scandalous]. Schonhausen her Country House, with the exception of theGarden which is pretty enough, --our Shopkeepers of the Rue St. Honorewould sniff at such a lodging. 

"Princess Amelia is rather amiable [thank you for nothing, Small Devil];often out of temper because--this is so shocking a place for Ladies, especially for maiden Ladies. Lives with her Mother; special income verysmall;--Coadjutress of Quedlinburg; will be actual Abbess" in a year ortwo. [11th April, 1756: Preuss, xxvii. P. Xxxiv (of PREFACE). ]

"Eldest Prince, Heir-Apparent, "--do not speak of him, Small Devil, foryou are misinformed in every feature and particular:--enough, "he isfac-simile of his Brother. He has only 18, 000 pounds a year, for self, Wife, Household and Children [two, both Boys];--and is said [falsely] tohoard, and to follow Trade, extensive Trade with his Brother's Woods. 

"Prince Henri, who is just going to be married, "--thank you, Demon, forreminding us of that. Bride is Wilhelmina, Princess of Hessen-Cassel. Marriage, 25th June, 1752;--did not prove, in the end, very happy. Asmall contemporary event; which would concern Voltaire and othersthat concern us. Three months ago, April 14th, 1752, theBerlin Powder-Magazine flew aloft with horrible crash;[In--Helden-Geschichte--(iii. 531) the details. ]--and would be audibleto Voltaire, in this his Second Act. Events, audible or not, nevercease. 

"Prince Henri, " in Demon's opinion, "is the amiablest of the House. Heis polite, generous, and loves good company. Has 12, 000 pounds a yearleft him by Papa. " Not enough, as it proved. "If, on this Marriage, hisBrother, who detests him [witness Reinsberg and other evidences, now andonward], gives him nothing, he won't be well off. They are furnishinga House for him, where he will lodge after wedding. Is reported tobe--POTZDAMISTE [says the scandalous Small Devil, whom we are weary ofcontradicting], --Potsdamite, in certain respects. Poor Princess, what adestiny for you!

"Prince Ferdinand, little scraping of a creature (PETIT CHAFOUIN), crapulous to excess, niggardly in the extreme, whom everybodyavoids, "--much more whose Portrait, by a Magic-lantern of thiskind: which let us hastily shut, and fling into the cellar!--"LittleFerdinand, besides his 15, 000 pounds a year, Papa's bequest, getsconsiderable sums given him. Has lodging in the King's House; goesshifting and visiting about, wherever he can live gratis; and strivesall he can to amass money. Has to be in boots and uniform every threedays. Three months of the year practically with his regiment: but theshifts he has for avoiding expense are astonishing. ". . . 

What an illuminative "Idea" are the Walpole-Selwyn Circles picking upfor their money!--

Chapter XI. THIRD ACT AND CATASTROPHE OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 

Meantime there has a fine Controversy risen, of mathematical, philosophical and at length of very miscellaneous nature, concerningthat Konig-Maupertuis dissentience on the LAW OF THRIFT. WonderfulControversy, much occupying the so-called Philosophic or Scientificworld; especially the idler population that inhabit there. Uponthis item of the Infinitely Little, --which has in our time sunk intoNothing-at-all, and but for Voltaire, and the accident of his livingnear it, would be forgotten altogether, --we must not enter into details;but a few words to render Voltaire's share in it intelligible will be, in the highest degree, necessary. Here, in brief form, rough and ready, are the successive stages of the Business; the origin and first stage ofwhich have been known to us for some time past:--

"SEPTEMBER, 1750, Konig, his well-meant visit to Berlin proving sofutile, had left Maupertuis in the humor we saw;--pirouetting round hisApartment, in tempests of rage at such contradiction of sinners on hissublime Law of Thrift; and fulminating permission to Konig: 'No time toread your Paper of Contradictions; publish it in Leipzig, in Jericho;anywhere in the Earth, in Heaven, in the Other Place, where you have theopportunity!' Konig, returning on these terms, had nothing for it butto publish his Paper; and did publish it, in the Leipzig--ActaEruditorum--for March, 1751. There it stands, legible to this day: andif any of the human species should again think of reading it, I believeit will be found a reasonable, solid and decisive Paper; of steadfast, openly articulate, by no means insolent, tone; considerably modifyingMaupertuis's Law of Thrift, or Minimum of Action;--fatal to the claimof its being a 'Sublime Discovery, ' or indeed, so far as TRUE, anydiscovery at all. [In--Acta Eruditorum--(Lipsiae, 1751):--"De universaliPrincipio AEquilibrii et Motus. "--By no means uncivil to Maupertuis;though obliged to controvert him. For example:--"Quoe itaque de MinimaActionis in modificationibus modum obtinente in genere proferunturvehementer laudo;" "continent nempe facundum longeque pulcherrimumDynamices sublimioris principium, cujus vim in difficillimisquoestionibus soepe expertus fui. "--] By way of finis to the Paper, there is given, what proves extremely important to us, an Excerpt froman old LETTER OF LEIBNITZ'S; which perhaps it will be better to presenthere IN CORPORE, as so much turned on it afterwards. Konig thus windsup:--

"I add only a word, in finishing; and that is, that it appears Mr. Leibnitz had a theory of Action, perhaps much more extensive thanone would suspect at present. There is a Letter written by him to Mr. Hermann [an ancient mathematical sage at Basel], where he uses theseexpressions: 'Action, is not what you think; the consideration of Timeenters into it; Action is as the product of the mass by the space andthe velocity, or as the time by the VIS VIVA. I have remarked that inthe modifications of motion, the action becomes usually a maximum ora minimum:--and from this there might several propositions of greatconsequence be deduced. It might serve to determine the curves describedby bodies under attraction to one or more centres. I had meant to treatof these things in the Second Part of my DYNAMIQUE; which I suppressed, the reception of the First, by prejudice in many quarters, havingdisgusted me. '" [MAUPERTUISIANA, No. Ii. 22 (from--Acta Eruditorum, --ubisupra). In MAUPERTUISIANA, No. Iv. 166, is the whole Letter, "Hanover, 16th October, 1707;" no ADDRESS left, judged to be to Hermann. MAUPERTUISIANA (Hamburg, 1753) is a mere Bookseller's or evenBookbinder's Farrago, with printed TITLE-PAGE and LIST, of the chiefPamphlets which had appeared on this Business (sixteen by count, varioustype, all 8vo size, in my copy). Of which only No. Ii. (Konig's APPELAU PUBLIC) and No. Iv. (2d edition of said APPEL, with APPENDIX OFCORRESPONDENCE) are illuminative to read. ] Your Minimum of Action, itwould appear, then, is in some cases a Maximum; nothing can be said butthat, in every case it is EITHER a Maximum or Minimum. What a strokefor our LAW OF THRIFT, the "at last conclusive Proof" of an IntelligentCreator, as the Perpetual President had fancied it!"So-ho, what is this!My Discovery an Error? And Leibnitz discovered it, so far as true?"--

"May 28th-8th OCTOBER, 1751. Maupertuis, compressing himself what hecan, writes to Konig: 'Very good, Monsieur. But please inform mewhere is that Letter of Leibnitz's; I have never seen or heard of itbefore, --and I want to make use of it myself. ' To which Konig answers:'Henzi gave it me, in Copy [unfortunate Conspirator Henzi, who lost hishead three years ago, by sentence of the Oligarch Government at Berne]:[Government by "The Two Hundred;" of Select-Vestry nature, very stiff, arbitrary and become rife in abuses; against whom had risen angrymutterings more than once, and in 1749 a Select Plot (not select ENOUGH, for they discovered it in time). Poor Ex-Captain Henzi, "Clerk *of theSalt-Office, " most frugal, studious and quiet of men; a very miracle, Itwould appear, of genius, solid learning, philosophy and piety, --notthe chief or first of the conspirators, but by far the mostdistinguished, --was laid hold of, July 2d, 1749, and beheaded, withanother of them, a day or two after. Much bewailed in a privateway, even by the better kinds of people. (Copious account of himin--Adelung, --vii. 86-91. )]--he, poor fellow, had no end of Papers andExcerpts; had, as we know, above a hundred volumes of the latter kind;this, and some other Letters of Leibnitz's, among them, --I send you thewhole Letter, copied faithfully from his Copy. ' ["The Hague, 26th June, "in--Maupertuisiana, --No. Iv. 130. ] To that effect, still in perfectgood-humor, was Konig's reply to his Maupertuis. 

"'Hm, Copy? By Henzi?' grumbles Maupertuis to himself:--'Search inBerne, then; it must be there, if anywhere!' To Konig Maupertuis answersnothing: but sulkily resolves on having Search made;--and, to givesolemnity to the matter, requests his Excellency Marquis de Paulmy, theFrench Ambassador at Berne, to ask the Government there, --Governmenthaving seized all Henzi's Papers, on beheading him. Excellency Paulmydoes, accordingly, make inquiry in the highest quarter; some inquiriesup and down. Not the least account of this, or of any Leibnitz Letter, to be had from among Henzi's Papers, --the 'hundred volumes, ' seemingly, exist no longer;--Original of this Leibnitz Piece is nowhere. For eightmonths the highest Authorities have been looking about (with oneknows not what vivacity or skill in searching), and have found nothingwhatever. " Stage second of the Business finishes in this manner. 

How lucky for the Perpetual President, had he stopped here! To Konigand the common contradiction of sinners he could have opposed, as it wasapparently his purpose to do, an Olympian silence, "Pshaw!" Wherebythe small matter, interesting to few, would have dropped gently intodubiety, into oblivion, and been got well rid of. But this of the greatLeibnitz, touching on one's LAW OF THRIFT; and not only "discovering"it, half a century beforehand, but discovering that it was not true: toLeibnitz one must speak;--and the abstruse question is, What is one tosay? "Find me the original; let us be certain, first:" that you can say;that is one dear point; and pretty much the only one. The rest, atthis time, as I conjecture, may have been not a little abstruse to thePerpetual President!

And now, had the Perpetual President but stopped here, there might stillhave rested a saving shadow of suspicion on Konig's Excerpt, That itwas not exact, that it might be wrong in some vital point:--"You nevershowed me the Original, Monsieur!" Unluckily, the Perpetual Presidentdid not stop. One cannot well fancy him believing, now or ever, thatKonig had forged the Excerpt. Most likely he had the fatal persuasionthat these were Leibnitz's words; and the question, What was to be saidor done, if the Original SHOULD turn up? might justly be alarming toa Son of the Pure Sciences. But at this point a new door of escapedisclosed itself: "Where is the Original, I say!"--and he rushed, fullspeed, into that; galloping triumphantly, feeling all safe. 

"OCTOBER 7th (1751), Maupertuis summons his Academy: 'Messieurs, permitme to submit a case perhaps requiring your attention. One of our numberdissents from your President's Discovery of the Law of Thrift; whichsurely he is free to do: but furthermore he gives an Excerpt purportingto be from Leibnitz; whereby it would appear that your President'sDiscovery, sanctioned in your Acts as new, is not new, but Leibnitz's(so far as it is good for anything), --possibly stolen, therefore; and, at any rate, fifty-four years old. In self-defence, I have demanded tosee the Original of said Excerpt; and the Honorable Member in questiondoes not produce it. What say you?' 'Shame to him!' say they all[there seem to be but few Scientific Members, and most of them, itis insinuated, have Pensions from the King through their PerpetualPresident];--and determine to make a Star-chamber matter of it!

"Accordingly, next day, OCTOBER 8th) Secretary Formey writes officiallyto Konig, 'Produce that Letter within one month, '--and has got hisMajesty to order, That our Prussian Minister at the Hague shall takecharge of delivering such message, and shall mark on what day. Thingserious, you see!--Prussian Minister at the Hague delivers, and docketsaccordingly. To Konig's astonishment; who is in a scene of deep troubleat this time; Royal Highness the Stadtholder suddenly dead, or dying:'died October 22d; leaving a very young Heir, and a very sorrowful Widowand Country. ' Much to think of, that lies apart from the Maupertuismatter! Which latter, however, is so very serious too, his PrussianMajesty's Minister at Berne is now charged to make new perquisition forthe Leibnitz Original there: In short, within one month that Document isperemptorily wanted at Berlin. "

High proceedings these;--and calculated to have one result, if no other. Namely, that, at this point, as readers can fancy, the idler Public, seeing a street-quarrel in progress, began to take interest in theQuestion of MINIMUM; and quasi-scientific gentlemen to gather round, andexpress, with cheery capable look, their opinions, --still legible in thevanished JUGEMENS LIBRES (of Hamburg), GAZETTE DE SAVANS (Leipzig), and other poor Shadows of JOURNALS, if you daringly evoke them from theother side of Styx. Which, the whole matter being now so indisputablyextinct, shadowy, Stygian, we will not here be guilty of doing; buthasten to the catastrophes, that have still a memorability. 

"Konig, having in fact nothing more to say about the Leibnitz Excerpt, was in no breathless haste to obey his summons; he sat almost two monthsbefore answering anything. Did then write however, in a friendly strainto Maupertuis (December 10th, 1751). [--Maupertuisiana, --No. Iv. 132. ]Almost on which same day, as it chanced, the ACADEMIE, after two months'dignified waiting, had in brief terms repeated its order on Konig. [December 11th, 1751 (Ib. 137). To which Konig makes no special answer(having as good as answered the day before);--but does silently sendoff to Switzerland to make inquiries; and does write once or twice more, when there is occasion for explaining;--always in a clear, sonorous, manfully firm and respectful tone: 'That he himself had, or has, nokind of reason to doubt the authenticity of the Leibnitz Letter; that tohimself (and, so far as he can judge, to Maupertuis) the question of itsauthenticity is without special interest;--he, Konig, having thrown itin as a mere marginal illustration, which decides nothing, either foror against the Law of Thrift. That he has, in obedience to the Academy, caused search to be made in Switzerland, especially at Basel, where hejudged the chance might lie; but that of this particular Letternothing has come to light; that he has two other Leibnitz Letters, ofindifferent tenor, in the late Henzi's hand, if these will serve inaught, [--Maupertuisiana, --No. Iv. 155; and ib. 172-192, the two Lettersthemselves. ]--but what farther can he do?' In short, Konig speaks alwaysin a clear business-like manful tone; the one person that makes a reallyrespectful and respectable figure in this Controversy of the InfinitelyLittle. A man whom, viewed from this quiet distance, it seems almostinconceivably absurd to have suspected of forging for so small anobject. Oh, my President, that DIRA REGNANDI CUPIDO!--

"Question is, however, What the Academy will do? One Member, 'the bestGeometer among them' [whose name is not given, but which the BerlinAcademy should write in big letters across this sad Page of theirAnnals, by way of erasure to the same], dissented from the high lineof procedure; asserting Konig's innocence in this matter; nay, hintingagreement with Konig's opinion. But was met by such a storm, that hewithdrew from the deliberations; which henceforth went their own badcourse, unanimous though slow. And so the matter pendulates all throughWinter, 1751-52, and was much the theme of idle men. "

Voltaire heard of it vaguely all along; but not with distinctness tillthe end of July following. As Spring advanced, Maupertuis had fallenill of lungs, --threatened with spitting of blood ("owing to excess ofbrandy, " hints the malicious Voltaire, "which is fashionable at St. Malo, " birthplace of Maupertuis), --and could not farther direct theAcademy in this affair. The Academy needs no direction farther. Here, very soon, for a sick President's consolation, is what the Academydecides on, by way of catastrophe:--

THURSDAY EVENING, 13th APRIL, 1752, The Academy met; Curator Monsieurde Keith, presiding; about a score of acting Members present. To whomCurator de Keith, as the first thing, reads a magnanimous brief Letterfrom our Perpetual President: "That, for two reasons, he cannot attendon this important occasion: First, because he is too ill, which woulditself be conclusive; but secondly, and A FORTIORI, because he is insome sense a party to the cause, and ought not if he could. " Whereupon, Secretary Formey having done his Documentary flourishings, CuratorEuler--(great in Algebra, apparently not very great in common senseand the rules of good temper)--reads considerable "Report;" [Is No. 1 of--Maupertuisiana. --] reciting, not in a dishonest, but in a dimwearisome way, the various steps of the Affair, as readers already knowthem; and concludes with this extraordinary practical result: "Thingsbeing so (LES CHOSES ETANT TELLES): the Fragment being of itself suspect[what could Leibnitz know of Maxima and Minima? They were not developedtill one Euler did it, quite in late years!], [--Maupertuisians, --No. I. 22. ] of itself suspect; and Monsieur Konig having failed to" &c. &c. , --"it is assuredly manifest that his cause is one of the worst (DESPLUS MAUVAISES), and that this Fragment has been forged. " Singular tothink!"And the Academy, all things duly considered, will not hesitateto declare it false (SUPPOSE), and thereby deprive it publicly of allauthority which may have been ascribed to it" (HEAR, HEAR! from allparts). 

Curator de Keith then collects the votes, --twenty-three in all; somesixteen are of working Members; two are from accidental Strangers("travelling students, " say the enemy); the rest from Curators ofQuality:--Vote is unanimous, "Adopt the Report. Fragment evidentlyforged, and cannot have the least shadow of authority (AUCUNE OMBRED'AUTHORITE). Forged by whom, we do not now ask; nor what the Academycould, on plain grounds, now do to Monsieur Konig [NOT nail his earsto the pump, oh no!]; enough, it IS forged, and so remains. " Signed, "Curator de Keith, " and Six other Office-bearers; "Formey, PerpetualSecretary"' closing the list. 

At the name Keith, a slight shadow (very slight, for how couldKeith help himself?) crosses the mind: "Is this, by ill luck, theFeldmarschall Keith?" No, reader; this is Lieutenant-Colonel Keith; heof Wesel, with "Effigy nailed to the Gallows" long since; whom none ofus cares for. Sulzer, I notice too, is of this long-eared Sanhedrim. ACH, MEIN LIEBER SULZER, you don't know (do you, then?) DIESE VERDAMMTERACE, to what heights and depths of stupid malice, and malignant lengthof ear, they are capable of going. "Thursday, 13th April, " this isForger Konig's doom:--and, what is observable, next morning, with acrash audible through Nature, the Powder-Magazine flew aloft, killingseveral persons! [Supra, p. 203. ] Had no hand, he, I hope, in thatlatter atrocity?

On authentic sight of this Sentence (for which Konig had at once, onhearing of it, applied to Formey, and which comes to him, without helpof Formey, through the Public Newspapers) Konig, in a brief, proudenough, but perfectly quiet, mild and manful manner, resigns hisMembership. "Ceases, from this day (June 18th, 1752), to have the honorof belonging to your Academy; 'an honor I had been the prouder of, as itcame to me unasked;'--and will wish, you, from the outside henceforth, successful campaigns in the field of Science. " [--Maupertuisiana, --No. Iv. 129. ] And sets about preparing his Pamphlet to instruct mankind onthe subject. Maupertuis, it appears, did write, and made others write toKonig's Sovereign Lady, the Dowager Princess of Orange, "How extremelyhandsome it would be, could her Most Serene Highness, a friend toPure Science, be pleased to induce Monsieur Konig not to continue thispainful Controversy, but to sit quiet with what he had got. " [Voltaire(infra). ] Which her Most Serene Highness by no mean thought the suitablecourse. Still less did Konig himself; whose APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC, withDEFENCE OF APPEAL, --reasonably well done, as usual, and followed andaccompanied by the multitude of Commentators, --appeared in due course. ["September, 1752, Konig's APPEL" (Preuss, in--OEuvres de Frederic, --xv. 60 n. ). ] Till, before long, the Public was thoroughly instructed; andnobody, hardly the signing Curators, or thin Euler himself, not to speakof Perpetual Formey, who had never been strong in the matter, could wellbelieve in "forgery" or care to speak farther on such a subject. Subject gone wholly to the Stygian Fens, long since; "forgery" not nowimaginable by anybody!

The rumor of these things rose high and wide; and the quantity ofpublishing upon them, quasi-scientifically and otherwise, in the seriousvein and the jocose, was greater than we should fancy. ["Letter from aMarquis;" "Letter from Mr. T---to M. S---" (Mr. T. Lives in London;--"JETRAVERSE LE Queen's Square, ET JE RENCONTRE NOTRE AMI D---: 'AVEZ-VOUSLA l'Appel au Public?' DIT-IL"--); "Letter by Euler in the BerlinGazette, " &c. &c. (in--Maupertuisiana--). ] Voltaire, for above a monthpast, had been fully aware of the case (24th July, 1752, writing toNiece, "heard yesterday"); not without commentary to oneself and others. Voltaire, with a kind of love to Konig, and a very real hatred toMaupertuis and to oppression generally, took pen himself, among theothers (Konig's APPEAL just out), --could not help doing it, though hehad better not! The following small Piece is perhaps the one, if therebe one, still worth resuscitating from the Inane Kingdoms. Appearedin the BIBLIOTHEQUE RAISONNEE (mild-shining Quarterly Review of thosedays), JULY-SEPTEMBER Number. 

"ANSWER FROM [VERY PRIVATELY VOLTAIRE, CALLING HIMSELF] A BERLINACADEMICIAN TO A PARIS ONE. 

"BERLIN, 18th SEPTEMBER, 1752. This is the exact truth, in reply toyour inquiry. M. Moreau de Maupertuis in a Pamphlet entitled ESSAI DECOSMOLOGIE, pretended that the only proof of the Existence of God is thecircumstance that AR+nRB is a Minimum. [ONLY proof:^??????^ (p. 212Book XVI) VOILA!] He asserts that in all possible cases, 'Action is aMinimum, ' what has been demonstrated false; and he says, 'He discoveredthis Law of Minimum, ' what is not less false. 

"M. Konig, as well as other Mathematicians, wrote against this strangeassertion; and, among other things, M. Konig cited some sentences of aLetter by Leibnitz, in which that great man says, He has observed 'that, in the modifications of motion, the Action usually becomes either aMaximum or else a Minimum. '

"M. Moreau de Maupertuis imagined that, by producing this Fragment, it had been intended to snatch from him the glory of his pretendeddiscovery, --though Leibnitz says precisely the contrary of what headvances. He forced some pensioned members of the Academy, who aredependent on him, to summon M. Konig"--As we know too well; andcannot bear to have repeated to us, even in the briefest and spiciestform!"Sentence (JUGEMENT) on M. Konig, which declares him guilty ofhaving assaulted the glory of the Sieur Moreau Maupertuis by FORGING aLeibnitz Letter. --Wrote then, and made write, to her Serene Highness thePrincess of Orange, who was indignant at so insolent"--. . . And in fine, "Thus the Sieur Moreau Maupertuis has been convicted, in the face ofScientific Europe, not only of plagiarism and blunder, but of havingabused his place to suppress free discussion, and to persecute an honestman who had no crime but that of not being of his opinion. Severalmembers of our Academy have protested against so crying a procedure; andwould leave the Academy, were it not for fear of displeasing theKing, who is protector of it. " [--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxiii. 227(in--Maupertuisiana, --No. Xvi). ]

King Friedrich's position, in the middle of all this, was becominguncomfortable. Of the controversy he understood, or cared to understand, nothing; had to believe steadily that his Academy must be right; thatKonig was some loose bird, envious of an eagle Maupertuis, sitting alofton his high Academic perch: this Friedrich took for the truth of thematter;--and could not let himself imagine that his sublime PerpetualPresident, who was usually very prudent and Jove-like, had been led, by his truculent vanity (which Friedrich knew to be immense in the man, though kept well out of sight), into such playing of fantastic tricksbefore high Heaven and other on-lookers. This view of the matter hadhitherto been Friedrich's; nor do I know that he ever inwardly departedfrom it;--as outwardly he, for certain, never did; standing, King-like, clear always for his Perpetual President, till this hurricane ofPamphlets blew by. Voltaire's little Piece, therefore, was theunwelcomest possible. 

This new bolt of electric fire, launched upon the storm-tost Presidentfrom Berlin itself, and even from the King's House itself, --by whom, tooclearly recognizable, --what an irritating thing! Unseemly, in fact, on Voltaire's part; but could not be helped by a Voltaire charged withelectricity. Friedrich evidently in considerable indignation, findingthat public measures would but worsen the uproar, took pen in hand;wrote rapidly the indignant LETTER FROM AN ACADEMICIAN OF BERLIN TO ANACADEMICIAN OF PARIS: [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xv. 59-64 (not dated;datable "October, 1752"). ] which Piece, of some length, we cannot givehere; but will briefly describe as manifesting no real knowledge of theLAW-OF-THRIFT Controversy; but as taking the above loose view of it, andas directed principally against "the pretended Member of our Academy"(mischievous Voltaire, to wit), whom it characterizes as "such amanifest retailer of lies, " a "concocter of stupid libels:" "have youever seen an action more malicious, more dastardly, more infamous?"--andother hard terms, the hardest he can find. This is the privilege ofanonymity, on both sides of it. 

But imagine now a King and his Voltaire doing witty discourse over theirSupper of the gods (as, on the set days, is duly the case); with such aconsciousness, burning like Bude light, though close veiled, on the partof Host and Guest! The Friedrich-Voltaire relation is evidently undersore stress of weather, in those winter-autumn months of 1752, --brownleaves, splashy rains and winds moaning outwardly withal. And, alas, theirrepressibly electric Voltaire, still far from having ended, stillonly just beginning his Anti-Maupertuis discharges, has, in the interim, privately got his DOCTOR AKAKIA ready. Compared to which, the formermissile is as a popgun to a park of artillery shotted with old nails andbroken glass!--Such a constraint, at the Royal dinner-table, amid wineand wit, could not continue. The credible account is, it soon crackedasunder; and, after the conceivable sputterings, sparklings andflashings of various complexion, issued in lambent airs of "tacitmutual understanding; and in reading of AKAKIA together, --with peals oflaughter from the King, " as the common French Biographers assert. 

"Readers know AKAKIA, " [DIATRIBE DU DOCTEUR AKAKIA (inVoltaire, --OEuvres, --lxi. 19-62). ] says Smelfungus: "it is one of thefamous feats of Satirical Pyrotechny; only too pleasant to the corruptRace of Adam! There is not much, or indeed anything, of true poetichumor in it: but there is a gayety of malice, a dexterity, felicity, inexhaustibility of laughing mockery and light banter, capableof driving a Perpetual President delirious. What an Explosion ofglass-crackers, fire-balls, flaming-serpents;--generally, of sleepinggunpowder, in its most artistic forms, --flaming out sky-high over allthe Parish, on a sudden! The almost-sublime of Maupertuis, which existsin large quantities, here is a new artist who knows how to treat it. The engineer of the Sublime (always painfully engineering thitherwardwithout effect), --an engineer of the Comic steps in on him, blows him upwith his own petards in a most unexampled manner. Not an owlery has thatpoor Maupertuis, in the struggle to be sublime (often nearly successful, but never once quite), happened to drop from him, but Voltaire picks itup; manipulates it, reduces it to the sublimely ridiculous; lodges it, in the form of burning dust, about the head of MON PRESIDENT. Needlessto say of the Comic engineer that he is unfair, perversely exaggerative, reiterative, on the owleries of poor Maupertuis;--it is his functionto BE all that. Clever, but wrong, do you say? Well, yes:--and yet theridiculous does require ridicule; wise Nature has silently so ordered. And if ever truculent President in red wig, with his absurd truculences, tyrannies and perpetual struggles after the sublime, did deserve tobe exploded in laughter, it could not have been more consummatelydone;--though perversely always, as must be owned. 

"'The hole bored through the Earth, ' for instance: really, one sometimesreflects on such a thing; How you would see daylight, and the antipodalgentleman (if he bent a little over) foot to foot; how a little stoneflung into it would exactly (but for air and friction) reach the otherside of the world; would then, in a computable few moments, come backquiescent to your hand, and so continue forevermore;--with other thelike uncriminal fancies. 

"'The Latin Town, ' again: truly, if learning the Ancient Languagesbe human Education, it might, with a Greek Ditto, supersede theUniversities, and prove excellently serviceable in our struggleHeavenward by that particular route. I can assure M. De Voltaire, it wasonce practically proposed to this King's Great-grandfather, the GrosseKurfurst;--who looked into it, with face puckered to the intensest, inhis great care for furtherance of the Terrestrial Sciences and Wisdoms;but forbore for that time. [Minute details about it in Stenzel, ii. 234-238; who quotes "Erman" (a poor old friend of ours) "SUR LE PROJETD'UNE VILLE SAVANTE DANS LE BRANDEBOURG (Berlin, 1792):" date of theProject was 1667. ] Then as to 'Dissecting the Brains of Patagonians;'what harm, if you can get them gross enough? And as to that of (exaltingyour mind to predict the future, ' does not, in fact, man look BEFORE andAFTER; are not Memory and (in a small degree) Prophecy the Two Facultieshe has?

"These things--which are mostly to be found in the 'LETTRES DEMAUPERTUIS' (Dresden, 1752, then a brand-new Book), but are nowclipt out from the Maupertuis Treatises--we can fancy to be almostsublimities. --Almost, unfortunately not altogether. And then there issuch a Sisyphus-effort visible in dragging them aloft so far: and thenimble wicked Voltaire so seizes his moment, trips poor Sisyphus; andsends him down, heels-over-head, in a torrent of roaring debris! 'Fromgradual transpiration of our vital force comes Death; which perhaps, by precautions, might be indefinitely retarded, ' says Maupertuis. 'Yes, truly, ' answers the other: 'if we got ourselves japanned, coated withresinous varnish (INDUITS DE POIX RESINEUX); who knows!' Not a sublimeowlery can you drop, but it is manipulated, ground down, put in rifledcannon, comes back on you as tempests of burning dust. " Enough to sendMaupertuis pirouetting through the world, with red wig unquenchably onfire!

Peals of laughter (once you are allowed to be non-official) could notfail, as an ovation, from the King;--so report the French Biographers. But there was, besides, strict promise that the Piece should besuppressed: "Never do to send our President pirouetting through theworld in this manner, with his wig on fire; promise me, on your honor!"Voltaire promised. But, alas, how could Voltaire perform! Once morethe Rhadamanthine fact is: Voltaire, as King's Chamberlain, was bound, without any promise, to forbear, and rigidly suppress such an AKAKIAagainst the King's Perpetual President. But withal let candid readersconsider how difficult it was to do. The absurd blusterous Turkey-cock, who has, every now and then, been tyrannizing over you for twenty years, here you have him filled with gunpowder, so to speak, and the trainlaid. There wants but one spark, --(edition printed in Holland, edition done in Berlin, plenty of editions made or makable by a littlesurreptitious legerdemain, --and I never knew whether it was AKAKIA inprint, or AKAKIA in manuscript, that King and King's Chamberlainwere now reading together, nor does it matter much):--your Turkeysurreptitiously stuffed with gunpowder, I say; train ready waiting; oneflint-spark will shoot him aloft, scatter him as flaming ruin on all thewinds: and you are, once and always, to withhold said spark. Perhaps, had AKAKIA not yet been written--But all lies ready there; one sparkwill do it, at any moment;--and there are unguarded moments, and theTempter must prevail!--

On what day AKAKIA blazed out at Berlin, surreptitiously forwardedfrom Holland or otherwise, I could never yet learn (so stupid thesereporters). But "on November 2d" the King makes a Visit to sickMaupertuis, which is published in all the Newspapers; [Rodenbeck, INDIE;--Helden-Geschichte, --iii. 531, "2d November, 1752, 5 P. M. "]--andone might guess the AKAKIA conflagration, and cruel haha-ings ofmankind, to have been tacitly the cause. Then or later, sure enough, AKAKIA does blaze aloft about that time; and all Berlin, and all theworld, is in conversation over Maupertuis and it, --30, 000 copies soldin Paris:--and Friedrich naturally was in a towering passion at hisChamberlain. Nothing for the Chamberlain but to fly his presence;to shriek, piteously, "Accident, your Majesty! Fatal treachery andaccident; after such precautions too!"--and fall sick to death (whichis always a resource one has); and get into private lodgings in theTAUBEN-STRASSE, [At a "Hofrath Francheville's" (kind of subalternLiterary Character, see Denina, ii. 67), "TAUBEN-STRASSE (Dove Street), No. 20:" stayed there till "March, 1753" (Note by Preuss, --OEuvres deFrederic, --xxii. 306 n. ). ] till one either die, or grow fit to be seenagain: "Ah, Sire"--let us give the Voltaire shriek of NOT-GUILTY, withthe Friedrich Answer; both dateless unluckily:--

VOLTAIRE. "AH, MON DIEU, Sire, in the state I am in! I swear to youagain, on my life, which I could renounce without pain, that it is afrightful calumny. I conjure you to summon all my people, and confrontthem. What? You will judge me without hearing me! I demand justice ordeath. "

FRIEDRICH. "Your effrontery astonishes me. After what you have done, andwhat is clear as day, you persist, instead of owning yourself culpable. Do not imagine you will make people believe that black is white; whenone [ON, meaning _I_] does not see, the reason [sic]? ONE p. 218, bookXVI +++++++++++++++++ is, one does not want to see everything. But ifyou drive the affair to extremity, --all shall be made public; and itwill be seen whether, if your Works deserve statues, your conduct doesnot deserve chains. " [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 302, 301. ]

Most dark element (not in date only), with terrific thunder-and-lightning. Nothing for it but to keep one's room, mostly one'sbed, --"Ah, Sire, sick to death!"

December 24th, 1752, there is one thing dismally distinct, Voltairehimself looking on (they say), from his windows in Dove Street: thePublic Burning of AKAKIA, near there, by the common Hangman. Figure it;and Voltaire's reflections on it:--haggardly clear that Act Third isculminating; and that the final catastrophe is inevitable and nigh. We must be brief. On the eighth day after this dread spectacle(New-year's-day 1753), Voltaire sends, in a Packet to the Palace, hisGold Key and Cross of Merit. On the interior wrappage is an Inscriptionin verse: "I received them with loving emotion, I return them withgrief; as a broken-hearted Lover returns the Portrait of his Mistress:--

 --Je les recus avec tendresse, Je vous les rends avec douleur; C'est ainsi qu'un amant, dans son extreme ardeur, Rend le portrait de sa maitresse. "--

And--in a Letter enclosed, tender as the Song of Swans--has one wish:Permission for the waters of Plonbieres, some alleviations amid kindnursing friends there; and to die craving blessings on your Majesty. [Collini, p. 48; LETTER, in--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 305. ]

Friedrich, though in hot wrath, has not quite come that length. Friedrich, the same day, towards evening, sends Fredersdorf to him, withDecorations back. And a long dialogue ensues between Fredersdorf andVoltaire; in which Collini, not eavesdropping, "heard the voice of M. DeVoltaire at times very loud. " Precise result unknown. After which, forthree months more, follows waiting and hesitation and negotiation, alsoquite obscure. Confused hithering and thithering about permission forPlombieres, about repentance, sorrow, amendment, blame; in the end, reconciliation, or what is to pass for such. Recorded for us in thatwhirl of misdated Letter-clippings; in those Narratives, ignorant, andpretending to know: perhaps the darkest Section in History, Sacred orProfane, --were it of moment to us, here or elsewhere!

Voltaire has got permission to return to Potsdam; Apartment in thePalace ready again: but he still lingers in Dove Street; too ill, in real truth, for Potsdam society on those new terms. Does not quitFrancheville's "till March 5th;" and then only for another Lodging, called "the Belvedere", of suburban or rural kind. His case is intricateto a degree. He is sick of body; spectre-haunted withal, more thanever;--often thinks Friedrich, provoked, will refuse him leave. And, alas, he would so fain NOT go, as well as go! Leave forPlombieres, --leave in the angrily contemptuous shape, "Go, then, foreverand a day!"--Voltaire can at once have: but to get it in the friendlyshape, and as if for a time only? His prospects at Paris, at Versailles, are none of the best; to return as if dismissed will never do! Wouldfain not go, withal;--and has to diplomatize at Potsdam, by D'Argens, De Prades, and at Paris simultaneously, by Richelieu, D'Argenson andfriends. He is greatly to be pitied;--even Friedrich pities him, themartyr of bodily ailments and of spiritual; and sends him "extract ofquinquina" at one time. [Letter of Voltaire's. ] Three miserable months;which only an OEdipus could read, and an OEdipus who had nothing elseto do! The issue is well known. Of precise or indisputable, on the roadthither, here are fractions that will suffice:--

VOLTAIRE TO ONE BAGIEU HIS DOCTOR AT PARIS ("Berlin, 19th December, "1752, week BEFORE his AKAKIA was burnt). . . . "Wish I could set out on theinstant, and put myself into your hands and into the arms of my family!I brought to Berlin about a score of teeth, there remain to me somethinglike six; I brought two eyes, I have nearly lost one of them; I broughtno erysipelas, and I have got one, which I take a great deal of careof. . . . Meanwhile I have buried almost all my Doctors; even La Mettrie. Remains only that I bury Codenius [Cothenius], who looks too stiff, however, "--and, at any rate, return to you in Spring, when roads andweather improve. [--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxxxv. 141. ]

FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE (Potsdam, uncertain date). "There was no need ofthat pretext about the waters of Plombieres, in demanding your leave(CONGE). You can quit my service when you like: but, before going, beso good as return me the Contract of your Engagement, the Key[Chamberlain's], the Cross [of Merit], and the Volume of Verses which Iconfided to you. 

"I wish my Works, and only they, had been what you and Konig attacked. Them I sacrifice, with a great deal of willingness, to persons who thinkof increasing their own reputation by lessening that of others. I havenot the folly nor vanity of certain Authors. The cabals of literarypeople seem to me the disgrace of Literature. I do not the less esteemhonorable cultivators of Literature; it is only the caballers and theirleaders that are degraded in my eyes. On this, I pray God to have you inhis holy and worthy keeping. --FRIEDRICH. "

[In De Prades's hand;--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 308, 309: Friedrich'sown Minute to De Prades has, instead of these last three lines: "ThatI have not the folly and vanity of authors, and that the cabals ofliterary people seem to me the depth of degradation, " &c. ]

VOLTAIRE SPECTRALLY GIVEN (Collini LOQUITUR). "One evening walkingin the garden [at rural Belvedere, --after March 5th], talking of oursituation, he asked me, 'Could you drive a coach-and-two?' I stared athim a moment; but knowing that there must be no direct contradictionof his ideas, I said 'Yes. '--'Well, then, listen; I have thought of amethod for getting away. You could buy two horses; a chariot after that. So soon as we have horses, it will not appear strange that we lay in alittle hay. '--'Yes, Monsieur; and what should we do with that?' said I. 'LE VOICI (this is it). We will fill the chariot with hay. In the middleof the hay we will put all our baggage. I will place myself, disguised, on the top of the hay; and give myself out for a Calvinist Curate goingto see one of his Daughters married in the next Town. You shall drive:we take the shortest road for the Saxon Border; safe there, we sellchariot, horses, hay; then straight to Leipzig, by post. ' At whichpoint, or soon after, he burst into laughing. " [Collini, p. 53. ]

VOLTAIRE TO FRIEDRICH ("Berlin, Belvedere, " rural lodging, ["In theSTRALAUER VORSTADT (HODIE, Woodmarket Street):" Preuss's Note to thisLetter, --OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 306 n. ] "12th March, " 1753). "Sire, I have had a Letter from Konig, quite open, as my heart is. I think itmy duty to send your Majesty a duplicate of my Answer. . . . Will submit toyou every step of my conduct; of my whole life, in whatever place I endit. I am Konig's friend; but assuredly I am much more attached to yourMajesty; and if he were capable the least in the world of failing inrespect [as is rumored], I would"--Enough!

FRIEDRICH RELENTS (To Voltaire; De Prades writing, Friedrich covertlydictating: no date). "The King has held his Consistory; and it hasthere been discussed, Whether your case was a mortal sin or a venial?In truth, all the Doctors owned that it was mortal, and even exceedinglyconfirmed as such by repeated lapses and relapses. Nevertheless, by theplenitude of the grace of Beelzebub, which rests in the said King, hethinks he can absolve you, if not in whole, yet in part. This would be, of course, in virtue of some act of contrition and penitence imposedon you: but as, in the Empire of Satan, there is a great respect had ofgenius, I think, on the whole, that, for the sake of your talents, onemight pardon a good many things which do discredit to your heart. Theseare the Sovereign Pontiff's words; which I have carefully taken down. They are a Prophecy rather. " [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxii. 307. ]

VOLTAIRE TO DE PRADES ("Belvedere, 15th March, " 1753). "Dear Abbe, --Yourstyle has not appeared to me soft. You are a frank Secretary ofState:--nevertheless I give you warning, it is to be a settled pointthat I embrace you before going. I shall not be able to kiss you; mylips are too choppy from my devil of a disorder [SCURVY, I hear]. Youwill easily dispense with my kisses; but don't dispense, I pray you, with my warm and true friendship. 

"I own I am in despair at quitting you, and quitting the King; but it isa thing indispensable. Consider with our dear Marquis [D'Argens], withFredersdorf, --PARBLEU, with the King himself, How you can manage that Ihave the consolation of seeing him before I go. I absolutely willhave it; I will embrace with my two arms the Abbe and the Marquis. TheMarquis sha'n't be kissed, any more than you; nor the King either. ButI shall perhaps fall blubbering; I am weak, I am a drenched hen. I shallmake a foolish figure: never mind; I must, once more, have sight of youtwo. If I cannot throw myself at the King's feet, the Plombieres waterswill kill me. I await your answer, to quit this Country as a happy oras a miserable man. Depend on me for life. --V. " [Ib. 308. ]--This is thelast of these obscure Documents. 

Three days after which, "evening of March 18th", [Collini, pp. 55, 56. ]Voltaire, Collini with him and all his packages, sets out for Potsdam;King's guest once more. Sees the King in person "after dinner, nextday;" stays with him almost a week, "quite gay together, " "some privatequizzing even of Maupertuis" (if we could believe Collini or his masteron that point); means "to return in October, when quite refitted, "--doesat least (note it, reader), on that ground, retain his Cross and Key, and his Gift of the OEUVRE DE POESIES: which he had much better haveleft! And finally, morning of March 25th) 1753, [Collini, p. 56; seeRodenbeck, i. 252. ] drives off, --towards Dresden, where there arePrinting Affairs to settle, and which is the nearest safe City;--andFriedrich and he, intending so or not, have seen one another for thelast time. Not quite intending that extremity, either of them, I shouldthink; but both aware that living together was a thing to be avoidedhenceforth. 

"Take care of your health, above all; and don't forget that I expectto see you again after the Waters!" such was Friedrich's adieu, saythe French Biographers, [Collini, p. 57; Duvernet, p. 186;--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxv. 187 ("will return in October"). ] "who is himself justgoing off to the Silesian Reviews", add they;--who does, in reality, drive to Berlin that day; but not to the Silesian Reviews till Mayfollowing. As Voltaire himself will experience, to his cost!

Chapter XII. OF THE AFTERPIECE, WHICH PROVED STILL MORE TRAGICAL. 

Voltaire, once safe on Saxon ground, was in no extreme haste forPlombieres. He deliberately settled his Printing Affairs at Dresden;then at Leipzig;--and scattered through Newspapers, or what port-holeshe had, various fiery darts against Maupertuis; aggravating the humorsin Berlin, and provoking Maupertuis to write him an express Letter. Letter which is too curious, especially the Answer it gets, to be quiteomitted:--

MAUPERTUIS TO VOLTAIRE (at Leipzig). 

"BERLIN, 3d APRIL, 1753. If it is true that you design to attack meagain [with your LA-BEAUMELLE doggeries and scurrilous discussions], Ideclare to you that I have still health enough to find you wherever youare, and to take the most signal vengeance on you (VENGEANCE LA PLUSECLATANTE). Thank the respect and the obedience which have hithertorestrained my arm, and saved you from the worst adventure you have everyet had. MAUPERTUIS. "

VOLTAIRE'S ANSWER (from Leipzig, a few days after). 

"M. Le President, --I have had the honor to receive your Letter. Youinform me that you are well; that your strength is entirely returned;and that, if I publish La Beaumelle's Letter [private Letter of his, lent me by a Friend, which proves that YOU set him against me], youwill come and assassinate me. What ingratitude to your poor medical manAkakia!. . . If you exalt your soul so as to discern futurity, you willsee that if you come on that errand to Leipzig, where you are no betterliked than in other places, and where your Letter is in safe Legalhands, you run some risk of being hanged. Poor me, indeed, you will findin bed; and I shall have nothing for you but my syringe and vessel ofdishonor: but so soon as I have gained a little strength, I will havemy pistols charged CUM PULVERE PYRIO; and multiplying the mass by thesquare of the velocity, so as to reduce the action and you to zero, Iwill put some lead in your head;--it appears to have need of it. ADIEU, MON PRESIDENT. AKAKIA. " [Duvernet, pp. 186, 187;--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxi. 55-60. ]

Here, in the history of Duelling, or challenging to mortal combat, isa unique article! At which the whole world haha'd again; perhaps KingFriedrich himself; though he was dreadfully provoked at it, too: "Nomending of that fellow!"--and took a resolution in consequence, as willbe seen. 

Dresden and Leipzig done with, Voltaire accepted an invitation tothe Court of Sachsen-Gotha (most polite Serene Highnesses there, andespecially a charming Duchess, --who set him upon doing the ANNALESDE L'EMPIRE, decidedly his worst Book). "About April 2lst"Voltaire arrived, stayed till the last days of May; [--OEuvres deVoltaire, --lxxv. 182 n. Clogenson's Note). ] and had, for five weeks, abeautiful time at Gotha;--Wilhelmina's Daughter there (young Duchessof Wurtemberg, on visit, as it chanced), [Wilhelmina-FriedrichCorrespondence (--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxvii. Iii. 258, 249). ] and allmanner of graces, melodies and beneficences; a little working, too, at the ANNALES, in the big Library, between whiles. Five decidedlymelodious weeks. Beautiful interlude, or half-hour of orchestralfiddling in this Voltaire Drama; half-hour which could not last! On theheel of which there unhappily followed an Afterpiece or codicil to theBerlin Visit; which, so to speak, set the whole theatre on fire, andfinished by explosion worse than AKAKIA itself. A thing still famous tomankind;--of which some intelligible notion must be left with readers. 

The essence of the story is briefly this. Voltaire, by his finedeportment in parting with Friedrich, had been allowed to retain hisDecorations, his Letter of Agreement, his Royal BOOK OF POESIES (oneof those "Twelve Copies, " printed AU DONJON DU CHATEAU, in happiertimes!)--and in short, to go his ways as a friend, not as a runaway orone dismissed. But now, by his late procedures at Leipzig, and"firings out of port-holes" in that manner, he had awakened Friedrich'sindignation again, --Friedrich's regret at allowing him to take thosearticles with him; and produced a resolution in Friedrich to have themback. They are not generally articles of much moment; but as marks offriendship, they are now all falsities. One of the articles might beof frightful importance: that Book of Poesies; thrice-private OEUVRE DEPOESIES, in which are satirical spurts affecting more than one crownedhead: one shudders to think what fires a spiteful Voltaire might causeby publishing these! This was Friedrich's idea;--and by no means achimerical one, as the Fact proved; said OEUVRE being actually reprintedupon him, at Paris afterwards (not by Voltaire), in the crisis of theSeven-Years War, to put him out with his Uncle of England, whomit quizzed in passages. [Title of it is, --OEuvres du Philosophe deSans-Souci--(Paris, pretending to be "Potsdam, " 1760), 1 vol. 12mo: atParis, "in January" this; whereupon, at Berlin, with despatch, "April9th, " "the real edition" (properly castrated) was sent forth, undertitle, POESIES DIVERSES, 1 vol. Big 8vo (Preuss, in--OEuvres deFrederic, --x. Preface, p. X. See Formey, ii. 255, under date misprinted"1763"). ] "We will have those articles back, " thinks Friedrich; "thatOEUVRE most especially! No difficulty: wait for him at Frankfurt, as hepasses home; demand them of him there. " And has (directly on thosenew "firings through port-holes" at Leipzig) bidden Fredersdorf takemeasures accordingly. ["Friedrich to Wilhelmina, 12th April, 1753"(--OEuvres, --xxvii. Iii. 227). ]

Fredersdorf did so; early in April and onward had his Official Personwaiting at Frankfurt (one Freytag, our Prussian Resident there, very celebrated ever since), vigilant in the extreme for Voltaire'sarrival, --and who did not miss that event. Voltaire, arriving at last(May 31st), did, with Freytag's hand laid gently on his sleeve, at oncegive up what of the articles he had about him;--the OEUVRE, unluckily, not one of them; and agreed to be under mild arrest ("PAROLE D'HONNEUR;in the LION-D'OR Hotel here!") till said OEUVRE should come up. UnderFredersdorf's guidance, all this, and what follows; King Friedrich, after the general Order given, had nothing more to do with it, and wasgone upon his Reviews. 

In the course of two weeks or more the OEUVRE DE POESIE did come. Voltaire was impatient to go. And he might perhaps have at once gone, had Freytag been clearly instructed, so as to know the essential fromthe unessential here. But he was not;--poor subaltern Freytag had tosay, on Voltaire's urgencies: "I will at once report to Berlin; if theanswer be (as we hope), 'All right, ' you are that moment at liberty!"This was a thing unexpected, astonishing to Voltaire; a thing demandingpatience, silence: in three days more, with silence, as turns out, itwould have been all beautifully over, --but he was not strong in thosequalities!

Voltaire's arrest hitherto had been merely on his word of honor, "Ipromise, on my honor, not to go beyond the Garden of this Inn. " But henow, without warning anybody, privately revoked said word of honor; andCollini and he, next morning, whisked shiftily into a hackney-coach, and were on the edge of being clear off. To Freytag's terror and horror;who, however, caught them in time: and was rigorous enough now, and loudenough;--street-mob gathering round the transaction; Voltaire very loud, and Freytag too, --the matter taking fire here; and scenes occurring, which Voltaire has painted in a highly flagrant manner!

On the third day, Answer from Berlin had come, as expected; answer (asto the old score): "All right; let him go!" But to punctual Freytag'smind, here is now a new considerable item of sundries: insult to hisMajesty, to wit; breaking his Majesty's arrest, in such insolent loudmanner:--and Freytag finds that he must write anew. Post is very slow;and, though Fredersdorf answers constantly, from Berlin, "Let him go, let him go, " there have to be writings and re-writings; and it is nottill July 7th (after a detention, not of nearly three weeks, as it mightand would have been, but of five and a day) that Voltaire gets off, andthen too at full gallop, and in a very unseemly way. 

This is authentically the world-famous Frankfurt Affair;--done byFredersdorf, as we say; Friedrich, absent in Silesia, or in Preusseneven, having no hand in it, except the original Order left withFredersdorf. Voltaire has used his flamingest colors on this occasion, being indeed dreadfully provoked and chagrined; painting the thing ina very flagrant manner, --known to all readers. Voltaire's flagrantNarrative had the round of the world to itself, for a hundred years; anddid its share of execution against Friedrich. Till at length, recently, a precise impartial hand, the Herr Varnhagen, thought of looking intothe Archives; and has, in a distinct, minute and entertaining way, explained the truth of it to everybody;--leaving the Voltaire Narrativein rather sad condition. [Varnhagen von Ense, --Voltaire in Frankfurtam Mayn, --1753 (separate, as here, 12mo, pp. 92; or in--BerlinerKalender--for 1846). ] We have little room; but must give, compressed, from Varnhagen and the other evidences, a few of the characteristicpoints. The story falls into two Parts. 

PART I. FREDERSDORF SENDS INSTRUCTIONS; THE "OEUVRE DE POESIE" IS GOT;BUT--

APRIL 11th, 1753 (few days after that of Maupertuis's Cartel, Voltairehaving set to firing through port-holes again, and the King being swiftin his resolution on it), Factotum Fredersdorf, who has a free-flowingyet a steady and compact pen, directs Herr Freytag, our Resident atFrankfurt-on-Mayn, To procure from the Authorities there, on Majesty'srequest, the necessary powers; then vigilantly to look out forVoltaire's arrival; to detain the said Voltaire, and, if necessary, arrest him, till he deliver certain articles belonging to his Majesty:Cross of Merit, Gold Key, printed OEUVRE DE POESIES and Writings(SKRIPTUREN) of his Majesty's; in short, various articles, --thespecification of which is somewhat indistinct. In Fredersdorf's writing, all this; not so mathematically luminous and indisputable as in Eichel'sit would have been. Freytag put questions, and there passed severalLetters between Fredersdorf and him; but it was always uncomfortablyhazy to Freytag, and he never understood or guessed that the OEUVRE DEPOESIES was the vital item, and the rest formal in comparison. Whichis justly considered to have been an unlucky circumstance, as mattersturned. For help to himself, Freytag is to take counsel with one HofrathSchmidt; a substantial experienced Burgher of Frankfurt, whose rathshipis Prussian. 

APRIL 21st, Freytag answers, That Schmidt and he received his Majesty'sAll-gracious Orders the day before yesterday (Post takes eight days, itwould seem); that they have procured the necessary powers; and are now, and will be, diligently watchful to execute the same. Which, one mustsay, they in right earnest are; patrolling about, with lips strictlyclosed, eyes vividly open; and have a man or two privately on watchat the likely stations, on the possible highways;--and so continue, Voltaire doing his ANNALS OF THE EMPIRE, and enjoying himself atGotha, for weeks after, ["Left Gotha 25th May" (Clog. In--OEuvres deVoltaire, --xxv. 192 n. ). ]--much unconscious of their patrolling. 

Freytag is in no respect a shining Diplomatist;--probably some EMERITUSLieutenant, doing his function for 30 pounds a year: but does it in apractical solid manner. Writes with stiff brevity, stiff but distinct;with perfect observance of grammar both in French and German; with goodpractical sense, and faithful effort to do aright what his order is: notrace of "MonSIR, " of "OEuvre de PoesHie, " to be found in Freytag; andmost, or all, of the ridiculous burs stuck on him by Voltaire, are tobe pulled off again as--as fibs, or fictions, solacing to the afflictedWit. Freytag is not of quick or bright intellect: and unluckily, justat the crisis of Voltaire's actual arrival, both Schmidt and Fredersdorfare off to Embden, where there is "Grand Meeting of the Embden ShippingCompany" (with comfortable dividends, let us hope), --and have leftFreytag to his own resources, in case of emergency. 

THURSDAY, MAY 31st, "about eight in the evening, " Voltaire doesarrive, --most prosperous journey hitherto, by Cassel, Marburg, Warburg, and other places famous then or since; Landgraf of Hessen (wise Wilhelm, whom we knew) honorably lodging him; innkeepers calling him "YourExcellency, " or "M. Le Comte;"--and puts up at the Golden Lion atFrankfurt, where rooms have been ordered; Freytag well aware, though hesays nothing. 

FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 1st) "his Excellency and Suite" (Voltaire andCollini) have their horses harnessed, carriage out, and are about takingthe road again, --when Freytag, escorted by a Dr. Rucker, "FrankfurtMagistrate DE MAUVAISE MINE, " [Collini, p. 77. ] and a Prussianrecruiting Lieutenant, presents himself in Voltaire's apartment! Readersknow Voltaire's account and MonSIR Collini's; and may now hear Freytag'sown, which is painted from fact:--

"Introductory civilities done (NACH GEMACHTEN POLITESSEN), I made himacquainted with the will of your most All-gracious Majesty. He was muchastonished (BESTURZT, " no wonder); "he shut his eyes, and flung himselfback in his chair. " [Varnhagen, p. 16. ] Calls in his friend Collini, whom, at first, I had requested to withdraw. Two coffers are produced, and opened, by Collini; visitation, punctual, long and painful, lastedfrom nine A. M. Till five P. M. Packets are made, --a great manyPapers, "and one Poem which he was unwilling to quit" (perilous LAPUCELLE);--inventories are drawn, duly signed. Packets are signeted, mutually sealed, Rucker claps on the Town-seal first, Freytag andVoltaire following with theirs. "He made thousand protestations of hisfidelity to your Majesty; became pretty weak [like fainting, think you, Herr Resident?], and indeed he looks like a skeleton. --We then madedemand of the Book, OEUVRE DE POESIES: That, he said, was in the BigCase; and he knew not whether at Leipzig or Hamburg" (knew very wellwhere it was); and finding nothing else would do, wrote for it, showingFreytag the Letter; and engaged, on his word of honor, not to stir hencetill it arrived. 

Upon which, --what is farther to be noted, though all seems nowsettled, --Freytag, at Voltaire's earnest entreaty, "for behoof ofMadame Denis, a beloved Niece, Monsieur, who is waiting for me hourly atStrasburg, whom such fright might be the death of!"--puts on paper a fewwords (the few which Voltaire has twisted into "MonSIR, " "PoesHies"and so forth), to the effect, "That whenever the OEUVRE comes, Voltaireshall actually have leave to go. " And so, after eight hours, labor (nineA. M. To five P. M. ), everything is hushed again. Voltaire, much shockedand astonished, poor soul, "sits quietly down to his ANNALES" (saysCollini), --to working, more or less; a resource he often flies to, insuch cases. Madame Denis, on receiving his bad news at Strasburg, setsoff towards him: arrives some days before the OEUVRE and its Big Case. King Friedrich had gone, May 1st) for some weeks, to his SilesianReviews; June 1st (very day of this great sorting in the Lion d'Or), heis off again, to utmost Prussia this time;--and knows, hitherto and tillquite the end, nothing, except that Voltaire has not turned up anywhere. 

. . . Voltaire cannot have done much at his ANNALS, in this interim at theGolden Lion, "where he has liberty to walk in the Garden. " He has been, and is, secretly corresponding, complaining and applying, all round, at a great rate: to Count Stadion the Imperial Excellency at Mainz, toFrench friends, to Princess Wilhelmina, ultimately to Friedrich himself. [In--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxxv. 207-214, &c. , Letters to Stadion(of strange enough tenor: see Varnhagen, pp. 30, &c. ). In--OEuvres deFrederic, --xxii. 303, and in--OEuvres de Voltaire, --lxxv. 185, isthe Letter to Friedrich (dateless, totally misplaced, and renderedunintelligible, in both Works): Letter SENT through Wilhelmina (see herfine remarks in forwarding it, --OEuvres de Frederic, --xxvii. Iii. 234). ] He has been receiving visits, from Serene Highnesses, "Duke ofMeiningen" and the like, who happen to be in Town. Visit from iniquitousDutch Bookseller, Van Duren (Printer of the ANTI-MACHIAVEL); with whomwe had such controversy once. Iniquitous, now opulent and prosperous, Van Duren, happening to be here, will have the pleasure of calling on anold distinguished friend: distinguished friend, at sight of him enteringthe Garden, steps hastily up, gives him a box on the ear, withoutwords but an interjection or two; and vanishes within doors. That issomething! "Monsieur, " said Collini, striving to weep, but unable, "youhave had a blow from the greatest man in the world. " [Collini, p. 182. ]In short, Voltaire has been exciting great sensation in Frankfurt; andkeeping Freytag in perpetual fear and trouble. 

MONDAY, 18th JUNE, the Big Case, lumbering along, does arrive. It iscarried straight to Freytag's; and at eleven in the morning, Collinieagerly attends to have it opened. Freytag, --to whom Schmidt hasreturned from Embden, but no Answer from Potsdam, or the least lightabout those SKRIPTUREN, --is in the depths of embarrassment; cannot open, till he know completely what items and SKRIPTUREN he is to make sure ofon opening: "I cannot, till the King's answer come!"--"But your writtenpromise to Voltaire?" "Tush, that was my own private promise, Monsieur;my own private prediction of what would happen; a thing PRO FORMA", andto save Madame Denis's life. Patience; perhaps it will arrive this veryday. Come again to me at three P. M. ;--there is Berlin post today; thenagain in three days:--I surely expect the Order will come by this postor next; God grant it may be by this!" Collini attends at three; thereis Note from Fredersdorf: King's Majesty absent in Preussen all thiswhile; expected now in two days. Freytag's face visibly brightens: "Waittill next post; three days more, only wait!" [Varnhagen, pp. 39-41. ] Andin fact, by next post, as we find, the OPEN-SESAME did punctually come. Voltaire, and all this big cawing rookery of miseries and rages, wouldhave at once taken wing again, into the serene blue, could Voltaire buthave had patience three days more! But that was difficult for him, tooDifficult. 

PART II. VOLTAIRE, IN SPITE OF HIS EFFORTS, DOES GET AWAY (June20th-July 7th). 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20th, Voltaire and Collini ("word. Of honor" fallendubious to them, dubious or more), --having laid their plan, strivingto think it fair in the circumstances, --walk out from the Lion d'Or, "Voltaire in black-velvet coat, " [Ib. P. 46. ] with their valuablesteffects (LA PUCELLE and money-box included); leaving Madame Denis towait the disimprisonment of OEUVRE DE POESIE and wind up the generalbusiness. Walk out, very gingerly, --duck into a hackney-coach; andattempt to escape by the Mainz Gate! Freytag's spy runs breathless withthe news; never was a Freytag in such taking. Terrified Freytag has to"throw on his coat;" order out three men to gallop by various routes;jump into some Excellency's coach (kind Excellency lent it), which isluckily standing yoked near by; and shoot with the velocity of lifeand death towards Mainz Gate. Voltaire, whom the well-affected Porter, suspecting something, has rather been retarding, is still there:"Arrested, in the King's name!"--and there is such a scene! For Freytag, too, is now raging, ignited by such percussion of the terrors; andspeaks, not like what they call "a learned sergeant", but like adrilled sergeant in heat of battle: Vol-taire's tongue, also, andCollini's, --"Your Excellenz never heard such brazen-faced lies thrownon a man; that I had offered, for 1, 000 thalers, to let them go; thatI had"--In short, the thing has caught fire; broken into flaming chaosagain. 

"Freytag [to give one snatch from Collini's side] got into the carriagealong with us, and led us, in this way, across the mob of people toSchmidt's [to see what was to be done with us]. Sentries were put atthe gate to keep out the mob; we are led into a kind of counting-room;clerk, maid-and man-servants are about; Madam Schmidt passes beforeVoltaire with a disdainful air, to listen to Freytag, recounting, " inthe tone not of a LEARNED sergeant, what the matter is. They seize oureffects; under violent protest, worse than vain. "Voltaire demands tohave at least his snuffbox, cannot do without snuff; they answer, 'It isusual to take everything. '

"His, " Voltaire's, "eyes were sparkling with fury; from time to time helifted them on mine, as if to interrogate me. All on a sudden, noticinga door half open, he dashes through it, and is out. Madam Schmidt formsher squad, shopmen and three maid-servants; and, at their head, rushesafter. 'What?' cries he, (cannot I be allowed to--to vomit, then?'" Theyform circle round him, till he do it; call out Collini, who finds him"bent down, with his fingers in his throat, attempting to vomit; and isterrified; 'MON DIEU, are you ill, then?' He answered in a low voice, tears in his eyes, 'FINGO, FINGO (I pretend, '" and Collini leadshim back, RE INFECTA. "The Author of the HENRIADE and MEROPE; what aspectacle! [Collini, pp. 81, 86. ]. . . Not for two hours had theydone with their writings and arrangings. Our portfolios and CASSETTE(money-box) were thrown into an empty trunk [what else could they bethrown into?]--which was locked with a padlock, and sealed with a paper, Voltaire's arms on the one end, and Schmidt's cipher on the other. Dorn, Freytag's Clerk, was bidden lead us away. Sign of the BOUC" (orBILLY-GOAT; there henceforth; LION D, OR refusing to be concerned with usfarther); twelve soldiers; Madame Denis with curtains of bayonets, --andother well-known flagrancies. . . . The 7th of July, Voltaire did actuallygo; and then in an extreme hurry, --by his own blame, again. These finalpassages we touch only in the lump; Voltaire's own Narrative of thesebeing so copious, flamingly impressive, and still known to everybody. How much better for Voltaire and us, had nobody ever known it; hadit never been written; had the poor hubbub, no better than a chancestreet-riot all of it, after amusing old Frankfurt for a while, beenleft to drop into the gutters forever! To Voltaire and various others(me and my poor readers included), that was the desirable thing. 

Had there but been, among one's resources, a little patience andpractical candor, instead of all that vituperative eloquence and powerof tragi-comic description! Nay, in that case, this wretched street-riothubbub need not have been at all. Truly M. De Voltaire had a talent forspeech, but lamentably wanted that of silence!--We have now only thesad duty of pointing out the principal mendacities contained in M. DeVoltaire's world-famous Account (for the other side has been heardsince that); and so of quitting a painful business. The principalmendacities--deducting all that about "POE'ShIE" and the like, which wewill define as poetic fiction--are:--

1. That of the considerable files of soldiers (almost a Company ofMusketeers, one would think) stuck up round M. De Voltaire and Party, inTHE BILLY-GOAT; Madame Denis's bed-curtains being a screen ofbayonets, and the like. The exact number of soldiers I cannot learn: "aSCHILDWACHE of the Town-guard [means one; surely does not mean Four?]for each prisoner, " reports the arithmetical Freytag; which, in theextreme case, would have been twelve in whole (as Collini gives it); and"next day we reduced them to two", says Freytag. 

2. That of the otherwise frightful night Madame Denis had; "the fellowDorn [Freytag's Clerk, a poor, hard-worked frugal creature, with frugalwife and family not far off] insisting to sit in the Lady's bedroom;there emptying bottle after bottle; nay at last [as Voltaire bethinkshim, after a few days] threatening to"--Plainly to EXCEL all belief! Athing not to be spoken of publicly: indeed, what Lady could speak ofit at all, except in hints to an Uncle of advanced years?--Proved factbeing, that Madame Denis, all in a flutter, that first night at THEBILLY-GOAT, had engaged Dorn, "for a louis-d'or, " to sit in her bedroom;and did actually pay him a louis-d'or for doing so! This is verybad mendacity; clearly conscious on M. De Voltaire's part, and evenconstructed by degrees. 

3. Very bad also is that of the moneys stolen from him by those Officialpeople. M. De Voltaire knows well enough how he failed to get hismoneys, and quitted Frankfurt in a hurry! Here, inexorably certain fromthe Documents, and testimonies on both parts, is that final Passageof the long Fire-work: last crackle of the rocket before it droppedperpendicular:--

JULY 6th, complete OPEN-SESAME having come, Freytag and Schmidt dulyinvited Voltaire to be present at the opening of seals (his and theirs), and to have his moneys and effects returned from that "old trunk" hespeaks of. But Voltaire had by this time taken a higher flight. July6th, Voltaire was protesting before Notaries, about the unheard-ofviolence done him, the signal reparations due; and disdained, for themoment, to concern himself with moneys or opening of seals: "Seals, moneys? Ye atrocious Highwaymen!"

Upon which, they sent poor Dorn with the sealed trunk in CORPORE, tohave it opened by Voltaire himself. Collini, in THE BILLY-GOAT, next morning (July 7th)) says, he (Collini) had just loaded twojourney-pistols, part of the usual carriage-furniture, and they lay onthe table. At sight of poor Dorn darkening his chamber-door, Voltaire, the prey of various flurries and high-flown vehemences, snatched one ofthe pistols ("pistol without powder, without flint, without lock, " saysVoltaire; "efficient pistol just loaded", testifies Collini);--snatchedsaid pistol; and clicking it to the cock, plunged Dorn-ward, withfurious exclamations: not quite unlikely to have shot Dorn (in thefleshy parts), --had not Collini hurriedly struck up his hand, "MON DIEU, MONSIEUR!" and Dorn, with trunk, instantly vanished. Dorn, naturally, ran to a Lawyer. Voltaire, dreading Trial for intended Homicide, instantly gathered himself; and shot away, self and Pucelle withCollini, clear off;--leaving Niece Denis, leaving moneys and otherthings, to wait till to-morrow, and settle as they could. 

After due lapse of days, in the due legal manner, the Trunk was opened;"the 19 pounds of expenses" (19 pounds and odd shillings, not 100 poundsor more, as Voltaire variously gives it) was accurately taken from itby Schmidt and Freytag, to be paid where due, --(in exact liquidation, "Landlord of THE BILLY-GOAT" so much, "Hackney-Coachmen, RidingConstables sent in chase, " so much, as per bill);--and the rest, 76pounds 10s. Was punctually locked up again, till Voltaire should applyfor it. "Send it after him, " Friedrich answered, when inquired of; "sendit after him; but not [reflects he] unless there is somebody to take hisReceipt for it, "--our gentleman being the man he is. Which case, or anyapplication from Voltaire, never turned up. "Robbed by those highwaymenof Prussian Agents!" exclaimed Voltaire everywhere, instead of applying. Never applied; nor ever forgot. Would fain have engaged Collini toapply, --especially when the French Armies had got into Frankfurt, --butCollini did not see his way. [Three Letters to Collini on the subject(January-May, 1759), --Collini, --pp. 208-211. ]

So that, except as consolatory scolding-stock for the rest of his life, Voltaire got nothing of his 76 pounds 10s. , "with jewels and snuffbox, "always lying ready in the Trunk for him. And it had, I suppose, at thelong last, to go by RIGHT OF WINDFALL to somebody or other:--unless, perhaps, it still lie, overwhelmed under dust and lumber, in the garretsof the old Rathhaus yonder, waiting for a legal owner? What became ofit, no man knows; but that no doit of it ever went Freytag's orKing Friedrich's way, is abundantly evident. On the whole, what anentertaining Narrative is that of Voltaire's; but what a pity he hadever written it!

This was the finishing Catastrophe, tragical exceedingly; which wentloud-sounding through the world, and still goes, --the more is the pity. Catastrophe due throughout to three causes: FIRST, That Fredersdorf, not Eichel, wrote the Order; and introduced the indefinite phraseSKRIPTUREN, instead of sticking by the OEUVRE DE POESIES, the oneessential point. SECOND, That Freytag was of heavy pipe-clay nature. THIRD, That Voltaire was of impatient explosive nature; and, incalamities, was wont, not to be silent and consider, but to lift up hisvoice (having such a voice), and with passionate melody appeal to theUniverse, and do worse, by way of helping himself!--

"The poor Voltaire, after all!" ejaculates Smelfungus. "Lean, of nohealth, but melodious extremely (in a shallow sense); and truly verylonely, old and weak, in this world. What an end to Visit Fifth; beganin Olympus, terminates in the Lock-up! His conduct, except in the JewCase, has nothing of bad, at least of unprovokedly bad. 'Lost my teeth, 'said he, when things were at zenith. 'Thought I should never weepagain, '--now when they are at nadir. A sore blow to one's Vanity, inpresence of assembled mankind; and made still more poignant by noises ofone's own adding. France forbidden to him [by expressive signallings];miraculous Goshen of Prussia shut: (these old eyes, which I thoughtwould continue dry till they closed forever, were streaming in tears;'"[Letter from "Mainz, 9th July, " third day of rout or flight; To NieceDenis, left behind (--OEuvres, --lxxv. 220). ]--but soon brightened upagain: Courage!

How Voltaire now wanders about for several years, doing his ANNALES, and other Works; now visiting Lyon City (which is all in GAUDEAMUSround him, though Cardinal Tencin does decline him as dinner-guest); nowlodging with Dom Calmet in the Abbey of Senones (ultimately in one'sown first-floor, in Colmar near by), digging, in Calmet's BenedictineLibraries, stuff for his ANNALES;--wandering about (chiefly in Elsass, latterly on the Swiss Border), till he find rest for the sole of hisfoot: [Purchased LES DELICES (The Delights), as he named it, a gloriousSummer Residence, on the Lake, near Geneva (supplemented by a Winterditto, MONRION, near Lausanne), "in February, 1755" (--OEuvres, --xvii. 243 n. );--then purchased FERNEY, not far off, "in October, 1758;"and continued there, still more glorious, for almost twenty yearsthenceforth (ib. Lxxvii. 398, xxxix. 307: thank the exact "Clog. " forboth these Notes). ] all this may be known to readers; and we mustsay nothing of it. Except only that, next year, in his tent, or hiredlodgings at Colmar, the Angels visited him (Abraham-like, after a sort). Namely, that one evening (late in October, 1754), a knock came to hisdoor, "Her Serene Highness of Baireuth wishes to see you, at the Innover there!" "Inn, Baireuth, say you? Heavens, what?"--Or, to take it inthe prose form:--

"January 26th, 1753, about eight P. M. [while Voltaire sat desolate inFrancheville's, far away], the Palace at Baireuth, --Margraf with candleat an open window, and gauze curtains near--had caught fire; inexorablyflamed up, and burnt itself to ashes, it and other fine edificesadjoining. [Holle, STADT BAYREUTH (Bayreuth, 1833), p. 178. ] Wilhelminais always very ill in health; they are now rebuilding their Palace:Margraf has suggested, 'Why not try Montpellier; let us have a winterthere!' On that errand they are (end of October, 1754) got the lengthof Colmar; and do the Voltaire miracle in passing. Very charming to thepoor man, in his rustication here. 

"'Eight hours in a piece, with the Sister of the King of Prussia" writeshe: think of that, my friends! 'She loaded me with bounties; made me amost beautiful present. Insisted to see my Niece; would have me go withthem to Montpellier. ' [Letters (in--OEuvres, --lxxv. 450, 452), "Colmar, 23d October, &c. 1754. "] Other interviews and meetings they had, thereand farther on: Voltaire tried for the Montpellier; but could not. [Wrote to Friedrich about it (one of his first Letters after theExplosion), applying to Friedrich "for a Passport" or Letter ofProtection; which Friedrich answers by De Prades, openly laughing atit (--OEuvres, --xxiii. 6). ] Wilhelmina wintered at Montpellier, without Voltaire "Thank your stars!' writes Friedrich to her. TheFriedrich-Wilhelmina LETTERS are at their best during this Journey; hereunfortunately very few). [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxvii. Iii. 248-273(September, 1754, and onwards). ] Winter done, Wilhelmina went stillSouth, to Italy, to Naples, back by Venice:--at Naples, undergoing theGrotto del Cane and neighborhood, Wilhelmina plucked a Sprig of Laurelfrom Virgil's Grave, and sent it to her Brother in the prettiestmanner;--is home at Baireuth, new Palace ready, August, 1755. "

These points, hurriedly put down, careful readers will mark, and perhapstry to keep in mind. Wilhelmina's Tourings are not without interest toher friends. Of her Voltaire acquaintanceship, especially, we shall hearagain. With Voltaire, Friedrich himself had no farther Correspondence, or as good as none, for four years and more. What Voltaire writes tohim (with Gifts of Books and the like, in the tenderest regretfulpathetically COOING tone, enough to mollify rocks), Friedrich usuallyanswers by De Prades, if at all, --in a quite discouraging manner. In theend of 1757, on what hint we shall see, the Correspondence recommenced, and did not cease again so long as they both lived. 

Voltaire at Potsdam is a failure, then. Nothing to be made of that. Lawis reformed; Embden has its Shipping Companies; Industry flourishes: butas to the Trismegistus of the Muses coming to our Hearth--! Some Eightof Friedrich's years were filled by these Three grand Heads of Effort;perfect Peace in all his borders: and in 1753 we see how the celestialone of them has gone to wreck. "Understand at last, your Majesty, thatthere is no Muses'-Heaven possible on Telluric terms; and cast thatnotion out of your head!"

Friedrich does cast it out, more and more, henceforth, --"ACH, MEINLIEBER SULZER, what was your knowledge, then, of that damned race?"Casts it out, we perceive, --and in a handsome silently stoical way. Cherishing no wrath in his heart against any poor devil; still, in somesort, loving this and the other of them; Chasot, Algarotti, Voltaireeven, who have gone from him, too weak for the place: "Too weak, alas, yes; and I, was I wise to try them, then?" With a fine humanity, newhope inextinguishably welling up; really with a loyalty, a modesty, acheery brother manhood unexpected by readers. 

Eight of the Eleven Peace Years are gone in these courses. The nextthree, still silent and smooth to the outward eye, were defaced bysubterranean mutterings, electric heralds of coming storm. "Meaningbattle and wrestle again?" thinks Friedrich, listening intent. A farother than welcome message to Friedrich. A message ominous; thriceunwelcome, not to say terrible. Requires to be scanned with all one'sfaculty; to be interpreted; to be obeyed, in spite of one's reluctancesand lazinesses. To plunge again into the Mahlstrom, into the clash ofChaos, and dive for one's Silesia, the third time;--horrible to lazyhuman nature: but if the facts are so) it must be done!--

Chapter XIII. ROMISH-KING QUESTION; ENGLISH-PRIVATEER QUESTION. 

The public Events so called, which have been occupying mankind duringthis Voltaire Visit, require now mainly to be forgotten;--and may, for our purposes, be conveniently riddled down to Three. FIRST, King-of-the-Romans Question; SECOND, English-Privateer Question;and then, hanging curiously related to these Two, a THIRD, or"English-French Canada Question. " Of some importance all of them;extremely important to Friedrich, especially that Third and leastexpected of them. 

Witty Hanbury Williams, the English Excellency at Berlin, busyintriguing little creature, became distasteful there, long since; andthey had to take him away: "recalled, " say the Documents, "22d January, 1751. " Upon which, no doubt, he made a noise in Downing Street; and got, it appears, "re-credentials to Berlin, 4th March, 1751;" [ManuscriptLIST in State-Paper Office. ] but I think did not much reside, nor intendto reside; having all manner of wandering Continental duties to do; anda world of petty businesses and widespread intrigues, Russian, Germanand other, on hand. Robinson, too, is now home; returned, 1748 (Treatyof Aix in his pocket); and an Excellency Keith, more and more famoushenceforth, has succeeded him in that Austrian post. Busy people, theseand others; now legationing in Foreign parts: able in their way; butwhose work proved to be that of spinning ropes from sand, and must notdetain us at this time. 

The errand of all these Britannic Excellencies is upon a notable scheme, which Royal George and his Newcastle have devised, Of getting all madetight, and the Peace of Aix double-riveted, so to speak, and renderedsecure against every contingency, --by having Archduke Joseph at onceelected "King of the Romans. " King of the Romans straightway; wherebyhe follows at once as Kaiser, should his Father die; and is liable tono French or other intriguing; and we have taken a bond of Fate thatthe Balance cannot be canted again. Excellent scheme, think both theseheads; and are stirring Germany with all their might, purse in hand, toco-operate, and do it. Inconceivable what trouble these prescientminds are at, on this uncertain matter. It was Britannic Majesty'sand Newcastle's main problem in this world, for perhaps four years(1749-1753):--"My own child, " as a fond Noodle of Newcastle used tocall it; though I rather think it was the other that begot the wretchedobject, but had tired sooner of nursing it under difficulties. 

Unhappily there needs unanimity of all the Nine Electors. The poorer youcan buy; "Bavarian Subsidy, " or annual pension, is only 45, 000 pounds, for this invaluable object; Koln is only--a mere trifle: [Debate on"Bavarian Subsidy" (in Walpole, --George the Second, --i. 49): endlessCorrespondence between Newcastle and his Brother (curious to read, though of the most long-eared description on the Duke's part), inCoxe's--Pelham, --ii, 338-465 ("31st May, 1750-3d November, 1752"):precise Account (if anybody now wanted it), in--Adelung, --vii. 146, 149, 154, et seq. ] trifles all, in comparison of the sacred Balance, and dearHanover kept scathless. But unfortunately Friedrich, whom we must notthink of buying, is not enthusiastic in the cause! Far from it. The nowKaiser has never yet got him, according to bargain, a Reichs-Guaranteefor the Peace of Dresden; and needs endless flagitating to do it. [Doesit, at length, by way of furtherance to this Romish-King Business, "23dJanuary-14th May, 1751" (--Adelung, --vii. 217). ] The chase of securityand aggrandizement to the House of Austria is by no means Friedrich'schief aim! This of King of the Romans never could be managed byBritannic Majesty and his Newcastle. 

It was very triumphant, and I think at its hopefulest, in 1750, soonafter starting, --when Excellency Hanbury first appeared at Berlinon behalf of it. That was Excellency Hanbury's first journey on thiserrand; and he made a great many more, no man readier; a stirring, intriguing creature (and always with such moneys to distribute); hadvictorious hopes now and then, --which one and all proved fatuous. ["June, 1750, " Hanbury for Berlin (Britannic Majesty much anxiousHanbury were there): Hanbury to Warsaw next (hiring Polish Majestythere); at Dresden, does make victorious Treaty, September, 1751; atVienna, 1753 (still on the aawe quest). Coxe's--Pelham, --ii. 339, 196, 469. ] In 1751 and 1752, the darling Project met cross tides, foul winds, political whirlpools ("Such a set are those German Princes!")--and swam, indomitable, though near desperate, as Project seldom did; till happily, in 1753, it sank drowned:--and left his Grace of Newcastle asking, "Well-a-day! And is not England drowned too?" We hope not. 

"Owing mainly to Friedrich's opposition!" exclaimed Noodle and thePolitical Circles. Which--(though it was not the fact; Friedrich'sopposition, once that Reichs-Guarantee of his own was got, being mostlypassive, "Push it through the stolid element, then, YOU stolid fellows, if you can!")--awoke considerable outcry in England. Lively suspicionthere, of treasonous intentions to the Cause of Liberty, on his PrussianMajesty's part; and--coupled with other causes that had risen--agreat deal of ill-nature, in very dark condition, against his PrussianMajesty. And it was not Friedrich's blame, chiefly or at all. If indeedFriedrich would have forwarded the Enterprise:--but he merely did not;and the element was viscous, stolid. Austria itself had wished thething; but with nothing like such enthusiasm as King George;--to whomthe refusal, by Friedrich and Fate, was a bitter disappointment. PoorBritannic Majesty: Archduke Joseph came to be King of the Romans, in duecourse; right enough. And long before that event (almost before Georgehad ended his vain effort to hasten it), Austria turned on its pivot;and had clasped, not England to its bosom, but France (thanks to thatexquisite Kaunitz); and was in arms AGAINST England, dear Hanover, andthe Cause of Liberty! Vain to look too far ahead, --especially with thosefish-eyes. Smelfungus has a Note on Kaunitz; readable, though far tooirreverent of that superlative Diplomatist, and unjust to the real humanmerits he had. 

"The struggles of Britannic George to get a King of the Romans electedwere many. Friedrich never would bite at this salutary scheme forstrengthening the House of Austria: 'A bad man, is not he?' And all thewhile, the Court of Austria seemed indifferent, in comparison;--and Grafvon Kaunitz-Rietberg, Ambassador at Paris, was secretly busy, wheelingAustria round on its axis, France round on its; and bringing themto embrace in political wedlock! Feat accomplished by his ExcellencyKaunitz (Paris, 1752-1753);--accomplished, not consummated; left readyfor consummating when he, Kaunitz, now home as Prime Minister, orhelmsman on the new tack, should give signal. Thought to be one of thecleverest feats ever done by Diplomatic art. 

"Admirable feat, for the Diplomatic art which it needed; not, that Ican see, for any other property it had. Feat which brought, as it wasintended to do, a Third Silesian War; death of about a million fightingmen, and endless woes to France and Austria in particular. An exquisiteDiplomatist this Kaunitz; came to be Prince, almost to be God-Brahmain Austria, and to rule the Heavens and Earth (having skill with hisSovereign Lady, too), in an exquisite and truly surprising manner. Sitsthere sublime, like a gilt crockery Idol, supreme over the populations, for near forty years. 

"One reads all Biographies and Histories of Kaunitz: [Hormayr's(in--OEsterreichischer Plutarch, --iv. 3tes, 231-283); &c. &c. ] onecatches evidence of his well knowing his Diplomatic element, and how torule it and impose on it. Traits there are of human cunning, shrewdnessof eye;--of the loftiest silent human pride, stoicism, perseverance ofdetermination, --but not, to my remembrance, of any conspicuous humanwisdom whatever, One asks, Where is his wisdom? Enumerate, then, do methe pleasure of enumerating, What he contrived that the Heavens answeredYes to, and not No to? All silent! A man to give one thoughts. Sits likea God-Brahma, human idol of gilt crockery, with nothing in the belly ofit (but a portion of boiled chicken daily, very ill-digested); andsuch a prostrate worship, from those around him, as was hardlyseen elsewhere. Grave, inwardly unhappy-looking; but impenetrable, uncomplaining. Seems to have passed privately an Act of Parliament:'Kaunitz-Rietberg here, as you see him, is the greatest now alive; he, Iprivately assure you!'--and, by continued private determination, to havegot all men about him to ratify the same, and accept it as valid. Muchcan be done in that way with stupidish populations; nor is Beau Brummelthe only instance of it, among ourselves, in the later epochs. 

"Kaunitz is a man of long hollow face, nose naturally rather turnedinto the air, till artificially it got altogether turned thither. Rodebeautifully; but always under cover; day by day, under glass roof inthe riding-school, so many hours or minutes, watch in hand. Hated, ordreaded, fresh air above everything: so that the Kaiserinn, a noblelover of it, would always good-humoredly hasten to shut her windows whenhe made her a visit. Sumptuous suppers, soirees, he had; the pink ofNature assembling in his house; galaxy, domestic and foreign, of all theVienna Stars. Through which he would walk one turn; glancing stoically, over his nose, at the circumambient whirlpool of nothings, --happy thenothing to whom he would deign a word, and make him something. O myfriends!--In short, it was he who turned Austria on its axis, and Franceon its, and brought them to the kissing pitch. Pompadour and MariaTheresa kissing mutually, like Righteousness and--not PEACE, at anyrate! 'MA CHERE COUSINE, ' could I have believed it, at one time?"

A SECOND Prussian-English cause of offence had arisen, years ago, andwas not yet settled; nay is now (Spring, 1753) at its height or crisis:Offence in regard to English Privateering. 

Friedrich, ever since Ost-Friesland was his, has a considerable ForeignTrade, --not as formerly from Stettin alone, into the Baltic Russianports; but from Embden now, which looks out into the Atlantic and thegeneral waters of Europe and the World. About which he is abundantlycareful, as we have seen. Anxious to go on good grounds in this matter, and be accurately neutral, and observant of the Maritime Laws, hehad, in 1744, directly after coming to possession of Ost-Friesland, instructed Excellency Andrie, his Minister in London, to apply at thefountain-head, and expressly ask of my Lord Carteret: "Are hemp, flax, timber contraband?" "No, " answered Carteret; Andrie reported, No. Andon this basis they acted, satisfactorily, for above a year. But, in October, 1745, the English began violently to take PLANKS forcontraband; and went on so, and ever worse, till the end of the War. [Adelung, vii. 334. ] Excellency Andrie has gone home; and a Secretary ofLegation, Herr Michel, is now here in his stead:--a good few drearyold Pamphlets of Michel's publishing (official Declaration, officialArguments, Documents, in French and English, 4to and 8vo, on thisextinct subject), if you go deep into the dust-bins, can be disinterredhere to this day. Tread lightly, touching only the chief summits. TheHaggle stretches through five years, 1748-1753, --and then at last ceasesHAGGLING:--

"JANUARY 8th, 1748 [War still on foot, but near ending], Michel appliesabout injuries, about various troubles and unjust seizures of ships;Secretary Chesterfield answers, 'We have an Admiralty Court; beyondquestion, right shall be done. ' 'Would it were soon, then!' hintsMichel. Chesterfield, who is otherwise politeness itself, confidentlyhopes so; but cannot push Judicial people. 

"FEBRUARY, 1748. Admiralty being still silent, Michel applies byMemorial, in a specific case: 'Two Stettin Ships, laden with wine fromBordeaux, and a third vessel, ' of some other Prussian port, laden withcorn; taken in Ramsgate Roads, whither they had been driven by storm:'Give me these Ships back!' Memorial to his Grace of Newcastle, this. Upon which the Admiralty sits; with deliberation, decides (June, 1748), 'Yes!' And 'there is hope that a Treaty of Commerce will follow;'[--Gentleman's Magazine, --xviii. (for 1748), pp. 64, 141. ] which was farfrom being the issue just yet!

"On the contrary, his Prussian Majesty's Merchants, perhaps encouragedby this piece of British justice, came forward with more and ever morecomplaints and instances. To winnow the strictly true out of which, from the half-true or not provable, his Prussian Majesty has appointeda 'Commission, '" fit people, and under strict charges, I can believe, "Commission takes (to Friedrich's own knowledge) a great deal ofpains;--and it does not want for clean corn, after all its winnowing. Plenty of facts, which can be insisted on as indisputable. 'Such andsuch Merchant Ships [Schedules of them given in, with every particular, time, name, cargo, value] have been laid hold of on the Ocean Highway, and carried into English Ports;--OUT of which his Prussian Majesty has, in all Friendliness, to beg that they be now re-delivered, and justicedone. ' 'Contraband of War, ' answer the English; 'sorry to have givenyour Majesty the least uneasiness; but they were carrying'--'No, pardonme; nothing contraband discoverable in them;' and hands in his verifiedSchedules, with perfectly polite, but more and more serious request, That the said ships be restored, and damages accounted for. 'Our PrizeCourts have sat on every ship of them, ' eagerly shrieks Newcastle allalong: 'what can we do!' 'Nay a Special Commission shall now [1751, datenot worth seeking farther]--special Commission shall now sit, till hisPrussian Majesty get every satisfaction in the world!'

"English Special Commission, counterpart of that Prussian one (which isin vacation by this time), sits accordingly: but is very slow; reportsfor a long while nothing, except, 'Oh, give us time!' and reports, inthe end, nothing in the least satisfactory. ["Have entirely omittedthe essential points on which the matter turns; and given such confusedaccount, in consequence, that it is not well possible to gather fromtheir Report any clear and just idea of it at all. " (Verdict of thePRUSSIAN Commission: which had been re-assembled by Friedrich, on thisReport from the English one, and adjured to speak only "what theycould answer to God, to the King and to the whole world, " concerningit:--Seyfarth, --ii. 183. )] 'Prize Courts? Special Commission?' thinksFriedrich: 'I must have my ships back!' And, after a great many months, and a great many haggles, Friedrich, weary of giving time, instructsMichel to signify, in proper form ('23d November, 1752'), 'That theLaw's delay seemed to be considerable in England; that till the fulnessof time did come, and right were done his poor people, he, Friedrichhimself, would hopefully wait; but now at last must, provisionally, payhis poor people their damages;--would accordingly, from the 23d dayof April next, cease the usual payment to English Bondholders on theirSilesian Bonds; and would henceforth pay no portion farther of thatDebt, principal or interest [about 250, 000 pounds now owing], butproceed to indemnify his own people from it, to the just length, --anddeposit the remainder in Bank, till Britannic Majesty and Prussiancould UNITE in ordering payment of it; which one trusts may besoon!'" [Walpole, i. 295; Seyfarth, ii. 183, 157; Adelung, vii. 331-338;--Gentleman's Magazine;--&c. ]

"November 23d, 1752, resolved on by Friedrich;" "consummated April 23d, 1753:" these are the dates of this decisive passage (Michel's biggestPamphlet, French and English, issuing on the occasion). February 8th, 1753, no redress obtainable, poor Newcastle shrieks, "Can't, must n't;astonishing!" and "the people are in great wrath about it. April 12th, Friedrich replies, in the kindest terms; but sticking to his point. "[Adelung, vii. 336-338. ] And punctually continued so, and did as he hadsaid. With what rumor in the City, commentaries in the Newspapers andflutter to his Grace of Newcastle, may be imagined. "What a Nephew haveI!" thinks Britannic Majesty: "Hah, and Embden, Ost-Friesland, is nothis. Embden itself is mine!" A great deal of ill-nature was generated, in England, by this one affair of the Privateers, had there been noother: and in dark cellars of men's minds (empty and dark on thismatter), there arose strange caricature Portraitures of Friedrich: andvery mad notions--of Friedrich's perversity, astucity, injustice, malignand dangerous intentions--are more or less vocal in the Old Newspapersand Distinguished Correspondences of those days. Of which, this onesample:

To what height the humor of the English ran against Friedrich is stillcuriously noticeable, in a small Transaction of tragic Ex-Jacobitenature, which then happened, and in the commentaries it awoke intheir imagination. Cameron of Lochiel, who forced his way through theNether-Bow in Edinburgh, had been a notable rebel; but got away toFrance, and was safe in some military post there. Dr. Archibald Cameron, Lochiel's Brother, a studious contemplative gentleman, bred to Physic, but not practising except for charity, had quitted his books, andattended the Rebel March in a medical capacity, --"not from choice, " ashe alleged, "but from compulsion of kindred;"--and had been of help tovarious Loyalists as well; a foe of Human Pain, and not of anything elsewhatever: in fact, as appears, a very mild form of Jacobite Rebel. He too got, to France; but had left his Wife, Children and frugalPatrimonies behind him, --and had to return in proper concealment, more than once, to look after them. Two Visits, I think two, had beensuccessfully transacted, at intervals; but the third, in 1753, provedotherwise. 

March 12th, 1753, wind of him being had, and the slot-hounds uncoupledand put on his trail, poor Cameron was unearthed "at the Lairdof Glenbucket's, " and there laid hold of; locked in EdinburghCastle, --thence to the Tower, and to Trial for High Treason. Which wentagainst him; in spite of his fine pleadings, and manful conciliatoryappearances and manners. Executed 7th June, 1753. His poor Wife hadtwice squeezed her way into the Royal Levee at Kensington, withPetition for mercy;--fainted, the first time, owing to the press andthe agitation; but did, the second time, fall on her knees before RoyalGeorge, and supplicate, --who had to turn a deaf ear, royal gentleman; Ihope, not without pain. 

The truth is, poor Cameron---though, I believe, he had some vagueJacobite errands withal--never would have harmed anybody in the rebelway; and might with all safety have been let live. But his Grace ofNewcastle, and the English generally, had got the strangest notion intotheir head. Those appointments of Earl Marischal to Paris, of Tyrconnelto Berlin; Friedrich's nefarious spoiling of that salutary Romish-KingProject; and now simultaneous with that, his nefarious oonduct in ourPrivateer Business: all this, does it not prove him--as the Hanburys, Demon Newswriters and well-informed persons have taught us--to be oneof the worst men living, and a King bent upon our ruin? What is certain, though now well-nigh inconceivable, it was then, in the upper Classesand Political Circles, universally believed, That this Dr. Cameron wasproperly an "Emissary of the King of Prussia's;" that Cameron's errandhere was to rally the Jacobite embers into new flame;--and that, atthe first clear sputter, Friedrich had 15, 000 men, of his bestPrussian-Spartan troops, ready to ferry over, and help Jacobitism todo the matter this time! [Walpole, --George the Second, --i. 333, 353;and--Letters to Horace Mann--(Summer, 1753), for the belief held. Adelung, vii. 338-341, for the poor Cameron tragedy itself. ]

About as likely as that the Cham of Tartary had interfered in the"Bangorian Controversy" (raging, I believe, some time since, --inCremorne Gardens fist of all, which was Bishop Hoadly's Place, --to theterror of mitres and wigs); or that, the Emperor of China was concernedin Meux's Porter-Brewery, with an eye to sale of NUX VOMICA. Amongall the Kings that then were, or that ever were, King Friedrichdistinguished himself by the grand human virtue (one of the mostimportant for Kings and for men) of keeping well at home, --of alwaysminding his own affairs. These were, in fact, the one thing he minded;and he did that well. He was vigilant, observant all round, forweather-symptoms; thoroughly well informed of what his neighbors had onhand; ready to interfere, generally in some judicious soft way, at anymoment, if his own Countries or their interests came to be concerned;certain, till then, to continue a speculative observer merely. He hadknowledge, to an extent of accuracy which often surprised hisneighbors: but there is no instance in which he meddled where he had nobusiness;--and few, I believe, in which he did not meddle, and to thepurpose, when he had. 

Later in his Reign, in the time of the American War (1777), there is, onthe English part, in regard to Friedrich, an equally distracted notionof the same kind brought to light. Again, a conviction, namely, or moral-certainty, that Friedrich is about assisting the AmericanInsurgents against us;--and a very strange and indubitable step isordered to be taken in consequence. [--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxvi. 394(Friedrich to Prince Henri, 29th June, 1777. )] As shall be noticed, ifwe have time. No enlightened Public, gazing for forty or fifty yearsinto an important Neighbor Gentleman, with intent for practicalknowledge of him, could well, though assisted by the cleverest Hanburys, and Demon and Angel Newswriters, have achieved less!--

Question THIRD is--But Question Third, so extremely important was it inthe sequel, will deserve a Chapter to itself. 

Chapter XIV. THERE IS LIKE TO BE ANOTHER WAR AHEAD. 

Question Third, French-English Canada Question, is no other than, undera new form, our old friend the inexorable JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION;soul of all these Controversies, and--except Silesia and Friedrich'sQuestion--the one meaning they have! Huddled together it had been, atthe Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and left for closed under "New SpanishAssiento Treaty, " or I know not what:--you thought to close it byDiplomatic putty and varnish in that manner: and here, by law of Nature, it comes welling up on you anew. For IT springs from the Centre, as weoften say, and is the fountain and determining element of very largeSections of Human History, still hidden in the unseen Time. 

"Ocean Highway to be free; for the English and others who have businesson it?" The English have a real and weighty errand there. "English totrade and navigate, as the Law of Nature orders, on those Seas; and toponderate or preponderate there, according to the real amount of weightthey and their errand have? OR, English to have their ears torn off;and imperious French-Spanish Bourbons, grounding on extinctPope's-meridians, GLOIRE and other imaginary bases, to take command?"The incalculable Yankee Nations, shall they be in effect YANGKEE("English" with a difference), or FRANGCEE ("French" with a difference)?A Question not to be closed by Diplomatic putty, try as you will!

By Treaty of Utrecht (1713), "all Nova Scotia [ACADIE as then called], with Newfoundland and the adjacent Islands, " was ceded to the English, and has ever since been possessed by them accordingly. Unluckily thatTreaty omitted to settle a Line of Boundary to landward, or westward, for their "NOVA SCOTIA;" or generally, a Boundary from NORTH TO SOUTHbetween the British Colonies and the French in those parts. 

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, eager to conclude itself, stipulated, with great distinctness, that Cape Breton, all its guns and furnishingsentire, should be restored at once (France extremely anxious onthat point); but for the rest had, being in such haste, flung itselfaltogether into the principle of STATUS-QUO-ANTE, as the short way forgetting through. The boundary in America was vaguely defined, as "now tobe what it had been before the War. " It had, for many years before theWar, been a subject of constant altercation. ACADIE, for instance, theNOVA SCOTIA of the English since Utrecht time, the French maintained tomean only "the Peninsula", or Nook included between the Ocean Waters andthe Bay of Fundy. And, more emphatic still, on the "Isthmus" (or narrowspace, at northwest, between said Bay and the Ocean or the Gulf of St. Lawrence) they had built "Forts:" "Stockades, " or I know not what, "onthe Missaquish" (HODIE Missiquash), a winding difficult river, northmostof the Bay of Fundy's rivers, which the French affirm to be the reallimit in that quarter. The sparse French Colonists of the interior, subjects of England, are not to be conciliated by perfect toleration ofreligion and the like; but have an invincible proclivity to join theirCountrymen outside, and wish well to those Stockades on the Missiquash. It must be owned, too, the French Official People are far fromscrupulous or squeamish; show energy of management; and are very skilfulwith the Indians, who are an important item. Canada is all French; hasits Quebecs, Montreals, a St. Lawrence River occupied at all the goodmilitary points, and serving at once as bulwark and highway. 

Southward and westward, France, in its exuberant humor, claims foritself The whole Basin of the St. Lawrence, and the whole Basin of theMississippi as well: "Have not we Stockades, Castles, at the militarypoints; Fortified Places in Louisiana itself?" Yes;--and how manyPloughed Fields bearing Crop have you? It is to the good Plougher, notultimately to the good Cannonier, that those portions of Creation willbelong? The exuberant intention of the French is, after getting backCape Breton, "To restrict those aspiring English Colonies, " merePloughers and Traders, hardly numbering above one million, "to the Spaceeastward of the Alleghany Mountains, " over which they are beginningto climb, "and southward of that Missiquash, or, at farthest, of thePenobscot and Kennebunk" (rivers HODIE in the State of Maine). [LaGallisonniere, Governor of Canada's DESPATCH, "Quebec, 15th January, 1749" (cited in Bancroft, --History of the United States, --Boston, 1839, et seq. ). "The English Inhabitants are computed at 1, 051, 000; French (inCanada 45, 000, in Louisiana 7, 000), in all 52, 000:"--History of BritishDominions in North America--(London, 1773), p. 13. Bancroft (i. 154)counts the English Colonists in "1754 about 1, 200, 000. "] That will bea very pretty Parallelogram for them and their ploughs and trade-packs:we, who are 50, 000 odd, expert with the rifle far beyond them, willoccupy the rest of the world. Such is the French exuberant notion: and, October, 1745, before signature at Aix-la-Chapelle, much more beforeDelivery of Cape Breton, the Commandant at Detroit (west end of LakeErie) had received orders, "To oppose peremptorily every EnglishEstablishment not only thereabouts, but on the Ohio or its tributaries;by monition first; and then by force, if monition do not serve. "

Establishments of any solidity or regularity the English have not inthose parts; beyond the Alleghanies all is desert: "from the CanadaLakes to the Carolinas, mere hunting-ground of the Six Nations; dottedwith here and there an English trading-house, or adventurous Squatter'sfarm:"--to whom now the French are to say: "Home you, instantly; andleave the Desert alone!" The French have distinct Orders from Court, and energetically obey the same; the English have indistinct Orders fromNature, and do not want energy, or mind to obey these: confusions andcollisions are manifold, ubiquitous, continual. Of which the historywould be tiresome to everybody; and need only be indicated here by amark or two of the main passages. 

In 1749, three things had occurred worth mention. FIRST, Captain Coram, a public-spirited half-pay gentleman in London, originator of theFoundling Hospital there, had turned his attention to the finecapabilities and questionable condition of NOVA SCOTIA, with fewinhabitants, and those mostly disaffected; and, by many efforts nowforgotten, had got the Government persuaded to despatch (June, 1749)a kind of Half-pay or Military Colony to those parts: "more than 1, 400persons disbanded officers, soldiers and marines, under ColonelEdward Cornwallis, " Brother of the since famous Lord Cornwallis. [Coxe's--Pelham, --ii. 113. ] Who landed, accordingly, on that roughshore; stockaded themselves in, hardily endeavoring and enduring; andnext year, built a Town for themselves; Town of HALIFAX (so named fromthe then Lord Halifax, President of the Board of Trade); which standsthere, in more and more conspicuous manner, at this day. Thanks to you, Captain Coram; though the ungrateful generations (except dimly in CORAMStreet, near your Hospital) have lost all memory of you, as their wontis. Blockheads; never mind them. 

The SECOND thing is, an "Ohio Company" has got together in Virginia;Governor there encouraging; Britannic Majesty giving Charter (March, 1749), and what is still easier, "500, 000 Acres of Land" in those Ohioregions, since you are minded to colonize there in a fixed manner. Britannic Majesty thinks the Country "between the Monongahela andthe Kanahawy" (southern feeders of Ohio) will do best; but is notparticular. Ohio Company, we shall find, chose at last, as the eligiblespot, the topmost fork or very Head of the Ohio, --where MonongahelaRiver from south and Alleghany River from north unite to form "TheOhio;" where stands, in our day, the big sooty Town of Pittsburg andits industries. Ohio Company was laudably eager on this matter;Land-Surveyor in it (nay, at length, "Colonel of a Regiment of 150 menraised by the Ohio Company") was Mr. George Washington, whose Familyhad much promoted the Enterprise; and who was indeed a steady-going, considerate, close-mouthed Young Gentleman; who came to greatdistinction in the end. 

French Governor (La Gallisonniere still the man), getting wind of thisOhio Company still in embryo, anticipates the birth; sends a vigilantCommandant thitherward, "with 300 men, To trace and occupy the Valleysof the Ohio and of the St. Lawrence, as far as Detroit. " That officer"buries plates of lead, " up and down the Country, with inscriptionssignifying that "from the farthest ridge, whence water trickled towardsthe Ohio, the Country belonged to France; and nails the Bourbon Liliesto the forest-trees; forbidding the Indians all trade with the English;expels the English traders from the towns of the Miamis; and writesto the Governor of Pennsylvania, requesting him to prevent all fartherintrusion. " Vigilant Governors, these French, and well supported fromhome. Duquesne, the vigilant successor of La Gallisonniere (who is nowwanted at home, for still more important purposes, as will appear), finding "the lead plates" little regarded, sends, by and by, 500 newsoldiers from Detroit into those Ohio parts (march of 100 miles orso);--"the French Government having, in this year 1750, shipped nofewer than 8, 000 men for their American Garrisons;"--and where the OhioCompany venture on planting a Stockade, tears it tragically out, as willbe seen!

The THIRD thing worth notice, in 1749, and still more in the followingyear and years, had reference to Nova Scotia again. One La Corne, "arecklessly sanguinary partisan" (military gentleman of the Trenck, INDIGO-Trenck species), nestles himself (winter, 1749-50) on thatMissiquash River, head of the Bay of Fundy; in the Village of Chignecto, which is admittedly English ground, though inhabited by French. La Cornecompels, or admits, the Inhabitants to swear allegiance to Franceagain; and to make themselves useful in fortifying, not to say indrilling, --with an eye to military work. Hearing of which, ColonelCornwallis and incipient Halifax are much at a loss. They in vain seekaid from the Governor of Massachusetts ("Assembly to be consulted first, to be convinced; Constitutional rights:--Nothing possible just, atonce");--and can only send a party of 400 men, to try and recoverChignecto at any rate. April 20th, 1750, the 400 arrive there; order LaCorne instantly to go. Bourbon Flag is waving on his dikes, this sidethe Missiquash: high time that he and it were gone. "Village Priest[flamingly orthodox, as all these Priests are, all picked for thebusiness], with his own hands, sets fire to the Church in Chignecto;"inhabitants burn their houses, and escape across the river, --La Corneas rear-guard. La Corne, across the Missiquash, declares, That, to acertainty, he is now on French ground; that he will, at all hazards, defend the Territory here; and maintain every inch of it, --"tillregular Commissioners [due ever since the Treaty of Aix, had not thatROMISH-KING Business been so pressing] have settled what the Boundarybetween the two Countries is. "--Chignecto being ashes, and theneighboring population gone, Cornwallis and his Four Hundred had toreturn to Halifax. 

It was not till Autumn following, that Chignecto could be solidly gothold of by the Halifax people; nor till a long time after, that La Cornecould be dislodged from his stockades, and sent packing. [--Gentleman'sMagazine, --xx. 539, 295. ] September, 1750, a new Expedition on Chignectofound the place populous again, Indians, French "Peasants" (seeminglySoldiers of a sort); who stood very fiercely behind their defences, andneeded a determined on-rush, and "volley close into their noses, " beforedisappearing. This was reckoned the first military bloodshed (if thiswere really military on the French side). And in November following, some small British Cruiser on those Coasts, falling in with a FrenchBrigantine, from Quebec, evidently carrying military stores andsolacements for La Corne, seized the same; by force of battle, sincenot otherwise, --three men lost to the British, five to the French, --andbrought it to Halifax. "Lawful and necessary!" says the Admiralty Court;"Sheer Piracy!" shriek the French;--matters breaking out into actualflashes of flame, in this manner. 

British Commissions, two in number, names not worth mention, have, at last, in this Year 1750, gone to Paris; and are holding manifoldconferences with French ditto, --to no "purpose, any of them. One readsthe dreary tattle of the Duke of Newcastle upon it, in the Yearsonward: "Just going to agree, " the Duke hopes; "some difficulties, buteverybody, French and English, wanting mere justice; and our and theirCommissioners being in such a generous spirit, surely they will soonsettle it. " [His Letters, in Coxe's--Pelham, --ii. 407 ("September, 1751"), &c. ] They never did or could; and steadily it went on worsening. 

That notable private assertion of the French, That Canada and Louisianamean all America West of the Alleghanies, had not yet oozed out to theEnglish; but it is gradually oozing out, and that England will have tocontent itself with the moderate Country lying east of that Blue range. "Not much above a million of you", say the French; "and surely there isroom enough East of the Alleghanies? We, with our couple of Colonies, are the real America;--counting, it is true, few settlers as yet;but there shall be innumerable; and, in the mean while, there areArmy-Detachments, Block-houses, fortified Posts, command of the Rivers, of the Indian Nations, of the water-highways and military keys (to youunintelligible); and we will make it good!"

The exact cipher of the French (guessed to be 50, 000), and theirprecise relative-value as tillers and subduers of the soil, in theseTwo Colonies of theirs, as against the English Thirteen, would beinteresting to know: curious also their little bill, of trouble takenin creating the Continent of America, in discovering it, visiting, surveying, planting, taming, making habitable for man:--and whatRhadamanthus would have said of those Two Documents! Enough, the Frenchhave taken some trouble, more or less, --especially in sending soldiersout, of late. The French, to certain thousands, languidly tilling, hunting and adventuring, and very skilful in wheedling the IndianNations, are actually there; and they, in the silence of Rhadamanthus, decide that merit shall not miss its wages for want of asking. "Ours isAmerica West of the Alleghanies, " say the French, openly before long. 

"Yours? Yours, of all people's?" answer the English; and begin, withlethargic effort, to awake a little to that stupid Foreign Question;important, though stupid and foreign, or lying far off. Who really ownedall America, probably few Englishmen had ever asked themselves, in theirdreamiest humors, nor could they now answer; but, that North Americadoes not belong to the French, can be doubtful to no English creature. Pitt, Chatham as we now call him, is perhaps the Englishman to whom, ofall others, it is least doubtful. Pitt is in Office at last, --in somesubaltern capacity, "Paymaster of the Forces" for some years past, inspite of Majesty's dislike of the outspoken man;--and has his eyes benton America;--which is perhaps (little as you would guess it such) themain fact in that confused Controversy just now!--

In 1753 (28th August of that Year), goes message from the HomeGovernment, "Stand on your defence, over there! Repel by force anyForeign encroachments on British Dominions. " [Holderness, OR Robinsonour old friend. ] And directly on the heel of this, November, 1753, theVirginia Governor, --urged, I can believe, by the Ohio Company, who arelying wind-bound so long, --despatches Mr. George Washington to inquireofficially of the French Commandant in those parts, "What he means, then, by invading the British Territories, while a solid Peacesubsists?" Mr. George had a long ride up those desert ranges, and downagain on the other side; waters all out, ground in a swash with Decemberrains, no help or direction but from wampums and wigwams: Mr. Georgegot to Ohio Head (two big Rivers, Monongahela from South, Alleghanyfrom North, coalescing to form a double-big Ohio for the Far West);and thought to himself, "What an admirable three-legged place: might beChief Post of those regions, --nest-egg of a diligent Ohio Company. !"Mr. George, some way down the Ohio River, found a strongish FrenchFort, log-barracks, "200 river-boats, with more building, " and a FrenchCommandant, who cannot enter into questions of a diplomatic nature aboutPeace and War: "My orders are, To keep this Fort and Territory againstall comers; one must do one's orders, Monsieur: Adieu!" And thesteadfast Washington had to return; without result, --except that of theadmirable Three-legged Place for dropping your Nest-egg, in a commandingand defenceful way!

Ohio Company, painfully restrained so long in that operation, tookthe hint at once. Despatched, early in 1754, a Party of some Forty orThirty-three stout fellows, with arms about them, as well as tools, "Go build us, straightway, a Stockade in the place indicated; you arewarranted to smite down, by shot or otherwise, any gainsayer!" Andfurthermore, directly got on foot, and on the road thither, a "regimentof 150 men, " Washington as Colonel to it, For perfecting said Stockade, and maintaining it against all comers. 

Washington and his Hundred-and-fifty--wagonage, provender and a piece ortwo of cannon, all well attended to--vigorously climbed the Mountains;got to the top 27th May, 1754; and there MET the Thirty-three in retreathomewards! Stockade had been torn out, six weeks ago (17th April last);by overwhelming French Force, from the Gentleman who said ADIEU, and hadthe river-boats, last Fall. And, instead of our Stockade, they are nowbuilding a regular French Fort, --FORT DUQUESNE, they call it, in honorof their Governor Duquesne:--against which, Washington and his regiment, what are they? Washington, strictly surveying, girds himself up for theretreat; descends diligently homewards again, French and Indians ratherharassing his rear. In-trenches himself, 1st July, at what he calls"Fort Necessity, " some way down; and the second day after, 3d July, 1754, is attacked in vigorous military manner. Defends himself, what hecan, through nine hours of heavy rain; has lost thirty, the French onlythree;--and is obliged to capitulate: "Free Withdrawal" the termsgiven. This is the last I heard of the Ohio Company; not the lastof Washington, by any means. Ohio Company, --its judicious Nest-eggsquelched in this manner, nay become a fiery Cockatrice or "FORTDUQUESNE:"--need not be mentioned farther. 

By this time, surely high time now, serious military preparations wereon foot; especially in the various Colonies most exposed. But, as usual, it is a thing of most admired disorder; every Governor his own King orVice-King, horses are pulling different ways: small hope there, unless the Home Government (where too I have known the horses a littlediscrepant, unskilful in harness!) will seriously take it in hand. The Home Government is taking it in hand; horses willing, if a thoughtunskilful. Royal Highness of Cumberland has selected GeneralBraddock, and Two Regiments of the Line (the two that ran awayat Prestonpans, --ABSIT OMEN). Royal Highness consults, concocts, industriously prepares, completes; modestly certain that here now is theeffectual remedy. 

About New-year's day, 1755, Braddock, with his Two Regiments andcompleted apparatus, got to sea. Arrived, 20th February, at Williamsburgin Virginia ("at Hampden, near there, " if anybody is particular); foundnow that this was not the place to arrive at; that he would lose sixweeks of marching, by not having landed in Pennsylvania instead. Foundthat his Stores had been mispacked at Cork, --that this had happened, and also that;--and, in short, that Chaos had been very considerablyprevalent in this Adventure of his; and did still, in all that now layround it, much prevail. Poor man: very brave, they say; but withoutknowledge, except of field-drill; a heart of iron, but brain mostlyof pipe-clay quality. A man severe and rigorous in regimental points;contemptuous of the Colonial Militias, that gathered to help him;thrice-contemptuous of the Indians, who were a vital point in theEnterprise ahead. Chaos is very strong, --especially if within oneselfas well! Poor Braddock took the Colonial Militia Regiments, ColonelWashington as Aide-de-Camp; took the Indians and Appendages, ColonialChaos much presiding: and after infinite delays and confused hagglings, got on march;--2, 000 regular, and of all sorts say 4, 000 strong. 

Got on march; sprawled and haggled up the Alleghanies, --such aCommissariat, such a wagon-service, as was seldom seen before. PoorGeneral and Army, he was like to be starved outright, at one time; hadnot a certain Mr. Franklin come to him, with charitable oxen, with500 pounds-worth provisions live and dead, subscribed for atPhiladelphia, --Mr Benjamin Franklin, since celebrated over all theworld; who did not much admire this iron-tempered General with thepipe-clay brain. [Franklin's AUTOBIOGRAPHY;--Gentleman's Magazine, --xxv. 378. ] Thereupon, however, Braddock took the road again; sprawled andstaggered, at the long last, to the top; "at the top of the Alleghanies, 15th June;"--and forward down upon FORT DUQUESNE, "roads nearlyperpendicular in some places, " at the rate of "four miles" and even of"one mile per day. " Much wood all about, --and the 400 Indians to rear, in a despised and disgusted condition, instead of being vanward keepingtheir brightest outlook. 

July 8th, Braddock crossed the Monongahela without hindrance. July 9th, was within ten miles of FORT DUQUESNE; plodding along; marching througha wood, when, --Ambuscade of French and Indians burst out on him, Frenchwith defences in front and store of squatted Indians on each flank, --whoat once blew him to destruction, him and his Enterprise both. His menbehaved very ill; sensible perhaps that they were not led very well. Wednesday, 9th July, 1755, about three in the afternoon. His tworegiments gave one volley and no more; utterly terror-struck by thenovelty, by the misguidance, as at Prestonpans before; shot, it waswhispered, several of their own Officers, who were furiously rallyingthem with word and sword: of the sixty Officers, only five were notkilled or wounded. Brave men clad in soldier's uniform, victims ofmilitary Chaos, and miraculous Nescience, in themselves and in others:can there be a more distressing spectacle? Imaginary workers are alltragical, in this world; and come to a bad end, sooner or later, theyor their representatives here: but the Imaginary Soldier--he is paid hiswages (he and his poor Nation are) on the very nail!

Braddock, refusing to fall back as advised, had five horses shot underhim; was himself shot, in the arm, in the breast; was carried off thefield in a death-stupor, --forward all that night, next day and next (toFort Cumberland, seventy miles to rear);--and on the fourth day died. The Colonial Militias had stood their ground, Colonel Washington now ofsome use again;--who were ranked well to rearward; and able to receivethe ambuscade as an open fight. Stood striving, for about three hours. And would have saved the retreat; had there been a retreat, instead ofa panic rout, to save. The poor General--ebbing homewards, he and hisEnterprise, hour after hour--roused himself twice only, for a moment, from his death-stupor: once, the first night, to ejaculate mournfully, "Who would have thought it!" And again once, he was heard to say, daysafter, in a tone of hope, "Another time we will do better!" which werehis last words, "death following in a few minutes. " Weary, heavy-ladensoul; deep Sleep now descending on it, --soft sweet cataracts of Sleepand Rest; suggesting hope, and triumph over sorrow, after all:--"Anothertime we will do better;" and in few minutes was dead! [ManuscriptJOURNAL OF GENERAL BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755 (British Museum: King'sLibrary, 271 e, King's Mss. 212): raw-material, this, of the OfficialAccount (--London Gazette, --August 26th, 1755), where it is faithfullyenough abridged. Will perhaps be printed by some inquiring PITTSBURGHER, one day, after good study on the ground itself? It was not till 1758that the bones of the slain were got buried, and the infant Pittsburg(now so busy and smoky) rose from the ashes of FORT DUQUESNE. ]

The Colonial Populations, who had been thinking of Triumphal Archesfor Braddock's return, are struck to the nadir by this news. French andIndians break over the Mountains, harrying, burning, scalping; the BlackSettlers fly inward, with horror and despair: "And the Home Government, too, can prove a broken reed? What is to become of us; whose is Americato be?"--And in fact, under such guidance from Home Governments andColonial, there is no saying how the matter might have gone. To men ofgood judgment, and watching on the spot, it was, for years coming, anominous dubiety, --the chances rather for the French, "who understandwar, and are all under one head. " [Governor Pownal's Memorial (of whichINFRA), in Thackeray's--Life of Chatham. --] But there happens to be inEngland a Mr. Pitt, with royal eyes more and more indignantly seton this Business; and in the womb of Time there lie combinations andconjunctures. If the Heavens have so decreed!--

The English had, before this, despatched their Admiral Boscawen, towatch certain War-ships, which they had heard the French were fittingout for America; and to intercept the same, by capture if not otherwise. Boscawen is on the outlook, accordingly; descries a French fleet, Coastof Newfoundland, first days of June; loses it again in the fogs of theGulf-Stream; but has, June 9th (a month before that of Braddock), comeup with Two Frigates of it, and, after short broadsiding, made prizesof them. And now, on this Braddock Disaster, orders went, "To seize anddetain all French Ships whatsoever, till satisfaction were had. " And, before the end of this Year, about "800 French ships (value, say, 700, 000 pounds)" were seized accordingly, where seizable on their wateryways. Which the French ("our own conduct in America being so undeniablyproper") characterized as utter piracy and robbery;--and getting noredress upon it, by demand in that style, had to take it as no betterthan meaning Open War Declared. [Paris, December 21st, 1755, MinisterRouille's Remonstrance, with menace "UNLESS--:" London, January 13th, 1756, Secretary Fox's reply, "WELL THEN, NO!" Due official "Declarationof War" followed: on the English part, "17th May, 1756;" "9th June, " onthe French part. ]

Chapter XV. --ANTI-PRUSSIAN WAR-SYMPTOMS: FRIEDRICH VISIBLE FOR A MOMENT. 

The Burning of AKAKIA, and those foolish Maupertuis-Voltaire Duellings(by syringe and pistol) had by no means been Friedrich's one concern, at the time Voltaire went off. Precisely in those same months, Carnival1752-1753, King Friedrich had, in a profoundly private manner, come uponcertain extensive Anti-Prussian Symptoms, Austrian, Russian, Saxon, ofa most dangerous, abstruse, but at length indubitable sort; and is, eversince, prosecuting his investigation of them, as a thing of life anddeath to him! Symptoms that there may well be a THIRD Silesian Warripening forward, inevitable, and of weightier and fiercer quality thanever. So the Symptoms indicate to Friedrich, with a fatally increasingclearness. And, of late, he has to reflect withal: "If theseFrench-English troubles bring War, our Symptoms will be ripe!" As, infact, they proved to be. 

King Friedrich's investigations and decisions on this matter will betouched upon, farther on: but readers can take, in the mean time, thefollowing small Documentary Piece as Note of Preparation. The factsshadowed forth are of these Years now current (1752-1755), though thisjudicial Deposition to the Facts is of ulterior date (1757). 

In the course of 1756, as will well appear farther on, it becamemanifest to the Saxon Court and to all the world that somebody had beenplaying traitor in the Dresden Archives. Somebody, especially inthe Foreign Department; copying furtively, and imparting to Prussia, Despatches of the most secret, thrice-secret and thrice-dangerousnature, which lie reposited there! Who can have done it? Guesses, researcher, were many: at length suspicion fell on one Menzel, aKANZELLIST (Government Clerk), of good social repute, and superiorofficial ability; who is not himself in the Foreign Department atall; but whose way of living, or the like sign, had perhaps seemedquestionable. In 1757, Menzel, and the Saxon Court and its businesses, were all at Warsaw; Menzel dreaming of no disturbance, but prosecutinghis affairs as formerly, --when, one day, September 24th (theslot-hounds, long scenting and tracking, being now at the mark), Menzeland an Associate of his were suddenly arrested. Confronted with theircrimes, with the proofs in readiness; and next day, --made a clearConfession, finding the matter desperate otherwise, Copy of which, inNotarial form, exact and indisputable, the reader shall now see. Asthis story, of Friedrich and the Saxon Archives, was very famous in theworld, and mythic circumstances are prevalent, let us glance into itwith our own eyes, since there is opportunity in brief compass. 

"EXTRACTUS PROTOCOLLORUM IN INQUISITIONS-SACHEN, "--THAT IS TO SAY, EXTRACT OF PROTOCOLS IN INQUEST "CONTRA FRIEDRICH WILHELM MENZEL ANDJOHANN BENJAMIN ERFURTH. "

"AT WARSAW, 25th SEPTEMBER, 1757: This day, in the King's Name, inpresence of Legationsrath von Saul, Hofrath Ferbers and Kriegsrath vonGotze the Undersigned: Examination of the Kabinets-Kanzellist Menzel, arrested yesterday, and now brought from his place of arrest to theRoyal Palace;--who, ADMONITUS DE DICENDA VERITATE, made answers, to theeffect following:--

"His name is Friedrich Wilhelm Menzel; age thirty-eight; is a son ofthe late Hofrath and Privy-referendary Menzel, who formerly was in theKing's service, and died a few years back. Has been seventeen yearsKanzellist at the GEHEIME CABINETS-CANZLEI (Secret Archive); had takenthe oath when he entered on his office. 

"Acknowledges some Slips of Paper (ZETTEL), now shown to him, to behis handwriting: they contained news intended to be communicated to thePrussian Secretary Benoit, now residing here", at Dresden formerly. 

"Confesses that he has employed, here as well as previously in Dresden, his Brother-in-law, the journeyman goldsmith Erfurth (who was likewisearrested yesterday), to convey to the Prussian Secretaries, Plessmannand Benoit, such pieces and despatches from the Secret Cabinet, especially the Foreign department, as he, Menzel, wanted to communicateto said Prussian Secretaries. 

"Confesses having received, by degrees, since the year 1752, from thePrussian Minister (ENVOYE) von Mahlzahn, and the Secretaries Plessmannand Benoit, for such communications, the sum of 3, 000 thalers (450pounds) in all. 

"Was led into these treasonable practices by the following circumstance:He owed at that time 100 thalers on a Promissory Note, to a certainRhenitz, who then lived (HIELT SICH AUF) at Dresden, and who pressed himmuch for payment. As he pleaded inability to pay, Rhenitz hinted that hecould put him into the way of getting money; and accordingly, at last, took him to the then Prussian Secretary Hecht, at Dresden; by whom hewas at once carried to the Prussian Minister von Mahlzahn; who gave him100 thalers (15 pounds), with the request to communicate to him, nowand then, news from the Archive of the Cabinet. For a length of timePrisoner could not accomplish this; as the said Von Mahlzahn wantedPieces from the Foreign Office, and especially the Correspondence withthe two Imperial Courts of Austria and Russia. These papers were lockedin presses, which Prisoner could not get at; moreover, the Court had, in the mean time, gone to Warsaw, Prisoner remaining at Dresden. In thatway, many months passed without his being able to communicate anything;till, at last, about December, 1752, the Secretary Plessmann gave hima whole bunch of keys, which were said to be sent by Privy-counsellorEichel of Potsdam [whom we know], to try whether any of them wouldunlock the presses of the Foreign Department. But none of them would;and Prisoner returned the keys; pointing out, however, what alterationswere required to fit the keyhole. 

"And, about three weeks after this, Plessmann provided Prisoner withanother set of keys; among which one did unlock said presses. With thiskey Prisoner now repeatedly opened the presses; and provided Plessmann, whenever required, --oftenest, with Petersburg Despatches. Had also, three years ago (1754), here in Warsaw, communicated Vienna Despatches, three or four times, to Benoit; especially on Sundays and Thursdays, which were slack days, nobody in the Office about noon. 

"The actual first of these Communications did not take place till afterEaster-Fair, 1753; Prisoner not having, till said Fair, received thesecond bunch of keys from Plessmann. Now and then he had to communicateFrench Despatches. Whenever he gave original Despatches, he receivedthem back shortly after, and replaced them in the presses. During thispresent stay of the Court at Warsaw, has communicated little to Benoitexcept from the CIRCULARS [Legation NEWS-LETTERS], when he foundanything noteworthy in them; also, now and then, the Ponikau Despatches[Ponikau being at the Reich's Diet, in circumstances interesting to us]. Has received, one time and another, several 100 thalers from Benoit, since the Court came hither last. "--(And so EXIT Menzel. )

"Hereupon the Second Prisoner was brought in;--who deposed as follows:--

"He is named Johann Benjamin Erfurth; a goldsmith by trade; agethirty-two; the Prisoner Menzel's Brother-in-law. 

"Confesses that Menzel had made use of him, at Dresden, during oneyear: to deliver, several times, sealed papers to the Prussian SecretaryPlessmann, or rather mostly to Plessmann's servant. Also that, here inWarsaw, he has had to carry Despatches to Benoit, and to deliver theminto his own hands. Latterly he has delivered the Despatches to certainPrussian peasants, who stopped at Benoit's, and who always relieved eachother; and every time, the one who went away directed Prisoner, in turn, to him that arrived. 

"He received from Menzel, yesterday towards noon, a small sealedpacket, which he was to convey to the Prussian peasant who had made anappointment with him at the Prussian Office (HOF) here. But as hewas going to take it, and had just got outside of the Palace Court, acorporal took hold of him and arrested him. Confesses having concealedthe parcel in his trousers-pocket, and to have denied that he hadanything upon him. . . . ACTUM UT SUPRA. "

Signed "GOTZE" (with titles). 

"Next day, September 26th, Menzel re-examined; answers in effectfollowing:--

"Plessmann never himself came into the Archive Office at Dresden; exceptthe one time [a time that will be notable to us!] when the Prussianswere there to take away the Papers by force; then Plessmann was withthem, "--and we will remember the circumstance. 

"Before leaving Dresden for Poland, last Year (1756), he, Menzel, hadreturned the said key to Plessmann; who gave him others for use here. After his arrival here, he returned these keys to Benoit, in thepresence of Erfurth; saying, they were of no use to him, and that hecould not get at the Despatches here. Prisoner farther declares, that itwas the Minister von Mahlzahn who, of his own accord, and quite at thebeginning, made the proposal concerning the keys; and when Plessmannbrought the keys, he said expressly they were for the Minister, alongwith fifty thalers, which he, Menzel, received at the same time. ACTUMUT SUPRA. " Signed as before. [--Helden-Geschichte, --v. 677 (as BEYLAGEor Appendix to the Kur-Sachsen "PRO MEMORIA to the Reich's Diet;" ofdate, Regensburg, 31st January, 1758). ]

We could give some of the stolen Pieces, too; but they are of abstrusetenor, and would be mere enigmas to readers here. Enough that Friedrichunderstands them. To Friedrich's intense and long-continued scrutiny, they indicate, what is next to incredible, but is at length fatallyundeniable, That the old TREATY, which we called OF WARSAW, "Treatyfor Partitioning Prussia, " is still (in spite of all subsequent andsuperincumbent Treaties to the contrary) vigorously alive underground;that Saxon Bruhl and her Hungarian Majesty, to whom is now added CzarishMajesty, are fixed as ever on cutting down this afflictive, too aspiringKing of Prussia to the size of a Brandenburg Elector; busy (in theseMenzel Documents) considering how it may be done, especially howthe bear-skin may be SHARED;--and that, in short, there lies ahead, inevitable seemingly, and not far off, a Third Silesian War. 

Which punctually came true. The THIRD SILESIAN WAR--since calledSEVEN-YEARS WAR, that proving to be the length of it--is now near. Breaks out, has to break out, August, 1756. The heaviest and direststruggle Friedrich ever had; the greatest of all his Prowesses, Achievements and Endurances in this world. And, on the whole, the lastthat was very great, or that is likely to be memorable with Posterity. Upon which, accordingly, we must try our utmost to leave some not untruenotion in this place: and that once DONE--Courage, reader!

FRIEDRICH IS VISIBLE, IN HOLLAND, TO THE NAKED EYE, FOR SOME MINUTES(June 23d, 1755). 

In 1755 it was that Voltaire wrote, not the first Letter, but the firstvery notable one, to his Royal Friend, after their great quarrel: [Dated"The DELICES, near Geneva, 4th August, 1755" (in Rodenbeck, i. 287;in--OEuvres de Frederic, --xxiii. 7; not given by any of the FrenchEditors). ] seductively repentant, and oh, so true, so tender;--RoyalFriend still obstinate, who answers nothing, or answers only throughDe Prades: "Yes, yes, we are aware!" And it was in the same Year thatFriedrich first saw D'Alembert, --Voltaire's successor, in a sense. Andfarther on (1st November, 1755), that the Earthquake of Lisbon went, horribly crashing, through the thoughts of all mortals, --thoughts ofKing Friedrich, among others; whose reflections on it, I apprehend, arestingy, snarlingly contemptuous, rather than valiant and pious, and neednot detain us here. One thing only we will mention, for an accidentalreason: That Friedrich, this Year, made a short run to Holland, --andthat actual momentary sight of him happens thereby to be still possible. 

In Summer, 1755, after the West-Country Reviews, and a short Journeyinto Ost-Friesland, whence to Wesel on the Rhine, --whither Friedrich hadinvited D'Alembert to meet him, whom he finds "UN TRES-AIMABLE GARCON, "likely for the task in hand, --Friedrich decided on a run into Holland:strictly INCOGNITO, accompanied only by Balbi (Engineer, a Genoese) andone page. Bade his D'Alembert adieu; and left Wesel thitherwardJune 19th. [Rodenbeck, i. 287. ] At Amsterdam he viewed the BramkampPicture-Gallery, the illustrious Country-house of Jew Pinto atTULPENBURG (Tulip-borough!). . . "I saw nothing but whim-whams(COLIFICHETS), " says he: "I gave myself out for a Musician of theKing of Poland;" wore a black wig moreover, "and was nowhere known:"[--OEuvres, --xxvii. I. 268 ("Potsdam, 28th June, 1755;" and ib. P. 270), to Wilhelmina, who is now on the return from her Italian Journey. UNCERTAIN Anecdotes of adventures among the whim-whams, in Rodenbeck, &c. ]--and, for finis, got into the common Passage-Boat (TREKSCHUIT, no doubt) for Utrecht, that he might see the other fine Country-housesalong the Vechte. Fine enough Country-houses, --not mud and sedges themain thing, as idle readers think. To Arnheim up the Vechte in thismanner; Wesel and his own Country just at hand again. 

Now it happened that a young Swiss--poor enough in purse, but notwithout talent and eyesight, assistant Teacher in some Boarding-schoolthereabouts; name of him De Catt, age twenty-seven, "born at Morges nearGeneva 1728"--had got holiday, or had got errand, poor good soul; haddecided, on this same day (23d June, 1755), to go to Utrecht, and sostept into the very boat where Friedrich was. He himself (in a Letterwritten long after to Editor LAVEAUX) shall tell us the rest:--

"As I could n't get into the ROEF (cabin) because it was all engaged, Istayed with the other passengers in the Steerage (DANS LA BARQUE MEME), and the weather being fine, came up on deck. After some time, therestept out of the Cabin a man in cinnamon-colored coat with goldbutton-HOLES; in black wig; face and coat considerably dusted withSpanish snuff. He looked fixedly at me, for a while; and then said, without farther preface, 'Who are you, Monsieur?' This cavalier tonefrom an unknown person, whose exterior indicated nothing very important, did not please me; and I declined satisfying his curiosity. He wassilent. But, some time after, he took a more courteous tone, and said:'Come in here to me, Monsieur! You will be better here than in theSteerage, amid the tobacco-smoke. ' This polite address put an end toall anger; and as the singular manner of the man excited my curiosity, I took advantage of his invitation. We sat down, and began to speakconfidentially with one another. 

"Do you see the man in the garden yonder, sitting smoking his pipe?'said he to me: 'That man, you may depend upon it, is not happy. '--'Iknow not, ' answered I: 'but it seems to me, until one knows a man, andis completely acquainted with his situation and his way of thought, onecannot possibly determine whether he is happy or unhappy. '

"My gentleman admitted this [very good-natured!]; and led theconversation on the Dutch Government. He criticised it, --probably tobring me to speak. I did speak; and gave him frankly to know that hewas not perfectly instructed in the thing he was criticising. --'Youare right, ' answered he; 'one can only criticise what one is thoroughlyacquainted with. '--He now began to speak of Religion; and with eloquenttongue to recount what mischief Scholastic Philosophy had brought uponthe world; then tried to prove 'That Creation was impossible. ' At thislast point I stood out in opposition. 'But how can one create Somethingout of Nothing?' said he. 'That is not the question, ' answered I; 'thequestion is, Whether such a Being as God can or cannot give existence towhat has yet none. ' He seemed embarrassed, and added, 'But the Universeis eternal. '--'You are in a circle, ' said I; 'how will you get out ofit?'--'I skip over it" said he, laughing; and then began to speak ofother things. 

"'What form of Government do you reckon the best?' inquired he, among other things. 'The monarchic, if the King is just andenlightened. '--'Very well, ' answered he; 'but where will you find Kingsof that sort?' And thereupon went into such a sally upon Kings, as couldnot in the least lead me to the supposition that he was one. In theend he expressed pity for them, that they could not know the sweetsof friendship; and cited on the occasion these verses (his own, Isuppose):--

 --'Amitie, plaisir des grandes ames; Amitie, que les Rois, ces illustres ingrats, Sont assez malheureux de ne connaitre pas!'--

'I have not the honor to be acquainted with Kings, ' said I; 'but tojudge by what one has read in History of several of them, I shouldbelieve, Monsieur, that you, on the whole, are right. '--'AH, OUI, OUI, Iam right; I know the gentlemen!'

"We now got to speak of Literature. The stranger expressed himself withenthusiastic admiration of Racine. A droll incident happened duringour dialogue. My gentleman wanted to let down a little sash-window, andcould n't manage it. 'You don't understand that, ' said I; 'let medo that. ' I tried to get it down; but succeeded no better than he. 'Monsieur, ' said he, 'allow me to remark, on my side, that you, upon myhonor, understand as little of it as I!'--'That is true; and I beg yourpardon; I was too rash in accusing you of want of expertness. '--'Wereyou ever in Germany?' he now asked me. 'No; but I should like to makethat journey: I am very curious to see the Prussian States, and theirKing, of whom one hears so much. ' And now I began to launch out onFriedrich's actions; but he interrupted me rapidly, with the words:'Nothing more of Kings, Monsieur! What have we to do with them? We willspend the rest of our voyage on more agreeable and cheering objects. 'And now he spoke of the best of all possible worlds; and maintainedthat, in our Planet Earth, there was more Evil than Good. I maintainedthe contrary; and this dispute brought us to the end of our voyage. 

"On quitting me, he said, 'I hope, Monsieur, you will leave me yourname: I am very glad to have made your acquaintance; perhaps we shallsee one another again. ' I replied, as was fitting, to the compliment;and begged him to excuse me for contradicting him a little. 'Ascribethis, ' I concluded, 'to the ill-humor which various little journeys Ihad to make in these days have given me. ' I then told him my name, andwe parted. " [Laveaux, --Histoire de Frederic--(2d edition, Strasbourg, 1789, and blown now into SIX vols. Instead of four; dead all, exceptthis fraction), vi. 365. Seyfarth, ii. 234, is right; ib. 170, wrong, and has led others wrong. ] Parted to meet again; and live together forabout twenty years. 

Of this honest Henri de Catt, whom the King liked on this Interview, and sent for soon after, and at length got as "LECTEUR DU ROI, " weshall hear again. ["September, 1755, " sent for (but De Catt was ill andcouldn't); "December, 1757" got (Rodenbeck, i. 285). ] He did, from 1757onwards, what De Prades now does with more of noise, the old D'Argetfunctions; faithfully and well, for above twenty years;--left aNote-Book (not very Boswellian) about the King, which is latterly inthe Royal Archives at Berlin; and which might without harm, or even withadvantage, be printed, but has never yet been. A very harmless DeCatt. And we are surely obliged to him for this view of the TravellingGentleman "with the cinnamon-colored coat, snuffy nose and black wig, "and his manner of talking on light external subjects, while theinner man of him has weights enough pressing on it. Age still underfive-and-forty, but looks old for his years. 

"June 23d, 1755:" it is in the very days while poor Braddock isstaggering down the Alleghanies; Braddock fairly over the top;--and theFates waiting him, at a Fortnight's distance. Far away, on the otherside of the World. But it is notable enough how Pitt is watching thething; and will at length get hand laid on it, and get the kingship overit for above four years. Whereby the JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION willagain, this time on better terms, coalesce with the SILESIAN, orPARTITION-OF-PRUSSIA QUESTION; and both these long Controversies getdefinitely closed, as the Eternal Decrees had seen good.