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diff --git a/2116.txt b/2116.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd092b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/2116.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9047 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. +XVI. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XVI. (of XXI.) + Frederick The Great--The Ten Years of Peace.--1746-1756. + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Posting Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2116] +Release Date: March 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + + + + + +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 upper +table-land of Victory and Success; his desperate life-and-death +struggles triumphantly ended. What may be ahead, nobody knows; but here +is fair outlook that his enemies and Austria itself have had enough of +him. No wringing of his Silesia from this "bad Man." Not to be overset, +this one, by never such exertions; oversets US, on the contrary, plunges +us 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 had +on trying there! "Five Victories!" as Voltaire keeps counting on his +fingers, with upturned eyes,--Mollwitz, Chotusitz, Striegau, Sohr, +Kesselsdorf (the last done by Anhalt; but omitting Hennersdorf, and +that sudden slitting of the big Saxon-Austrian Projects into a cloud of +feathers, as fine a feat as any),--"Five Victories!" counts Voltaire; +calling on everybody (or everybody but Friedrich himself, who is easily +sated with that kind of thing) to admire. In the world are many opinions +about Friedrich. In Austria, for instance, what an opinion; sinister, +gloomy in the extreme: or in England, which derives from Austria,--only +with additional dimness, and with gloomy new provocations of its own +before long! Many opinions about Friedrich, all dim enough: but this, +that he is a very demon for fighting, and the stoutest King walking the +Earth just now, may well be a universal one. A man better not be meddled +with, 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 external +Peace. He himself is decided "not to fight with a cat," if he can get +the peace kept; and for about eight years hopes confidently that this, +by good management, will continue possible;--till, in the last three +years, electric symptoms did again disclose themselves, and such hope +more and more died away. It is well known there lay in the fates a Third +Silesian War for him, worse than both the others; which is now the +main segment of his History still lying ahead for us, were this +Halcyon Period done. Halcyon Period counts from Christmas-day, +Dresden, 1745,--"from this day, Peace to the end of my life!" had been +Friedrich's fond hope. But on the 9th day of September, 1756, Friedrich +was again entering Dresden (Saxony some twelve days before); and the +Crowning Struggle of his Life was, beyond all expectation, found to be +still lying ahead for him, awfully dubious for Seven Years thereafter!-- + +Friedrich's History during this intervening Halcyon or Peace Period +must, in some way, be made known to readers: but for a great many +reasons, especially at present, it behooves to be given in compressed +form; riddled down, to an immense extent, out of those sad Prussian +Repositories, where the grain of perennial, of significant and still +memorable, lies overwhelmed under rubbish-mountains of the fairly +extinct, the poisonously dusty and forgettable;--ACH HIMMEL! Which +indispensable preliminary process, how can an English Editor, at this +time, do it; no Prussian, at any time, having thought of trying it! From +a painful Predecessor of mine, I collect, rummaging among his dismal +Paper-masses, the following Three Fragments, worth reading here:-- + +1. "Friedrich was as busy, in those Years, as in the generality of his +life; and his actions, and salutary conquests over difficulties, were +many, profitable to Prussia and to himself. Very well worth keeping in +mind. 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 the +means;--such details belonging to the Prussian Antiquary, rather than +to the English Historian of Friedrich in our day. A happy Ten Years of +time. Perhaps the time for Montesquieu's aphorism, 'Happy the People +whose Annals are blank in History-Books!' The Prussian Antiquary, had +he once got any image formed to himself of Friedrich, and of Friedrich's +History in its human lineaments and organic sequences, will glean many +memorabilia in those Years: which his readers then (and not till then) +will be able to intercalate in their places, and get human good of. But +alas, while there is no intelligible human image, nothing of lineaments +or organic sequences, or other than a jumbled mass of Historical +Marine-Stores, presided over by Dryasdust and Human Stupor (unsorted, +unlabelled, tied up in blind sacks), the very Antiquary will have uphill +work of it, and his readers will often turn round on him with a gloomy +expression of countenance!" + +2. "Friedrich's Life--little as he expected it, that day when he started +up from his ague-fit at Reinsberg, and grasped the fiery Opportunity +that was shooting past--is a Life of War. The chief memory that will +remain 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 so +unwilling, always, to think it denied! But his Life-Task turned out to +be a Battle for Silesia. It consists of Three grand Struggles of War. +And not for Silesia only;--unconsciously, for what far greater things to +his Nation and to him! + +"Deeply unconscious of it, they were passing their 'Trials,' his Nation +and 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 question +which has to be asked of Nations, before they can be recognized as such, +and be baptized into the general commonwealth; they are mere Hordes +or accidental Aggregates, till that Question come. Question which this +Nation had long been getting ready for; which now, under this King, it +answered to the satisfaction of gods and men: 'Yes, Heaven assisting, we +can stand on our defence; and in the long-run (as with air when you +try to annihilate it, or crush it to NOTHING) there is even an infinite +force in us; and the whole world does not succeed in annihilating us!' +Upon which has followed what we term National Baptism;--or rather this +was the National Baptism, this furious one in torrent whirlwinds of +fire; done three times over, till in gods or men there was no doubt +left. That was Friedrich's function in the world; and a great and +memorable one;--not to his own Prussian Nation only, but to Teutschland +at large, forever memorable. + +"'Is Teutschland a Nation; is there in Teutschland still a Nation?' +Austria, not dishonestly, but much sunk in superstitions and involuntary +mendacities, and liable to sink much farther, answers always, in gloomy +proud tone, 'Yes, I am the Nation of Teutschland!'--but is mistaken, +as turns out. For it is not mendacities, conscious or other, but +veracities, that the Divine Powers will patronize, or even in the end +will put up with at all. Which you ought to understand better than you +do, my friend. For, on the great scale and on the small, and in all +seasons, circumstances, scenes and situations where a Son of Adam finds +himself, that is true, and even a sovereign truth. And whoever does not +know it,--human charity to him (were such always possible) would be, +that HE were furnished with handcuffs as a part of his outfit in this +world, and put under guidance of those who do. Yes; to him, I +should say, a private pair of handcuffs were much usefuler than a +ballot-box,--were the times once settled again, which they are far from +being!"... + +"So that, if there be only Austria for Nation, Teutschland is in ominous +case. Truly so. But there is in Teutschland withal, very irrecognizable +to Teutschland, yet authentically present, a Man of the properly +unconquerable type; there is also a select Population drilled for him: +these two together will prove to you that there is a Nation. Conquest +of Silesia, Three Silesian Wars; labors and valors as of Alcides, in +vindication of oneself and one's Silesia:--secretly, how unconsciously, +that other and higher Question of Teutschland, and of its having in it +a Nation, was Friedrich's sore task and his Prussia's at that time. As +Teutschland may be perhaps now, in our day, beginning to recognize; with +hope, with astonishment, poor Teutschland!"... + +3. "And in fine, leaving all that, there is one thing undeniable: In all +human Narrative, it is the battle only, and not the victory, that can +be dwelt upon with advantage. Friedrich has now, by his Second +Silesian War, achieved Greatness: 'Friedrich the Great;' expressly +so denominated, by his People and others. The struggle upwards is the +Romance; your hero once wedded,--to GLORY, or whoever the Bride may +be,--the Romance ends. Precise critics do object, That there may +still lie difficulties, new perils and adventures ahead:--which proves +conspicuously true in this case of ours. And accordingly, our Book not +being a Romance but a History, let us, with all fidelity, look out +what these are, and how they modify our Royal Gentleman who has got his +wedding done. With all fidelity; but with all brevity, no less. For, +inasmuch as"-- + +Well, brevity in most cases is desirable. And, privately, it must be +owned there is another consideration of no small weight: That, +our Prussian resources falling altogether into bankruptcy during +Peace-Periods, Nature herself has so ordered it, in this instance! +Partly it is our Books (the Prussian Dryasdust reaching his acme on +those occasions), but in part too it is the Events themselves, that are +small and want importance; that have fallen dead to us, in the huge new +Time and its uproars. Events not of flagrant notability (like battles or +war-passages), to bridle Dryasdust, and guide him in some small measure. +Events rather which, except as characteristic of one memorable Man +and King, are mostly now of no memorability whatever. Crowd all these +indiscriminately into sacks, and shake them out pell-mell on us: that is +Dryasdust's sweet way. As if the largest Marine-Stores Establishment in +all the world had suddenly, on hest of some Necromancer or maleficent +person, 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 forth +SOMEthing. 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 at +such 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"--little +said, when little has been got to be known--is an evident rule! +Courage, reader; by good eyesight, you will still catch some features +of Friedrich as we go along. To SAY our little in a not unintelligible +manner, 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 by +the 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 or +two others contiguous in date, which prove to be of significance in +Friedrich's History. + +"MAY 12-17th, 1746," say the old Books, "his Majesty sets out for +Pyrmont, taking Brunswick by the way; arrives at Pyrmont May 17th; stays +till June 8th;" three weeks good. "Is busy corresponding with the King +of France about a General Peace; but, owing to the embitterment of both +parties, it was not possible at this time." Taking the waters at least, +and amusing himself. From Brunswick, in passing, he had brought with him +his Brother-in-law the reigning Duke; Rothenburg was there, and Brother +Henri; D'Arget expressly; Flute-player Quanz withal, and various musical +people: "in all, a train of above sixty persons." I notice also that +Prince Wilhelm of Hessen was in Pyrmont at the time. With whom, one +fancies, what speculations there might be: About the late and present +War-passages, about the poor Peace Prospects; your Hessian "Siege" so +called "of Blair in Athol" (CULLODEN now comfortably done), and other +cognate topics. That is the Pyrmont Journey. + +It is no surprise to us to hear, in these months, of new and continual +attention to Army matters, to Husbandry matters; and to making good, on +all sides, the ruins left by War. Of rebuilding (at the royal expense) +"the town of Schmiedeberg, which had been burnt;" of rebuilding, and +repairing from their damage, all Silesian villages and dwellings; and +still more satisfactory, How, "in May, 1746, there was, in every Circle +of 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 the +horses stolen by the Enemy, and of all the money-contributions exacted +by the Enemy: payment in ready cash, and according to the rules of +justice (BAAR UND BILLIGMASSIG), by his Majesty." [Seyfarth, ii. 22, +23.] + +It was from Pyrmont, May, 1746,--or more definitely, it was "at Potsdam +early in the morning, 15th September," following,--that Friedrich +launched, or shot forth from its moorings, after much previous +attempting and preparing, a very great Enterprise; which he has never +lost sight of since the day he began reigning, nor will till his reign +and life end: the actual Reform of Law in Prussia. "May 12th, 1746," +Friedrich, on the road to Pyrmont, answers his Chief Law-Minister +Cocceji's REPORT OF PRACTICAL PLAN on this matter: "Yes; looks very +hopeful!"--and took it with him to consider at Pyrmont, during his +leisure. Much considering of it, then and afterwards, there was. And +finally, September 15th, early in the morning, Cocceji had an Interview +with Friedrich; and the decisive fiat was given: "Yes; start on it, in +God's name! Pommern, which they call the PROVINCIA LITIGIOSA; try it +there first!" [Ranke, ii. 392.] And Cocceji, a vigorous old man of +sixty-seven, one of the most learned of Lawyers, and a very Hercules in +cleaning Law-Stables, has, on Friedrich's urgencies,--which have been +repeated on every breathing-time of Peace there has been, and even +sometimes in the middle of War (last January, 1745, for example; +and again, express Order, January, 1746, a fortnight after Peace was +signed),--actually got himself girt for this salutary work. "Wash me out +that horror of accumulation, let us see the old Pavements of the place +again. Every Lawsuit to be finished within the Year!" + +Cocceji, who had been meditating such matters for a great while, ["1st +March, 1738," Friedrich Wilhelm's "Edict" on Law Reform: Cocceji ready, +at that time;--but his then Majesty forbore.] and was himself eager +to proceed, in spite of considerable wigged oppositions and secret +reluctances that there were, did now, on that fiat of September 15th, +get his Select Commission of Six riddled together and adjoined to +him,--the likeliest Six that Prussia, in her different Provinces, +could yield;--and got the STANDE of Pommern, after due committeeing and +deliberating, to consent and promise help. December 31st, 1746, was the +day the STANDE consented: and January 10th, 1747, Cocceji and his Six +set out for Pommern. On a longish Enterprise, in that Province and the +others;--of which we shall have to take notice, and give at least the +dates as they occur. + +To sweep out pettifogging Attorneys, cancel improper Advocates, to +regulate Fees; to war, in a calm but deadly manner, against pedantries, +circumlocutions and the multiplied forms of stupidity, cupidity and +human owlery in this department;--and, on the whole, to realize from +every Court, now and onwards, "A decision to all Lawsuits within a +Year after their beginning." This latter result, Friedrich thinks, +will itself be highly beneficial; and be the sign of all manner of +improvements. And Cocceji, scanning it with those potent law-eyes of +his, 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, and +himself once such,--was picked up by Friedrich Wilhelm, for the +Official career, many years ago. A man of wholesome, by no means weakly +aspect,--to judge by his Portrait, which is the chief 'Biography' I +have of him. Potent eyes and eyebrows, ditto blunt nose; honest, almost +careless 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 'a +man of sterling character (CARACTERE INTEGRE ET DROIT), whose +qualities would have suited the noble times of the Roman Republic.'" +[--OEuvres,--iv. 2.] He has his Herculean battle, his Master and he +have, with the Owleries and the vulturous Law-Pedantries,--which I +always love Friedrich for detesting as he does:--and, during the next +five years, the world will hear often of Cocceji, and of this Prussian +Law-Reform by Friedrich and him. + +His Majesty's exertions to make Peace were not successful; what does lie +in his power is, to keep out of the quarrel himself. It appears great +hopes were entertained, by some in England, of gaining Friedrich over; +of making him Supreme Captain to the Cause of Liberty. And prospects +were held out to him, quasi-offers made, of a really magnificent +nature,--undeniable, though obscure. Herr Ranke has been among the +Archives again; and comes out with fractional snatches of a very strange +"Paper from England;" capriciously hiding all details about it, all +intelligible explanation: so that you in vain ask, "Where, When, How, By +whom?"--and can only guess to yourself that Carteret was somehow at +the bottom of the thing; AUT CARTERETUS AUT DIABOLUS. "What would +your Majesty think to be elected Stadtholder of Holland? Without a +Stadtholder, these Dutch are worth nothing; not hoistable, nor of use +when hoisted, all palavering and pulling different ways. Must have +a 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 Germanic +Anti-French War, you; and drive it in the style you have. Conquer back +the Netherlands to us; French Netherlands as well. French and Austrian +Netherlands together, yours in perpetuity; Dutch Stadtholderate as good +as ditto: this, with Prussia and its fighting capabilities, will be a +pleasant Protestant thing. Austria cares little about the Netherlands, +in comparison. Austria, getting back its Lorraine and Alsace, will be +content, 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 let +France 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 extraordinary +Document; [Ranke, iii. 359.] guessable as due to CARTERETUS or DIABOLUS. +Here is an outlook; here is a career as Conquering Hero, if that were +one's line! A very magnificent ground-plan; hung up to kindle the fancy +of a young King,--who is far too prudent to go into it at all. More +definite quasi-official offers, it seems, were made him from the same +quarter: Subsidies to begin with, such subsidies as nobody ever had +before; say 1,000,000 pounds sterling by the Year. To which Friedrich +answered, "Subsidies, your Excellency?" (Are We a Hackney-Coachman, +then?)--and, with much contempt, turned his back on that offer. No +fighting to be had, by purchase or seduction, out of this young man. +Will not play the Conquering Hero at all, nor the Hackney-Coachman +at all; has decided "not to fight a cat" if let alone; but to do and +endeavor 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 modestly +thankful for getting out of such a deadly clash of chaotic swords. Seems +to 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 can +hear, with his old comrades only, in praise of THEIR prowesses; as +a simple human being, not as a supreme of captains; and at times +acknowledges, in a fine sincere way, the omnipotence of Luck in matters +of War. + +One of the most characteristic traits, extensively symbolical of +Friedrich's intentions and outlooks at this Epoch, is his installing +of himself in the little Dwelling-House, which has since become so +celebrated under the name of Sans-Souci. The plan of Sans-Souci--an +elegant commodious little "Country Box," quite of modest pretensions, +one story high; on the pleasant Hill-top near Potsdam, with other little +green Hills, and pleasant views of land and water, all round--had been +sketched in part by Friedrich himself; and the diggings and terracings +of the Hill-side were just beginning, when he quitted for the Last +War. "April 14th, 1745," while he lay in those perilous enigmatic +circumstances 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 steadily +proceeding while the Master struggled in those dangerous battles and +adventures far away from it, was in good forwardness at his return. An +object 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 200 +covers: and May 19th-20th was the first night of his sleeping there." +For the next Forty Years, especially as years advanced, he spent the +most of his days and nights in this little Mansion; which became more +and more his favorite retreat, whenever the noises and scenic etiquettes +were not inexorable. "SANS-SOUCI;" which we may translate "No-Bother." A +busy place this too, but of the quiet kind; and more a home to him +than any of the Three fine Palaces (ultimately Four), which lay always +waiting for him in the neighborhood. Berlin and Charlottenburg are +about twenty miles off; Potsdam, which, like the other two, is rather +consummate among Palaces, lies leftwise in front of him within a short +mile. And at length, to RIGHT hand, in a similar distance and direction, +came the "NEUE SCHLOSS" (New Palace of Potsdam), called also the "PALACE +of Sans-Souci," in distinction from the Dwelling-House, or as it were +Garden-House, which made that name so famous. + +Certainly it is a significant feature of Friedrich; and discloses the +inborn proclivity he had to retirement, to study and reflection, as the +chosen element of human life. Why he fell upon so ambitious a title for +his Royal Cottage? "No-Bother" was not practically a thing he, of all +men, could consider possible in this world: at the utmost perhaps, by +good care, "LESS-Bother"! The name, it appears, came by accident. He had +prepared 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 JE +SERAI SANS SOUCI (Once THERE, one will be out of bother)!" A saying +which was rumored of, and repeated in society, being by such a man. Out +of 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," the +name 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, a +little Alcove with an iron Bed" (iron, without curtains; old softened +HAT the usual royal nightcap)--altogether a soldier's lodging:--all this +still stands as it did. Cheerfully looking down on its garden-terraces, +stairs, Greek statues, and against the free sky:--perhaps we may visit +it in time coming, and take a more special view. In the Years now on +hand, Friedrich, I think, did not much practically live there, only +shifted thither now and then. His chief residence is still Potsdam +Palace; and in Carnival time, that of Berlin; with Charlottenburg for +occasional festivities, especially in summer, the gardens there being +fine. + +This of Sans-Souci is but portion of a wider Tendency, wider set of +endeavors on Friedrich's part, which returns upon him now that Peace has +returned: That of improving his own Domesticities, while he labors at +so many public improvements. Gazing long on that simmering "Typhoon +of Marine-stores" above mentioned, we do trace Three great Heads of +Endeavor in this Peace Period. FIRST, the Reform of Law; which, as above +hinted, is now earnestly pushed forward again, and was brought to what +was thought completion before long. With much rumor of applause from +contemporary mankind. Concerning which we are to give some indications, +were it only dates in their order: though, as the affair turned out +not to be completed, but had to be taken up again long after, and is an +affair lying wide of British ken,--there need not, and indeed cannot, +be much said of it just now. SECONDLY, there is eager Furthering of the +Husbandries, the Commerces, Practical Arts,--especially at present, that +of Foreign Commerce, and Shipping from the Port of Embden. Which shall +have due notice. And THIRDLY, what must be our main topic here, there +is that of Improving the Domesticities, the Household Enjoyments such +as they were;--especially definable as Renewal of the old Reinsberg +Program; attempt more strenuous than ever to realize that beautiful +ideal. Which, and the total failure of which, and the consequent +quasi-abandonment of it for time coming, are still, intrinsically and by +accident, of considerable interest to modern readers. + +Curious, and in some sort touching, to observe how that old original +Life-Program still re-emerges on this King: "Something of melodious +possible in one's poor life, is not there? A Life to the Practical +Duties, yes; but to the Muses as well!"--Of Friedrich's success in +his Law-Reforms, in his Husbandries, Commerces and Furtherances, +conspicuously great as it was, there is no possibility of making +careless readers cognizant at this day. Only by the great results--a +"Prussia QUADRUPLED" in his time, and the like--can studious readers +convince themselves, in a cold and merely statistic way. But in respect +of Life to the Muses, we have happily the means of showing that in +actual vitality; in practical struggle towards fulfillment,--and how +extremely disappointing the result was. In a word, Voltaire pays his +Fifth and final Visit in this Period; the Voltaire matter comes to its +consummation. To that, as to one of the few things which are perfectly +knowable in this Period of TEN-YEARS PEACE, and in which mankind still +take interest, we purpose mostly to devote ourselves here. + +Ten years of a great King's life, ten busy years too; and nothing +visible in them, of main significance, but a crash of Author's Quarrels, +and the Crowning Visit of Voltaire? Truly yes, reader; so it has been +ordered. Innumerable high-dressed gentlemen, gods of this lower world, +are gone all to inorganic powder, no comfortable or profitable memory to +be held of them more; and this poor Voltaire, without implement except +the tongue and brain of him,--he is still a shining object to all the +populations; and they say and symbol to me, "Tell us of him! He is the +man!" Very strange indeed. Changed times since, for dogs barking at the +heels of him, and lions roaring ahead,--for Asses of Mirepoix, for foul +creatures in high dizenment, and foul creatures who were hungry valets +of the same,--this man could hardly get the highways walked! And +indeed had to keep his eyes well open, and always have covert within +reach,--under pain of being torn to pieces, while he went about in the +flesh, or rather in the bones, poor lean being. Changed times; within +the Century last past! For indeed there was in that man what far +transcends all dizenment, and temporary potency over valets, over +legions, treasure-vaults and dim millions mostly blockhead: a spark +of Heaven's own lucency, a gleam from the Eternities (in small +measure);--which becomes extremely noticeable when the Dance is over, +when your tallow-dips and wax-lights are burnt out, and the brawl of the +night is gone to bed. + + + + +Chapter II.--PEEP AT VOLTAIRE AND HIS DIVINE EMILIE (BY CANDLELIGHT) IN +THE TIDE OF EVENTS. + +Public European affairs require little remembrance; the War burning well +to leeward of us henceforth. A huge world of smoky chaos; the special +fires of it, if there be anything of fire, are all the more clear far +in the distance. Of which sort, and of which only, the reader is to have +notice. Marechal de Saxe--King Louis oftenest personally there, to +give his name and countenance to things done--is very glorious in +the 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 the +end of 1746, he is close upon Holland itself; intent on having Namur and +Maestricht; for which the poor Sea-Powers, with a handful of Austrians, +fight two Battles, and are again beaten both times. [1. Battle of +Roucoux, 11th October, 1746; Prince Karl commanding, English taking +mainly the stress of fight;--Saxe having already outwitted poor Karl, +and got Namur. 2. Battle of Lawfelt, or Lauffeld, called also of VAL, 2d +July, 1747; Royal Highness of Cumberland commanding (and taking most +of the stress; Ligonier made prisoner, &c.),--Dutch fighting ill, and +Bathyani and his Austrians hardly in the fire at all.] A glorious, +ever-victorious Marechal; and has an Army very "high-toned," in more +than one sense: indeed, I think, one of the loudest-toned Armies ever +on the field before. Loud not with well-served Artillery alone, but with +play-actor Thunder-barrels (always an itinerant Theatre attends), with +gasconading talk, with orgies, debaucheries,--busy service of the Devil, +AND pleasant consciousness that we are Heaven's masterpiece, and are +in 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, "Holland +and England, for their own sake, will manage there!"--and directs all +her resources, and her lately Anti-Prussian Armies (General Browne +leading them) upon Italy, as upon the grand interest now. Little to the +comfort of the Sea-Powers. But Hungarian Majesty is decided to cut +in upon the French and Spaniards, in that fine Country,--who had been +triumphing too much of late; Maillebois and Senor de Gages doing their +mutual exploits (though given to quarrel); Don Philip wintering in Milan +even (1745-1746); and the King of Sardinia getting into French courses +again. + +Strong cuts her Hungarian Majesty does inflict, on the Italian side; +tumbles Infant Philip out of Milan and his Carnival gayeties, in plenty +of hurry; besieges Genoa, Marquis Botta d'Adorno (our old acquaintance +Botta) her siege-captain, a native of this region; brings back the +wavering Sardinian Majesty; captures Genoa, and much else. Captures +Genoa, we say,--had not Botta been too rigorous on his countrymen, and +provoked a revolt again, Revolt of Genoa, which proved difficult to +settle. In fine, Hungarian Majesty has, in the course of this year 1746, +with aid of the reconfirmed Sardinian Majesty, satisfactorily beaten the +French and Spaniards. Has--after two murderous Battles gained over the +Maillebois-Gages people--driven both French and Spaniards into corners, +Maillebois altogether home again across the Var;--nay has descended in +actual Invasion upon France itself. And, before New-year's day, +1747, General Browne is busy besieging Antibes, aided by English +Seventy-fours; so that "sixty French Battalions" have to hurry home, +from winter-quarters, towards those Provencal Countries; and Marechal de +Belleisle, who commands there, has his hands full. Triumphant enough +her Hungarian Majesty, in Italy; while in the Netherlands, the poor +Sea-Powers have met with no encouragement from the Fates or her. +["Battle of Piacenza" (Prince Lichtenstein, with whom is Browne, VERSUS +Gages and Maillebois), 16th June, 1746 (ADELUNG, v. 427); "Battle of +Rottofreddo" (Botta chief Austrian there, and our old friend Barenklau +getting killed there), 12th August, 1746 (IB. 462); whereupon, 7th +SEPTEMBER, Genoa (which had declared itself Anti-Austrian latterly, not +without cause, and brought the tug of War into those parts) is coerced +by 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 mended +during 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 his +convenience;--but will be glad rather, for the present, to go with us +for an actual look at M. de Voltaire and the divine Emilie, whom we have +not seen for a long time. Not much has happened in the interim; one or +two things only which it can concern us to know;--scattered fragments of +memorial, on the way thus far:-- + +1. M. DE VOLTAIRE HAS, IN 1745, MADE WAY AT COURT. Divine Emilie picked +up her Voltaire from that fine Diplomatic course, and went home with him +out of our sight, in the end of 1743; the Diplomatic career gradually +declaring itself barred to him thenceforth. Since which, nevertheless, +he has had his successes otherwise, especially in his old Literary +course: on the whole, brighter sunshine than usual, though never without +tempestuous clouds attending. Goes about, with his divine Emilie, now +wearing browner and leaner, both of them; and takes the good and evil of +life, mostly in a quiet manner; sensible that afternoon is come. + +The thrice-famous Pompadour, who had been known to him in the Chrysalis +state, did not forget him on becoming Head-Butterfly of the Universe. By +her help, one long wish of his soul was gratified, and did not hunger or +thirst any more. Some uncertain footing at Court, namely, was at length +vouchsafed him:--uncertain; for the Most Christian Majesty always rather +shuddered under those carbuncle eyes, under that voice "sombre and +majestious," with such turns lying in it:--some uncertain footing at +Court; and from the beginning of 1745, his luck, in the Court spheres, +began to mount in a wonderful and world-evident manner. On grounds +tragically silly, as he thought them. On the Dauphin's Wedding,--a +Termagant's Infanta coming hither as Dauphiness, at this time,--there +needed to be Court-shows, Dramaticules, Transparencies, Feasts of +Lanterns, or I know not what. Voltaire was the chosen man; Voltaire and +Rameau (readers have heard of RAMEAU'S NEPHEW, and musical readers still +esteem Rameau) did their feat; we may think with what perfection, with +what splendor of reward. Alas, and the feat done was, to one of the +parties, so unspeakably contemptible! Voltaire pensively surveying Life, +brushes the sounding strings; and hums to himself, the carbuncle eyes +carrying 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], could +never purchase me a single glance of the King; I had multitudes of +enemies, 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 no +means CALLED itself such) was PRINCESSE DE NAVARRE (--OEuvres,--lxxiii. +251): first acted 23d February, 1745, Day of the Wedding. Gentlemanship +of the Chamber thereupon (which Voltaire, by permission, sold, shortly +after, for 2,500 pounds, with titles retained), and appointment as +Historiographer Royal. Poor Dauphiness did not live long; Louis XVI.'s +Mother was a SECOND Wife, Saxon-Polish Majesty's Daughter.] Yes, my +friend; it is a considerable ass, this world; by no means the Perfectly +Wise put at the top of it (as one could wish), and the Perfectly Foolish +at the bottom. Witness--nay, witness Psyche Pompadour herself, is not +she an emblem! Take your luck without criticism; luck good and bad +visits all. + +2. AND GOT INTO THE ACADEMY NEXT YEAR, IN CONSEQUENCE. In 1746, the +Academy itself, Pompadour favoring, is made willing; Voltaire sees +himself among the Forty: soul, on that side too, be at ease, and hunger +not nor thirst anymore. ["May 9th, 1746, Voltaire is received at the +Academy; and makes a very fine Discourse" (BARBIER, ii. 488).--OEuvres +de Voltaire,--lxxiii. 355, 385, and i. 97.] This highest of felicities +could not be achieved without an ugly accompaniment from the surrounding +Populace. Desfontaines is dead, safe down in Sodom; but wants not for +a successor, for a whole Doggery of such. Who are all awake, and giving +tongue on this occasion. There is M. Roi the "Poet," as he was then +reckoned; jingling Roi, who concocts satirical calumnies; who collects +old ones, reprints the same,--and sends Travenol, an Opera-Fiddler, +to vend them. From which sprang a Lawsuit, PROCES-TRAVENOL, of famous +melancholy sort. As Voltaire had rather the habit of such sad melancholy +Lawsuits, we will pause on this of Travenol for a moment:-- + +3. SUMMARY OF TRAVENOL LAWSUIT. "Monday, 9th May, 1746, was the Day +or reception at the Academy; reception and fruition, thrice-savory to +Voltaire. But what an explosion of the Doggeries, before, during and +after that event! Voltaire had tried to be prudent, too. He had been +corresponding with Popes, with Cardinals; and, in a fine frank-looking +way, capturing their suffrages:--not by lying, which in general he +wishes to avoid, but by speaking half the truth; in short, by advancing, +in a dexterous, diplomatic way, the uncloven foot, in those Vatican +precincts. And had got the Holy Father's own suffrage for MAHOMET (think +of that, you Ass of Mirepoix!), among other cases that might rise. When +this seat among the Forty fell vacant, his very first measure--mark it, +Orthodox reader--was a Letter to the Chief Jesuit, Father Latour, Head +of one's old College of Louis le Grand. A Letter of fine filial +tenor: 'My excellent old Schoolmasters, to whom I owe everything; the +representatives of learning, of decorum, of frugality and modest human +virtue:--in what contrast to the obscure Doggeries poaching about in +the 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 Collections +of--OEuvres de Voltaire.--] Which captivated Father Latour; and made +matters smooth on that side; so that even the ANCIEN DE MIREPOIX said +nothing, this time: What could he say? No cloven foot visible, and the +Authorities strong. + +"Voltaire had started as Candidate with these judicious preliminaries. +Voltaire was elected, as we saw; fine Discourse, 9th May; and on the +Official side all things comfortable. But, in the mean while, the +Doggeries, as natural, seeing the thing now likely, had risen to +a never-imagined pitch; and had filled Paris, and, to Voltaire's +excruciated sense, the Universe, with their howlings and their +hyena-laughter, with their pasquils, satires, old and new. So that +Voltaire could not stand it; and, in evil hour, rushed downstairs +upon them; seized one poor dog, Travenol, unknown to him as Fiddler or +otherwise; pinioned Dog Travenol, with pincers, by the ears, him for +one;--proper Police-pincers, for we are now well at Court;--and had a +momentary joy! And, alas, this was not the right dog; this, we say, was +Travenol a Fiddler at the Opera, who, except the street-noises, knew +nothing of Voltaire; much less had the least pique at him; but had taken +to hawking certain Pasquils (Jingler Roi's COLLECTION, it appears), to +turn a desirable penny by them. + +"And mistakes were made in the Affair Travenol,--old FATHER Travenol +haled to prison, instead of Son,--by the Lieutenant of Police and +his people. And Voltaire took the high-hand method (being well at +Court):--and thereupon hungry Advocates took up Dog Travenol and his +pincered ears: 'Serene Judges of the Chatelet, Most Christian Populace +of Paris, did you ever see a Dog so pincered by an Academical Gentleman +before, merely for being hungry?' And Voltaire, getting madder and +madder, appealed to the Academy (which would not interfere); filed +Criminal Informations; appealed to the Chatelet, to the Courts above +and to the Courts below; and, for almost a year, there went on the +'PROCES-TRAVENOL:' [About Mayday, 1746, Seizure of Travenol; Pleadings +are in vigor August, 1746; not done April, 1747. _In--Voltairiana,--_ii. +141-206, Pleadings, &c., copiously given; and most of the original +Libels, in different parts of that sad Book (compiled by Travenol's +Advocate, a very sad fellow himself): see also--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxiii. 355 n., 385 n.; IB. i. 97; BARBIER, ii. 487. All in a +very jumbled, dateless, vague and incorrect condition.] Olympian Jove +in distressed circumstances VERSUS a hungry Dog who had eaten dirty +puddings. Paris, in all its Saloons and Literary Coffee-houses (figure +the ANTRE DE PROCOPE, on Publication nights!), had, monthly or so, +the exquisite malign banquet; and grinned over the Law Pleadings: what +Magazine Serial of our day can be so interesting to the emptiest mind! + +"Lasted, I find, for above a year. From Spring, 1746, till towards +Autumn, 1747: Voltaire's feelings being--Haha, so exquisite, all the +while!--Well, reader, I can judge how amusing it was to high and low. +And yet Phoebus Apollo going about as mere Cowherd of Admetus, and +exposed to amuse the populace by his duels with dogs that have bitten +him? It is certain Voltaire was a fool, not to be more cautious of +getting into gutter-quarrels; not to have a thicker skin, in fact." + +PROCES-TRAVENOL escorting one's Triumphal Entry; what an adjunct! Always +so: always in your utmost radiance of sunshine a shadow; and in your +softest outburst of Lydian or Spheral symphonies something of eating +Care! Then too, in the Court-circle itself, "is Trajan pleased," or are +all things well? Readers have heard of that "TRAJAN EST-IL CONTENT?" It +occurred Winter, 1745 (27th November, 1745, a date worth marking), while +things were still in the flush of early hope. That evening, our TEMPLE +DE LA GLOIRE (Temple of Glory) had just been acted for the first time, +in honor of him we may call "Trajan," returning from a "Fontenoy +and Seven Cities captured:" [Seven of them; or even eight of a kind: +Tournay, Ghent, Bruges, Nieuport, Dendermond, Ath, Ostend; and nothing +lost 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 honor +to see his Majesty pass out; Majesty escorted by Richelieu, one's +old friend in a sense: "Is Trajan pleased?" whispered Voltaire to his +Richelieu; overheard by Trajan,--who answered in words nothing, but in +a visible glance of the eyes did answer, "Impertinent Lackey!"--Trajan +being a man unready with speech; and disliking trouble with the people +whom 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 the +Pompadour, could she, Head-Butterfly of the Universe, be an anchor that +would hold, if gales rose? Rather she is herself somewhat of a gale, of +a continual liability to gales; unstable as the wind! Voltaire did +his best to be useful, as Court Poet, as director of Private +Theatricals;--above all, to soothe, to flatter Pompadour; and never +neglected this evident duty. But, by degrees, the envious Lackey-people +made cabals; turned the Divine Butterfly into comparative indifference +for Voltaire; into preference of a Crebillon's poor faded Pieces: +"Suitabler these, Madame, for the Private Theatricals of a Most +Christian Majesty." Think what a stab; crueler than daggers through +one's heart: "Crebillon?" M. de Voltaire said nothing; looked nothing, +in those sacred circles; and never ceased outwardly his worship, and +assiduous tuning, of the Pompadour: but he felt--as only Phoebus Apollo +in the like case can!"Away!" growled he to himself, when this atrocity +had culminated. And, in effect, is, since the end of 1746 or so, pretty +much withdrawn from the Versailles Olympus; and has set, privately in +the distance (now at Cirey, now at Paris, in our PETIT PALAIS there), +with his whole will and fire, to do Crebillon's dead Dramas into +living oues of his own. Dead CATILINA of Crebillon into ROME SAUVEE of +Voltaire, and the other samples of dead into living,--that stupid old +Crebillon himself and the whole Universe may judge, and even Pompadour +feel a remorse!--Readers shall fancy these things; and that the world is +coming back to its old poor drab color with M. de Voltaire; his divine +Emilie and he rubbing along on the old confused terms. One face-to-face +peep of them readers shall now have; and that is to be enough, or more +than enough:-- + + + + +VOLTAIRE AND THE DIVINE EMILIE APPEAR SUDDENLY, ONE NIGHT, AT SCEAUX. + +About the middle of August, 1747, King Friedrich, I find, was at +home;--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; Silesian +Reviews just ahead; and, for the present, much festivity and moving +about, 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 Fates +left us nothing! + +While all this is astir in Berlin and neighborhood, there is, among the +innumerable other visits in this world, one going on near Paris, in the +Mansion or Palace of Sceaux, which has by chance become memorable. A +visit by Voltaire and his divine Emilie, direct from Paris, I suppose, +and rather on the sudden. Which has had the luck to have a LETTER +written on it, by one of those rare creatures, a seeing Witness, who +can make others see and believe. The seeing Witness is little Madame de +Staal (by no means Necker's Daughter, but a much cleverer), known as one +of the sharpest female heads; she from the spot reports it to Madame du +Deffand, who also is known to readers. There is such a glimpse afforded +here 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 whom +and with whose high ways and magnificent hospitalities at Sceaux, at +Anet and elsewhere, Voltaire had been familiar for long years past. +[In--OEuvres de Voltaire,--lxxiii. 434 n, x. 8, &c., "Clog." and +others represent THIS Visit as having been to Anet,--though the record +otherwise is express.] This Duchess, grand-daughter of the great Conde, +now a dowager for ten years, and herself turned of seventy, has been a +notable figure in French History this great while: a living fragment +of Louis le Grand, as it were. Was wedded to Louis's "Legitimated" +Illegitimate, the Duc du Maine; was in trouble with the Regent d'Orleans +about Alberoni-Cellamare conspiracies (1718), Regent having stript her +husband of his high legitimatures and dignities, with little ceremony; +which led her to conspire a good deal, at one time. [DUC DU MAINE +with COMTE DE TOULOUSE were products of Louis XIV. and Madame de +Montespan:--"legitimated" by Papa's fiat in 1673, while still only young +children; DISlegitimated again by Regent d'Orleans, autumn, 1718; grand +scene, "guards drawn out" and the like, on this occasion (BARBIER, i. +8-11, ii. 181); futile Conspiracies with Alberoni thereupon; arrest +of Duchess and Duke (29th December, 1718), and closure of that poor +business. Duc du Maine died 1736; Toulouse next year; ages, each about +sixty-five. "Duc de Penthievre," Egalite's father-in-law, was Toulouse's +son; Maine has left a famous Dowager, whom we see. Nothing more of +notable about the one or the other.] She was never very beautiful; but +had a world of grace and witty intelligence; and knew a Voltaire when +she saw him. Was the soul of courtesy and benignity, though proud +enough, and carrying her head at its due height; and was always very +charming, in her lofty gracious way, to mankind. Interesting to all, +were it only as a living fragment of the Grand Epoch,--kind of French +Fulness of Time, when the world was at length blessed with a Louis +Quatorze, and Ne-plus-ultra of a Gentleman determined to do the handsome +thing in this world. She is much frequented by high people, especially +if of a Literary or Historical turn. President Henault (of the ABREGE +CHRONOLOGIQUE, the well-frilled, accurately powdered, most correct old +legal gentleman) is one of her adherents; Voltaire is another, that may +stand 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 flame +of love); [BARBIER, ii. 87; see ib. (i. 8-11; ii. 181, 436; &c.) for +many notices of her affairs and her.] there is a most learned President +de Mesmes, and others we have heard of, but do not wish to know. Little +De Staal was at one time this fine Duchess's maid; but has far outgrown +all that, a favorite guest of the Duchess's instead; holds now mainly by +Madame 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 the +time she writes. Her Letter is addressed "TO MADAME DU DEFFAND, at +Paris;" most free-flowing female Letter; of many pages, runs on, day +after day, for a fortnight or so;--only Excerpts of it introducible +here:-- + +"SCEAUX, TUESDAY, 15th AUGUST, 1747.... Madame du Chatelet and Voltaire, +who had announced themselves as for to-day, and whom nobody had heard +of otherwise, made their appearance yesternight, near midnight; like two +Spectres, with an odor of embalmment about them, as if just out of their +tombs. We were rising from table; the Spectres, however, were hungry +ones: 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 his +apartment for pressing cases, was obliged to yield it in this emergency: +he flitted with as much precipitation and displeasure as an army +surprised in its camp; leaving a part of his baggage in the enemy's +hands. Voltaire thought the lodging excellent, but that did not at all +console Gaya. + +"As to the Lady, her bed turns out not to have been well made; they +have had to put her in a new place to-day. Observe, she made that +bed herself, no servants being up, and had found a blemish or DEFAUT +of"--word wanting: who knows what?--"in the mattresses; which I believe +hurt her exact mind, more than her not very delicate body. She has got, +in the interim, an apartment promised to somebody else; and she will +have to leave it again on Friday or Saturday, and go into that of +Marechal de Maillebois, who leaves at that time." + +--Yes; Maillebois in the body, O reader. This is he, with the old +ape-face renewed by paint, whom we once saw marching with an "Army +of Redemption," haggling in the Passes about Eger, unable to redeem +Belleisle; marching and haggling, more lately, with a "Middle-Rhine +Army," and the like non-effect; since which, fighting his best in +Italy,--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 Defence +of Genoa and the mutual worryings thereabout, are going on at a great +rate,--and there is terrible news out of those Savoy Passes, while +Maillebois is here. Concerning which by and by. He is grandson of the +renowned Colbert, this Maillebois. A Field-Marshal evidently extant, you +perceive, 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 much +the better! + +"He came at the time we did, with his daughter and grand-daughter: the +one is pretty, the other ugly and dreary [l'UNE, L'AUTRE; no saying +which, in such important case! Madame la Marechale, the mother +and grandmother, I think must be dead. Not beautiful she, nor very +benignant, "UNE TRES-MECHANTE FEMME, very cat-witted woman," says +Barbier; "shrieked like a devil, at Court, upon the Cardinal," about +that old ARMY-OF-REDEMPTION business; but all her noise did nothing]. +[Barbier, ii, 332 ("November, 1742").]--M. le Marechal has hunted here +with his dogs, in these fine autumn woods and glades; chased a bit of +a stag, and caught a poor doe's fawn: that was all that could be got +there. + +"Our new Guests will make better sport: they are going to have their +Comedy acted again [Comedy of THE EXCHANGE, much an entertainment with +them]: 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 more +than Madame du Chatelet's doing the Hon. Miss Piggery (LA COCHONNIERE), +who ought to be fat and short." [L'ECHANGE, The Exchange, or WHEN SHALL +I GET MARRIED? Farce in three acts:--OEuvres, x. 167-222; used to be +played at Cirey and elsewhere (see plenty of details upon it, exact or +not quite so, IB. 7-9).]--Little De Staal then abruptly breaks off, to +ask about her Correspondent's health, and her Correspondent's friend old +President Henault's health; touches on those "grumblings and discords in +the Army (TRACASSERIES DE L'ARMEE)," which are making such astir; how M. +d'Argenson, our fine War-Minister, man of talent amid blockheads, will +manage them; and suddenly exclaims: "O my queen, what curious animals +men and women are! I laugh at their manoeuvres, the days when I have +slept well; if I have missed sleep, I could kill them. These changes of +temper prove that I do not break off kind. Let us mock other people, and +let other people mock us; it is well done on both sides.--[Poor +little De Staal: to what a posture have things come with you, in that +fast-rotting Epoch, of Hypocrisies becoming all insolvent!] + +"WEDNESDAY, 16th. Our Ghosts do not show themselves by daylight. They +appeared yesterday at ten in the evening; I do not think we shall see +them sooner to-day: the one is engaged in writing high feats [SIECLE DE +LOUIS XV., or what at last became such]; the other in commenting Newton. +They will neither play nor walk: they are, in fact, equivalent to +ZEROS in a society where their learned writings are of no +significance.--[Pauses, without notice given: for some hours, perhaps +days; then resuming:] Nay, worse still: their apparition to-night has +produced a vehement declamation on one of our little social diversions +here, the game of CAVAGNOLE: ["Kind of BIRIBI," it would appear; in the +height of fashion then.] it was continued and maintained," on the part +of Madame du Chatelet, you guess, "in a tone which is altogether unheard +of in this place; and was endured," on the part of Serene Highness, +"with a moderation not less surprising. But what is unendurable is my +babble"--And herewith our nimble little woman hops off again into the +general field of things; and gossips largely, How are you, my queen, +Whither are you going, Whither we; That the Maillebois people are +away, and also the Villeneuves, if anybody knew them now; then how +the Estillacs, to the number of four, are coming to-morrow; and Cousin +Soquence, for all his hunting, can catch nothing; and it is a continual +coming and going; and how Boursoufle is to be played, and a Dame Dufour +is just come, who will do a character. Rubrics, vanished Shadows, nearly +all those high Dames and Gentlemen; LA PAUVRE Saint-Pierre, "eaten with +gout," 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 the +hydrophobia, when I take to the water. [Thread of date is gone! I almost +think we must have got to Saturday by this time:--or perhaps it is only +Thursday, and Maillebois off prematurely, to be out of the way of +the Farce? Little De Staal takes no notice; but continues gossiping +rapidly:] + +"Yesterday Madame du Chatelet got into her third lodging: she could not +any longer endure the one she had chosen. There was noise in it, smoke +without fire:--privately meseems, a little the emblem of herself! As to +noise, it was not by night that it incommoded her, she told me, but by +day, when she was in the thick of her work: it deranges her ideas. She +is busy reviewing her PRINCIPLES"--NEWTON'S PRINCIPIA, no doubt, but De +Staal will understand it only as PRINCIPES, Principles in general:--"it +is an exercise she repeats every year, without which the Principles +might get away, and perhaps go so far she would never find them again +[You satirical little gypsy!]. Her head, like enough, is a kind of +lock-up for them, rather than a birthplace, or natural home: and that is +a case for watching carefully lest they get away. She prefers the high +air of this occupation to every kind of amusement, and persists in not +showing herself till after dark. Voltaire has produced some gallant +verses [unknown to Editors] which help off a little the bad effect of +such unusual behavior. + +"SUNDAY, 27th. I told you on Thursday [no, you did n't; you only meant +to tell] that our Spectres were going on the morrow, and that the Piece +was to be played that evening: all this has been done. I cannot give you +much of Boursoufle [done by one Vanture]. Mademoiselle Piggery [DE +LA COCHONNIERE, Madame du Chatelet herself] executed so perfectly the +extravagance of her part, that I own it gave me real pleasure. But +Vanture only put his own fatuity into the character of Boursoufle, which +wanted more: he played naturally in a Piece where all requires to be +forced, like the subject of it."--What a pity none of us has read this +fine Farce! "One Paris did the part of MUSCADIN (Little Coxcomb), which +name represents his character: in short, it can be said the Farce was +well given. The Author ennobled it by a Prologue for the Occasion; +which he acted very well, along with Madame Dufour as BARBE (Governess +Barbara),--who, but for this brilliant action, could not have put up +with merely being Governess to Piggery. And, in fact, she disdained the +simplicity 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, and +made her entry in all the splendor and elegant equipments of a Court +Lady,"--her "PRINCIPLES," though the key is turned upon them, not unlike +jumping out of window, one would say! "She had a crow to pluck" [MAILLE A +PARTIR, "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 time +she was here. + +"WEDNESDAY, 30th. M. le President [Henault] has been asked hither; and +he is to bring you, my Queen! Tried all I could to hinder; but they +would not be put off. If your health and disposition do suit, it will +be charming. In any case, I have got you a good apartment: it is the one +that Madame du Chatelet had seized upon, after an exact review of all +the Mansion. There will be a little less furniture than she had put in +it; 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 all +sizes; immense, to spread out her papers upon; solid, to support her +NECESSAIRE; slighter, for her nicknacks (POMPONS), for her jewels. And +this fine arrangement did not save her from an accident like that of +Philip II., when, after spending all the night in writing, he got his +despatches drowned by the oversetting of an ink-bottle. The Lady did not +pretend to imitate the moderation of that Prince; at any rate, he was +only writing on affairs of state; and the thing they blotted, on this +occasion, was Algebra, much more difficult to clean up again. + +"This subject ought to be exhausted: one word more, and then it does +end. The day after their departure, I receive a Letter of four pages, +and a Note enclosed, which announces dreadful burly-burly: M. de +Voltaire has mislaid his Farce, forgotten to get back the parts, and +lost his Prologue: I am to find all that again [excessively tremulous +about his Manuscripts, M. de Voltaire; of such value are they, of such +danger 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 the +Prologue instantly, not by post, because they would copy it; to keep the +parts for fear of the same accident, and to lock up the Piece 'under +a hundred keys.' I should have thought one padlock sufficient for this +treasure! I have duly executed his orders." [--Madame de Graffigny +(Paris, 1820), pp. 283-291.] + +And herewith EXPLICIT DE STAAL. Scene closes: EXEUNT OMNES; are off +to Paris or Versailles again; to Luneville and the Court of Stanislaus +again,--where also adventures await them, which will be heard of! + +"Figure to yourself," says some other Eye-witness, "a lean Lady, with +big arms and long legs; small head, and countenance losing itself in a +cloudery 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, whom +Voltaire celebrates to the stars. Loaded to extravagance with ribbons, +laces, face-patches, jewels and female ornaments; determined to be +sumptuous 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, affecting +worship of her," [From Rodenbeck (quoting somebody, whom I have surely +seen 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 and +paces; in superfine coat, laced hat under arm; nose and under-lip ever +more like coalescing (owing to decay of teeth), but two eyes shining on +you like carbuncles; and in the ringing voice, such touches of speech +when you apply for it! Thus they at Sceaux and elsewhere; walking their +Life-minuet, making their entrances and exits. + +One thing is lamentable: the relation with Madame is not now a +flourishing 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 in +the form of blister. They had been to Luneville, Spring, 1747; happy +dull 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 Father +Menou, his Jesuit,--who is always in quarrel with the Titular +Mistress,--thinking to displace HER (as you, gradually discover), and +promote the Du Chatelet to that improper dignity! In which he had not +the least success, says Voltaire; but got "two women on his ears instead +of one." It was not to be Stanislaus's mistress; nor a TITULAR one at +all, but a real, that Madame was fated in this dull happy place! Idle +readers know the story only too well;--concerning which, admit this +other Fraction and no more:-- + +"Stanislaus, as a Titular King, cannot do without some kind of Titular +Army,--were it only to blare about as Life-guard, and beat kettle-drums +on occasion. A certain tall high-sniffing M. de St. Lambert, a young +Lorrainer of long pedigree and light purse, had just taken refuge in +this Life-guard [Summer 1748, or so], I know not whether as Captain or +Lieutenant, just come from the Netherlands Wars: of grave stiff manners; +for the rest, a good-looking young fellow; thought to have some poetic +genius, even;--who is precious, surely, in such an out-of-the-way +place. Welcome to Voltaire, to Madame still more. Alas, readers know the +History,--on which we must not dwell. Madame, a brown geometric Lady, +age now forty-two, with a Great Man who has scandalously ceased to +love her, casts her eye upon St. Lambert: 'Yes, you would be the +shoeing-horn, Monsieur, if one had time, you fine florid fellow, hardly +yet into your thirties--' And tries him with a little coquetry; I +always think, perhaps in this view chiefly? And then, at any rate, as he +responded, 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 the +susceptibilities of genius! Voltaire was not blind, could he have helped +it,--had he been tremulously alive to help it. 'Your Verses to her, my +St. Lambert,--ah, Tibullus never did the like of them. Yes, to you +are the roses, my fine young friend, to me are the thorns:' thus +sings Voltaire in response; [--OEuvres,--xvii. 223 (EPITRE A M. DE +ST. LAMBERT, 1749); &c. &c. In--Memoires sur Voltaire par Longchamp +et 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 to +all lengths, mentionable and not mentionable: and M. le Marquis had +to be coaxed home in the Spring of 1749,--still earlier it had been +suitabler;--and in September ensuing, M. de St. Lambert looking his +demurest, there is an important lying-in to be transacted! +Newton's PRINCIPIA is, by that time, drawing diligently to its +close;--complicated by such far abstruser Problems, not of the geometric +sort! Poor little lean brown woman, what a Life, after all; what an End +of a Life!"-- + + + + +WAR-PASSAGES IN 1747. + +The War, since Friedrich got out of it, does not abate in animosity, nor +want 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 to +get into conference, or sit in its chairs except for moments, flew away +altogether; [In September, 1746, had got together; but would not take +life, on trying and again trying, and fell forgotten: February, 1747, +again gleams up into hope: March 18th and the following days, vanishes +for good (ADELUNG, v. 50; vi. 6, 62).] and left the War perhaps angrier +than ever, more hopelessly stupid than ever. Except, indeed, that +resources are failing; money running low in France, Parlements beginning +to murmur, and among the Population generally a feeling that glory is +excellent, but will not make the national pot boil. Perhaps all this +will be more effective than Congresses of Breda? Here are the few Notes +worth giving: + +APRIL 23d-30th, 1747, THE FRENCH INVADE HOLLAND; WHEREUPON, SUDDENLY, +A STADTHOLDER THERE. "After Fontenoy there has been much sieging and +capturing in that Netherlands Country, a series of successes gloriously +delightful to Marechal de Saxe and the French Nation: likewise (in +bar of said sieging, in futile attempt to bar it) a Battle of Roucoux, +October, 1746; with victory, or quasi-victory, to Saxe, at least with +prostration 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 not +much to speak of. And in this gloriously delightful manner Saxe and the +French Nation have proceeded, till in fact the Netherlands Territory +with all strongholds, except Maestricht alone, was theirs,--and they +decided on attacking the Dutch Republic itself. And (17th April, 1747) +actually broke in upon the frontier Fortresses of Zealand; found the +same dry-rotten everywhere; and took them, Fortress after Fortress, at +the rate of a cannon salvo each: 'Ye magnanimous Dutch, see what you +have got by not sitting still, as recommended!' To the horror and terror +of the poor Zealanders and general Dutch Population. Who shrieked to +England for help;--and were, on the very instant, furnished with a +modicum of Seventy-fours (Dutch Courier returning by the same); which +landed 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, with +a 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-stock +of mankind. To provide for your own paltry kindred in the +State-employments; to palaver grandly with all comers; and publish +melodious Despatches of Van Hoey? Had not Britannic Majesty, for his +dear Daughter's sake, come to the rescue in this crisis, where had we +been? We demand a Stadtholder again; our glorious Nassau Orange, to keep +some bridle on you!' And actually, in this way, Populus and Plebs, by +general turning out into the streets, in a gloomily indignant manner, +which threatens to become vociferous and dangerous,--cowed the Heads of +the Republic into choosing the said Prince, with Princess and Family, as +Stadtholder, High-Admiral, High-Everything and Supreme of the Republic. +Hereditary, no less, and punctually perpetual; Princess and Family to +share in it. In which happy state (ripened into Kingship latterly) they +continue to this day. A result painfully surprising to Most Christian +Majesty; gratifying to Britannic proportionately, or more;--and indeed +beneficial towards abating dry-rot and melodious palaver in that poor +Land of the Free. Consummated, by popular outbreak of vociferation, +in the different Provinces, in about a week from April 23d, when +those helpful Seventy-fours hove in sight. Stadtholdership had been in +abeyance for forty-five years. [Since our Dutch William's death, 1702.] +The new Stadtholder did his best; could not, in the short life granted +him, 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 'instant +dismissal 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: somewhat +unintelligent and unintelligible, both Raumer and he.] Which salutary +object being accomplished (new Stadtholder well aiding, in a valiant and +judicious manner), there has no third dose of that dangerous remedy been +needed 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 lamentable +thing;" doubtless much talked of at Sceaux while Voltaire was there. +"The Revolt of Genoa (popular outburst, and expulsion of our poor friend +Botta and his Austrians, then a famous thing, and a rarer than now) +having suddenly recalled the victorious General Browne from his Siege +of Antibes and Invasion of Provence,--Marechal Duc de Belleisle, +well reinforced and now become 'Army of Italy' in general, followed +steadfastly for 'Defence of Genoa' against indignant Botta, Browne and +Company. For defence of Genoa; nay for attack on Turin, which would +have been 'defence' in Genoa and everywhere,--had the captious Spaniard +consented to co-operate. Captious Spaniard would not; Couriers to +Madrid, to Paris thereupon, and much time lost;--till, at the eleventh +hour, came consent from Paris, 'Try it by yourself, then!' Belleisle +tries it; at least his Brother does. His Brother, the Chevalier, is to +force that Pass of Exilles; a terrible fiery business, but the backbone +of the whole adventure: in which, if the Chevalier can succeed, he too +is to be Marechal de France. Forward, therefore, climb the Alpine stairs +again; 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 dumb +Alps, to right and left, looking down on him and it. Chevalier de +Belleisle judges that, however difficult, it can and must be possible +to French valor; and storms in upon it, huge and furious (20,000, or +if needful 30,000);--but is torn into mere wreck, and hideous recoil; +rallies, snatches a standard, 'We must take it or die,'--and dies, does +not take it; falls shot on the rampart, 'pulling at the palisades with +his own hands,' nay some say 'with his teeth,' when the last moments +came. Within one hour, he has lost 4,000 men; and himself and his +Brother's Enterprise lie ended there. [Voltaire, xxv. 221 et seq. +(SIECLE DE LOUIS QUINZE, c. 22); Adelung, vi 174.] Fancy his poor +Brother's feelings, who much loved him! The discords about War-matters +(TRACASSERIES DE L'ARMEE) were a topic at Sceaux lately, as De Staal +intimated. 'Why starve our Italian Enterprises; heaping every resource +upon the Netherlands and Saxe?' Diligent Defence of Genoa (chiefly by +flourishing of swords on the part of France, for the Austrians were +not yet ready) is henceforth all the Italian War there is; and this +explosion at Exilles may fitly be finis to it here. Let us only say that +Infant Philip did, when the Peace came, get a bit of Apanage (Parma and +Piacenza or some such thing, contemptibly small to the Maternal heart), +and that all things else lapsed to their pristine state, MINUS only the +waste and ruin there had been." + +JULY 12th-SEPTEMBER 18th: SIEGE OF THE CHIEF DUTCH FORTRESS. "Unexpected +Siege of Bergen-op-Zoom; two months of intense excitement to the Dutch +Patriots and Cause-of-Liberty Gazetteers, as indifferent and totally +dead as it has now become. Marechal de Saxe, after his victory at +Lauffeld, 2d July, did not besiege Maestricht, as had been the universal +expectation; but shot off an efficient lieutenant of his, one Lowendahl, +in due force, privately ready, to overwhelm Bergen-op-Zoom with sudden +Siege, while he himself lay between the beaten enemy and it. Bergen is +the heart, of Holland, key of the Scheld, and quite otherwise important +than Maestricht. 'Coehorn's masterpiece!' exclaim the Gazetteers; +'Impregnable, you may depend!' 'We shall see,' answered Saxe, answered +Lowendahl the Dane (who also became Marechal by this business); and +after a great deal of furious assaulting and battering, took the +Place September 18th, before daylight," by a kind of surprisal or +quasi-storm;--"the Commandant, one Cronstrom, a brave old Swede, age +towards ninety, not being of very wakeful nature! 'Did as well as could +be expected of him,' said the Court-Martial sitting on his case, and +forbore to shoot the poor old man." + +[Adelung, vi. 184, 206;--"for Cronstrom," if any one is curious, "see +Schlotzer,--Schwedische Biographie,--ii. 252 (in voce)."] A sore stroke, +this of Bergen, to Britannic Majesty and the Friends of Liberty; who +nevertheless refuse to be discouraged." + +DECEMBER 25th, RUSSIANS IN BEHALF OF HUMAN LIBERTY. "March of 36,000 +Russians from the City of Moscow, this day; on a very long journey, in +the hoary Christmas weather! Most, Christian Majesty is ruinously short +of money; Britannic Majesty has still credit, and a voting Parliament, +but, owing to French influence on the Continent, can get no recruits to +hire. Gradually driven upon Russia, in such stress, Britannic Majesty +has this year hired for himself a 35,000 Russians; 30,000 regular foot; +4,000 ditto horse, and 1,000 Cossacks;--uncommonly cheap, only 150,000 +pounds the lot, not, 4 pounds per head by the year. And, in spite +of many difficulties and hagglings, they actually get on march, from +Moscow, 25th December, 1747; and creep on, all Winter, through the +frozen peats wildernesses, through Lithuania, Poland, towards Bohmen, +Mahren: are to appear in the Rhine Countries, joined by certain +Austrians; and astonish mankind next Spring. Their Captain is one +Repnin, Prince Repnin, afterwards famous enough in those Polish +Countries;"--which is now the one point interesting to us in the thing. + +"Their Captain WAS, first, to be Lacy, old Marshal Lacy; then, failing +Lacy, 'Why not General Keith?'--but proves to be Repnin, after much +hustling and intriguing:" Repnin, not Keith, that is the interesting +point. + +"Such march of the Russians, on behalf of Human Liberty, in pay of +Britannic Majesty, is a surprising fact; and considerably discomposes +the French. Who bestir themselves in Sweden and elsewhere against Russia +and it: with no result,--except perhaps the incidental one, of getting +our esteemed old friend Guy Dickens, now Sir Guy, dismissed from +Stockholm, and we hope put on half-pay on his return home." [Adelung, +vi. 250, 302:--Sir Guy, not yet invalided, "went to Russia," and other +errands.] + + + + +MARSHAL KEITH COMES TO PRUSSIA (September, 1747). + +"Much hustling and intriguing," it appears, in regard to the Captaincy +of these Russians. Concerning which there is no word worthy to be +said,--except for one reason only, That it finished off the connection +of General Keith with Russia. That this of seeing Repnin, his junior and +inferior, preferred to him, was, of many disgusts, the last drop which +made 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 offer +of service; who grasps eagerly at the offer: "Feldmarschall your rank; +income, $1,200 a year; income, welcome, all suitable:"--and, October +28th, Feldmarschall Keith finishes, at Potsdam, a long Letter to his +Brother Lord Marischal, in these words, worth giving, as those of a very +clear-eyed sound observer of men and things:-- + +"I have now the honor, and, which is still more, the pleasure, of being +with the King at Potsdam; where he ordered me to come," 17th current, +"two days after he declared me Fieldmarshal: Where I have the honor to +dine and sup with him almost every day. He has more wit than I have wit +to tell you; speaks solidly and knowingly on all kinds of subjects; and +I am much mistaken if, with the experience of Four Campaigns, he is +not the best Officer of his Army. He has several persons," Rothenburg, +Winterfeld, Swedish Rudenskjold (just about departing), not to speak of +D'Argens and the French, "with whom he lives in almost the familiarity +of a friend,--but has no favorite;--and shows a natural politeness for +everybody who is about him. For one who has been four days about his +person, 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 know +as much of him as he will let me know;--and all his Ministry knows +no more." [Varnhagen van Ense,--Leben des Feldmarschalls Jakob +Keith--(Berlin, 1844,) p. 100; Adelung, vi. 244.] + +A notable acquisition to Friedrich;--and to the two Keiths withal; for +Friedrich attached both of them to his Court and service, after their +unlucky wanderings; and took to them both, in no common degree. As will +abundantly appear. + +While that Russia Corps was marching out of Moscow, Cocceji and his +Commissions report from Pommern, that the Pomeranian Law-stables are +completely clear; that the New Courts have, for many months back, been +in 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 seventy +Volumes); and of the 994 New ones, 772; not one Lawsuit remaining over +from the previous Year." A highly gratifying bit of news to his Majesty; +who answers emphatically, EUGE! and directs that the Law Hercules +proceed now to the other Provinces,--to the Kur-Mark, now, and Berlin +itself,--with his salutary industries. Naming him "Grand Chancellor," +moreover; that is to say, under a new title, Head of Prussian Law,--old +Arnim, "Minister of Justice," having shown himself disaffected to +Law-Reform, and got rebuked in consequence, and sulkily gone into +private life. [Stenzel, iv. 321; Ranke, iii. 389.] + +In February of this Year, 1747, Friedrich had something like a stroke +of apoplexy; "sank suddenly motionless, one day," and sat insensible, +perhaps for half an hour: to the terror and horror of those about +him. Hemiplegia, he calls it; rush of blood to the head;--probably +indigestion, or gouty humors, exasperated by over-fatigue. Which +occasioned 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. 164 +n.] and it did not prove to have been important; was never followed by +anything similar through his long life; and produced no change in his +often-wavering health, or in his habits, which were always steady. He +is writing MEMOIRS; settling "Colonies" (on his waste moors); improving +Harbors. Waiting when this European War will end; politely deaf to the +offers 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 opulent +to a degree; 192,000 men, 60,000 Austrians for one item, shall be in the +Netherlands;--coupled with this remarkable new clause, "And they are to +be there in fact, and not on paper only," and with a tare-and-tret of +30 or 40 per cent, as too often heretofore! Holland, under its new +Stadtholder, is stanch of purpose, if of nothing else. The 35,000 +Russians, tramping along, are actually dawning over the horizon, towards +Teutschland,--King Friedrich standing to arms along his Silesian Border, +vigilant "Cordon of Troops all the way," in watch of such questionable +transit. [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.] Britannic +Majesty and Parliament seem resolute to try, once more, to the utmost, +the power of the breeches-pocket in defending this sacred Cause of +Liberty so called. + +Breeches-pocket MINUS most other requisites: alas, with such methods as +you have, what can come of it? Royal Highness of Cumberland is a +valiant man, knowing of War little more than the White Horse of Hanover +does;--certain of ruin again, at the hands of Marechal de Saxe. So +think many, and have their dismal misgivings. "Saxe having eaten +Bergen-op-Zoom before our eyes, what can withstand the teeth of Saxe?" +In fact, there remains only Maestricht, of considerable; and then +Holland is as good as his! As for King Louis, glory, with funds running +out, and the pot ceasing to boil, has lost its charm to an afflicted +France and him. King Louis's wishes are known, this long while;--and +Ligonier, generously dismissed by him after Lauffeld, has brought +express word to that effect, and outline of the modest terms proposed in +one's hour of victory, with pot ceasing to boil. + +On a sudden, too, "March 18th,"--wintry blasts and hailstorms still +raging,--Marechal de Saxe, regardless of Domestic Hunger, took the +field, stronger than ever. Manoeuvred about; bewildering the mind of +Royal Highness and the Stadtholder ("Will he besiege Breda? Will he do +this, will he do that?")--poor Highness and poor Stadtholder; who "did +not 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 once +completed, Marechal de Saxe made "a beautiful march upon Maestricht;" +and, April 15th, opened trenches, a very Vesuvius of artillery, before +that place; Royal Highness gazing into it, in a doleful manner, from the +adjacent steeple-tops. Royal Highness, valor's self, has to admit: "Such +an outlook; not half of us got together! The 60,000 Austrians are but +30,000; the--In fact, you will have to make Peace, what else?" [His +Letters, 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) for +these 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," are +busying the public mind: "Mere moonshine again?" "Something real this +time?"--And on and from March 17th (Lord Sandwich first on the ground, +and Robinson from Vienna coming to help), the actual Congress begins +assembling 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 diligent +days, nothing but haggle and objection on the part of the others, did +by themselves meet under cloud of night, "night of April 29th-30th;" +and--bring the Preliminaries to perfection. And have them signed before +daybreak; which is, in effect, signing, or at least fixing as certain, +the Treaty itself; so that Armistice can ensue straightway, and the War +essentially end. + +A fixed thing; the Purseholders having signed. On the safe rear of +which, your recipient Subsidiary Parties can argue and protest (as the +Empress-Queen and her Kaunitz vehemently did, to great lengths), and +gradually come in and finish. Which, in the course of the next six +months, they all did, Empress-Queen and Excellency Kaunitz not excepted. +And so, October 18th, 1748, all details being, in the interim, either +got settled, or got flung into corners as unsettleable (mostly the +latter),--Treaty itself was signed by everybody; and there was "Peace +of Aix-la-Chapelle." Upon which, except to remark transiently how +inconclusive a conclusion it was, mere end of war because your powder is +run out, mere truce till you gather breath and gunpowder again, we will +spend 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, magazines +ahead 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 of +1748; Coxe's--Pelham,--ii. 7-41, i. 366-416.] + +"The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was done in a hurry and a huddle; greatly +to Maria Theresa's disgust. 'Why not go on with your expenditures, ye +Sea-Powers? Can money and life be spent better? I have yet conquered +next to nothing for the Cause of Liberty and myself!' But the Sea-Powers +were tired of it; the Dutch especially, who had been hoisted with such +difficulty, tended strongly, New Stadtholder notwithstanding, to plump +down again into stable equilibrium on the broad-bottom principle. Huddle +up the matter; end it, well if you can; any way end it. The Treaty +contained many Articles, now become forgettable to mankind. There is +only One Article, and the Want of One, which shall concern us in this +place. The One Article is: guarantee by all the European Powers to +Friedrich's Treaty of Dresden. Punctually got as bargained for,--French +especially willing; Britannic Majesty perhaps a little languid, but his +Ministers positive on the point; so that Friedrioh's Envoy had not much +difficulty at Aix. And now, Friedrich's Ownership of Silesia recognized +by all the Powers to be final and unquestionable, surely nothing more is +wanted? Nothing,--except keeping of this solemn stipulation by all the +Powers. How it was kept by some of them; in what sense some of them are +keeping it even now, we shall see by and by. + +"The Want of an Article was, on the part of England, concerning +JENKINS'S EAR. There is not the least conclusion arrived at on that +important Spanish-English Question; blind beginning of all these +conflagrations; and which, in its meaning to the somnambulant Nation, +is so immense. No notice taken of it; huddled together, some hasty +shovelful or two of diplomatic ashes cast on it, 'As good as extinct, +you see!' Left smoking, when all the rest is quenched. Considerable +feeling there was, on this point, in the heart of the poor somnambulant +English Nation; much dumb or semi-articulate growling on such a +Peace-Treaty: 'We have arrived nowhere, then, by all this fighting, and +squandering, and perilous stumbling among the chimney-pots? Spain (on +its 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 heard +of before: and of Spain's huge debt to England you drop no hint; of +the 95,000 pounds, clear money, due by Spain; or of one's liberty to +navigate the High Seas, none!' [PROTEST OF ENGLISH MERCHANTS AGAINST, +&c. ("May, 1748") given in ADELUNG, vi. 353-358.] A Peace the reverse of +applauded in England; though the wiser Somnambulants, much more Pitt +and Friends, who are broad awake on these German points, may well be +thankful to see such a War end on any terms."--Well, surely this old +admitted 95,000 pounds should have been paid! And, to a moral certainty, +Robinson and Sandwich must have made demand of it from the Spaniard. But +there is no getting old Debts in, especially from that quarter. "King +Friedrich [let me interrupt, for a moment, with this poor composite +Note] is trying in Spain even now,--ever since 1746, when Termagant's +Husband died, and a new King came,--for payment of old debt: Two old +Debts; quite tolerably just both of them. King Friedrich keeps trying +till 1749, three years in all: and, in the end, gets nothing whatever. +Nothing,--except some Merino Rams in the interim," gift from the new +King of Spain, I can suppose, which proved extremely useful in our Wool +Industries; "and, from the same polite Ferdinand VI., a Porcelain Vase +filled with Spanish Snuff." That was all!-- + +King Friedrich, let me note farther, is getting decidedly deep into +snuff; holds by SPANIOL (a dry yellow pungency, analogous to Lundy-foot +or Irish-Blackguard, known to snuffy readers); always by Spaniol, we +say; and more especially "the kind used by her Majesty of Spain," the +now 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 still +lasted 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): upon +which, Carlos of Naples, our own 'Baby Carlos' that once was, succeeded +in Spain, 'King Carlos III. of Spain;' leaving his Son, a young boy +under tutelage, as King of the Two Sicilies (King 'Ferdinand IV.,' who +did not die, but had his difficulties, till 1825). Don Philip, who had +fought 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 very +expensive 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 all +the jewelry he had; besides these snuff-boxes, two gold watches only, +and a very small modicum of rings. Had yearly for personal Expenditure +1,200,000 thalers [180,000 pounds of Civil List, as we should say]; +SPENT 33,000 pounds of it, and yearly gave the rest away in Royal +beneficences, aid of burnt Villages, inundated Provinces, and +multifarious PATER-PATRIAE objects." [Preuss, i. 409, 410,]--In regard +to JENKINS'S EAR, my Constitutional Friend continues:-- + +"SILESIA and JENKINS'S EAR, we often say, were the two bits of realities +in this enormous hurly-burly of imaginations, insane ambitions, and +zeros and negative quantities. Negative Belleisle goes home, not with +Germany cut in Four and put under guidance of the First Nation of the +Universe (so extremely fit for guiding self and neighbors), but with +the First Nation itself reduced almost to wallet and staff; bankrupt, +beggared--'Yes,' it answers, 'in all but glory! Have not we gained +Fontenoy, Roucoux, Lauffeld; and strong-places innumerable [mostly in a +state of dry-rot]? Did men ever fight as we Frenchmen; combining it +with theatrical entertainments, too! Sublime France, First Nation of the +Universe, 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 Enterprise +of Belleisle's, were enormous, palpable to France and all mortals: but +perhaps these were trifling to the replacement of them by such GLOIRE +as there had been. A GLOIRE of plunging into War on no cause at all; and +with an issue consisting only of foul gases of extreme levity. Messieurs +are of confessed promptitude to fight; and their talent for it, in some +kinds, is very great indeed. But this treating of battle and slaughter, +of death, judgment and eternity, as light play-house matters; this of +rising into such transcendency of valor, as to snap your fingers in the +face of the Almighty Maker; this, Messieurs, give me leave to say so, is +a thing that will conduct you and your PREMIERE NATION to the Devil, if +you 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; a +native of these Western parts; but henceforth, by degrees ever more, the +shining star and guide of Austrian Policies down almost to our own New +Epoch. 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, is +great in Diplomatic Circles of the past Century. 'The greatest of +Diplomatists,' they all say;--and surely it is reckoned something to +become the greatest in your line. Farther than this, to the readers of +these times, Kaunitz-Rietberg's glory does not go. A great character, +great wisdom, lasting great results to his Country, readers do not trace +in Kaunitz's diplomacies,--only temporary great results, or what he and +the by-standers thought such, to Kaunitz himself. He was the Supreme +Jove, we perceive, in that extinct Olympus; and regards with sublime +pity, not unallied to contempt, all other diplomatic beings. A man +sparing of words, sparing even of looks; will hardly lift his eyelids +for your sake,--will lift perhaps his chin, in slight monosyllabic +fashion, and stalk superlatively through the other door. King of the +vanished Shadows. A determined hater of Fresh Air; rode under glass +cover, on the finest day; made the very Empress shut her windows when +he came to audience; fed, cautiously daring, on boiled capons: more I +remember not,--except also that he would suffer no mention of the word +Death by any mortal. [Hormayr,--OEsterreichischer Plutarch,--iv. +(3tes), 231-283.] A most high-sniffing, fantastic, slightly insolent +shadow-king;--ruled, in his time, the now vanished Olympus; and had the +difficult glory (defective only in result) of uniting France and Austria +AGAINST the poor old Sea-Power milk-cows, for the purpose of recovering +Silesia from Friedrich, a few years hence!"--These are wondrous results; +hidden under the horizon, not very far either; and will astonish +Britannic 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 mad +Business of the Netherlands, paid Friedrich a visit; had the honor to +be entertained by him three days (July 13th-16th, 1749), in his Royal +Cottage of Sans-Souci seemingly, in his choicest manner. Curiosity, +which is now nothing like so vivid as it then was, would be glad to +listen a little, in this meeting of two Suns, or of one Sun and one +immense Tar-Barrel, or Atmospheric Meteor really of shining nature, +and taken for a Sun. But the Books are silent; not the least detail, or +hint, or feature granted us. Only Fancy;--and this of Smelfungus, by way +of 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 towards +Herstal, which we used to know],-that M. Favart, Saxe's Playwright and +Theatre-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 of +your laurels) [gained already, since you resolve on gaining them], we +will have the honor of presenting'--such and such a gay Farce, to as +many of you as remain alive! which was received with gay clapping of +hands: admirable to the Universe, at least to the Parisian UNIVERS and +oneself. Such a prodigality of light daring is in these French +gentlemen, skilfully tickled by the Marechal; who uses this Playwright, +among other implements, for keeping them at the proper pitch. Was there +ever seen such radiancy of valor? Very radiant indeed;--yet, it seems to +me, gone somewhat into the phosphorescent kind; shining in the dark, as +fish will do when rotten! War has actually its serious character; nor is +Death a farcical transaction, however high your genius may go. But what +then? it is the Marechal's trade to keep these poor people at the +cutting 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 withal +a beautiful clever Wife,--upon whom the courtships, munificent +blandishments, threatenings and utmost endeavors of Marechal de Saxe +(in his character of goat-footed Satyr) could not produce the least +impression. For a whole year, not the least. Whereupon the Goat-footed +had to get LETTRE DE CACHET for her; had to--in fact, produce the +brutalest Adventure that is known of him, even in this brutal kind. Poor +Favart, rushing about in despair, not permitted to run him through the +belly, and die with his Wife undishonored, had to console himself, he +and 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 into +oblivion, I have no authority to speak. He had much wild natural +ingenuity in him; cunning rapid whirls of contrivance; and gained Three +Battles and very many Sieges, amid the loudest clapping of hands that +could well be. He had perfect intrepidity; not to be flurried by any +amount of peril or confusion; looked on that English Column, advancing +at Fontenoy with its FUE INFERNAL, steadily through his perspective; +chewing his leaden bullet: 'Going to beat me, then? Well--!' Nobody +needed to be braver. He had great good-nature too, though of hot temper +and so full of multifarious veracities; a substratum of inarticulate +good sense withal, and much magnanimity run wild, or run to seed. A +big-limbed, swashing, perpendicular kind of fellow; haughty of face, +but jolly too; with a big, not ugly strut;--captivating to the French +Nation, and fit God of War (fitter than 'Dalhousie,' I am sure!) for +that susceptive People. Understood their Army also, what it was then +and there; and how, by theatricals and otherwise, to get a great deal of +fire out of it. Great deal of fire;--whether by gradual conflagration +or not, on the road to ruin or not; how, he did not care. In respect of +military 'fame' so called, he had the great advantage of fighting always +against bad Generals, sometimes against the very worst. To his fame an +advantage; to himself and his real worth, far the reverse. Had he fallen +in with a Friedrich, even with a Browne or a Traun, there might have +been different news got. Friedrich (who was never stingy in such +matters, except to his own Generals, where it might do hurt) is profuse +in his eulogies, in his admirations of Saxe; amiable to see, and not +insincere; but which, perhaps, practically do not mean very much. + +"It is certain the French Army reaped no profit from its experience +of Marechal de Saxe, and the high theatricalities, ornamental +blackguardisms, and ridicule of death and life. In the long-run a graver +face would have been of better augury. King Friedrich's soldiers, one +observes, on the eve of battle, settle their bits of worldly business; +and wind up, many of them, with a hoarse whisper of prayer. Oliver +Cromwell's soldiers did so, Gustaf Adolf's; in fact, I think all +good soldiers: Roucoux with a Prince Karl, Lauffeld with a Duke of +Cumberland; you gain your Roucoux, your Lauffeld, Human Stupidity +permitting: but one day you fall in with Human Intelligence, in an +extremely grave form;--and your 'ELAN,' elastic outburst, the quickest +in Nature, what becomes of it? Wait but another decade; we shall +see what an Army this has grown. Cupidity, dishonesty, floundering +stupidity, indiscipline, mistrust; and an elastic outspurt (ELAN) turned +often 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 as +never was. Went down in a rose-pink cloud, as if of perfect felicity; of +glory that would last forever,--which it has by no means done. He made +despatch; escaped, in this world, the Nemesis, which often waits on what +they call 'fame.' By diligent service of the Devil, in ways not worth +specifying, he saw himself, November 21st, 1750, flung prostrate +suddenly: 'Putrid fever!' gloom the doctors ominously to one another: +and, November 30th, the Devil (I am afraid it was he, though clad in +roseate effulgence, and melodious exceedingly) carried him home on those +kind terms, as from a Universe all of Opera. 'Wait till 1759,--till +1789!' 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 Titular +Stanislaus, 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 called +a waiting-maid, who had only time to hold out her apron, and catch a +little Girl, whom they carried to its cradle. The Mother arranged her +papers, went to bed; and the whole of that (TOUT CELA) is sleeping like +a dormouse, at the hour I write to you." My guardian angels, "poor I +sha'n't have so easy a delivery of my CATILINA" (my ROME SAVED, for +the 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 the +weakness 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 bad +symptoms." Which brought the Doctor in again, several Doctors, hastily +summoned; who, after difficulties, thought again that all was coming +right. And so, on the sixth night, 10th September, inquiring friends had +left the sick-room hopefully, and gone down to supper, "the rather as +Madame seemed inclined to sleep. There remained none with her but M. de +St. Lambert, one of her maids and I. M. de St. Lambert, as soon as the +strangers were gone, went forward and spoke some moments to her; but +seeing her sleepy, drew back, and sat chatting with us two. Eight or ten +minutes after, we heard a kind of rattle in the throat, intermixed with +hiccoughs: we ran to the bed; found her, senseless; raised her to a +sitting posture, tried vinaigrettes, rubbed her feet, knocked into the +palms of her hands;--all in vain; she was dead! + +"Of course the supper-party burst up into her room; M. le Marquis de +Chatelet, M. de Voltaire, and the others. Profound consternation: to +tears, to cries succeeded a mournful silence. Voltaire and St. Lambert +remained the last about her bed. At length Voltaire quitted the room; +got out by the Grand Entrance, hardly knowing which way he went. At the +foot of the Outer Stairs, near a sentry's box, he fell full length on +the pavement. His lackey, who was a step or two behind, rushed forward +to raise him. At that moment came M. de St. Lambert; who had taken the +same road, and who now hastened to help. M. de Voltaire, once on his +feet again, and recognizing who it was, said, through his tears and with +the most pathetic accent, 'AH, MON AMI, it is you that have killed +her to me!'--and then suddenly, as if starting awake, with the tone of +reproach and despair, 'EH, MON DIEU, MONSIEUR, DE QUOI VOUS AVISIEZ-VOUS +DE LUI FAIRE UN ENFANT (Good God, Sir, what put it into your head +to--to--)!'" [Longchamp et Wagniere,--Memoires sur Voltaire,--ii. 250, +251;--Longchamp LOQUITUR.] + +Poor M. de Voltaire; suddenly become widower, and flung out upon his +shifts again, at his time of life! May now wander, Ishmael-like, whither +he will, in this hard lonesome world. His grief is overwhelming, mixed +with other sharp feelings clue on the matter; but does not last very +long, in that poignant form. He will turn up on us, in his new capacity +of single-man, again brilliant enough, within year and day. + +Last Autumn, September, 1748, Wilhelmina's one Daughter, one child, was +wedded; to that young Durchlaucht of Wurtemberg, whom we saw gallanting +the little girl, to Wilhelmina's amusement, some years ago. About the +wedding, nothing; nor about the wedded life, what would have been more +curious:--no Wilhelmina now to tell us anything; not even whether Mamma +the Improper Duchess was there. From Berlin, the Two youngest Princes, +Henri and Ferdinand, attended at Baireuth;--Mannstein, our old Russian +friend, now Prussian again, escorting them. [Seyfarth, ii. 76.] The +King, too busy, I suppose, with Silesian Reviews and the like, sends +his best wishes,--for indeed the Match was of his sanctioning and +advising;--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, far +the 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 was +of airy high spirit; graceful, clever, good too, they said; perhaps a +thought too proud:--but as for her Reigning Duke, there was seldom seen +so lurid a Serenity; and it was difficult to live beside him. A most +arbitrary Herr, with glooms and whims; dim-eyed, ambitious, voracious, +and the temper of an angry mule,--very fit to have been haltered, in a +judicious manner, instead of being set to halter others! Enough, in +six 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 behaved +so, I would run him through the body, if we met!" said his own Brother +once:--Brother Friedrich Eugen, a Prussian General by that time, whom we +shall hear of. [Preuss, iv. 149; Michaelis, iii. 451.] What thoughts +for our dear Wilhelmina, in her latter weak years;--lapped in eternal +silence, as so much else is. + + + + +Chapter IV. COCCEJI FINISHES THE LAW-REFORM; FRIEDRICH IS PRINTING HIS +POESIES. + +In these years, Friedrich goes on victoriously with his Law-Reform; +Herculean Cocceji with Assistants, backed by Friedrich, beneficently +conquering Province after Province to him;--Kur-Mark, Neu-Mark, +Cleve (all easy, in comparison, after Pommern), and finally Preussen +itself;--to the joy and profit of the same. Cocceji's method, so far +as the Foreign on-looker can discern across much haze, seems to be +three-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!" The +Advocate himself takes charge of the suit, from first birth of it; and +sees it ended,--he knows within what limit of time. + +2. Sifting out of all incompetent Advocates, "Follow that +Attorney-Company, you; away!"--sifting out all these, and retaining in +each Court, with fees accurately settled, with character stamped sound, +or at least SOUNDEST, the number actually needed. In a milder way, but +still more strictly, Judges stupid or otherwise incompetent are riddled +out; able Judges appointed, and their salaries raised. + +3. What seems to be Friedrich's own invention, what in outcome he thinks +will be the summary of all good Law-Procedure: A final Sentence (three +"instances" you can have, but the third ends it for you) within the +Year. Good, surely. A justice that intends to be exact must front the +complicacies in a resolute piercing manner, and will not be tedious. Nay +a justice that is not moderately swift,--human hearts waiting for it, +the while, in a cancerous state, instead of hopefully following their +work,--what, comparatively, is the use of its being never so exact!-- + +Simple enough methods; rough and ready. Needing, in the execution, clear +human eyesight, clear human honesty,--which happen to be present here, +and without which no "method" whatever can be executed that will really +profit. + +In the course of 1748, Friedrich, judging by Pommern and the other +symptoms that his enterprise was safe, struck a victorious Medal upon +it: "FRIDERICUS BORUSSORUM REX," pressing with his sceptre the oblique +Balance to a level posture; with Epigraph, "EMENDATO JURE." [Letter +to 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 in +effect completed; and "justice cheap, expeditious, certain," a fact in +all Prussian Lands. + +Nay, in 1749-1751, to complete the matter, Cocceji's "Project of a +general Law-Code," PROJEKT DES CORPORIS JURIS FRIDERICIANI, came forth +in print: [Halle, 2 vols. folio (Preuss, i. 316; see IB. 315 n., as to +the LAW-PROCEDURE, $c. now settled by Cocceji).] to the admiration of +mankind, at home and abroad; "the First Code attempted since Justinian's +time," say they. PROJECT translated into all languages, and read in all +countries. A poor mildewed copy of this CODEX FRIDERICIANUS--done at +Edinburgh, 1761, not said by whom; evidently bought at least TWICE, and +mostly never yet read (nor like being read)--is known to me, for years +past, in a ghastly manner! Without the least profit to this present, or +to any other Enterprise;--though persons of name in Jurisprudence call +it meritorious in their Science; the first real attempt at a Code in +Modern times. But the truth is, this Cocceji CODEX remained a PROJECT +merely, never enacted anywhere. It was not till 1773, that Friedrich +made actual attempt to build a Law-Code and did build one (the +foundation-story of one, for his share, completed since), in which this +of Cocceji had little part. In 1773, the thing must again be mentioned; +the "Second Law-Reform," as they call it. What we practically know from +this time is, That Prussian Lawsuits, through Friedrich's Reign, do all +terminate, or push at their utmost for terminating, within one year from +birth; and that Friedrich's fame, as a beneficent Justinian, rose +high in all Countries (strange, in Countries that had thought him +a 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 Chancellor +D'Aguessan," on these inimitable Law Achievements.] and that his own +People, if more silently, yet in practice very gladly indeed, welcomed +his Law-Reform; and, from day to day, enjoyed the same,--no doubt with +occasional remembrance who the Donor was. + +Of Friedrich's Literary works, nobody, not even Friedrich himself, will +think it necessary that we say much. But the fact is, he is doing a +great many things that way: in Prose, the MEMOIRS OF BRANDENBURG, coming +out 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 ("exquisite +Burlesque," think some), the ART OF WAR (reckoned truly his best Piece +in verse):--and wishes sometimes he had Voltaire here to perfect him +a little. This too would be one of the practical charms of Voltaire. +[Friedrich's Letter to Algarotti (--OEuvres,--xviii. 66), "12th +September, 1749."] For though King Friedrich knows and remembers always, +that these things, especially the Verse part, are mere amusements in +comparison, he has the creditable wish to do these well; one would +not fantasy ILL even on the Flute, if one could help it. "Why does n't +Voltaire come; as Quantz of the Flute has done?" Friedrich, now that +Voltaire 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 thing +necessary to be mentioned, That Friedrich in these years, 1749-1752, +has Printers out at Potsdam, and is Printing, "in beautiful quarto +form, 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 the +choicest of the chosen. Copies have now fallen extremely rare (and are +not in request at all, with my readers or me); but there was one Copy +which, or the Mis-title of which, as OEUVRE DE "POESHIE" DU ROI MON +MAITRE, became miraculously famous in a year or two;--and is still +memorable to us all! On Voltaire's arrival, we shall hear more of these +things. Enough to say at present that the OEUVRES DU PHILOSOPHE DE +SANS-SOUCI: AU DONJON DU CHATEAU: AVEC PRIVILEGE D'APOLLON,--"three +thinnish quarto volumes, all the Poetry then on hand,"--was finished +early in 1750, before Voltaire came. That, when Voltaire came, a revisal +was undertaken, a new Edition, with Voltaire's corrections and other +changes (total suppression of the PALLADION, for one creditable +change): that this Edition was to have been in Two Volumes; that One, +accordingly, rather thicker than the former sort, was got finished in +1752 (same TITLE, only the new Date, and "no DONJON DU CHATEAU this +time"), One Volume in 1752; after which, owing to the explosions that +ensued, no Second came, nor ever will;--and that the actual contents of +that far-famed OEUVRE DE "POESHIE" (number of volumes even) are points +of mystery to me, at this day. [Herr Preuss--in the CHRONOLOGICAL LIST +of Friedrich's Writings (a useful accurate Piece otherwise), and in two +other places where he tries--is very indistinct on this of DONJON DU +CHATEAU; and it is all but impossible to ascertain from him WHAT, in an +indisputable manner, the OEUVRE DE "POESHIE" may have been. Here are +the places for groping, if another should be induced to try:--OEuvres +de Frederic,--x. (Preface, p. ix); IB. xi. (Preface, p. ix); IB.--Table +Chhronologique--(in what Volume this is, you cannot yet say; seems +preliminary to a GENERAL INDEX, which is infinitely wanted, but has not +yet appeared to this Editor's aid), p. 14.] + +Friedrich's other employments are multifarious as those of a Land's +Husband (not inferior to his Father in that respect); and, like the +benefits of the diurnal Sun, are to be considered incessant, innumerable +and, in result to us-ward, SILENT also, impossible to speak of in this +place. From the highest pitch of State-craft (Russian Czarina now fallen +plainly hostile, and needing lynx-eyed diplomacy ever and anon), down +to that of Dredging and Fascine-work (as at Stettin and elsewhere), of +Oder-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 tide +of great and of small, and daily the punctual Friedrich keeps abreast +of it,--and Dryasdust has noted the details, and stuffed them into blind +sacks,--for forty years. + +The Review seasons, I notice, go somewhat as follows. For Berlin and +neighborhood, May, or perhaps end of April (weather now bright, and +ground firm); sometimes with considerable pomp ("both Queens out," and +beautiful Female Nobilities, in "twenty-four green tents"), and often +with great complicacy of manoeuvre. In June, to Magdeburg, round by +Cleve; and home again for some days. July is Pommern: Onward thence to +Schlesien, oftenest in August; Schlesien the last place, and generally +not done with till well on in September. But we will speak of these +things, more specially, another time. Such "Reviews," for strictness of +inspection civil and military, as probably were not seen in the world +since,--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 difficulties +in those years: of which more by and by. Early in 1748, while +Aix-la-Chapelle was starting, Ex-Exchequer Legge came to Berlin; on some +obscure object of a small Patch of Principality, hanging loose during +those Negotiations: "Could not we secure it for his Royal Highness +of Cumberland, thinks your Majesty?" Ex-Exchequer Legge was here; +[Coxe's--Pelham,--i. 431, &c.; Rodenbeck, pp. 155, 160 (first audience +1st May, 1748);--recalled 22d November, Aix being over.] got handsome +assurances of a general nature; but no furtherance towards his obscure, +completely impracticable object; and went home in November following, to +a 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 Damage +to your Majesty's Shipping from our British Privateers;" and the +like;--about which some notice, and not very much, will be due +farther on. Here, in his own words, is Hanbury's Account of his First +Audience:-- + +... "On Thursday," 16th July, 1750, "I went to Court by appointment, at +11 A.M. The King of Prussia arrived about 12 [at Berlin; King in from +Potsdam, for one day]; and Count Podewils immediately introduced me into +the Royal closet; when I delivered his Britannic Majesty's Letters into +the King of Prussia's hands, and made the usual compliments to him in +the best manner I was able. To which his Prussian Majesty replied, to +the best of my remembrance, as follows:--"'I have the truest esteem +for the King of Britain's person; and I set the highest value on his +friendship. 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 with +respect to myself, and then asked me several questions about indifferent +things and persons. He seemed to express a great deal of esteem for +my Lord Chesterfield, and a great deal of kindness for Mr. Villiers," +useful in the Peace-of-Dresden time; "but did not once mention Lord +Hyndford 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, where +Foreign 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 Mamma +at Monbijou, among faces pleasant to him; and return to his Businesses +and Books next day. [Walpole,--George the Second,--i. 449; Rodenbeck, i. +204.] + +Witty Excellency Hanbury did not succeed at Berlin on the "Romish-King +Question," or otherwise; and indeed went off rather in a hurry. But for +the next six or seven years he puddles about, at a great rate, in those +Northern Courts; giving away a great deal of money, hatching many futile +expensive intrigues at Petersburg, Warsaw (not much at Berlin, after the +first trial there); and will not be altogether avoidable to us in time +coming, as one could have wished. Besides, he is Horace Walpole's friend +and select London Wit: he contributed a good deal to the English notions +about Friedrich; and has left considerable bits of acrid testimony on +Friedrich, "clear words of an Eye-witness," men call them,--which are +still read by everybody; the said Walpole, and others, having since +printed them, in very dark condition. [In Walpole,--George the +Second--(i. 448-461), the Pieces which regard Friedrich. In--Sir Charles +Hanbury Williams's Works--(edited by a diligent, reverential, but +ignorant gentleman, whom I could guess to be Bookseller Jeffery +in person: London, 1822, 3 vols. small 8vo) are witty Verses, and +considerable sections of Prose, relating to other persons and objects +now rather of an obsolete nature.] Brevity is much due to Hanbury and +his 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 ten +years in all, six of them still to come. A sharp-eyed man, of shrewish +quality; given to intriguing, to spying, to bribing; anxious to win his +Diplomatic game by every method, though the stake (as here) is oftenest +zero: with fatal proclivity to Scandal, and what in London circles he +has heard called Wit. Little or nothing of real laughter in the soul +of him, at any time; only a labored continual grin, always of malicious +nature, and much trouble and jerking about, to keep that up. Had +evidently some modicum of real intellect, of capacity for being wise; +but now has fatally devoted it nearly all to being witty, on those +poor terms! A perverse, barren, spiteful little wretch; the grin of him +generally an affliction, at this date. His Diplomatic Correspondence I +do not know. [Nothing of him is discoverable in the State-Paper +Office. Many of his Papers, it would seem, are in the Earl of Essex's +hands;--and might be of some Historical use, not of very much, could the +British Museum get possession of them. Abundance of BACKSTAIRS +History, on those Northern Courts, especially on Petersburg, and +Warsaw-Dresden,--authentic Court-gossip, generally malicious, often +not true, but never mendacious on the part of Williams,--is one likely +item.] He did a great deal of Diplomatic business, issuing in zero, of +which I have sometimes longed to know the exact dates; seldom anything +farther. His "History of Poland," transmitted to the Right Hon. +Henry Fox, by instalments from Dresden, in 1748, is [See--Hanbury's +Works,--vol. iii.]--Well, I should be obliged to call it worthier of +Goody 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 credulous +incredible scandal, evil rumors, of malfeasances by kings and magnates, +than most people known. His rumored mysteries between poor Polish +Majesty and pretty Daughter-in-law (the latter a clever and graceful +creature, Daughter of the late unfortunate Kaiser, and a distinguished +Correspondent of Friedrich's) are to be regarded as mere poisoned wind. +[See--Hanbury's Works,--ii. 209-240.] That "Polish Majesty gets into his +dressing-gown at two in the afternoon" (inaccessible thenceforth, poor +lazy creature), one most readily believes; but there, or pretty much +there, one's belief has to stop. The stories, in WALPOLE, on the King of +Prussia, have a grain of fact in them, twisted into huge irrecognizable +caricature in the Williams optic-machinery. Much else one can discern +to be, in essence, false altogether. Friedrich, who could not stand that +intriguing, 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, or +I forget whither;--which did not mend the Hanbury optical-machinery on +that side. The dull, tobacco-smoking Saxon-Polish Majesty, about whom he +idly retails so many scandals, had never done him any offence. + +On the whole, if anybody wanted a swim in the slop-pails of that extinct +generation, Hanbury, could he find an Editor to make him legible, might +be printed. For he really was deep in that slop-pail or extinct-scandal +department, and had heard a great many things. Apart from that, in +almost any other department,--except in so far as he seems to DATE +rather carefully,--I could not recommend him. The Letters and Excerpts +given in Walpole are definable as one pennyworth of bread,--much ruined +by such immersion, but very harmless otherwise, could you pick it +out and clean it,--to twenty gallons of Hanbury sherris-sack, or +chamber-slop. I have found nothing that seems to be, in all points, +true or probable, but this; worth cutting out, and rendering legible, on +other accounts. Hanbury LOQUITUR (in condensed form): + +"In the summer of last year, 1749, there was, somewhere in Mahren, a +great Austrian Muster or Review;" all the more interesting, as it was +believed, or known, that the Prussian methods and manoeuvres were now to +be the rule for Austria. Not much of a Review otherwise, this of 1749; +Empress-Queen and Husband not personally there, as in coming Years they +are wont to be; that high Lady being ardent to reform her Army, root and +branch, according to the Prussian model,--more praise to her. [--Maria +Theresiens Leben,--p. 160 (what she did that way, ANNO 1749); p. 162 +(PRESENT at the Reviews, ANNO 1750).] "At this Muster in Mahren, Three +Prussian Officers happened to make their appearance,--for several +imaginable reasons, of little significance: 'For the purpose of +inveigling people to desert, and enlist with them!' said the Austrian +Authorities; and ordered the Three Prussian Officers unceremoniously off +the ground. Which Friedrich, when he heard of it, thought an unhandsome +pipe-clay procedure, and kept in mind against the Austrian Authorities. + +"Next Summer," next Spring, 1750, "an Austrian Captain being in +Mecklenburg, travelling about, met there an old acquaintance, one +Chapeau [HAT! can it be possible?], who is in great favor with the King +of Prussia:"--very well, Excellency Hanbury; but who, in the name of +wonder, can this HAT, or Chapeau, have been? After study, one perceives +that Hanbury wrote Chazeau, meaning CHASOT, an old acquaintance of our +own! Brilliant, sabring, melodying Chasot, Lieutenant-Colonel of the +Baireuth Dragoons; who lies at Treptow, close on Mecklenburg, and is +a declared favorite of the Duchess, often running over to the RESIDENZ +there. Often enough; but HONI SOIT, O reader; the clever Lady is towards +sixty, childless, musical; and her Husband--do readers recollect him at +all?--is that collapsed TAILORING Duke whom Friedrich once visited,--and +whose Niece, Half-Niece, is Charlotte, wise little hard-favored creature +now of six, in clean bib and tucker, Ancestress of England that is to +be; whose Papa will succeed, if the Serene Tailor die first,--which he +did not quite. To this Duchess, musical gallant Chasot may well be a +resource, and she to him. Naturally the Austrian Captain, having come +to Mecklenburg, dined with Serene Highness, he and Chasot together, with +concert following, and what not, at the Schloss of Neu-Strelitz:--And +now we will drop the 'Chapeau,' and say Chasot, with comfort, and a +shade of new interest. + +"'The grand May Review at Berlin just ahead, won't you look in; it is +straight 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 to +the King accordingly: 'Permission to an Austrian Officer, a good +acquaintance of mine.' 'Austrian Officer?' Friedrich's eyes lighten; and +he readily gives the permission. This was at Berlin, on the very eve +of the Review; and Chasot and his Austrian are made happy in that small +matter. And on the morrow [end of May, 1750], the Austrian attends +accordingly; but, to his astonishment, has hardly begun to taste the +manoeuvres, when--one of Friedrich's Aides-de-Camp gallops up: 'By the +King's command, Mein Herr, you retire on the instant!' + +"Next day, the Austrian is for challenging Chasot. 'As you like, that +way,' answers Chasot; 'but learn first, that on your affront I rode +up to the King; and asked, publicly, Did not your Majesty grant me +permission? 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 in +Friedrich's way; not the unwelcomer that it includes a satirical twitch +on Chasot, whom he truly likes withal, or did like, though now a +little dissatisfied with those too frequent Mecklenburg excursions and +extra-military cares. Of this, merely squeezing the Hanbury venom out of +it, I can believe every particular. + +"Did you ever hear of anything so shocking?" is Hanbury's meaning here +and elsewhere. "I must tell you a story of the King of Prussia's regard +for the Law of Nations," continues he to Walpole? [Ib. i. 458.] Which +proves to be a story, turned topsy-turvy, of one Hofmann, Brunswick +Envoy, who (quite BEYOND commission, and a thing that must not be +thought of at all!) had been detected in dangerous intriguings with the +ever-busy Russian Excellency, or another; and got flung into Spandau, +[Adelung, v. 534; vii. 132-144.]--seemingly pretty much his due in the +matter. And so of other Hanbury things. "What a Prussia; for rigor of +command, one huge prison, in a manner!" King intent on punctuality, and +all his business upon the square. Society, official and unofficial, +kept rather strictly to their tackle; their mode of movement not that +of 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; a +few days before Hanbury got his First Audience, "five minutes long." But +that arrival will require a Chapter to itself;--most important arrival, +that, of all! The least important, again, is probably that of Candidatus +Linsenbarth, in these same weeks;--a rugged poverty-stricken +old Licentiate of Theology; important to no mortal in Berlin or +elsewhere:--upon whom, however, and upon his procedures in that City, we +propose, for our own objects, to bestow a few glances; rugged Narrative +of the thing, in singular exotic dialect, but true every word, +having fortunately come to us from Linsenbarth's own hand. [Through +Rodenbeck,--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 of +the forty blind sacks, or out of four hundred such, what picture can +any human head form to itself of Friedrich as King or Man? A trifling +Adventure of that poor individual, called Linsenbarth CANDIDATUS +THEOLOGIAE, one of the poorest of mortals, but true and credible in +every particular, comes gliding by chance athwart all that; and like the +glimmer 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 of +Beichlingen" and "Village of Hemmleben" are in the Thuringen Hill +Country (Weimar not far off to eastward): the Hero himself, a tall +awkward raw-boned creature, is, for perhaps near forty years past, a +CANDIDATUS, say Licentiate, or Curate without Cure. Subsists, I should +guess, by schoolmastering--cheapest schoolmaster conceivable, wages mere +nothing--in the Villages about; in the Village of Hemmleben latterly; +age, as I discover, grown to be sixty-one, in those straitened but by +no means forlorn circumstances. And so, here is veteran Linsenbarth of +Hemmleben, a kind of Thuringian Dominie Sampson; whose Interview with +such a brother mortal as Friedrich King of Prussia may be worth looking +at,--if I can abridge it properly. + +Well, it appears, in the year 1750, at this thrice-obscure Village of +Hemmleben, the worthy old pastor Cannabich died;--worthy old man, how +he had lived there, modestly studious, frugal, chiefly on +farm-produce, with tobacco and Dutch theology; a modest blessing to +his 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? Linsenbarth +starts with his Narrative, in earnest. + +Linsenbarth, who I guess may have been Assistant to the deceased +Cannabich, and was now out of work, says: "I had not the least thought +of profiting by this vacancy; but what happened? The Herr Graf von +Werthern, at Schloss Beichlingen, sent his Steward [LEHNSDIRECTOR, +FIEF-DIRECTOR is the title of this Steward, which gives rise to +obsolete thought of mill-dues, road-labor, payments IN NATURA], his +Lehnsdirector, Herr Kettenbeil, over to my LOGIS [cheap boarding +quarters]; who brought a gracious salutation from his Lord; saying +farther, That I knew too well [excellent Cannabich gone from us, +alas!] the Pastorate of Hemmleben was vacant; that there had various +competitors announced themselves, SUPPLICANDO, for the place; the Herr +Graf, however, had yet given none of them the FIAT, but waited always +till I should apply. As I had not done so, he (the Lord Graf) would +now of his own motion give me the preference, and hereby confer the +Pastorate upon me!"-- + +"Without all controversy, here was a VOCATIO DIVINA, to be received with +the most submissive thanks! But the lame second messenger came hitching +in [HALTING MESSENGER, German proverb] very soon. Kettenbeil began +again: 'He must mention to me SUB ROSA, Her Ladyship the Frau Grafin +wanted to have her Lady's-maid provided for by this promotion, too; I +must marry her, and take the living at the same time.'" + +Whew! And this is the noble Lady's way of thinking, up in her fine +Schloss yonder? Linsenbarth will none of it. "For my notion fell at +once," says he, "when I heard it was DO UT FACIAS, FACIO UT FACIAS (I +give 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 those +terms, my reply was: 'Most respectful thanks, Herr Fief-judge, and No, +for such a vocation! And why? The vocation must have LIBERTATEM, there +must be no VITIUM ESSENTIALE in it; it must be right IN ESSENTIALI, +otherwise no honest man can accept it with a good conscience. This were +a marriage on constraint; out of which a thousand INCONVENIENTIAE might +spring!'" Hear Linsenbarth, in the piebald dialect, with the sound +heart, and preference of starvation itself to some other things! +Kettenbeil (CHAIN-AXE) went home; and there was found another Candidatus +willing for the marriage on constraint, "out of which INCONVENIENTIAE +might spring," in Linsenbarth's opinion. + +"And so did the sneakish courtly gentleman [HOFMANN, courtier as +Linsenbarth has it], who grasped with both hands at my rejected offer, +experience before long," continues Linsenbarth. "For the loose thing of +court-tatters led him such a life that, within three years, age yet only +thirty, he had to bite the dust" (BITE AT THE GRASS, says Linsenbarth, +proverbially), which was an INCONVENIENTIA including all others. "And I +had LEGITIMAM CAUSAM to refuse the vocation CUM TALI CONDITIONE. + +"However, it was very ill taken of me. All over that Thuringian region +I was cried out upon as a headstrong foolish person: The Herr Graf von +Werthern, so ran the story, had of his own kindness, without request of +mine, offered me a living; RARA AVIS, singular instance; and I, rash and +without head, flung away such gracious offer. In short, I was told to +my face [by good-natured friends], Nobody would ever think of me for +promotion again;"--universal suffrage giving it clear against poor +Linsenbarth, in this way. + +"To get out of people's sight at least," continues he, "I decided to +leave my native place, and go to Berlin," 250 miles away or more. "And +so it was that, on June the 20th, 1750, I landed at Berlin for the +first time: and here straightway at the PACKHOF (or Custom-house), in +searching of my things, 400 THALERS (some 60 pounds), all in Nurnberg +BATZEN, were seized from me;"--BATZEN, quarter-groats we may say; 7 +and a half batzen go to a shilling; what a sack there must have been +of them, 9,000 in all, about the size of herring-scales, in bad silver; +fruit of Linsenbarth's stern thrift from birth upwards:--all snatched +from him at one swoop. "And why?" says he, quite historically: Yes, +Why? The reader, to understand it wholly, would need to read +in Mylius's--Edicten-Sammlung,--in SEYFARTH and elsewhere; +[Mylius,--Edict--xli., January, 1744, &c. &c.] and to know the +scandalous 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 peremptorily +forbidden, 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 my +excuses: Did not the least know; came straight from Thuringen, many +miles of road; could not guess there What His Majesty the King had been +pleased to forbid in His (THEIRO) Countries. 'You should have +informed yourself,' said the Packhof people; and were deaf to such +considerations. 'A man coming into such a Residenz Town as Berlin, with +intent to abide there, should have inquired a little what was what, +especially what coins were cried down, and what allowed,' said they of +the Packhof." Poor Linsenbarth!"'But what am I to do now? How am I to +live, if you take my very money from me?' 'That is your outlook,' +said they;--and added, He must even find stowage for his stack of +herring-scales or batzen, as soon as it was sealed up; 'we have no room +for it in the Packhof!'" for a man: Here is a roughish welcome "I must +leave 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 effects +on his barrow, and rolled away. He brought me to the WHITE SWAN in the +JUDENSTRASSE [none of the grandest of streets, that Berlin JEWRY], threw +my things out, and demanded four groschen. Two of my batzen" 2 and a +half exact, "would have done; but I had no money at all. The landlord +came out: seeing that I had a stuffed feather-bed [note the luggage of +Linsenbarth: "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 a +small room in the court-yard [Inn forms a Court, perhaps four stories +high]: 'I could stay there,' he said; 'he would give me food and drink +in the meanwhile.' And so I lived in this Inn eight weeks long, without +one red farthing, in mere fear and anxiety." June 20th PLUS eight weeks +brings us to August 15th; Voltaire in HEIGHT of feather; and very great +things 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 the +Ousted of Cocceji, shall we fancy!), had to do with Carriers and their +pie-powder lawsuits. Advocat B. had noticed the gray dreary CANDIDATUS, +sitting sparrow-like in remote corners; had spoken to him;--undertook +for a LOUIS D'OR, no purchase no pay, to get back his batzen for +him. They went accordingly, one morning, to "a grand House;" it was +a Minister's (name not given), very grand Official Man: he heard the +Advocat B.'s short statement; and made answer: "Monsieur, and is it +you that will pick holes in the King's Law? I have understood you were +rather aiming at the HAUSVOGTEI [Common Jail of Berlin]: Go on in that +way, and you are sure of your promotion!"--Advocat B. rushed out with +Linsenbarth into the street; and there was neither pay nor purchase in +that quarter. + +Poor Linsenbarth was next advised, by simple neighbors, to go direct to +the King; as every poor man can, at certain hours of the day. "Write out +your Case (Memorial) with extreme brevity," said they; "nothing but +the essential points, and those clear." Linsenbarth, steam at the +high-pressure, composed (CONZIPIRTE) a Memorial of that right laconic +sort; wrote it fair (MUNDIRTE ES);--and went off therewith "at opening +of the Gates (middle time of August, 1750, no date farther), [August +21st? (See Rodenbeck, DIARY, which we often quote, i. 205.)]--without +one 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 of +him. He was on the Palace Esplanade there, drilling his troops [fine +trim sanded Expanse, with the Palace to rear, and Garden-walks and River +to front; where Friedrich Wilhelm sat, the last day he was out, and +ordered Jockey Philips's house to be actually set about; where the +troops do evolutions every morning;--there is Friedrich with cocked-hat +and blue coat; say about 11 A.M.]. + +"When the drill was over, his Majesty went into the Garden, and the +soldiers dispersed; only four Officers remained lounging upon the +Esplanade, 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, two +Certificates of character, and a Thuringen Pass [poor soul]. The +Officers noticed this; came straight to me, and said, 'What letters has +He there, then?' I thankfully and gladly imparted the whole; and when +the Officers had read them, they said, 'We will give you [Him, not even +THEE] a good advice, The King is extra-gracious to-day, and is gone +alone into the Garden. Follow him straight. Thou wilt have luck.' + +"This I would not do; my awe was too great. They thereupon laid hands +on me [the mischievous dogs, not ill-humored either]: one took me by the +right arm, another by the left, 'Off, off; to the Garden!' Having got +me 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 [the +dogs!], to put me through my drill: 'Hat under left arm!--Right foot +foremost!--Breast well forward!--Head up!--Papers from pouch!--Papers +aloft in right hand!--Steady! Steady!'--And went their ways, looking +always round, to see if I kept my posture. I perceived well enough they +were 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, when +the King turned round, and saw this extraordinary machine,"--telegraph +figure or whatever we may call it, with papers pointing to the sky. "He +gave 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, he +struck into another walk with them, and was out of sight. In few minutes +he appeared again at the place where the rare plant was, with my Papers +open in his left hand; and gave me a wave with them To come nearer. I +plucked up a heart, and went straight towards him. Oh, how thrice and +four-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; and +here, at the Packhof, in searching your things, they have taken your +Thuringen hoard from you. True, the batzen are not legal here; but the +people should have said to you: You are a stranger, and did n't know the +prohibition;--well then, we will seal up the Bag of Batzen; you send it +back to Thuringen, get it changed for other sorts; we will not take it +from you!-- + +"'Be of heart, however; you shall have your money again, and interest +too.--But, my poor man, Berlin pavement is bare, they don't give +anything gratis: you are a stranger; before you are known and get +teaching, 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, when +he looked round, and gave me a sign I was to walk by him; and then began +catechising:-- + +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 bottomless +waste-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 his +tribulations,--poor man, his immortal System of Philosophy, where is +it!). + +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 of +Lectures (COLLEGIA) did you attend?' + +LINSENBARTH. "'Thetics and Exegetics with Fortsch [How the deuce did +Fortsch 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, but +the Art of Pastorship] and MORALE with Dr. Buddaeus.' [There, your +Majesty!--what a glimpse, as into infinite extinct Continents, filled +with ponderous thorny inanities, invincible nasal drawling of didactic +Titans, 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 had +on those terms. Let the dreary Limbus close again, till the general Day +of Judgment for all this.] + +KING (glad to get out of the Limbus). "'Were things as wild then at +Jena, in your time, as of old, when the Students were forever +scuffling 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; and +a man can lead a silent and quiet life there, just as at other +Universities, if he will attend to the DIC, CURHIC? [or know what his +real errand is]. In my time their Serene Highnesses, the Nursing-fathers +of the University (NUTRITORES ACADEMIAE),--of the Ernestine Line +[Weimar-Gotha Highnesses, that is], were in the habit of having the +Rufflers (RENOMISTEN), Renowners as they are called, who made so much +disturbance, sent to Eisenach to lie in the Wartburg a while; there they +learned to be quiet.' [Clock strikes Twelve,--dinner-time of Majesty.] + +KING. "'Now I must go: they are waiting for their soup'" (and so ends +Dialogue 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 of +Guard belike]; they went into the Palace with the King,"--clearly +meaning to dine with his Majesty. + +"I remained standing on the Esplanade. For twenty-seven hours I had not +tasted food: not a farthing IN BONIS [of principal or interest] to +get bread with; I had waded twenty miles hither, in a sultry morning, +through the sand. Not a difficult thing to keep down laughter in such +circumstances!"--Poor soul; but the Royal mind is human too.--"In this +tremor of my heart, there came a KAMMER-HUSSAR [Soldier-Valet, Valet +reduced to his simplest expression] out of the Palace, and asked, 'Where +is 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, to +a large Room, where pages, lackeys, and Kammer-hussars were about. My +Kammer-hussar took me to a little table, excellently furnished; with +soup, beef; likewise carp dressed with garden-salad, likewise game with +cucumber-salad: bread, knife, fork, spoon and salt were all there [and I +with an appetite of twenty-seven hours; I too was there]. My hussar set +me a chair, said: 'This that is on the table, the King has ordered to be +served for you (IHM): you are to eat your fill, and mind nobody; and I +am to serve. Sharp, then, fall to!'--I was greatly astonished, and knew +not what to do; least of all could it come into my head that the King's +Kammer-hussar, who waited on his Majesty, should wait on me. I pressed +him to sit by me; but as he refused, I did as bidden; sat down, took my +spoon, 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 and +roast game; and poured me out wine and beer--[was ever such a lucky +Barmecide!] I ate and drank till I had abundantly enough. Dessert, +confectionery, what I could,--a plateful of big black cherries, and a +plateful of pears, my waiting-man wrapped in paper and stuffed them into +my pockets, to be a refreshment on the way home. And so I rose from the +Royal table; and thanked God and the King in my heart, that I had so +gloriously dined,"--HERRLICH, "gloriously" at last. Poor excellent +down-trodden Linsenbarth, one's heart opens to him, not one's larder +only. + +"The hussar took away. At that moment a Secretary came; brought me a +sealed 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 better +than 100 pounds to a Linsenbarth],--saying, The King sent me this to +take me home to Berlin again. + +"And if the hussar took me into the Palace, it was now the Secretary +that took me out again. And there, yoked with six horses, stood a royal +Proviant-wagon; which having led me to, the Secretary said: 'You people, +the King has given order you are to take this stranger to Berlin, and +also to accept no drink-money from him.' I again, through the HERRN +SECRETARIUM, testified my most submissive thankfulness for all Royal +graciousnesses; took my place, and rolled away. + +"On reaching Berlin, I went at once to the Packhof, straight to the +office-room,"--standing more erect this time,--"and handed them my Royal +Rescript. 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 to +read. 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 come +forward, and be so good as write a quittance (receipt), 'That I had +received, for my 400 thalers all in Batzen, the same sum in Brandenburg +coin, ready down, without the least deduction.' My cash was at once +accurately paid. And thereupon the Steward was ordered, To go with me to +the White Swan in the Judenstrasse, and pay what I owed there, whatever +my score was. For which end they gave him twenty-four thalers; and if +that were not enough, he was to come and get more." On these high terms +Linsenbarth marched out of the Packhof for the second time; the sublime +head of him (not turned either) sweeping the very stars. + +"That was what the King had meant when he said, "You shall have your +money back and interest too:' VIDELICET, that the Packhof was to pay my +expenses at the White Swan. The score, however, was only 10 thaler,' +4 groschen, 6 pfennigs [30 shillings, 5 pence, and 2 or perhaps +3 quarter-farthings], for what I had run up in eight weeks,"--an +uncommonly frugal rate of board, for a man skilled in Hermeneutics, +Hebraics, Polemics, Thetica, Exegetics, Pastorale, Morale (and Practical +Christianity and the Philosophy of Zeno, carried to perfection, or +nearly so)!"And herewith this troubled History had its desired finish." +And our gray-whiskered, raw-boned, great-hearted Candidatus lay down to +sleep, at the White Swan; probably the happiest man in all Berlin, for +the time being. + +Linsenbarth dived now into Private-teaching, "INFORMATION," as he calls +it; forming, and kneading into his own likeness, such of the young +Berliners as he could get hold of:--surely not without some good effect +on them, the model having, besides Hermeneutics in abundance, so much +natural worth about it. He himself found the mine of Informing a very +barren one, as to money: continued poor in a high degree, without honor, +without emolument to speak of; and had a straitened, laborious, and what +we might think very dark Life-pilgrimage. But the darkness was nothing +to him, he carried such an inextinguishable frugal rushlight within. +Meat, clothes and fire he did not again lack, in Berlin, for the time +he needed them,--some twenty-seven years still. And if he got no printed +praise in the Reviews, from baddish judges writing by the sheet,--here +and there brother mortals, who knew him by their own eyes and +experiences, looked, or transiently spoke, and even did, a most real +praise upon him now and then. And, on the whole, he can do without +praise; and will stand strokes even without wincing or kicking, where +there is no chance. + +A certain Berlin Druggist ("Herr Medicinal-Assessor Rose," whom we may +call 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 teach +the children, and which continued, always thenceforth, a home to him +when needful, he wrote this NARRATIVE (Anno 1774); and died there, three +years afterwards,--"24th August, 1777, of apoplexy, age 88," say the +Burial Registers. [In Rodenbeck,--Beitrage,--i. 472-475, these latter +Details (with others, in confused form); IB. 462-471, the NARRATIVE +itself.] Druggist Second, on succeeding the humane Predecessor, found +Linsenbarth's papers in the drug-stores of the place: Druggist Second +chanced to be one Klaproth, famed among the Scientific of the world; and +by him the Linsenbarth Narrative was forwarded to publication, and such +fame as is requisite. + + + + +SIR JONAS HANWAY STALKS ACROSS THE SCENE, TOO; IN A PONDERING AND +OBSERVING MANNER. + +Of the then very famous "Berlin Carrousel of 1750" we propose to say +little; the now chief interesting point in it being that M. de Voltaire +is curiously visible to us there. But the truth is, they were very great +days at Berlin, those of Autumn, 1750; distinguished strangers come +or coming; the King giving himself up to entertainment of them, to +enjoyment of them; with such a hearty outburst of magnificence, this +Carrousel the apex of it, as was rare in his reign. There were his +Sisters of Schwedt and Baireuth, with suite, his dear Wilhelmina queen +of the scene; ["Came 8th August" (Rodenbeck, 205).] there were--It +would be tedious to count what other high Herrschaften and Durchlauchtig +Persons. And to crown the whole, and entertain Wilhelmina as a Queen +should be, there had come M. de Voltaire; conquered at length to us, as +we hope, and the Dream of our Youth realized. Voltaire's reception, +July 10th and ever since, has been mere splendor and kindness; really +extraordinary, as we shall find farther on. Reception perfect in all +points, except that of the Pompadour's Compliments alone. "That sublime +creature's compliments to your Majesty; such her express command!" +said Voltaire. "JE NE LA CONNAIS PAS," answered Friedrich, with his +clear-ringing voice, "I don't know her;" [Voltaire to Madame Denis, +"Potsdam, 11th August, 1750" (--OEuvres,--lxxiv. 184).]--sufficient +intimation to Voltaire, but painful and surprising. For which some +diplomatic persons blame Friedrich to this day; but not I, or any reader +of mine. A very proud young King; in his silent way, always the prouder; +and stands in no awe of the Divine Butterflies and Crowned Infatuations +never 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 that +will be), or of the witty Excellency Hanbury, are as nothing;--Sir +Jonas's as less than nothing. A Sir Jonas noticed by nobody; but himself +taking note, dull worthy man; and mentionable now on that account. Here +is 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 Trading +Company,' full of hope to the then mercantile mind; a Mr. Hanway +despatched, years ago, as Chief Clerk, inexpressibly interested to +manage well;--and managing, as you may read at large. Has done his best +and utmost, all this while; and had such travellings through the +Naphtha Countries, sailings on the Caspian; such difficulties, +successes,--ultimately, failure. Owing to Mr. Elton and Thamas Kouli +Khan mainly. Thamas Kouli Khan--otherwise called Nadir Shah (and a very +hard-headed fellow, by all appearance)--wiled and seduced Mr. Elton, an +Ex-Naval gentleman, away from his Ledgers, to build him Ships; having +set his heart on getting a Navy. And Mr. Elton did build him (spite of +all I could say) a Bark or two on the Caspian;--most hopeful to the said +Nadir Shah; but did it come to anything? It disgusted, it alarmed +the Russians; and ruined Sir Jonas,--who is returning at this period, +prepared to render account of himself at London, in a loftily resigned +frame of mind. [Jonas Hanway,--An Account of &c.--(or in brief, TRAVELS: +London, 3 vols. 4to, 1753), ii. 183. "Arrived in Berlin," from the +Caspian and Petersburg side, "August 15th, 1750."] + +"The remarks of Sir Jonas upon Berlin--for he exercises everywhere a +sapient observation on men and things--are of dim tumidly insignificant +character, reminding us of an extinct Minerva's Owl; and reduce +themselves mainly to this bit of ocular testimony, That his Prussian +Majesty rides much about, often at a rapid rate; with a pleasant +business aspect, humane though imperative; handsome to look upon, though +with face perceptibly reddish [and perhaps snuff on it, were you near]. +His age now thirty-eight gone; a set appearance, as if already got into +his forties. Complexion florid, figure muscular, almost tending to be +plump. + +"Listen well through Hanway, you will find King Friedrich is an object +of great interest, personal as well as official, and much the theme in +Berlin society; admiration of him, pride in him, not now the audiblest +tone, though it lies at the bottom too: 'Our Friedrich the Great,' after +all [so Hanway intimates, though not express as to epithets or words +used]. The King did a beautiful thing to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith the +other day [as some readers may remember]: to Lieutenant-Colonel Keith; +that poor Keith who was nailed to the gallows for him (in effigy), at +Wesel long ago; and got far less than he had expected. The other +day, there had been a grand Review, part of it extending into Madam +Knyphausen'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 fine +shrubbery by our manoeuvres: have the goodness to give her that, with my +apologies,'--and handed him a pretty Casket with key to it, and in the +interior 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 a +gracious little touch? + +"This King is doing something at Embden, Sir Jonas fears, or trying to +do, in the Trade-and-Navigation way; scandalous that English capitalists +will lend money in furtherance of such destructive schemes by the +Foreigner! For the rest, Sir Jonas went to call on Lord Malton (Marquis +of Rockingham that will be): an amiable and sober young Nobleman, +come thus far on his Grand Tour," and in time for the Carrousel. "His +Lordship's reception at Court here, one regretted to hear, was nothing +distinguished; quite indifferent, indeed, had not the Queen-Mother stept +in with amendments. The Courts are not well together; pity for it. My +Lord and his Tutor did me the honor to return my visit; the rather as +we all quartered in the same Inn. Amiable young Nobleman,"--so +distinguished 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 young +Nobleman, is not it one's duty to salute, in passing such a one? Though +I 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 the +great men of Berlin. Great men, all obsolete now, though then admired +to infinitude, some of them: 'You may abuse me,' said the King to some +stranger arrived in Berlin; 'you may abuse me, and perhaps here +and there get praise by doing it: but I advise you not to doubt of +Lieberkuhn [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 at +the Carrousel, or at the latter half of it,--though by no means in +quest of such objects just at present, poor young fellow! As he came +afterwards to be Secretary or Amanuensis of Voltaire, and will turn up +in that capacity, let us read this Note upon him:-- + +"Signor Como Alessandro Collini, a young Venetian gentleman of some +family and education, but of no employment or resource, had in late +years been asking zealously all round among his home circle, What am I +to do with myself? mere echo answering, What,--till a Signora Sister +of Barberina the Dancer's answered: 'Try Berlin, and King FRIDERICO IL +GRANDE there? I could give you a letter to my Sister!' At which Collini +grasps; 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. The +cynosure of vague creatures, with a sense of faculty without direction. +What clouds of winged migratory people gathering in to Berlin, all +through this Reign. Not since Noah's Ark a stranger menagerie of +creatures, mostly wild. Of whom Voltaire alone is, in our time, worth +mention. + +"Collini gazed upon the Alpine chasms, and shaggy ice-palaces, with +tender memory of the Adriatic; courageously steered his way through the +inoffensive guttural populations; had got to Berlin, just in this time; +been had to dinner daily by the hospitable Barberinas, young Cocceji +always 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 not +date with any punctuality; but the German Books will do it for him. +August 25th-27th was Carrousel; and Collini had arrived few days +before." [Collini,--Mon Sejour aupres de Voltaire--(Paris, 1807), pp. +1-21.] + +And now it is time we were at the Carrousel ourselves,--in a brief +transient way. + + + + +Chapter VI.--BERLIN CARROUSEL, AND VOLTAIRE VISIBLE THERE. + +Readers have heard of the PLACE DU CARROUSEL at Paris; and know probably +that Louis XIV. held world-famous Carrousel there (A.D. 1662); and, +in general, that Carrousel has something to do with Tourneying, or +the Shadow of Tourneying. It is, in fact, a kind of superb be-tailored +running at the ring, instead of be-blacksmithed running at one another. +A Second milder Edition of those Tournament sports, and dangerous trials +of strength and dexterity, which were so grand a business in the Old +iron Ages. Of which, in the form of Carrousel or otherwise, down +almost to the present day, there have been examples, among puissant +Lords;--though now it is felt to have become extremely hollow; perhaps +incapable of fully entertaining anybody, except children and their +nurses on a high occasion. + +A century ago, before the volcanic explosion of so many things which +it has since become wearisome to think of in this earnest world, the +Tournament, emblem of an Age of Chivalry, which was gone: but had not +yet 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 spend +much money upon. Not much real money: except, indeed, the money were +offered you gratis, from other parties interested? Sir Jonas kindly +informs us, by insinuation, that this was, to a good degree, Friedrich's +case in the now Carrousel: "a thing got up by the private efforts of +different great Lords and Princes of the blood;" each party tailoring, +harnessing and furbishing himself and followers; Friedrich contributing +little but the arena and general outfit. I know not whether even the +40,000 lamps (for it took place by night) were of his purchase, though +that is likely; and know only that the Suppers and interior Palace +Entertainments would be his. "Did not cost the King much money," says +Sir Jonas; which is satisfactory to know. For of the Carrousel kind, +or of the Royal-Mummery kind in general, there has been, for graceful +arrangement, for magnificence regardless of expense,--inviting your +amiable Lord Malton, and the idlers of all Countries, and awakening the +rapture of Gazetteers,--nothing like it since Louis the Grand's time. +Nothing,--except perhaps that Camp of Muhlberg or Radowitz, where we +once were. Done, this one, not at the King's expense alone, but at other +people's chiefly: that is an unexpected feature, welcome if true; and, +except for Sir Jonas, would not have helped to explain the puzzle +for us, as it did in the then Berlin circles. Muhlberg, in my humble +judgment, was worth two of this as a Mummery;--but the meritorious +feature of Friedrich's is, that it cost him very little. + +It was, say all Gazetteers and idle eye-witnesses, a highly splendid +spectacle. By much the most effulgent exhibition Friedrich ever made of +himself in the Expensive-Mummery department: and I could give in extreme +detail the phenomena of it; but, in mercy to poor readers, will not. +Fancy the assiduous hammering and sawing on the Schloss-Platz, amid +crowds of gay loungers, giving cheerful note of preparation, in those +latter days of August, 1750. And, on WEDNESDAY NIGHT, 25th AUGUST, +look and see,--for the due moments only, and vaguely enough (as in the +following Excerpt):-- + +PALACE-ESPLANADE OF BERLIN, 25th AUGUST, 1750 (dusk sinking into dark): +"Under a windy nocturnal sky, a spacious Parallelogram, enclosed for +jousting as at Aspramont or Trebisond. Wide enough arena in the centre; +vast amphitheatre of wooden seats and passages, firm carpentry and +fitted for its business, rising all round; Audience, select though +multitudinous, sitting decorous and garrulous, say since half-past +eight. 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 for +the Chevaliers,--four separate entrances, I think. Who come,--lo, at +last!--with breathings and big swells of music, as Resuscitations from +the buried Ages. + +"They are in four 'Quadrilles,' so termed: Romans, Persians, +Carthaginians, Greeks. Four Jousting Parties, headed each by a Prince +of the Blood:--with such a splendor of equipment for jewels, silver +helmets, sashings, housings, as eye never saw. Prancing on their +glorious battle-steeds (sham-battle, steeds not sham, but champing their +bits 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 winged +standard-bearers, blackamoors, lictors, trumpeters and shining melodious +phantasms as escort,--of this latter kind say in round numbers Two +Hundred altogether; and of actual Ritters threescore. [Blumenthal,--Life +of De Ziethen--(Ziethen was in it, and gained a prize), i. 257-263 et +seq.; 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, at +Turks' heads, and at other objects with death-doing lance; and prance +and flash and career along: glorious to see and hear. Under proud +flourishings of drums and trumpets, under bursts and breathings of +wind-music; under the shine of Forty Thousand Lamps, for one item. All +Berlin 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 the +prizes; Music filling the air; and human 'EUGE'S,' and the surviving +lamps, doing their best. After which the Principalities and Ritters +withdraw to their Palace, to their Balls and their Supper of the gods; +and all the world and his wife goes home again, amid various commentary +from high and low. 'JAMAIS, Never,' murmured one high Gentleman, of the +Impromptu 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, and +Venus [Amelia] crowning the victorious." (--OEuvres de Voltaire,--xviii. +320.)] + +And Amphitheatre and Lamps lapse wholly into darkness, and the thing has +finished, 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 tittle +of it,--except one small insignificant iota, which, by accident, still +makes it remarkable. Namely, that Collini and the Barberinas were +there; and that not only was Voltaire again there, among the Princes and +Princesses; but that Collini saw Voltaire, and gives us transient +sight of him,--thanks to Collini. Thursday, 27th August, 1750, was the +Daylight version of the Carrousel; which Collini, if it were of any +moment, takes to have PRECEDED that of the 40,000 Lamps. Sure enough +Collini was there, with eyes open:-- + +"Madame de Cocceji [so one may call her, though the known alias is +Barberina] had engaged places; she invited me to come and see this +Festivity. We went;" and very grand it was. "The Palace-Esplanade was +changed" by carpentries and draperies "into a vast Amphitheatre; the +slopes of it furnished with benches for the spectators, and at the four +corners of it and at the bottom, magnificently decorated boxes for the +Court." Vast oval Amphitheatre, the interior arena rectangular, with its +Four Entrances, one for each of the Four Quadrilles. "The assemblage was +numerous and brilliant: all the Court had come from Potsdam to Berlin. + +"A little while before the King himself made appearance, there rose +suddenly a murmur of admiration, and I heard all round me, from +everybody, the name 'Voltaire! Voltaire!' Looking down, I saw Voltaire +accordingly; among a group of great lords, who were walking over the +Arena, towards one of the Court Boxes. He wore a modest countenance, +but joy painted itself in his eyes: you cannot love glory, and not feel +gratefully the prize attached to it,"--attained as here. "I lost sight +of him in few instants," as he approached his Box "the place where I was +not 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 an +Interview (judgment favorable, he could hope); and before many months, +Accident also favoring, the inexpressible honor of seeing himself the +great man's Secretary,--how far beyond hope or aspiration, in these +Carrousel days! + +Voltaire had now been here some Seven Weeks,--arrived 10th July, as +we often note;--after (on his own part) a great deal of haggling, +hesitating and negotiating; which we spare our readers. The poor man +having now become a Quasi-Widower; painfully rallying, with his whole +strength, towards new arrangements,--now was the time for Friedrich to +urge him: "Come to me! Away from all that dismal imbroglio; hither, I +say!" To which Voltaire is not inattentive; though he hesitates; cannot, +in any case, come without delay;--lingers in Paris, readjusting many +things, the poor shipwrecked being, among kind D'Argentals and friends. +Poor Ishmael, getting gray; and his tent in the desert suddenly carried +off by a blast of wind! + +To the legal Widower, M. le Marquis, he behaves in money matters like +a Prince; takes that Paris Domicile, in the Rue Traversiere, all to +himself; institutes a new household there,--Niece Denis to be female +president. Niece Denis, widow without encumbrances; whom in her married +state, wife to some kind of Commissariat-Officer at Lille, we have seen +transiently in that City, her Uncle lodging with her as he passed. A +gadding, flaunting, unreasonable, would-be fashionable female--(a Du +Chatelet without the grace or genius, and who never was in love with +you!)--with whom poor Uncle had a baddish life in time coming. All which +settled, he still lingers. Widowed, grown old and less adventurous! +'That House in the Rue Traversiere, once his and Another's, now his +alone,--for the time being, it is probably more like a Mausoleum than +a House to him. And Versailles, with its sulky Trajans, its Crebillon +cabals, what charm is in Versailles? He thinks of going to Italy for a +while; 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 a +bright, bantering, kindly way; "You were due to me a year ago; you said +always, 'So soon as the lying-in is over, I am yours:'--and now, why +don't you come?" + +Friedrich, since they met last, has had some experiences of Voltaire, +which he does not like. Their roads, truly--one adulating Trajan +in Versailles, and growing great by "Farces of the Fair;" the other +battling for his existence against men and devils, Trajan and Company +included--have lain far apart. Their Correspondence perceptibly +languishing, in consequence, and even rumors rising on the subject, +Voltaire wrote once: "Give me a yard of ribbon, Sire [your ORDER OF +MERIT, Sire], to silence those vile rumors!" Which Friedrich, on such +free-and-easy terms, had silently declined. "A meddlesome, forward kind +of fellow; always getting into scrapes and brabbles!" thinks Friedrich. +But is really anxious, now that the chance offers again, to have such +a Levite for his Priest, the evident pink of Human Intellect; and tries +various incitements upon him;--hits at last (I know not whether by +device or by accident) on one which, say the French Biographers, did +raise Voltaire and set him under way. + +A certain M. Baculard d'Arnaud, a conceited, foolish young fellow, much +patronized by Voltaire, and given to write verses, which are unknown to +me, 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 perhaps +has gone. At any rate, Friedrich--by accident or by device--had answered +some rhymes of this D'Arnaud, "Yes; welcome, young sunrise, since +Voltaire is about to set!" [--OEuvres de Frederic,--xiv. 95 (Verses "A +D'ARNAUD," of date December, 1749.)] I hope it was by device; D'Arnaud +is such a silly fellow; too absurd, to reckon as morning to anybody's +sunset. Except for his involuntary service, for and against, in +this Voltaire Journey, his name would not now be mentionable at +all. "Sunset?" exclaimed Voltaire, springing out of bed (say the +Biographers), and skipping about indignantly in his shirt: "I will +show them I am not set yet!" [Duvernet (Second), p. 159.] And instantly +resolved on the Berlin Expedition. Went to Compiegne, where the Court +then was; to bid his adieus; nay to ask formally the Royal leave,--for +we are Historiographer and titular Gentleman of the Chamber, and King's +servant in a sense. Leave was at once granted him, almost huffingly; we +hope not with too much readiness? For this is a ticklish point: one is +going to Prussia "on a Visit" merely (though it may be longish); one +would not have the door of France slammed to behind one! The tone at +Court 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 of +Prussia,"--Compliments how answered when they came to hand: "JE NE LA +CONNAIS 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 Visit +to Friedrich. Fifth; which proved his Last,--and is still extremely +celebrated in the world. Visit much misunderstood in France and +England, down to this day. By no means sorted out into accuracy and +intelligibility; but left as (what is saying a great deal!) probably the +wastest chaos of all the Sections of Friedrich's History. And has, alone +of them, gone over the whole world; being withal amusing to read, +and therefore well and widely remembered, in that mendacious and +semi-intelligible state. To lay these goblins, full of noise, ignorance +and mendacity, and give some true outline of the matter, with what +brevity is consistent with deciphering it at all, is now our sad +task,--laborious, perhaps disgusting; not impossible, if readers will +loyally assist. + +Voltaire had taken every precaution that this Visit should succeed, or +at least be no loss to one of the parties. In a preliminary Letter from +Paris,--prose and verse, one of the cleverest diplomatic pieces ever +penned; Letter really worth looking at, cunning as the song of Apollo, +Voltaire symbolically intimates: "Well, Sire, your old Danae, poor +malingering 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 600 +pounds "to pay the tolls on his road." [Walpole, i. 451 ("Had it from +Princess Amelia herself"); see Voltaire to Friedrich, "Paris, 9th +June, 1750;" Friedrich to Voltaire, "Potsdam, 24th May" (--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxiv. 158, 155).] As a high gentleman would; to have done +with those base elements of the business. + +Nay furthermore, precisely two days before those splendors of the +Carrousel, Friedrich,--in answer to new cunning croakeries and +contrivances ("Sire, this Letter from my Niece, who is inconsolable that +I should think of staying here;" where, finding oneself so divinized, +one is disposed to stay),--has answered him like a King: By Gold Key of +Chamberlain, 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 I +have often read; melodious as Apollo, this too, though all in business +prose, 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"); to +D'Argental, "28th August" (--OEuvres de Voltaire,--lxxiv. 185, 196).] +Dated 23d August, 1750. This Letter of Friedrich's I fancy to be what +Voltaire calls, "Your Majesty's gracious Agreement with me," and often +appeals to, in subsequent troubles. Not quite a Notarial Piece, on +Friedrich's part; but strictly observed by him as such. + +Four days after which, Collini sees Voltaire serenely shining among the +Princes and Princesses of the world; Amphitheatre all whispering with +bated 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 with +no other, he is quite without reserve, in showing the bad and the +good,--continues radiantly eloquent in these first months: ... +"Carrousel, twice over; the like never seen for splendor, for [rather +copious on this sublimity]--After which we played ROME SAUVEE [my +Anti-Crebillon masterpiece], in a pretty little Theatre, which I have +got constructed in the Princess Amelia's Antechamber. I, who speak to +you, I played CICERO." Yes; and was manager and general stage-king and +contriver; being expert at this, if at anything. And these beautiful +Theatricals 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 one +of the inter-acts, finding the soldiers allowed him for Pretorian Guards +not to understand their business here," not here, as they did at +Hohenfriedberg and elsewhere, "Voltaire shrilled volcanically out to +them [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'ENVOIE +DES ALLEMANDS)!' At which the Princesses were good-natured enough to +burst into laughter." [Duvernet (Second), p. 162,--time probably 15th +October.] Voltaire continues: "There is an English Ambassador here who +knows Cicero's Orations IN CATILINAM by heart;" an excellent Etonian, +surely. "It is not Milord Tyrconnell" (blusterous Irish Jacobite), OUR +Ambassador, note him, fat Valori having been recalled); no, "it is the +Envoy from England," Excellency Hanbury himself, who knows his Cicero by +heart. "He has sent me some fine verses on ROME SAUVEE; he says it is my +best work. It is a Piece appropriate for Ministerial people; Madame la +Chanceliere," 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; mere +Princesses and Princes doing parts; in ROME SAUVEE, and in masterpieces +of 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 now +and then. And wears such Jewel-ornaments (borrowed partly from a Hebrew, +of whom anon), such magnificence of tasteful dress;--and walks his +minuet among the Morning Stars. Not to mention the Suppers of the King: +chosen circle, with the King for centre; a radiant Friedrich flashing +out to right and left, till all kindles into coruscation round him; and +it is such a blaze of spiritual sheet-lightnings,--wonderful to think +of; Voltaire especially electric. Never, or seldom, were seen such +suppers; such a life for a Supreme Man of Letters so fitted with the +place due to him. Smelfungus says:-- + +"And so your Supreme of Literature has got into his due place at +last,--at the top of the world, namely; though, alas, but for moments or +for months. The King's own Friend; he whom the King delights to honor. +The most shining thing in Berlin, at this moment. Virtually a kind +of PAPA, or Intellectual Father of Mankind," sneers Smelfungus; "Pope +improvised for the nonce. The new Fridericus Magnus does as the old +Pipinus, old Carolus Magnus did: recognizes his Pope, in despite of the +base vulgar; elevates him aloft into worship, for the vulgar and for +everybody! Carolus Magnus did that thrice-salutary feat [sublimely +human, if you think of it, and for long centuries successful more or +less]; Fridericus Magnus, under other omens, unconsciously does the +like,--the best he can! Let the Opera Fiddlers, the Frerons, Travenols +and 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 travelling +Marquises;--finds Intendant Longchamp much in her way, with his rigorous +account-books, and restriction to 100 louis per month; wishes even +her Uncle were back, and cautions him, Not to believe in Friedrich's +flattering unctions, or put his trust in Princes at all. Voltaire, with +the 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 munificent +to 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 at +Berlin, in the Palace, people paid their court to him as to a declared +Favorite. 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 sufficiently +lofty style (HAUTEUR ASSEZ DEDAIGNEUSE). [Formey,--Souvenirs,--i. 235, +236.] A great Prince had the complaisance to play chess with him; and +to let him win the pistoles that were staked. Sometimes even the pistole +disappeared before the end of the game," continues Formey, green +with spite;--and reports that sad story of the candle-ends; bits of +wax-candle, which should have remained as perquisite to the valets, +but which were confiscated by Voltaire and sent across to the +wax-chandler's. So, doubtless, the spiteful rumor ran; probably little +but spite and fable, Berlin being bitter in its gossip. Stupid Thiebault +repeats that of the candle-ends, like a thing he had seen (twelve years +BEFORE his arrival in those parts); and adds that Voltaire "put them in +his pocket,"--like one both stupid and sordid. Alas, the brighter your +shine, the blacker is the shadow you cast. + +Friedrich, with the knowledge he already had of his yoke-fellow,--one +of the most skittish, explosive, unruly creatures in harness,--cannot +be counted wise to have plunged so heartily into such an adventure with +him. "An undoubted Courser of the Sun!" thought Friedrich;--and forgot +too much the signs of bad going he had sometimes noticed in him on the +common highways. There is no doubt he was perfectly sincere and simple +in all this high treatment of Voltaire. "The foremost, literary +spirit of the world, a man to be honored by me, and by all men; the +Trismegistus of Human Intellects, what a conquest to have made; how +cheap is a little money, a little patience and guidance, for such +solacement and ornament to one's barren Life!" He had rashly hoped that +the dreams of his youth could hereby still be a little realized; and +something of the old Reinsberg Program become a fruitful and blessed +fact. Friedrich is loyally glad over his Voltaire; eager in all ways to +content him, make him happy; and keep him here, as the Talking Bird, the +Singing Tree and the Golden Water of intelligent mankind; the glory of +one's own Court, and the envy of the world. "Will teach us the secret +of the Muses, too; French Muses, and help us in our bits of Literature!" +This latter, too, is a consideration with Friedrich, as why should it +not,--though by no means the sole or chief one, as the French give it +out to be. + +On his side, Voltaire is not disloyal either; but is nothing like so +completely loyal. He has, and continued always to have, not unmixed with +fear, a real admiration for Friedrich, that terrible practical Doer, +with the cutting brilliances of mind and character, and the irrefragable +common sense; nay he has even a kind of love to him, or something like +it,--love made up of gratitude for past favors, and lively anticipation +of future. Voltaire is, by nature, an attached or attachable creature; +flinging out fond boughs to every kind of excellence, and especially +holding firm by old ties he had made. One fancies in him a mixed set of +emotions, direct and reflex,--the consciousness of safe shelter, were +there nothing more; of glory to oneself, derived and still derivable +from this high man:--in fine, a sum-total of actual desire to live +with King Friedrich, which might, surely, have almost sufficed even for +Voltaire, in a quieter element. But the element was not quiet,--far from +it; nor was Voltaire easily sufficeable! + + + +PERPETUAL PRESIDENT MAUPERTUIS HAS A VISIT FROM ONE KONIG, OUT OF +HOLLAND, CONCERNING THE INFINITELY LITTLE. + +Whether Maupertuis, in red wig with yellow bottom, saw these high +gauderies 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 top +place; nor did anybody take notice of him, as everybody did of Voltaire. +Meanwhile, I have something to quote, as abridged and distilled from +various sources, chiefly from Formey; which will be of much concernment +farther on. + +Some four weeks after those Carrousel effulgencies, Perpetual President +Maupertuis had a visit (September 21st, just while the Sun was crossing +the Line; thanks to Formey for the date, who keeps a Note-book, +useful in these intricacies): visit from Professor Konig, an effective +mathematical man from the Dutch parts. Whom readers have forgotten +again; though they saw him once: in violent quarrel, about the +Infinitely Little, with Madame du Chatelet, Voltaire witnessing with +pain;--it was just as they quitted Cirey together, ten years ago, for +these new courses of adventure. Do readers recall the circumstance? +Maupertuis, referee in that quarrel, had, with a bluntness offensive to +the female mind, declared Konig indisputably in the right; and there had +followed a dryness between the divine Emilie and the Flattener of the +Earth, 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 Dutch +Stadtholder: still frank of speech, and with a rugged free-and-easy +turn, but of manful manners; really a person of various culture, and as +is still noticeable, of a solid geometric turn of mind. Having now, as +Librarian at the Hague, more leisure and more money, he has made a run +to Berlin,--chiefly or entirely to see his Maupertuis again, whom he +still remembers gratefully as his first Patron in older times, and a man +of sound parts, though rather blusterous now and then, A little bit of +scientific business also he has with him. Konig is Member of the Berlin +Academy, for some years back; and there is a thing he would speak with +the Perpetual President upon. "Wants nothing else in Berlin," says +Formey: a hearing by the road that Maupertuis was not there, he had +actually 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 at +home;" [Formey, i. 176-179.]--and flew into his arms again, like a good +boy long absent. + +Maupertuis, not many months ago, had, in Two successive Papers, I think +Two, communicated to the Academy a Discovery of Metaphysico-Mathematical +or altogether Metaphysical nature, on the Laws of Motion;--Discovery +which he has, since that, brought to complete perfection, and sent forth +to the Universe at large, in his sublime little Book of COSMOLOGY; [In +La Beaumelle,--Vie de Maupertuis--(Paris, 1856), pp. 105-130, confused +account of this "Discovery," and of the gradual Publication of it to +mankind,--very gradual; first of all in the old Paris times; in the +Berlin ACADEMY latterly; and in fine, to all the world, in this ESSAI +DE COSMOLOGIE (Berlin, Summer of 1750).]--grateful Academy striving to +admire, and believe, with its Perpetual President, that the Discovery +was sublime to a degree; second only to the flattening of the Earth; and +would probably stand thenceforth as a milestone in the Progress of Human +Thought. "Which Discovery, then?" Be not too curious, reader; take only +of it what shall concern you! + +It is well known there have been, to the metaphysical head, difficulties +almost 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 gutter +there;--not difficult to my readers and me, who can at all times walk +across the room, and triumphantly get over them. But stick your nose +into any gutter, entity, or object, this of Motion or another, +with obstinacy,--you will easily drown, if that be your +determination!--Suffice it for us to know in this matter, that +Maupertuis, intensely watching Nature, has discovered, That the key of +her enigma (or at least the ultimate central DOOR, which hides all +her Motional enigmas, the key to WHICH cannot even be imagined as +discoverable!) is, that "Nature is superlatively THRIFTY in this affair +of motion;" that she employs, for every Motion done or do-able, "a +MINIMUM OF ACTION;" and that, if you well understand this, you will, at +least, announce all her procedures in one proposition, and have found +the 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; new +Papers, perfected out of old,--for he has long been hatching these +Phoenix-eggs; and has sent them out complete, quite lately, in a little +Book called COSMOLOGIE, where alone I have had the questionable benefit +of reading them. Grandly brief, as if coming from Delphi, the utterance +is; loftily solemn, elaborately modest, abstruse to the now human mind; +but intelligible, had it only been worth understanding:--a painful +little Book, that COSMOLOGIE, as the Perpetual President's generally +are. "Minimum of Action, LOI D'EPARGNE, Law of Thrift," he calls this +sublime Discovery;--thinks it will be Sovereign in Natural Theology +as well: "For how could Nature be a Save-all, without Designer +present?"--and speaks, of course, among other technical points, about +"VIS VIVA, or Velocity multiplied by the Square of the Time:" which two +points, "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 the +others into Limbo again, as forgettable by human nature at this epoch +and henceforth. + +In La Beaumelle's--Vie de Maupertuis--(printed at last, Paris, 1856, +after lying nearly a century in manuscript, an obtuse worthless leaden +little Book), there is much loud droning and detailing, about this +COSMOLOGIE, this sublime "Discovery," and the other sublime Discoveries, +Insights and Apocalyptic Utterances of Maupertuis; though in so confused +a fashion, it is seldom you can have the poor pleasure of learning +exactly when, or except by your own severe scrutiny, exactly what. For +reasons that will appear, certain of those Apocalyptic Utterances by +Perpetual President Maupertuis have since got a new interest, and one +has actually a kind of wish to read the IPSISSIMA VERBA of them, at +this date! But in La Beaumelle (his modern Editor lying fast asleep +throughout) there is no vestige of help. Nay Maupertuis's own Book, +[--OEuvres de Maupertuis,--Lyon, 1756, 4 vols. 4to.] luxurious +cream-paper Quartos, or Octaves made four-square by margin,--which you +buy for these and the cognate objects,--proves altogether worthless +to you. The Maupertuis Quartos are not readable for their own sake +(solemnly emphatic statement of what you already know; concentrated +struggle to get on wing, and failure by so narrow a miss; struggle which +gets only on tiptoe, and won't cease wriggling and flapping); and +then (to your horror) they prove to be carefully cleaned of all +the Maupertuis-VOLTAIRE matter;--edition being SUBSEQUENT to that +world-famous explosion. CAVEAT EMPTOR.--Our Excerpt proceeds:-- + +"Industrious Konig, like other mathematical people, has been listening +to 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, worth +little or nothing; as Leibnitz long ago seems to have transiently +recognized. Konig has put his strictures on paper: but will not dream +of publishing, till the Perpetual President have examined them and +satisfied himself; and that is Konig's business at present, as he knocks +on Maupertuis, while Sol is crossing the Line. Maupertuis has a House of +the due style: Wife a daughter of Minister Borck's (high Borcks, 'old +as the DIUVEL'); no children;--his back courts always a good deal dirty +with pelicans, bustards, perhaps snakes and other zoological wretches, +which sometimes intrude into the drawing-rooms, otherwise very fine. A +man 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 of +son, client and pupil, into independent posture of a grown man. Frankly +certain enough about himself, and about the axioms of mathematics. +Standing, evidently, on his own legs; kindly as ever, but on these +new terms,--in fact rather an outspoken free-and-easy fellow (I should +guess), not thinking that offence can be taken among friends. Formey +confesses, this was uncomfortable to Maupertuis; in fact, a shock which +he could not recover from. They had various meetings, over dinner aud +otherwise, at the Perpetual President's, for perhaps two weeks at +this time (dates all to be had in Formey's Note-book, if anybody would +consult); in the whole course of which the shock to the Perpetual +President increased, instead of diminishing. Republican freedom and +equality is evidently Konig's method; Konig heeds not a whit the +oracular talent or majestic position of Maupertuis; argues with the +frankest logic, when he feels dissent;--drives a majestic Perpetual +President, especially in the presence of third parties, much out of +patience. Thus, one evening, replying to some argument of the Perpetual +President's, he begins: 'My poor friend, MON PAUVRE AMI, don't you +perceive, then'--Upon which Maupertuis sprang from his chair, violently +stamping, and pirouetted round the room, 'Poor friend, poor friend? +are you so rich: then!' frank Konig merely grinning till the paroxysm +passed. [Formey, i. 177.] Konig went home again, RE INFECTA about the +end of the month." + +Such a Konig--had better not have come! As to his strictures on the LAW +OF THRIFT, the arguings on them, alone together, or with friends by, +merely set Maupertuis pirouetting: and as to the Konig Manuscripts +on them "to be published in the Leipzig ACTA, after your remarks and +permission," Maupertuis absolutely refused to look at said Manuscripts: +"Publish them there, here, everywhere, in the Devil and his +Grandmother's name; and then there is an end, Monsieur!" Konig went his +ways therefore, finding nothing else for it; published his strictures, +in the Leipzig ACTA in March next,--and never saw Maupertuis again, for +one result, out of several that followed! I have no doubt he was out to +Voltaire, more than once, in this fortnight; and eat "the King's roast" +pleasantly with that eminent old friend. Voltaire always thought him +a BON GARCON (justly, by all the evidence I have); and finds his talk +agreeable, and his Berlin news--especially that of Maupertuis and his +explosive pirouettings. Adieu, Herr Professor; you know not, with +your Leipzig ACTA and Fragment of Leibnitz, what an explosion you are +preparing! + + + + +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, black +thunder-storms of a very strange and even dangerous character. + +It must have been a painful surprise to Friedrich to hear from his +Voltaire, some few weeks after those munificences, That he, Voltaire, +was in very considerable distress of mind, from the bad, not to call it +the felonious and traitorous, conduct of M. D'Arnaud,--once Friedrich's +shoeing-horn and "rising-sun" for Voltaire's behoof; now a vague +flaunting creature, without significance to Friedrich or anybody! That +D'Arnaud had done this and done that, of an Anti-Voltairian, treasonous +nature;--and that, in short, life was impossible in the neighborhood of +such a D'Arnaud!"D'Arnaud has corrupted my Clerk (Prince Henri hungering +in vain for LA PUCELLE, has got sight of it, in this way); [Clerk was +dismissed accordingly (one Tinois, an ingenious creature),--and COLLINI +appointed in his stead.] D'Arnaud has been gossiping to Freron and the +Paris Newspapers; D'Arnaud has" [Voltaire to Friedrich (--OEuvres de +Frederic,--xxii. 257), undated, "November, 1750."]--Has, in effect, +been a flaunting young fool; of dissolute, esurient, slightly profligate +turn; occasionally helping in the Theatricals, and much studious to make +himself notable, and useful to the Princely kind. A D'Arnaud of nearly +no significance, to Friedrich or to anybody. A D'Arnaud whose bits of +fooleries and struttings about, in the peacock or jackdaw way, might +surely have been below the notice of a Trismegistus! + +Friedrich, painfully made sensible what a skinless explosive +Trismegistus he has got on hand, answers, I suppose, in words little or +nothing,--in Letters, I observe, answers absolutely nothing, to Voltaire +repeating and re-repeating;--does simply dismiss D'Arnaud (a "BON +DIABLE," as Voltaire, to impartial people, calls him), or accept +D'Arnaud's demission, and cut the poor fool adrift. Who sallies out into +infinite space, to Paris latterly ("alive there in 1805"); and claims +henceforth perpetual oblivion from us and mankind. And now there will be +peace in our garden of the gods, and perpetual azure will return? + +Alas, D'Arnaud is not well gone, when there has begun brewing in +threefold secrecy a mass of galvanic matter, which, in few weeks more, +filled the Heavens with miraculous foul gases and the blackness of +darkness;--which, in short, exploded about New-year's time, as the +world-famous VOLTAIRE-HIRSCH LAWSUIT, still remembered, though only as a +portent and mystery, by observant on-lookers. Of which it is now our sad +duty to say something; though nowhere, in the Annals of Jurisprudence, +is there a more despicable thing, or a deeper involved in lies and +deliriums by current reporters of it, about which the sane mind can be +called upon accidentally to speak a word. Beaten, riddled, shovelled, +washed in many waters, by a patient though disgusted Predecessor in +this field, there lies by me a copious but wearisome Narrative of this +matter;--the more vivid portions of which, if rightly disengaged, and +shown 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 to +Dresden and, illegally, PURCHASE a good lot of STEUER-SCHEINE [Saxon +Exchequer Bills, which are payable in gold to a BONA FIDE PRUSSIAN +holding them, but are much in discount otherwise, as readers may +remember]; and given Hirsch a Draft on Paris, due after some weeks, for +payment of the same; Hirsch leaving him a stock of jewels in pledge till +the STEUER-SCHEINE themselves come to hand. + +2. "That Hirsch, having things of his own in view with the money, sent +no STEUER-SCHEINE from Dresden, nothing but vague lying talk instead +of STEUER: so that Voltaire's suspicions naturally kindling, he stopped +payment of the Paris Draft, and ordered Hirsch to come home at once. + +3. "That Hirsch coming, a settlement was tried: 'Give me back my Draft +on Paris, you objectionable blockhead of a Hirsch; there are your +Diamonds, there is something even for your expenses (some fair moiety, +I think); and let me never see your unpleasant face again!' To +which Hirsch, examining the diamonds, answered [says Duvernet, not +substantially incorrect hitherto, though stepping along in total +darkness, and very partial on Voltaire's behalf],--Hirsch, examining the +diamonds, answered, 'But you have changed some of them! I cannot take +these!'--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 mistaken +even in the Year); wrong in nearly every detail; "the 'STAIRE or STEUER +was a BANK?" &c. &c.] + +In which last clause, still more in the conclusion, that it was "to the +triumph of Voltaire," Duvernet does substantially mistake! And indeed, +except as the best Parisian reflex of this matter, his Account is +worth nothing:--though it may serve as Introduction to the following +irrefragable Documents and more explicit featurings. We learn from him, +and it is the one thing we learn of credible, That "Voltaire, when +it came to Law Procedures, begged Maupertuis to speak for him to M. +Jarriges," a Prussian Frenchman, "one of the Judges; and that Maupertuis +answered, 'I cannot interfere in a bad business (ME MELER D'UNE MAUVAISE +AFFAIRE).'" The other French Biographies, definable as "IGNOR-AMUS +speaking in a loud voice to IGNOR-ATIS," require to be altogether swept +aside in this matter. Even "Clog." jumbling Voltaire's undated LETTERS +into confusion thrice confounded, and droning out vituperatively in the +dark, becomes a MINUS quantity in these Friedrich affairs. In regard +to the Hirsch Process, our one irrefragable set of evidences is: The +Prussian LAW-REPORT by KLEIN,--especially the Documents produced in +Court, and the Sentence given. [Ernst Ferdinand Klein,--Annalen +der Gesetzgebung und Rechtsgelehrsamkeit in den Preussischen +Staaten--(Berlin und Stettin), 1790, v. 215-260.] Other lights are to +be gathered, with severe scrutiny and caution, from the circumambient +contemporary rumor,--especially from the PREFACE to a "Comedy" so called +of "TANTALE EN PROCES (Tantalus," Voltaire, "at Law");--which PREFACE is +evidently Hirsch's own Story, put into language for him by some humane +friend, and addressed to a "clear-seeing Public." [TANTALE EN PROCES +(ascribed to Friedrich himself, by some wonderful persons!) is +in--Supplement aux OEuvres Posthumes de Frederic II.--(Cologne, 1789), +i. 319 et seq. Among the weakest of Comedies (might be by D'Arnaud, or +some such hand); nothing in it worth reading except the Preface.] "And +in fine," says my Manuscript, "by sweeping out the distinctly false, +and well discriminating the indubitable from what is still in part +dubitable, 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 (10th +November-25th December, 1750). + +"Saxon STEUER-SCHEIN, some readers know, is, in the rough, equivalent to +Exchequer Bill. Payable at the Saxon Treasury; to Prussians, in gold; to +all other men, in paper only,--which (thanks to Bruhl and his unheard-of +expenditures and financierings) is now at a discount say of 25, or even +30 per cent. By Article Eleventh of the Dresden TREATY OF PEACE, King +Friedrich, if our readers have not forgotten, got stipulated, That all +Prussian holders of these SCHEINE should be paid in gold; interest +at 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 this +Eleventh Article; which is a just one, beyond doubt, but most carelessly +drawn up. Apparently it trusts altogether to the personal honesty of all +Prussian subjects: 'Prove yourself a Prussian subject, and we pay your +Steuer-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 or +trafficked over into Prussia, and presented as a Prussian one? In our +time, such traffic would start on the morrow morning; and in a week or +two, all Notes whatsoever would be presented as Prussian, payable in +gold! Not so in those days;--though a small contraband of that kind does +by degrees threaten to establish itself, and Friedrich had to publish +severe rescripts (one before this Hirsch-Voltaire business, [10th +August, 1748 (Seyfarth, i. 62).] one still severer after), and menace +it down again. The malpractice seems to have proved menaceable in that +manner; nor was any new arrangement made upon it,--no change, till the +Steuer-Scheine, by their gradual terms, were all paid either in real +money or imaginary, and thus, in the course of years, the thing burnt to +the socket, and went out." + +Voltaire's rash Adventure, dangerous Navigation and gradual Wreck, +in this Forbidden Sea of Steuer-Scheine,--will become conceivable to +readers, on study diligent enough of the following Documents and select +Details:-- + + +DOCUMENT FIRST (a small Missive, in Voltaire's hand). + +"Je prie instamment monsieur hersch de venir demain mardi matin a +potsdam pour affaire pressante, et d'aporter (SIC) avec luy les diamants +qui doivent servir pour la representation de la tragedie qui se jouera a +cinq heures de soir chez S.A.R. Monseigneur le Prince henri Ce lundy a +midy. VOLTAIRE." + +Which being interpreted, rightly spelt, and dated (as by chance we can +do) with distinctness, will run as follows in English:-- + +"POTSDAM, Monday, 9th November, 1750. "I earnestly request Mr. Hirsch to +come to-morrow Tuesday morning to Potsdam, on business that is urgent; +and to bring with him the Diamonds needed for the Tragedy which is to +be represented, at five in the evening, in His Royal Highness Prince +Henry's Apartment." [Klein, v. 260.] + +"On Tuesday the 10th," say the Old Newspapers, "was ROME SAUVEE;"--with +Voltaire, perceptible there as "CICERON," [Rodenbeck, i. 209.] in due + A glorious enough Cicero;--and such a piece of "urgent business" done +with your Hirsch, just before emerging on the stage! + +"Hirsch, in that NARRATIVE, describes himself as a young innocent +creature. Not very old, we will believe: but as to innocence!--For +certain, he is named Abraham Hirsch, or Hirschel: a Berlin Jew of the +Period; whom one inclines to figure as a florid oily man, of Semitic +features, 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. The +man is of oily Semitic type, not old in years,--there is a fraternal +Hirsch, and also a paternal, who is head of the firm;--and this +young one seems to be already old in Jew art. Speaks French and other +dialects, in a Hebrew, partially intelligible manner; supplies Voltaire +with diamonds for his stage-dresses, as we perceive. To all appearance, +nearly destitute of human intellect, but with abundance of vulpine +instead. Very cunning; stupid, seemingly, as a mule otherwise;--and, +on the whole, resembling in various points of character a mule put into +breeches, and made acquainted with the uses of money. He is come 'on +pressing business,'--perhaps not of stage-diamonds alone? Here now is +DOCUMENT SECOND; nearly of the same date; may be of the very same;--more +likely is a few days later, and betokens mysterious dialogue and +consultation held on Tuesday 10th. It is in two hands: written on some +scrap 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 la +steure. si on en specifie le numero dans la declaration.'-- + +'If it is still time to declare [to announce in Saxony and demand +payment 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 la +steure, qu'on a en depost en pays etranger, et dont on ne pourra savoir +le numero que dans quinze jours ou trois Semaines.'--[Klein, 259.] + +'One can declare Notes on the Steuer, which one holds in deposit in +Foreign Countries; and of which one cannot state the No. till after a +fortnight or three weeks.' + +"Which of these Two was the Serpent, which the Eve, in this +STEUER-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 with +STEUER;--and must have been a good deal struck, when DOCUMENT SECOND +came to light; though what could he do but still deny! Hirsch asserts +himself to have objected the 'illegality, the King's anger;' but that +Voltaire answered in hints about his favor with the King; 'about his +power to make one a Court-Jeweller,' if he liked; and so at last +tempted the baby innocence of Hirsch;--for the rest, admits that the +Steuer-Notes were expected to yield a Profit--of 35 per cent:--and, +in fact, a dramatic reader can imagine to himself dialogue enough, at +different times, going on, partly by words, partly by hint, innuendo +and dumb-show, between this Pair of Stage-Beauties. But, for near a +fortnight after DOCUMENT FIRST, there is nothing dated, or that can be +clearly believed,--till, + +"MONDAY, 23d NOVEMBER, 1750. It is credibly certain the Jew Hirsch +came again, this day, to the Royal Schloss of Potsdam, to Voltaire's +apartment there [right overhead of King Friedrich's, it is!]--where, +after such dialogue as can be guessed at, there was handed to Hirsch +by Voltaire, in the form of Two negotiable Bills, a sum of about 2,250 +pounds; with which the Jew is to make at once for Dresden, and +buy Steuer-Scheine. [Hirsch's Narrative, in Preface to--Tantale en +Proces,--p. 340.] Steuer-Scheine without fail: 'but in talking or +corresponding on the matter, we are always to call them FURS +or DIAMONDS,'--mystery of mysteries being the rule for us. This +considerable sum of 2,250 pounds may it not otherwise, contrives +Voltaire, 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, there +will be above 800 pounds to me, after all expenses cleared: a very +pretty stroke of business do-able in few days!"-- + +"Monday, 23d November:" The beautiful Wilhelmina, one remarks, is just +making her packages; right sad to end such a Visit as this had been! +Thursday night, from her first sleeping-place, there is a touching +Farewell to her Brother;--tender, melodiously sorrowful, as the Song +of the Swan. [Wilhelmina to Friedrich, "Brietzen, 26th November, JOUR +FUNESTE POUR MOI" (--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxvii. i. 197).] To Voltaire +she was always good; always liked Voltaire. Voltaire would be saying +his Adieus, in state, among the others, to that high Being,--just in the +hours while such a scandalous Hirsch-Concoction went, on underground! + +"As to the Two Bills and Voltaire's security for them, readers are to +note as follows. Bill FIRST is a Draft, on Voltaire's Paris Banker for +40,000 livres (about 1,600 pounds), not payable for some weeks: 'This I +lend you, Monsieur Hirsch; mind, LEND you,--to buy Furs!' 'Yes, truly, +what we call Furs;--and before the Bill falls payable, there will be +effects for it in Monseigneur de Voltaire's hand; which is security +enough for Monseigneur.' The SECOND Bill, again"--Truth is, there were +in succession two Second Bills, an INTENDED-Second (of this same Monday +23d), which did not quite suit, and an ACTUAL-Second (two days later), +which did. INTENDED-Second Bill was one for 4,000 thalers (about 600 +pounds), drawn by Voltaire on the Sieur Ephraim,--a very famous Jew +of Berlin now and henceforth, with whom as money-changer, if not yet +otherwise (which perhaps Ephraim thinks unlucky), Voltaire, it would +seem, 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 there +is nothing to be said of this Ephraim Bill; and except as it elucidates +some dark portions of the whirlpools, need not have been noticed at all. +"Hirsch," continues my Authority, "got only Two available Bills; the +first on Paris for 1,600 pounds, payable in some weeks; and, after a day +or two, this other: The ACTUAL BILL SECOND; which is a Draft for 4,430 +thalers (about 650 pounds), by old Father Hirsch, head of the Firm, on +Voltaire himself:--'Furs too with that, Monsieur Hirsch, at the rate +of 35 per piece, you understand?' 'Yea, truly, Monseigneur!'--Draft +accepted by Voltaire, and the cash for it now handed to Hirsch Son: the +only absolutely ready money he has yet got towards the affair. + +"For these Two Bills, especially for this Second, I perceive, Voltaire +holds borrowed jewels (borrowed in theatrical times, or partly bought, +from the Hirsch Firm, and not paid for), which make him sure till he see +the STEUER Papers themselves.--(And now off, my good Sieur Hirsch; and +know that if you please ME, there are--things in my power which would +suit a man in the Jeweller and Hebrew line!) Hirsch pushes home to +Berlin; primed and loaded in this manner; Voltaire naturally auxious +enough that the shot may hit. Alas, the shot will not even go off, for +some time: an ill omen! + +"SUNDAY, 29th NOVEMBER, Hirsch, we hear, is still in Berlin. Fancy the +humor of Voltaire, after such a week as last! (TUESDAY, December 1st) +Hirsch still is not off: 'Go, you son of Amalek!' urges Voltaire; and +sends his Servant Picard, a very sharp fellow, for perhaps the third +time,--who has orders now, as Hirsch discovers, to stay with him, not +quit sight of him till he do go. [Hirsch's Narrative; see Voltaire's +Letter to D'Arget (--OEuvres,--lxiv. 11).] Hirsch's hour of departure +for Dresden is not mentioned in the ACTS; but I guess he could hardly +get over Wednesday, with Picard dogging him on these terms; and must +have taken the diligence on Wednesday night: to arrive in Dresden about +December 4th. 'Well; at least, our shot is off; has not burst out, and +lodged in our person here,--thanked be all the gods!' + +"Off, sure enough:--and what should we say if the whole matter were +already oozing out; if, on this same Sunday evening, November 29th) not +quite a week's time yet, the matter (as we learn long afterwards) had +been privately whispered to his Majesty: 'That Voltaire has sent off +a Jew to buy Steuer-Scheine, and has promised to get him made +Court-Jeweller!' [Voltaire,--OEuvres,--lxxiv. 314 ("Letter to Friedrich, +February, 1751,"--AFTER Catastrophe).], So; within a week, and before +Hirsch is even gone! For men are very porous; weighty secrets oozing out +of them, like quicksilver through clay jars. I could guess, Hirsch, +by way of galling insolent Ephraim, had blabbed something: and in the +course of five days, it has got to the very King,--this Kammerherr +Voltaire being such a favorite and famous man as never was; the +very 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 Royal +mind, he, for his part; or dismisses it as incredible: 'There ought to +be impervious vessels too, among the porous!' Voltaire notices nothing +particular, or nothing that he speaks of as particular. This must +have 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. Hirsch +writing darkly, nothing to the purpose; Voltaire driving often into +Berlin, hearing from Ephraim hints about, 'No connection with that +House;' 'If Monseigneur have intrusted Hirsch with money,--may there be +a good account of it!' and the like. Black Care devouring Monseigueur; +but nothing definite; except the fact too evident, That Hirsch does not +send 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. Nothing +but excuses, prevarications; stupid, incoherently deceptive jargon, +as of a mule intent on playing fox with you. Vivid Correspondence is +conceivable; 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 negotiate +Bills 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 got +money for your bills of exchange, and I bring you nothing back; and I +will repay your money when you shall no longer be here [in Germany at +all]. 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 (IL +FALLAIT EN DONNER) at the price current; very easy to do when one was +on the spot. All your procedures have been faults hitherto. [Klein, v. +259.] + +"These are dreadful symptoms. Steuer-Notes, promised at 35 discount, are +not to be had except at 30. Say 30 then, and get done with it, mule of +a scoundrel! Next day the 30 sinks to 25; and not a Steuer-Note, on any +terms, comes to hand. And the mule of a scoundrel has drawn money, in +Dresden yonder, for my Bill on Paris,--excellent to him for trade of his +own! What is to be done with such an Ass of Balaam? He has got the bit +in his teeth, it would seem. Heavens, he too is capable of stopping +short, careless of spur and cudgel; and miraculously speaking to a NEW +Prophet [strange new "Revealer of the Lord's Will," in modern dialect], +in this enlightened Eighteenth Century itself!--One thing the new +Prophet, 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 have +to return your Dresden Banker his money for that Paris Bill. At Paris +I have protested it, mark me; and there it never will be paid to him +or you. And you must come home again instantly, job undone, lies not +untold, you--!' Hirsch, with money in hand, appears not to have wanted +for a briskish trade of his own in the Dresden marts. But this of +cutting 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 and +Voltaire come to Berlin for the Carnival;' [Rodenbeck, i. 209.] to-day +also Voltaire, not in Carnival humor, has appointed his Jew to meet +him. In the Royal Palace itself,--we hope, well remote from Friedrich's +Apartment!--this sordid conference, needing one's choicest diplomacy +withal, and such exquisite handling of bit and spur, goes on. And +probably at great length. Of which, as the FINALE, and one clear +feature 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 tous +billets, ordres et lettres de change a moy donnez jusqu'a ce jour, 16 +Decembre, 1750.-- + +"'Account all settled; I promising to return M. de +Voltaire 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 de +demain ou apres au plustard deux cent guatre-vingt frederics d'or au +lieu de deux cent quatre-vingt louis d'or, que je lui ai payez, le tout +pour quittance generale, ce 16 Decembre, 1750, a berlin--And promise +to give M. de Voltaire, in the course of to-morrow, or the day after +to-morrow at latest, 280 FREDERICS D'OR, instead of 280 LOUIS D'OR [gold +FREDERICS 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 important +thing. And]--je lui remettrai surtout les 40,000 livres de billets de +change sur paris qu'il mavoit donnez et fiez'--I will especially return +him the Bill on Paris for 40,000 livres (1,600 pounds) which he had +given 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 instead +of one!--"Voltaire's return is:-- + +--"'Pour quittance generale de tout compte solde entre nous, tout paye +au sieur abraham hersch a berlin, 16 Decembre, 1750.--Voltaire'-- +"'Account all settled between us, payment of the Sieur Abraham Hirsch in +full: 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 Voltaire +and us,--one finds, after sifting, to have been the fruit of Voltaire's +exquisite skill in treating and tuning his Hirsch (no harshness of +rebuke, 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 you +these Jewels [this one discovers to have been the essence of the +operation!], all or the best part of them, which I have here in pawn for +Papa's Bill: 650 pounds was it not? Well, suppose I on the instant take +450 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,--gold +LOUIS, 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 will +be. And Voltaire steps out, new-burnished, into the Royal Carnival +splendors, with a load rolled from his mind. + +"This COMPLETE SETTLEMENT, meanwhile, rests evidently on two legs, both +of which are hollow. 'What will the handsome Compensation be, I wonder?' +thinks Hirsch;--and is horror-struck to find shortly, that Voltaire +considers 60 thalers (about 9 pounds) will be the fair sum! 'More than +ten times that!' is Hirsch's privately fixed idea. On the other hand, +Voltaire has been asking himself, 'My 450 pounds worth of Jewels, were +they justly valued, though?' Jew Ephraim (exaggerative and an enemy to +this Hirsch House) answers, 'Justly? I would give from 300 pounds to 250 +pounds for them!'--So that the legs both crumbling to powder, Complete +Settlement crashes down into chaos: and there ensues,"--But we must +endeavor to be briefer! + +There ensues, for about a week following, such an inextricable scramble +between the Sieur Hirsch and M. de Voltaire as,--as no reader, not +himself in the Jew-Bill line, or paid for understanding it, could +consent to have explained to him. Voltaire, by way of mending the bad +jewel-bargain, will buy of Hirsch 200 pounds worth more jewels; gets +the new 200 pounds worth in hand, cannot quite settle what articles will +suit: "This, think you? That, think you?" And intricately shuffles them +about, to Hirsch and back. Hirsch, singular to notice, holds fast by +that Protested Paris Bill; on frivolous pretexts, always forgets to +bring 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 must +spare the reader, though he will hear of them again, as highly notable, +especially of one of them, as notable in the extreme!)--indicating the +abstrusest jewel-bargainings, scramblings, re-bargainings. + +"My Jewels are truly valued!" asseverates Hirsch always: "Ephraim is my +enemy; ask Herr Reklam, chief Jeweller in Berlin, an impartial man!" +The meetings are occasionally of stormy character; Voltaire's patience +nearly 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 a +Ring [doubtless this Topaz] off my finger," says the pathetic Hirsch, +"and violently shoved me out of the room, slamming their door,"--and +sent me home, along the corridors, in a very scurvy humor! Thus, under a +skin of second settlement, there are two galvanic elements, getting ever +more galvanic, which no skin of settlement can prevent exploding before +long. + +Explosion there accordingly was; most sad and dismal; which rang through +all the Court circles of Berlin; and, like a sound of hooting and of +weeping mixed, is audible over seas to this day. But let not the reader +insist on tracing the course of it henceforth. Klein, though faithful +and exact, is not a Pitaval; and we find in him errors of the press. The +acutest Actuary might spend weeks over these distracted Money-accounts, +and inconsistent Lists of Jewels bought and not bought; and would be +unreadable if successful. Let us say, The business catches fire at +this point; the Voltaire-Hirsch theatre is as if blown up into mere +whirlwinds of igneous rum and smoky darkness. Henceforth all plunges +into Lawsuit, into chaos of conflicting lies,--undecipherable, not worth +deciphering. Let us give what few glimpses of the thing are clearly +discernible at their successive dates, and leave the rest to picture +itself in the reader's fancy. + +It appears, that Meeting of DECEMBER 24th, above alluded to, was +followed by another on Christmas-day, which proved the final one. Final +total 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 on +naming Chasot: but by implication, by glimmers of evidence elsewhere, +one sufficiently discovers that it is he: Lieutenant-Colonel, King's +Friend, a man glorious, especially ever since Hohenfriedberg, and +that haul of the "sixty-seven standards" all at once. In the way of +Arbitration, Voltaire thinks Chasot might do something. In regard to +those 450 pounds worth of bought Jewels, there is not such a judge in +the world! Hirsch says: "Next morning [December 25th, morrow after that +jumbly Account, with probable slamming of the door, and still worse!], +Voltaire went to a Lieutenant-Colonel in the King's service; and ask +him 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, and +alone of Frenchmen sometimes yields a true particle of feature in things +Prussian,--Duvernet tells us, these Jewels were once Chasot's own: given +him by a fond Duchess of Mecklenburg,--musical old Duchess, verging +towards sixty; HONI SOIT, my friend! What Hirsch gave Chasot for these +Jewels 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 it +was decisive. Hirsch never brings that Paris Bill; privately fixed, +on that point. Hirsch's claims, as we gradually unravel the intricate +mule-mind of him, rise very high indeed. "And as to the value of those +Jewels, and what I allowed YOU for them, Monsieur Chasot; that is no +rule: trade-profits, you know"--Nay, the mule intimates, as a last +shift, That perhaps they are not the same Jewels; that perhaps M. de +Voltaire 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 a +cat-o'-mountain; clutches Hirsch by the windpipe; tumbles him about the +room: "Infamous canaille, do you know whom you have got to do with? That +it is in my power to stick you into a hole underground for the rest +of your life? Sirrah, I will ruin and annihilate you!"--and "tossed me +about the room with his fist on my throat," says Hirsch; "offering to +have pity nevertheless, if I would take back the Jewels, and return +all writings." [Narrative (in--Tantale--).] Eyes glancing like a +rattlesnake's, as we perceive; and such a phenomenon as Hirsch had not +expected, this Christmas! In short, the matter has here fairly exploded, +and is blazing aloft, as a mass of intricate fuliginous ruin, not to be +deciphered henceforth. Such a scene for Chasot on the Christmas-day at +Berlin! 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. Old +Hirsch, hearing of such explosion, considered his house and family +ruined; and, being old and feeble, took to bed upon it, threatening +to break his heart. Voltaire writes to Niece Denis, on the morrow; not +hinting at the Hirsch matter, far from that; but in uncommonly dreary +humor: "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 of +a glorious Phoenix-Peacock suddenly douched and drenched in dirty water, +and feeling frost at hand! ["To Madame Denis" (lxxiv. 279, "Berlin +Palace, 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, to +Legal and Influential Persons, for help in a Court of Law. To Chancellor +Cocceji; to Jarriges (eminent Prussian Frenchman), President of Court; +to Maupertuis, who knows Jarriges, but "will not meddle in a bad +business;"--at last, even to dull reverend Formey, whom he had not +called on hitherto. Cocceji seems to have answered, to the effect, "Most +certainly: the Courts are wide open;"--but as to "help"! December +30th, 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 his +First Statement that day. Berlin resounds, we may fancy how! Rumor, +laughter and wonder are in all polite quarters; and continue, more or +less vivid, for above two months coming. Here is one direct glimpse of +Plaintiff, in this interim; which we will give, though the eyes are none +of the best: "The first visit I," Formey, "had from Voltaire was in the +afternoon of January 8th) 1751 [Suit begun ten days ago]. I had, at the +time, a large party of friends. Voltaire walked across the Apartment, +without looking at anybody; and, taking me by the hand, made me lead him +to 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 greatest +vehemence; he wound up by asking me to speak to Law-President M. de +Jarriges (since Chancellor): I answered what was suitable;"--probably +did speak to Jarriges, but might as well have held my tongue. "Voltaire +then took his leave: stepping athwart the former Apartment with some +precipitation, he noticed my eldest little girl, then in her fourth +year, who was gazing at the diamonds on his Cross of the Order of +Merit. 'Bagatelles, bagatelles, MON ENFANT!' said he, and disappeared." +[Formey, i. 232.] + +On New-Year's day, Friday, 1st January, 1751, Voltaire had legally +applied to Herr Minister von Bismark, for Warrant to arrest Hirsch, as +a person that will not give up Papers not belonging to him. Warrant was +granted, and Hirsch lodged in Limbo. Which worsens the state of poor old +Father Hirsch; threatening now really to die, of heart-break and other +causes. Hirsch Son, from the interior of Limbo, appeals to Bismark, +"Lord Chancellor Cocceji is seized of my Plea, your gracious +Lordship!"--"All the same," answers Bismark; "produce CAUTION, or you +can't get out." Hirsch produces caution; and gets out, after a day or +two;--and has been "brought to Protocol January 4th." No delay in this +Court: both parties, through their Advocates, are now brought to book; +the points they agree in will be sifted out, and laid on this side as +truth; what they differ in, left lying on that side, as a mixture of +lies to be operated on by farther processes and protocols. + +We will not detail the Lawsuit;--what I chiefly admire in it is its +brevity. Cocceji has not reformed in vain. Good Advocates, none other +allowed; and no Advocate talks; he merely endeavors to think, see and +discover; holds his tongue if he can discover nothing: that doubtless +is one source of the brevity!--Many lies are stated by Hirsch, many by +Voltaire: but the Judges, without difficulty, shovel these aside; and +come step by step upon the truth. Hirsch says plainly, He was sent to +buy STEUER-SCHEINE at 35 per cent discount; Voltaire entirely denies +the Steuer-Notes; says, It was an affair of Peltries and Jewelries, +originating in loans of money to this ungrateful Jew. Which necessitates +much wriggling on the part of M. de Voltaire;--but he has himself +written in a Lawyer's Office, in his young days, and knows how to +twist a turn of expression. The Judges are not there to judge +about Steuer-Notes; but they give you to understand that Voltaire's +Peltry-and-Jewelry story is moonshine. Hirsch produces the Voltaire +Scraps of Writing, already known to our readers; Voltaire says, +"Mere extinct jottings; which Hirsch has furtively picked out of the +grate,"--or may be said to have picked; Papers annihilated by our +Bargain of December 16th, and which should have been in the grate, if +they were not; this felon never having kept his word in that respect. +Peltries and Jewelries, I say: he will not give me back that Paris +Bill which was protested; pays me the other 3,000 crowns (Draft of 650 +pounds) in Jewels overvalued by half.--"Jewels furtively changed since +Plaintiff had them of me!" answers Hirsch;--and the steady Judges keep +their sieves going. + +The only Documents produced by Voltaire are Two; of 19th DECEMBER and of +24th DECEMBER;--which the reader has not yet seen, but ought now to gain +some notion of, if possible. They affect once more, as that of December +16th 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, a +conspicuous item), which no reader would have patience to understand, +except in the succinct form. Let all readers note them, however,--at +least the first of them, that of December 19th; especially the words we +mark in Italics, which have merited a sad place for IT in the history +of human sin and misery. Klein has given both Documents in engraved +fac-simile; we must help ourselves by simpler methods. Berlin, December +19th, 1750; Voltaire writes, Hirsch signs;--and the Italics are believed +to be words foisted in by M. de Voltaire, weeks after, while the Hirsch +pleadings were getting stringent! Read,--a very sad memorial of M. de +Voltaire,-- + +DOCUMENT FIFTH (in Voltaire's hand, written at two times; and the old +writing MENDED in parts, to suit the new!).--"FOR PAYMENT OF 3,000 +THALERS BY ME DUE, I have sold to M. de Voltaire, at the price +costing by estimation and tax, with 2 per cent for my commission ["OR +GRATIFICATION," written above], the following Diamonds, taxed [blotted +into "TAXABLE"], as here adjoined; viz."--seven pieces of jewelry, +pendeloques, &c., with price affixed, among which is the violated +Topaz,--"the whole estimated by him ["him" crossed out, and "ME" written +over it], being 3,640 thalers. Whereupon, received from Monsieur de +Voltaire [what is very strange; not intelligible without study!] the sum +of 2,940 thalers, and he has given me back the Topaz, with 60 crowns for +my trouble.--Berlin, 19th December, 1750." (Hitherto in Voltaire's hand; +after which Hirsch writes:) "APROUVE, A. Hirschel." [Sic: that is always +his SIGNATURE; "Abraham HirschEL," so given by Klein, while Klein and +everybody CALL him Hirsch (STAG), as we have done,--if only to save a +syllable on the bad bargain.] And between these two lines ("... 1750" +and "APPROVED..."), there is crushed in, as afterthought, "VALUED BY +MYSELF [Hirsch's self], 2,940, ADD 60, IS 3,000." And, in fine, below +the Hirsch signature, on what may be called the bottom margin, there +is,--I think, avowedly Voltaire's and subsequent,--this: "N.B. that +Hirsch's valuing of all the jewels [present lot and former lot] is, by +real estimation, between twice and thrice too high;" of which, it is +hoped, 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 other +blottings 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 that +respect: the signature IS his, but the Paper has been altered since he +signed it. That is what the poor dark mortal meant to express; and in +his mulish way, he has expressed into a falsity what was in itself a +truth. There is not, on candid examination of Klein's Fac-similes and +the other evidence, the smallest doubt but Voltaire altered, added and +intercalated, in his own privacy, those words which we have printed in +italics; TAXES changed into TAXABLES ("estimated at" into "estimable +at"), HIM for ME, and so on; and above all, the now first line of the +Paper, FOR PAYMENT OF 3,000 THALERS BY ME DUE, and in last line +the words VALUED BY MYSELF, &c., are palpable interpolations, sheer +falsifications, which Hirsch is made to continue signing after his back +is turned! + +No fact is more certain; and few are sadder in the history of M. de +Voltaire. 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 of +Fortune? Hirsch, as a Jew, is not permitted to make oath, where a +Quasi-Christian will swear to the contrary, or he gladly would; and +might justly. The Judges, willing to prevent chance of perjury, did not +bring Voltaire to swearing, but contrived a way to justice without that. + +FEBRUARY 18th, 1751, the Court arrives at a conclusion. Hirsch's +Diamonds, whatever may have been written or forged, are not, nor +were, worth more than their value, think the Judges. The Paris Bill is +admitted to be Voltaire's, not Hirsch's, continue they;--and if Hirsch +can 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 the +above day, runs their Sentence: "You, Hirsch, shall restore the Paris +Bill; mutual Papers to be all restored, or legally annihilated. Jewels +to be valued by sworn Experts, and paid for at that price. Hirsch, if he +can prove that the Jewels were changed, has liberty to try it, in a new +Action. 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 the +wrong, weren't you, then; and fined thirty shillings?" hysterically +trying to believe, and make others believe, that he has come off +triumphant. "Beaten my Jew, haven't I?" says he to everybody, though +inwardly well enough aware how it stands, and that he is a Phoenix +douched, and has a tremor in the bones! Chancellor Cocceji was far +from thinking it triumphant to him. Here is a small Note of Cocceji's, +addressed to his two colleagues, Jarriges and Loper, which has been +found among the Law Papers: + +"BERLIN, 20th FEBRUARY, 1751. The Herr President von Jarriges and +Privy-Councillor Loper are hereby officially requested to bring the +remainder of the Voltaire Sentence to its fulfilment: I am myself not +well, and can employ my time much better. The Herr von Voltaire has +given in a desperate Memorial (EIN DESPERATES MEMORIAL) to this purport: +'I swear that what is charged to me [believed of me] in the Sentence is +true; and now request to have the Jewels valued.' I have returned +him this Paper, with notice that it must be signed by an +Advocate.--COCCEJI." [Klein, 256.] + +So wrote Chancellor Cocceji, on the Saturday, washing his hands of this +sorry business. Voltaire is ready to make desperate oath, if needful. We +said 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 his +throat,--alas, yes, he will lie a little! Forgery lay still less in his +habits; but he can do a stroke that way, too (one stroke, unique in his +life, 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, and +flying off into the Infinite! + +Berlin, of course, is loud on these matters. "The man whom the King +delighted 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 and +indecent exposure. To Voltaire he has taken no notice; silently leaves +Voltaire, in his nook of the Berlin Schloss, till the foul business get +done. "VOLTAIRE FILOUTE LES JUIFS (picks Jew pockets)," writes he once +to Wilhelmina: "will get out of it by some GAMBADE (summerset)," +writes he another time; "but" ["31st December, 1750" (--OEuvres de +Frederic,--xxvii, i. 198); "3d February, 1751" (ib. 201).]--And takes +the matter with boundless contempt, doubtless with some vexation, but +with the minimum of noise, as a Royal gentleman might. Jew Hirsch is +busy preparing for his new desperate Action; getting together proof that +the Jewels have been changed. In proof Jew Hirsch will be weak; but in +pleading, in public pamphlets, and keeping a winged Apollo fluttering +disastrously 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 to +be returned, Jewels nearly all, except one or two, paid at Hirsch's own +price. Whereby, on the whole, as Klein computes, Voltaire lost about 150 +pounds;--elsewhere I have seen it computed at 187 pounds: not the least +matter 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 close +the intolerable rumor, at some cost of money. For all tongues were +wagging; and, in defect of a TIMES Newspaper, it appears, there had +Pamphlets 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, be +considered to have an obscure existence. And such, reduced to its +authenticities, was the Adventure of the Steuer-Notes. A very bad +Adventure indeed; unspeakably the worst that Voltaire ever tried, who +had such talent in the finance line. On which poor History is really +ashamed to have spent so much time; sorting it into clearness, in the +disgust and sorrow of her soul. But perhaps it needed to be done. Let +us hope, at least, it may not now need to be done again. [Besides the +KLEIN, the TANTALE EN PROCES and the Voltaire LETTERS cited above, there +is (in--OEuvres de Voltaire,--lxiv. pp. 61-106, as SUPPLEMENT there), +written off-hand, in the very thick of the Hirsch Affair, a considerable +set of NOTES TO D'ARGET, which might have been still more elucidative; +but are, in their present dateless topsy-turvied condition; a very +wonder 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 it +has reduced the first Favonian efflorescence there. He considerably +recovered in the SECOND ACT, such the indelible charm of the Voltaire +genius to Friedrich. But it is well known, the First Act rules all +the others; and here, accordingly, the Third Act failed not to prove +tragical. Out of First Act into Second the following EXTRACTS OF +CORRESPONDENCE will guide the reader, without commentary of ours. + +Voltaire, left languishing at Berlin, has fallen sick, now that all is +over;--no doubt, in part really sick, the unfortunate Phoenix-Peafowl, +with such a tremor in his bones;--and would fain be near Friedrich and +warmth again; fain persuade the outside world that all is sunshine with +him. 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 had +been written from Berlin AFTER the Jew affair was out of Court; and to +another (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; I +esteemed your genius, your talents and acquirements; and I had reason to +think that a man of your age, wearied with fencing against Authors, and +exposing himself to the storm, came hither to take refuge as in a safe +harbor. + +"But, on arriving, you exacted of me, in a rather singular manner, Not +to take Freron to write me news from Paris; and I had the weakness, or +the complaisance, to grant you this, though it is not for you to decide +what persons I shall take into my service. D'Arnaud had faults towards +you; a generous man would have pardoned them; a vindictive man hunts +down those whom he takes to hating. In a word, though to me D'Arnaud had +done nothing, it was on your account that he had to go. You were +with the Russian Minister, speaking of things you had no concern with +[Russian Excellency Gross, off home lately, in sudden dudgeon, like an +angry sky-rocket, nobody can guess why! Adelung, vii. 133 (about 1st +December, 1750).]--and it was thought I had given you Commission." "You +have had the most villanous affair in the world with a Jew. It has made +a frightful scandal all over Town. And that Steuer-Schein business is so +well known in Saxony, that they have made grievous complaints of it to +me. + +"For my own share, I have preserved peace in my house till your +arrival: and I warn you, that if you have the passion of intriguing and +caballing, you have applied to the wrong hand. I like peaceable composed +people; who do not put into their conduct the violent passions of +Tragedy. In case you can resolve to live like a Philosopher, I shall +be glad to see you; but if you abandon yourself to all the violences of +your passions, and get into quarrels with all the world, you will do me +no 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, your +Majesty;--and sick to death" (see farther down),--here is Friedrich's +Second in Answer:-- + + +2. FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE AGAIN. + +"POTSDAM, 28th February, 1751. "If you wish to come hither, you can do +so. I hear nothing of Lawsuits, not even of yours. Since you have gained +it, 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 the +New TESTAMENT. Such worryings (CES SORTES DE COMPROMIS) leave their mark +on a man; and with the talents of the finest genius in France, you will +not cover the stains which this conduct would fasten on your reputation +in the long-run. A Bookseller Gosse [read JORE, your Majesty? Nobody +ever heard of Gosse as an extant quantity: Jore, of Rouen, you mean, and +his celebrated Lawsuit, about printing the HENRIADE, or I know not what, +long since] [Unbounded details on the Jore Case, and from 1731 to 1738 +continual LETTERS on it, in--OEuvres de Voltaire;----came to a head +in 1736 (ib. lxix. 375); Jore penitent, 1738 (ib. i. 262), &c. &c.], a +Bookseller Jore, an Opera Fiddler [poor Travenol, wrong dog pincered by +the ear], and a Jeweller Jew, these are, of a surety, names which in +no sort of business ought to appear by the side of yours. I write this +Letter with the rough common-sense of a German, who speaks what he +thinks, without employing equivocal terms, and loose assuagements which +disfigure the truth: it is for you to profit by it.--F." [--OEuvres de +Frederic,--xxii. 265.] + +So that Voltaire will have to languish: "Wrong, yes;--and sick, nigh +dead, your Majesty! Ah, could not one get to some Country Lodge near +you, 'the MARQUISAT' for instance? Live silent there, and see your face +sometimes?" [In--OEuvres de Frederic--(xxii. 259-261, 263-266) are Four +lamenting and repenting, wheedling and ultimately whining, LETTERS from +Voltaire, none of them dated, which have much about "my dreadful state +of health," my passion" for reposing in that MARQUISAT," &c.;--to one +of which Four, or perhaps to the whole together, the above No. 2 of +Friedrich seems to have been Answer. Of that indisputable "MARQUISAT" no +Nicolai says a word; even careful Preuss passes "Gosse" and it with shut +lips.] Languishing very much;--gives cosy little dinners, however. Here +are 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 comfortable +manner (PHILOSOPHIQUEMENT ET CHAUDEMENT ET DOUCEMENT). A couple of +philosophers, without being courtiers, may dine in the Palace of a +Philosopher-King: I should even take the liberty of sending one of his +Majesty's Carriages for you,-at two precise. After dinner, you would be +at hand for your Academy meeting." [Formey, i. 234.]--V. How cosy!--And +King Friedrich has relented, too; grants me the Marquisat; can refuse me +nothing! + +VOLTAIRE TO D'ARGENTAL (POTSDAM, 15th MARCH 1751).... "I could not +accompany our Chamberlain [Von Ammon, gone as Envoy to Paris, on a small +matter ["Commercial Treaty;" which he got done. See LONGCHAMP, if any +one is curious otherwise about this Gentleman: "D'Hamon" they call +him, and sometimes "DAMON",--to whom Niece Denis wanted to be Phyllis, +according to Longchamp.]], through the muds and the snows,--where I +should 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 sufficiently +illustrious by his own immortal Works, has done ONE of that kind,"--by +his 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 his +real crime]; delightful news from canaille to canaille: 'How Voltaire +had 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 was +dead.'" To the joy of Freron, and the scoundrels that are printing one's +PUCELLE. "Voltaire is still in life, however, my angels; and the King +has been so good to me in my sickness, I should be the ungratefulest +of 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 was +the sole animal of my species whom he lodged in his Palace there [what +a beautiful bit of color to lay on!]--He left me equipages, cooks ET +CETERA; 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 Denis +coming to live with me there,--talks of coming, if my angels knew +it],--and he has reserved for me a charming apartment in his Palace of +Potsdam, where I pass a part of the week. + +"And, on close view, I still admire this Unique Genius; and he deigns to +communicate himself to me;--and if I were not 300 leagues from you, and +had a little health, I should be the happiest of men." [--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxiv. 320.]... Oh, my angels-- + +And, in short, better or worse, my SECOND ACT is begun, as you +perceive!--And certain readers will be apt to look in again, before all +is over. + + + + +Chapter VIII. OST-FRIESLAND AND THE SHIPPING INTERESTS. + +Two Foreign Events, following on the heel of the Hirsch Lawsuit, were of +interest 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), but +Princess Ulrique is henceforth Queen of Sweden, her Husband the +new King. No doubt a welcome event to Princess Ulrique, the high +brave-minded Lady; but which proved intrinsically an empty one, not to +say worse than empty, to herself and her friends, in times following. +Friedrich's connection with Sweden, which he had been tightening lately +by a Treaty of Alliance, came in the long-run to nothing for him, on the +Swedish side; and on the Russian has already created umbrages, kindled +abstruse suspicions, indignations,--Russian Excellency Gross, abruptly, +at Berlin, demanding horses, not long since, and posting home without +other leave-taking, to the surprise of mankind;--Russian Czarina +evidently in the sullens against Friedrich, this long while; dull +impenetrable clouds of anger lodging yonder, boding him no good. All +which the Accession of Queen Ulrique will rather tend to aggravate than +otherwise. [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, and +is of still less moment: March 31st, 1751, Prince Fred, the Royal +Heir-Apparent, has suddenly died. Had been ill, more or less, for an +eight days past; was now thought better, though "still coughing, and +bringing up phlegm,"--when, on "Wednesday night between nine and ten," +in some lengthier fit of that kind, he clapt his hand on his breast; and +the terrified valet heard him say, "JE SUIS MORT!"--and before his +poor 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, and +slushings hither and thither, which they have occasioned, in the muddy +tide-currents of that Constitutional Country. Without interest to us +here; or indeed elsewhere,--except perhaps that our dear Wilhelmina +would hear of it; and have her sad reflections and reminiscences +awakened by it; sad and many-voiced, perhaps of an almost doleful +nature, being on a sick-bed at this time, poor Lady. She quitted Berlin +months ago, as we observed,--her farewell Letter to Friedrich, written +from the first stage homewards, and melodious as the voice of sorrowful +true hearts to us and him, dates "November 24th," just while Voltaire +(whom she always likes, and in a beautiful way protects, "FRERE +VOLTAIRE," as she calls him) was despatching Hirsch on that ill-omened +Predatory 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 her +again, 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 make +Opposition cabals. Read this sudden Epitaph in doggerel; an uncommonly +successful Piece of its kind; which is now his main monument with +posterity. The "Brother" (hero of Culloden), the "Sister" (Amelia, +our Friedrich's first love, now growing gossipy and spiteful, poor +Princess), 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 in +London, is Friedrich's first Visit to Ost-Friesland. May 31st, having +done his Berlin-Potsdam Reviews and other current affairs, Friedrich +sets out on this Excursion. With Ost-Friesland for goal, but much +business by the way. Towards Magdeburg, and a short visit to the +Brunswick Kindred, first of all. There is much reviewing in the +Magdeburg quarter, and thereafter in the Wesel; and reviewing and +visiting all along: through Minden, Bielfeld, Lingen: not till July +13th does he cross the Ost-Friesland Border, and enter Embden. His +three 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 the +King's Baboon, &c.; Voltaire not being there at all).] On catching view +of Ost-Friesland Border, see, on the Border-Line, what an Arch got +on its feet: Triumphal Arch, of frondent ornaments, inscriptions and +insignia; "of quite extraordinary magnificence;" Arch which "sets +every one into the agreeablest admiration." Above a hundred such +Arches spanned the road at different points; multitudinous enthusiasm +reverently escorting, "more than 20,000" by count: till we enter Embden; +where all is cannon-salvo, and three-times-three; the thunder-shots +continuing, "above 2,000 of them from the walls, not to speak of +response 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 Shipping +Company" (of which anon), to the Stande, and Magisterial persons;--with +many questions, I doubt not, about your new embankments, new +improvements, prospects; there being much procedure that way, in all +manner of kinds, since the new Dynasty came in, now six years ago. +Embankments on your River, wide spaces changed from ooze to meadow; on +the Dollart still more, which has lain 500 years hidden from the +sun. Does any reader know the Dollart? Ost-Friesland has awakened to +wonderful new industries within these six years; urged and guided by +the new King, who has great things in view for it, besides what are in +actual progress. + +That of dikes, sea-embankments, for example; to Ost-Friesland, as to +Holland, they are the first condition of existence; and, in the past +times, of extreme Parliamentary vitality, have been slipping a good deal +out of repair. Ems River, in those flat rainy countries, has ploughed +out for itself a very wide embouchure, as boundary between Groningen +and Ost-Friesland. Muddy Ems, bickering with the German Ocean, does not +forget to act, if Parliamentary Commissioners do. These dikes, 120 +miles of dike, mainly along both banks of this muddy Ems River, are now +water-tight again, to the comfort of flax and clover: and this is but +one item of the diking now on foot. Readers do not know the Dollart, +that uppermost round gulf, not far from Embden itself, in the waste +embouchure of Ems with its continents of mud and tide. Five hundred +years ago, that ugly whirl of muddy surf, 100 square miles in area, was +a fruitful field, "50 Villages upon it, one Town, several Monasteries +and 50,000 souls:" till on Christmas midnight A.D. 1277, the winds and +the storm-rains having got to their height, Ocean and Ems did, "about +midnight," undermine the place, folded it over like a friable bedquilt +or monstrous doomed griddle-cake, and swallowed it all away. Most of +it, they say, that night, the whole of it within ten years coming; +[Busching,--Erdbeschreibung,--v. 845, 846; Preuss, i. 308, 309.]--and +there 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, near +the 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's +Domain-Kammer showing the example. Which Official Body did accordingly +(without Blue-Books, but in good working case otherwise) break +ground, few months hence; and victoriously achieved a POLDER, or Diked +Territory, "worth about 2,000 pounds annually;" "which, in 1756, was +sold to the STANDE;" at twenty-five years purchase, let us say, or for +50,000 pounds. An example of a convincing nature; which many others, and +ever others, have followed since; to gradual considerable diminution of +the Dollart, and relief of Ost-Friesland on this side. Furtherance of +these things is much a concern of Friedrich's. The second day after his +arrival, those audiences and ceremonials done, Friedrich and suite got +on board a Yacht, and sailed about all over this Dollart, twenty miles +out 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 need +of dredging, the building docks considerably in disrepair; but shall +be refitted if this King live and prosper. He has declared Embden a +"Free-Haven," inviting trade to it from all peaceable Nations;--and +readers do not know (though Sir Jonas Hanway and the jealous mercantile +world well did) what magnificent Shipping Companies and Sea-Enterprises, +of his devising, are afoot there. Of which, one word, and no second +shall follow: + +"September 1st, 1750, those Carrousel gayeties scarce done, 'The Asiatic +Trading Company' stept formally into existence; Embden the Head-quarters +of it; [Patent, or FREYHEITS-BRIEF in--Helden-Geschichte,--iii. 457, +458.] chief Manager a Ritter De la Touche; one of the Directors +our fantastic Bielfeld, thus turned to practical value. A Company +patronized, in all ways, by the King; but, for the rest, founded, not on +his money; founded on voluntary shares, which, to the regret of Hanway +and others, have had much popularity in commercial circles. Will trade +to China. A thing looked at with umbrage by the English, by the Dutch. +A shame that English people should encourage such schemes, says +Hanway. Which nevertheless many Dutch and many English private persons +do,--among the latter, one English Lady (name unknown, but I always +suspect 'Miss Barbara Wyndham, of the College, Salisbury'), concerning +whom 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); and +was followed by a second, named TOWN OF EMBDEN, on the 19th of September +following; both of which prosperously reached Canton, and prosperously +returned with cargoes of satisfactory profit. The first of them, KONIG +VON PREUSSEN, had been boarded in the Downs by an English Captain +Thomson and his Frigate, and detained some days,--till Thomson 'took +Seven English seamen out of her.' 'Act of Parliament, express!' said +his Grace of Newcastle. Which done, Thomson found that the English +jealousies would have to hold their hand; no farther, whatever one's +wishes may be. + +"Nay within a year hence, January 24th, 1753, Friedrich founded another +Company for India: 'BENGALISCHE HANDELS-GESELLSCHAFT;' which also sent +out its pair of ships, perhaps oftener than once; and pointed, as the +other was doing, to wide fields of enterprise, for some time. But +luck was wanting. And, 'in part, mismanagement,' and, in whole, the +Seven-Years War put an end to both Companies before long. Friedrich is +full of these thoughts, among his other Industrialisms; and never quits +them for discouragement, but tries again, when the obstacles cease to +be insuperable. Ever since the acquisition of Ost-Friesland, the +furtherance 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 his +progress had been remarkable,--especially in this carrying trade, while +the War lasted, and crippled all Anti-English belligerents. Upon which, +indeed, and the conduct of the English Privateers to him, there is a +Controversy going on with the English Court in those years (began +in 1747), most distressful to his Grace of Newcastle;--which in part +explains those stingy procedures of Captain Thomson ('Home, you +seven English sailors!') when the first Canton ship put to sea. That +Controversy is by no means ended after three years, but on the contrary, +after two years more, comes to a crisis quite shocking to his Grace +of Newcastle, and defying all solution on his Grace's side,--the other +Party, after such delays, five years waiting, having settled it for +himself!" Of which, were the crisis come, we will give some account. + +On the third day of his Visit, Friedrich drove to Aurich, the seat +of Government, and official little capital of Ost-Friesland; where +triumphal arches, joyful reverences, concourses, demonstrations, +sumptuous Dinner one item, awaited his Majesty: I know not if, in the +way thither or back, he passed those "Three huge Oaks [or the rotted +stems or roots of them] under which the Ancient Frisians, Lords of all +between Weser and Rhine, were wont to assemble in Parliament" (WITHOUT +Fourth Estate, or any Eloquence except of the purely Business sort),--or +what his thoughts on the late Ost-Friesland Bandbox Parliaments may +have been! He returned to Embden that night; and on the morrow started +homewards; we may fancy, tolerably pleased with what he had seen. + +"King Friedrich's main Objects of Pursuit in this Period," says a +certain Author, whom we often follow, "I define as being Three. 1. +Reform of the Law; 2. Furtherance of Husbandry and Industry in all +kinds, especially of Shipping from Embden; 3. Improvement of his own +Domesticities and Household Enjoyments,"--renewal of the Reinsberg +Program, in short. + +"In the First of these objects," continues he, "King Friedrich's success +was very considerable, and got him great fame in the world. In his +Second head of efforts, that of improving the Industries and Husbandries +among his People, his success, though less noised of in foreign parts, +was to the near observer still more remarkable. A perennial business +with him, this; which, even in the time of War, he never neglects; and +which springs out like a stemmed flood, whenever Peace leaves him free +for it. His labors by all methods to awaken new branches of industry, +to cherish and further the old, are incessant, manifold, unwearied; and +will surprise the uninstructed reader, when he comes to study them. +An airy, poetizing, bantering, lightly brilliant King, supposed to be +serious mainly in things of War, how is he moiling and toiling, like +an ever-vigilant Land-Steward, like the most industrious City Merchant, +hardest-working Merchant's Clerk, to increase his industrial Capital by +any the smallest item! + +"One day, these things will deserve to be studied to the bottom; and to +be set forth, by writing hands that are competent, for the instruction +and 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 the +immense sum-total of them,--what man, in any the noblest pursuit, can +say that he has stood to it, six-and-forty years long, in the style of +this man? Nor did the harvest fail; slow sure harvest, which sufficed +a patient Friedrich in his own day; harvest now, in our day, visible to +everybody: in a Prussia all shooting into manufactures, into commerces, +opulences,--I only hope, not TOO fast, and on more solid terms than are +universal at present! Those things might be didactic, truly, in various +points, to this Generation; and worth looking back upon, from its +high LAISSEZ-FAIRE altitudes, its triumphant Scrip-transactions and +continents of gold-nuggets,--pleasing, it doubts not, to all the gods. +To write well of what is called 'Political Economy' (meaning thereby +increase of money's-worth) is reckoned meritorious, and our nearest +approach to the rational sublime. But to accomplish said increase in +a high and indisputable degree; and indisputably very much by your own +endeavors wisely regulating those of others, does not that approach +still nearer the sublime? + +"To prevent disappointment, I ought to add that Friedrich is the reverse +of 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 the +world), which have since been vouchsafed us. Probably in the world there +was never less of a Free-Trader! Constraint, regulation, encouragement, +discouragement, reward, punishment; these he never doubted were the +method, and that government was good everywhere if wise, bad only if not +wise. And sure enough these methods, where human justice and the earnest +sense and insight of a Friedrich preside over them, have results, which +differ notably from opposite cases that can be imagined! The desperate +notion of giving up government altogether, as a relief from human +blockheadism in your governors, and their want even of a wish to be just +or wise, had not entered into the thoughts of Friedrich; nor driven +him upon trying to believe that such, in regard to any Human Interest +whatever, was, or could be except for a little while in extremely +developed cases, the true way of managing it. How disgusting, +accordingly, is the Prussia of Friedrich to a Hanbury Williams; who has +bad eyes and dirty spectacles, and hates Friedrich: how singular and +lamentable to a Mirabeau Junior, who has good eyes, and loves him! +No knave, no impertinent blockhead even, can follow his own beautiful +devices here; but is instantly had up, or comes upon a turnpike strictly +shut for him. 'Was the like ever heard of?' snarls Hanbury furiously (as +an angry dog might, in a labyrinth it sees not the least use for): 'What +unspeakable want of liberty!'--and reads to you as if he were lying +outright; but generally is not, only exaggerating, tumbling upside down, +to a furious degree; knocking against the labyrinth HE sees not the +least 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 industrious +Major Mauvillon, with this fresh current of a "Gospel" shining through +it, very fresh and brisk, of few yards breadth;--dedicated to Papa, the +true 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 of +knowing,--will fall to be noticed afterwards [not by this Editor, we +hope!] + +"Many of Friedrich's restrictive notions,--as that of watching with such +anxiety that 'money' (gold or silver coin) be not carried out of the +Country,--will be found mistakes, not in orthodox Dismal Science as now +taught, but in the nature of things; and indeed the Dismal Science will +generally excommunicate them in the lump,--too. heedless that Fact has +conspicuously vindicated the general sum-total of them, and declared it +to be much truer than it seems to the Dismal Science. Dismal Science +(if that were important to me) takes insufficient heed, and does not +discriminate between times past and times present, times here and times +there." + +Certain it is, King Friedrich's success in National Husbandry was very +great. The details of the very many new Manufactures, new successful +ever-spreading Enterprises, fostered into existence by Friedrich; his +Canal-makings, Road-makings, Bog-drainings, Colonizings and unwearied +endeavorings in that kind, will require a Technical Philosopher one day; +and will well reward such study, and trouble of recording in a human +manner; but must lie massed up in mere outline on the present occasion. +Friedrich, as Land-Father, Shepherd of the People, was great on the +Husbandry side also; and we are to conceive him as a man of excellent +practical sense, doing unweariedly his best in that kind, all his life +long. Alone among modern Kings; his late Father the one exception; and +even his Father hardly surpassing him in that particular. + +In regard to Embden and the Shipping interests, Ost-Friesland awakened +very ardent speculations, which were a novelty in Prussian affairs; +nothing of Foreign Trade, except into the limited Baltic, had been heard +of 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 of +this same Embden; where, being summoned to protect in the troubles, he +had got some footing as Contingent Heir withal, and kept a "Prussian +Battalion" a good while. And now, on much fairer terms, not less +diligently turned to account, it is his Great-Grandson's turn. +Friedrich's successes in this department, the rather as Embden and +Ost-Friesland have in our time ceased to be Prussian, are not much worth +speaking of; but they connect themselves with some points still slightly +memorable to us. How, for example, his vigilantes and endeavors on this +score brought him into rubbings, not collisions, but jealousies and +gratings, with the English and Dutch, the reader will see anon. + +Law-reform is gloriously prosperous; Husbandry the like, and Shipping +Interest itself as yet. But in the Third grand Head, that of realizing +the Reinsberg Program, beautifying his Domesticities, and bringing his +own Hearth and Household nearer the Ideal, Friedrich was nothing like +so successful; in fact had no success at all. That flattering Reinsberg +Program, it is singular how Friedrich cannot help trying it by every +new chance, nor cast the notion out of him that there must be a kind +of Muses'-Heaven realizable on Earth! That is the Biographic Phenomenon +which has survived of those Years; and to that we will almost +exclusively 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 is +divisible into Three Acts or Stages. The first we have seen: how +it commenced in brightness as of the sun, and ended, by that Hirsch +business, in whirlwinds of smoke and soot,--Voltaire retiring, on his +passionate prayer, to that silent Country-house which he calls the +Marquisat; there to lie in hospital, and wash himself a little, and let +the skies wash themselves. + +The Hirsch business having blown over, as all things do, Voltaire +resumed his place among the Court-Planets, and did his revolutions; +striving to forget that there ever was a Hirsch, or a soot-explosion of +that nature. In words nobody reminded him of it, the King least of all: +and by degrees matters were again tolerably glorious, and all might have +gone well enough; though the primal perfect splendor, such fuliginous +reminiscence being ineffaceable, never could be quite re-attained. The +diamond Cross of Merit, the Chamberlain gold Key, hung bright upon the +man; a man the admired of men. He had work to do: work of his own which +he reckoned priceless (that immortal SIECLE DE LOUIS QUATORZE; which +he stood by, and honestly did, while here; the one fixed axis in those +fooleries and whirlings of his);--work for the King, "two hours, +one hour, a day," which the King reckoned priceless in its sort. For +Friedrich himself Voltaire has, with touches of real love coming out +now and then, a very sincere admiration mixed with fear; and delights +in shining to him, and being well with him, as the greatest pleasure now +left in life. Besides the King, he had society enough, French in type, +and brilliant enough: plenty of society; or, at his wish, what was still +better, none at all. He was bedded, boarded, lodged, as if beneficent +fairies 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! Had +the man been wise--But he was not wise. He had, if no big gloomy devil +in him among the bright angels that were there, a multitude of ravening +tumultuary imps, or little devils very ILL-CHAINED; and was lodged, +he and his restless little devils, in a skin far too thin for him and +them!-- + +Reckoning up the matter, one cannot find that Voltaire ever could have +been a blessing at Berlin, either for Friedrich or himself; and it is to +be owned that Friedrich was not wise in so longing for him, or clasping +him so frankly in his arms. As Friedrich, by this time, probably begins +to discover;--though indeed to Friedrich the thing is of finite moment; +by no means of infinite, as it was to Voltaire. "At worst, nothing but +a little money thrown away!" thinks Friedrich: "Sure enough, this is a +strange Trismegistus, this of mine: star fire-work shall we call him, or +terrestrial smoke-and-soot work? But one can fence oneself against the +blind vagaries of the man; and get a great deal of good by him, in the +lucid intervals." To Voltaire himself the position is most agitating; +but then its glories, were there nothing more! Besides he is always +thinking to quit it shortly; which is a great sedative in troubles. +What with intermittencies (safe hidings in one's MARQUISAT, or vacant +interlunar cave), with alternations of offence and reconcilement; what +with occasional actual flights to Paris (whitherward Voltaire is always +busy to keep a postern open; and of which there is frequent talk, and +almost continual thought, all along), flights to be called "visits," +and privately intending to be final, but never proving so,--the +Voltaire-Friedrich relation, if left to itself, might perhaps long have +staggered about, and not ended as it did. + +But, alas, no relation can be left to itself in this world,--especially +if you have a porous skin! There were other French here, as well as +Voltaire, revolving in the Court-circle; and that, beyond all others, +proved the fatal circumstance to him. "NE SAVEZ-VOUS PAS, Don't you +know," said he to Chancellor Jarriges one day, "that when there are two +Frenchmen in a Foreign Court or Country, one of them must die (FAUT QUE +L'UN DES DEUX PERISSE)?" [Seyfarth, ii. 191; &c. &c.] Which shocked the +mind of Jarriges; but had a kind of truth, too. Jew Hirsch, run into for +low smuggling purposes, had been a Cape of Storms, difficult to weather; +but the continual leeshore were those French,--with a heavy gale on, and +one 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 have +to pass then into a Third of darker complexion, and into a Catastrophe +very dark indeed. + +Catastrophe which, by farther ill accident, proved noisy in the extreme; +producing world-wide shrieks from the one party, stone-silence from the +other; which were answered by unlimited hooting, catcalling and haha-ing +from all parts of the World-Theatre, upon both the shrieky and the +silent party; catcalling not fallen quite dead to this day. To Friedrich +the catcalling was not momentous (being used to such things); though to +poor Voltaire it was unlimitedly so:--and to readers interested in this +memorable Pair of Men, the rights and wrongs of the Affair ought to +be rendered authentically conceivable, now at last. Were it humanly +possible,--after so much catcalling at random! Smelfungus has a right to +say, speaking of this matter:-- + +"Never was such a jumble of loud-roaring ignorances, delusions and +confusions, as the current Records of it are. Editors, especially French +Editors, treating of a Hyperborean, Cimmerian subject, like this, are +easy-going creatures. And truly they have left it for us in a wonderful +state. Dateless, much of it, by nature; and, by the lazy Editors, +MISdated into very chaos; jumbling along there, in mad defiance of top +and bottom; often the very Year given wrong:--full everywhere of lazy +darkness, irradiated only by stupid rages, ill-directed mockeries:--and +for issue, cheerfully malicious hootings from the general mob of +mankind, with unbounded contempt of their betters; which is not +pleasant to see. When mobs do get together, round any signal object; and +editorial gentlemen, with talent for it, pour out from their respective +barrel-heads, in a persuasive manner, instead of knowledge, ignorance +set on fire, they are capable of carrying it far!--Will it be possible +to pick out the small glimmerings of real light, from this mad dance of +will-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 are +a resource, and pretty much the sole one: Letters a good few, still +extant; which all HAD their bit of meaning; and have it still, if well +tortured till they give it out, or give some glimmer of it out:"--but +you have not tortured them; you have left it to me, if I would! As +I assuredly will not (never fear, reader!)--except in the thriftiest +degree. + + + + +DETACHED FEATURES (NOT FABULOUS) OF VOLTAIRE AND HIS BERLIN-POTSDAM +ENVIRONMENT 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 and +poetry day by day. The Algarottis, the Maupertuises, are here; have each +his work, serious for himself; then gay Supper with a King, who is a +great man and the soul of good company."... Sparta and Athens, I tell +you: "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 in +freedom,--if I were not entirely free, neither an enormous Pension, nor +a Gold Key tearing out one's pocket, nor a halter (LICOU), which they +call CORDON of an ORDER, nor even the Suppers with a Philosopher who +has 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 warblings +of a heart grateful to the first of Kings, there goes on a series +of utterances to Niece Denis, remarkable for the misery driven into +meanness, that can be read in them. Ill-health, discontent, vague +terror, 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 a +handsome manner. And it passes, often enough (in these poor LETTERS), +into transient malignity, into gusts of trembling hatred, with a +tendency 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. A +man hunted by the little devils that dwell unchained within himself; +like Pentheus by the Maenads, like Actaeon by his own Dogs. Nay, without +devils, 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 of +teeth since I came!" In truth, we are in a sadly scorbutic state; and +that, and the devils we lodge within ourselves, is the one real evil. +Could not Suspicion--why cannot she!--take her natural rest; and all +these terrors vanish? Oh, M. de Voltaire!--The practical purport, to +Niece Denis, always is: Keep my retreat to Paris open; in the name of +Heaven, no obstruction that way! + +Miserable indeed; a man fatally unfit for his present element! But he +has Two considerable Sedatives, all along; two, and no third visible +to me. Sedative FIRST: that, he can, at any time, quit this illustrious +Tartarus-Elysium, the envy of mankind;--and indeed, practically, he is +always as if on the slip; thinking to be off shortly, for a time, or in +permanence; can be off at once, if things grow too bad. Sedative SECOND +is far better: His own labor on LOUIS QUATORZE, which is steadily going +on, and must have been a potent quietus in those Court-whirlwinds inward +and 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 had +projected. But I will come to see YOU in the course of November" (far +from it, I got into STEUER-SCHEINE then!)--And again, after some +weeks: "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, since +you live in it, I will make frequent visits," very!" Italy and the +King of Prussia are two old passions with me; but I cannot treat +Frederic-le-Grand as I can the Holy Father, with a mere look in +passing." [To D'Argental, "Berlin, 14th September,--Potsdam, 15th +October, 1750" (--OEuvres,--lxxiv. 220, 237).] Let this one, to which +many might be added, serve as sample of Sedative First, or the power and +intention 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 get +from Leipzig, if no nearer, whatever Books are needed;'" and labor +faithfully at this immortal Production. Yes, day by day, to see growing, +by the cunning of one's own right hand, such perennial Solomon's-Temple +of a SIECLE DE LOUIS QUATORZE:--which of your Kings, or truculent, +Tiglath-Pilesers, could do that? To poor me, even in the Potsdam +tempests, it is possible: what ugliest day is not beautiful that sees +a stone or two added there!--Daily Voltaire sees himself at work on his +SIECLE, on those fine terms; trowel in one hand, weapon of war in the +other. And does actually accomplish it, in the course of this Year +1751,--with a great deal of punctuality and severe painstaking; which +readers 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 in +that Berlin element, but had throughout a bower-anchor to ride by. "The +King of France continues me as Gentleman of the Chamber, say you; but +has taken away my Title of Historiographer? That latter, however, shall +still be my function. 'My present independence has given weight to my +verdicts on matters. Probably I never could have written this Book at +Paris.' A consolation for one's exile, MON ENFANT." [To Niece Denis +(--OEuvres,--lxxiv. 247, &c. &c.), "28th October, 1750," and subsequent +dates.] + +It is proper also to observe that, besides shining at the King's Suppers +like no other, Voltaire applies himself honestly to do for his Majesty +the small work required of him,--that of Verse-correcting now and then. +Two Specimens exist; two Pieces criticised, ODE AUX PRUSSIENS, and THE +ART OF WAR: portions of that Reprint now going on ("to the extent of +Twelve Copies,"--woe lies in one of them, most unexpected at this time!) +"AU DONJON DU CHATEAU;"--under benefit of Voltaire's remarks. Which +one reads curiously, not without some surprise. [In--OEuvres de +Frederic,--x. 276-303.] Surprise, first at Voltaire's official fidelity; +his frankness, rigorous strictness in this small duty: then at the kind +of correcting, instructing and lessoning, that had been demanded of him +by his Royal Pupil. Mere grammatical stylistic skin-deep work: nothing +(or, at least, in these Specimens nothing) of attempt upon the interior +structure, or the interior harmony even of utterance: solely the +Parisian niceties, graces, laws of poetic language, the FAS and the +NEFAS in regard to all that: this is what his Majesty would fain be +taught from the fountain-head;--one wonders his Majesty did not learn +to spell, which might have been got from a lower source!--And all this +Voltaire does teach with great strictness. For example, in the very +first line, in the very first word, set, before him:-- + +"PRUSSIENS, QUE LA VALEUR CONDUISIT A LA GLOIRE," so Friedrich had +written (ODE AUX PRUSSIENS, which is specimen First); and thus Voltaire +criticises: "The Hero here makes his PRUSSIENS of two syllables; and +afterwards, in another strophe, he grants them three. A King is master +of 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!--A +severe, punctual, painstaking Voltaire, sitting with the schoolmaster's +bonnet on head; ferula visible, if not actually in hand. For which, as +appears, his Majesty was very grateful to the Trismegistus of men. + +Voltaire's flatteries to Friedrich, in those scattered little Billets +with their snatches of verse, are the prettiest in the world,--and +approach very near to sincerity, though seldom quite attaining it. +Something traceable of false, of suspicious, feline, nearly always, in +those seductive warblings; which otherwise are the most melodious +bits of idle ingenuity the human brain has ever spun from itself. For +instance, this heading of a Note sent from one room to another,--perhaps +with 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 this +other, the topic worse,--HAEMORRHOIDS (a kind of annual or periodical +affair 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 the +much that can be spoken, and the infinitely more that cannot and should +not, is Voltaire's supreme excellency among his fellow-creatures; never +rivalled (to my poor judgment) anywhere before or since,--nor worth +rivalling, if we knew it well." + +Another fine circumstance is, that Voltaire has frequent leave of +absence; and in effect passes a great deal of his time altogether by +himself, or in his own way otherwise. What with Friedrich's Review +Journeys and Business Circuits, considerable separations do occur of +themselves; and at any time, Voltaire has but to plead illness, which he +often does; with ground and without, and get away for weeks, safe +into the distance more or less remote. He is at the Marquisat (as +we laboriously make out); at Berlin, in the empty Palace, perhaps in +Lodgings of his own (though one would prefer the GRATIS method); nursing +his maladies, which are many; writing his LOUIS QUATORZE; "lonely +altogether, your Majesty, and sad of humor,"--yet giving his cosy +little dinners, and running out, pretty often, if well invited, into the +brilliancies and gayeties. No want of brilliant social life here, +which can shine, more or less, and appreciate one's shining. The King's +Supper-parties--Yes, and these, though the brightest, are not the only +bright things in our Potsdam-Berlin world. Take with you, reader, one +or two of the then and there Chief Figures; Voltaire's fellow-players; +strutting and fretting their hour on that Stage of Life. They are mostly +not quite strangers to you. + +We know the sublime Perpetual President in his red wig, and sublime +supremacy of Pure Science. A gloomy set figure; affecting the +sententious, the emphatic and a composed impregnability,--like the Jove +of Science. With immensities of gloomy vanity, not compressible at all +times. Friedrich always strove to honor his Perpetual President, and +duly adore the Pure Sciences in him; but inwardly could not quite manage +it, though outwardly he failed in nothing. Impartial witnesses confess, +the King had a great deal of trouble with his gloomings and him. "Who is +this Voltaire?" gloomily thinks the Perpetual President to himself. "A +fellow with a nimble tongue, that is all. Knows nothing whatever of Pure +Sciences, except what fraction or tincture he has begged or stolen from +myself. And here is the King of the world in raptures with him!" + +Voltaire from of old had faithfully done his kowtows to this King of +the Sciences; and, with a sort of terror, had suffered with incredible +patience a great deal from him. But there comes an end to all things; +Voltaire's patience not excepted. It lay in the fates that Maupertuis +should steadily accumulate, day after day, and now more than ever +heretofore, upon the sensitive Voltaire. Till, as will be seen, the +sensitive Voltaire could endure it no longer; but had to explode upon +this big Bully (accident lending a spark); to go off like a Vesuvius of +crackers, fire-serpents and sky-rockets; envelop the red wig, and much +else, in delirious conflagration;--and produce the catastrophe of this +Berlin Drama. + +D'Argens, poor dissolute creature, is the best of the French lot. He has +married, after so many temporary marriages with Actresses, one Actress +in permanence, Mamsell Cochois, a patient kind being; and settled now, +at Potsdam here, into perfectly composed household life. Really loves +Friedrich, they say; the only Frenchman of them that does. Has abundance +of light sputtery wit, and Provencal fire and ingenuity; no ill-nature +against any man. Never injures anybody, nor lies at all about anything. +A great friend of fine weather; regrets, of his inheritances in +Provence, chiefly one item, and this not overmuch,--the bright southern +sun. Sits shivering in winter-time, wrapping himself in more and more +flannel, two dressing-gowns, two nightcaps:--loyal to this King, in good +times and in evil. + +Was the King's friend for thirty years; helped several meritorious +people to his Majesty's notice; and never did any man a mischief in that +quarter. 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, but +sometimes did. He thrice made a visit to Provence,--in fact ran away +from the King, feeling bantered and roasted to a merciless degree,--but +thrice came back. "At the end of the first stage, he had always +privately forgiven the King, and determined that the pretended visit +should really be a visit only." "Reads the King's Letters," which +are 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 take +the trouble of hurting anybody, or get himself into trouble for love or +hatred. He fell into disfavor not long after that unsuccessful little +mission in the first Silesian War, of which the reader has lost +remembrance. Good for nothing in diplomacy, thought Friedrich, but +agreeable as company. "Company in tents, in the seat of War, has its +unpleasantness," thought Algarotti;--and began very privately sounding +the waters at Dresden for an eligible situation; so that there has +ensued a quarrel since; then humble apologies followed by profound +silence,--till now there is reconcilement. It is admitted Friedrich had +some real love for Algarotti; Algarotti, as we gather, none at all for +him; 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 the +occasion. + +Friedrich, readers know by this time, had a great appetite for +conversation: he talked well, listened well; one of his chief enjoyments +was, 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 affected +solemnity, rather the reverse; goes much upon the bantering vein; far +too much, according to the complaining parties. Took pleasure (cruel +mortal!) in stirring up his company by the whip, and even by the whip +applied to RAWS; for we find he had "established," like the Dublin +Hackney-Coachman, "raws for himself;" and habitually plied his implement +there, when desirous to get into the gallop. In an inhuman manner, said +the suffering Cattle; who used to rebel against it, and go off in the +sulks from time to time. It is certain he could, especially in his +younger years, put up with a great deal of zanyism, ingenious foolery +and rough tumbling, if it had any basis to tumble on; though with years +he became more saturnine. + +By far his chief Artist in this kind, indeed properly the only one, was +La Mettrie, whom we once saw transiently as Army-Surgeon at Fontenoy: he +is now out of all that (flung out, with the dogs at his heels); has been +safe in Berlin for three years past. Friedrich not only tolerates the +poor madcap, but takes some pleasure in him: madcap we say, though poor +La Mettrie had remarkable gifts, exuberant laughter one of them, and +was far from intending to be mad. Not Zanyism, but Wisdom of the highest +nature, was what he drove at,--unluckily, with open mouth, and mind all +in tumult. La Mettrie had left the Army, soon after that busy Fontenoy +evening: Chivalrous Grammont, his patron and protector, who had saved +him from many scrapes, lay shot on the field. La Mettrie, rushing on +with mouth open and mind in tumult, had, from of old, been continually +getting into scrapes. Unorthodox to a degree; the Sorbonne greedy +for him long since; such his audacities in print, his heavy hits, +boisterous, quizzical, logical. And now he had set to attacking the +Medical Faculty, to quizzing Medicine in his wild way; Doctor Astruc, +Doctor This and That, of the first celebrity, taking it very ill. So +that 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 considerable +medical and other talent, had he not been so tumultuous and +open-mouthed. He fled to Leyden; and shot forth, in safety there, his +fiery darts upon Sorbonne and Faculty, at his own discretion,--which was +always a MINIMUM quantity:--he had, before long, made Leyden also too +hot for him. His Books gained a kind of celebrity in the world; awoke +laughter and attention, among the adventurous of readers; astonishment +at the blazing madcap (a BON DIABLE, too, as one could see); and are +still known to Catalogue-makers,--though, with one exception, L'HOMME +MACHINE, not otherwise, nor read at all. L'HOMME MACHINE (Man a Machine) +is the exceptional Book; smallest of Duodecimos to have so much wildfire +in it, This MAN A MACHINE, though tumultuous La Mettrie meant nothing +but open-mouthed Wisdom by it, gave scandal in abundance; so that even +the Leyden Magistrates were scandalized; and had to burn the afflicting +little Duodecimo by the common hangman, and order La Mettrie to +disappear instantly from their City. + +Which he had to do,--towards King Friedrich, usual refuge of the +persecuted; seldom inexorable, where there was worth, even under bad +forms, recognizable; and not a friend to burning poor men or their +books, 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 no +longer: fire, not of a malignant incendiary kind, but pleasantly +lambent, though maddish, as Friedrich perceived. Thus had La Mettrie +found a Goshen;--and stood in considerable favor, at Court and in Berlin +Society in the years now current. According to Nicolai, Friedrich never +esteemed La Mettrie, which is easy to believe, but found him a jester +and ingenious madcap, out of whom a great deal of merriment could be +had, over wine or the like. To judge by Nicolai's authentic specimen, +their Colloquies ran sometimes pretty deep into the cynical, under +showers of wildfire playing about; and the high-jinks must have been +highish. [--Anekdoten,--vi. 197-227.] When there had been enough of +this, Friedrich would lend his La Mettrie to the French Excellency, +Milord Tyrconnel, to oblige his Excellency, and get La Mettrie out +of the way for a while. Milord is at Berlin; a Jacobite Irishman, of +blusterous Irish qualities, though with plenty of sagacity and rough +sense; likes La Mettrie; and is not much a favorite with Friedrich. + +Tyrconnel had said, at first,--when Rothenburg, privately from +Friedrich, came to consult him, "What are, in practical form, those +'assistances from the Most Christian Majesty,' should we MAKE +Alliance with him, as your Excellency proposes, and chance to be +attacked?"--"MORBLEU, assistance enough [enumerating several]: MAIS +MORBLEU, SI VOUS NOUS TROMPEX, VOUS SEREZ ECRASES (if you deceive us, +you will be squelched)!" [Valori, ii. 130, &c.] "He had been chosen +for his rough tongue," says Valori; our French Court being piqued at +Friedrich and his sarcasms. Tyrconnel gives splendid dinners: Voltaire +often of them; does not love Potsdam, nor is loved by it. Nay, I +sometimes think a certain DEMON NEWSWRITER (of whom by and by), but do +not know, may be some hungry Attache of Tyrconnel's. Hungry Attache, +shut out from the divine Suppers and upper planetary movements, and +reduced to look on them from his cold hutch, in a dog-like angry and +hungry manner? His flying allusions to Voltaire, "SON (Friedrich's) +SQUELETTE D'APOLLON, skeleton of an Apollo," and the like, are barkings +almost rabid. + +Of the military sort, about this time, Keith and Rothenburg appear +most frequently as guests or companions. Rothenburg had a great deal of +Friedrich's regard: Winterfeld is more a practical Counseller, and does +not 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 or +them. He had a Parisian Wife; who is sometimes on the point of +coming with Niece Denis to Berlin, and of setting up their two French +households there; but never did it, either of them, to make an Uncle +or a Husband happy. Rothenburg was bred a Catholic: "he headed the +subscription for the famous 'KATHOLISCHE KIRCHE,'" so delightful to the +Pope and liberal Christians in those years; "but never gave a sixpence +of money," says Voltaire once: Catholic KIRK was got completed with +difficulty; stands there yet, like a large washbowl set, bottom +uppermost, on the top of a narrowish tub; but none of Rothenburg's money +is in it. In Voltaire's Correspondence there is frequent mention of him; +not with any love, but with a certain secret respect, rather inclined +to be disrespectful, if it durst or could: the eloquent vocal individual +not quite at ease beside the more silent thinking and acting one. What +we know is, Friedrich greatly loved the man. There is some straggle of +CORRESPONDENCE between Friedrich and him left; but it is worth nothing; +gives no testimony of that, or of anything else noticeable:--and that is +the one fact now almost alone significant of Rothenburg. Much loved and +esteemed by the King; employed diplomatically, now and then; perhaps +talked with on such subjects, which was the highest distinction. +Poor man, he is in very bad health in these months; has never rightly +recovered of his wounds; and dies in the last days of 1751,--to the +bitter sorrow of the King, as is still on record. A highly respectable +dim figure, far more important in Friedrich's History than he looks. As +King's guest, he can in these months play no part. + +Highly respectable too, and well worth talking to, though left very dim +to us in the Books, is Marshal Keith; who has been growing gradually +with the King, and with everybody, ever since he came to these parts +in 1747. A man of Scotch type; the broad accent, with its sagacities, +veracities, with its steadfastly fixed moderation, and its sly +twinkles of defensive humor, is still audible to us through the foreign +wrappages. Not given to talk, unless there is something to be said; but +well capable of it then. Friedrich, the more he knows him, likes him +the better. On all manner of subjects he can talk knowingly, and with +insight of his own. On Russian matters Friedrich likes especially to +hear 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 beautifully +strict to your order, on the parade-ground or off." "Pooh, mere rubbish, +MON CHER," thinks Friedrich always. To which Keith, unwilling to argue +too long, will answer: "Well, it is possible enough your Majesty may try +them, some day; if I am wrong, it will be all the better for us!" Which +Friedrich had occasion to remember by and by. Friedrich greatly respects +this sagacious gentleman with the broad accent: his Brother, the Lord +Marischal, is now in France: Ambassador at Paris, since September, 1751: +["Left Potsdam 28th August" (Rodenbeck, i. 220).] "Lord Marischal, a +Jacobite, for Prussian Ambassador in Paris; Tyrconnel, a Jacobite, for +French Ambassador in Berlin!" grumble the English. + + + + +FRACTIONS OF EVENTS AND INDICATIONS, FROM VOLTAIRE HIMSELF, IN THIS +TIME; MORE OR LESS ILLUMINATIVE WHEN REDUCED TO ORDER. + +Here, selected from more, are a few "fire-flies,"--not dancing or +distracted, but authentic all, and stuck each on its spit; shedding a +feeble glimmer over the physiognomy of those Fifteen caliginous Months, +to an imagination that is diligent. Fractional utterances of Voltaire to +Friedrich and others (in abridged form, abridgment indicated): the +exact dates are oftenest irretrievably gone; but the glimmer of light +is indisputable, all the more as, on Voltaire's part, it is mostly +involuntary. 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 complete +solitude,--preparing to die before long,--sends his Majesty some poor +trifles 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" (note +that, your Majesty)!... "But in return for the rags here sent, I +expect the Sixth Canto of your ART [ART DE LA GUERRE, one of the Two +pupil-and-schoolmaster "Specimens" mentioned above]; I expect the +ROOF to the Temple of Mars. It is for you, alone of men, to build that +Temple; as it was for Ovid to sing of Love, and for Horace to give an +ART OF POETRY." (Laying it on pretty thick!)... + +Then again, later (after severe study, ferula in hand): "Sire, I return +your Majesty your Six Cantos; I surrender at discretion (LUI LAISSE +CARTE-BLANCHE) on that question of 'VICTOIRE.' The whole Poem is worthy +of you: if I had made this Journey only to see a thing so unique, I +ought not to regret my Country."... And again (still no date): "GRAND +DIEU! 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 days +at your feet. Oh, never make game of me (DES NICHES)!" Has he been at +that, say you! "If the Kings of Denmark, Portugal, Spain, &c. did it, I +should not care a pin; they are only Kings. But you are the greatest man +that perhaps ever reigned." [[In--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxii. 271, 273.] + +IS ON LEAVE OF ABSENCE, NEAR BY; WISHES TO BE CALLED AGAIN (No +date).--"Sire, if you like free criticism, if you tolerate sincere +praises, if you wish to perfect a Work [ART DE LA GUERRE, or some other +as sublime], which you alone in Europe are capable of doing, you have +only 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 of +your 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 me +at Berlin, till I go for Paris [always talking of that]. If I were to +leave it, they would put in the Gazettes that I"--Oh, what would n't +they put in, of one that, belonging to King Friedrich, lives as it were +in the Disc of the Sun, conspicuous to everybody!--"I will go out [of +the 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 least +complaint of Chasot: I never will of Chasot, nor of those who have set +him 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 IN +VERSE).--"Lieberkuhn was going to kill poor Rothenburg; to send him off +to Pluto,--for liking his dish a little;--monster Lieberkuhn! But +Doctor Joyous," your reader, La Mettrie,--led by, need I say whom?--"has +brought him back to us:--think of Lieberkuhn's solemn stare! Pretty +contrasts, those, of sublime Quacksalverism, with Sense under the mask +of Folly. May the haemorrhoidal vein"--follows HERE, note it, exquisite +reader, that of "CUL DE MON HEROS," cited above!--... + +And then (a day or two after; King too haemorrhoidal to come twenty +miles, but anxious to know): "Sire, no doubt Doctor Joyous (LE MEDECIN +JOYEUX) has informed your Majesty that when we arrived, the Patient was +sleeping tranquil; and Cothenius assured us, in Latin, that there was +no danger. I know not what has passed since, but I am persuaded your +Majesty approves my journey" (of a street or two),--MUST you speak of +it, then! + +GOES TO AN EVENING-PARTY NOW AND THEN (To Niece Denis).--... "Madame +Tyrconnel [French Excellency's Wife] has plenty of fine people at her +house on an evening; perhaps too many" (one of the first houses in +Berlin, this of my Lord Tyrcannel's, which we frequent a good deal).... +"Madame got very well through her part of ANDROMAQUE [in those old +play-acting times of ours]: never saw actresses with finer eyes,"--how +should you! + +"As to Milord Tyrconnel, he is an Anglais of dignity,"--Irish in +reality, and a thought blusterous. "He has a condensed (SERRE) caustic +way of talk; and I know not what of frank which one finds in the +English, and does not usually find in persons of his trade. French +Tragedies played at Berlin, I myself taking part; an Englishman Envoy of +France there: strange circumstances these, are n't they?" [To D'Argental +this (--OEuvres de Voltaire,--lxxiv. 289).] Yes, that latter especially; +and Milord Marischal our Prussian Envoy with you! Which the English +note, sulkily, as a weather-symptom. + +AT POTSDAM, BIG DEVILS OF GRENADIERS (No date).--... "But, Sire, one is +n't always perched on the summit of Parnassus; one is a man. There are +sicknesses about; I did not bring an athlete's health to these parts; +and the scorbutic humor which is eating my life renders me truly, of +all that are sick, the sickest. I am absolutely alone from morning till +night. My one solace is the necessary pleasure of taking the air, I +bethink me of walking, and clearing my head a little, in your Gardens at +Potsdam. I fancy it is a permitted thing; I present myself, musing;--I +find huge devils of Grenadiers, who clap bayonets in my belly, who +cry FURT, SACRAMENT, and DER KONIG [OFF, SACKERMENT, THE KING, quite +tolerably spelt]! And I take to my heels, as Austrians and Saxons would +do before them. Have you ever read, that in Titus's or Marcus-Aurelius's +Gardens, 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 Aurelius +was wont to"--(Well, we know who that is: What of Marcus, then?)--"A +certain lover of his glory [STILL IN VERSE] spoke once, at Supper, of +a magnanimity of Marcus's;--at which Marcus [flattery too thick] rather +gloomed, 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, I +dare supplicate your Majesty to give one glance at this Letter (lines +pencil-marked), which has just come from M. de Chauvelin, Nephew of the +famous GARDE-DES-SCEAUX. Your Majesty cannot gloom at him, writing these +from the fulness of his heart; nor at me, who"--Pooh; no, then! Perhaps +do you a NICHE again,--poor restless fellow! [Ib. 280.] + +POTSDAM PALACE (No date): SIRE, NZAY I CHANGE MY ROOM?... "I ascend +to your antechambers, to find some one by whom I may ask permission to +speak with you. I find nobody: I have to return:" and what I wanted was +this, "your protection for my SIECLE DE LOUIS QUATORZE, which I am about +to 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 would +permit that I might shift to the Apartment next the one I have,--to +that where General Bredow slept last winter,--I should work more +commodiously. My Secretary (Collini) and I could work together there. I +should have a little more sun, which is a great point for me.--Only the +whim of a sick man, perhaps! Well, even so, your Majesty will have pity +on 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 in +Paris people were talking of your Poem." Horrible; but, O Sire,--me?--"I +showed him the eighteen Letters that I received yesterday. They are from +Cadiz," all about Finance, no blabbing there! "Permit me to send you now +the last six from my Niece, numbered by her own hand [no forgery, no +suppression]; 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, must +I again do some NICHE upon you, then? Tie some tin-canister to your +too-sensitive tail? What an element you inhabit within that poor skin of +yours! [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 that +revised Edition which is getting printed "AU DONJON DU CHATEAU;" time +must be, well on in 1751). Friedrich writes to Voltaire:-- + +"I have just been brought to bed of Six Twins; which require to be +baptized, in the name of Apollo, in the waters of Hippocrene. LA +HENRIADE is requested to become godmother: you will have the goodness +to bring her, this evening at five, to the Father's Apartment. D'Arget +LUCINA will be there; and the Imagination of MAN-A-MACHINE will hold the +poor infants over the Font." [Ib. 266.] + +DEIGN TO SAY IF I HAVE OFFENDED.--... "As they write to me from Paris +that I am in disgrace with you, I dare to beg very earnestly that you +will deign to say if I have displeased in anything! May go wrong by +ignorance or from over-zeal; but with my heart never! I live in the +profoundest retreat; giving to study my whole"--"Your assurances once +vouchsafed [famous Document of August 23d]. I write only to my Niece. +I" (a page more of this)--have my sorrows and merits, and absolutely +no silence at all! [--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxii. 289.] "In the gift of +Speech he is the most brilliant of mankind," said Smelfungus; but in the +gift of Silence what a deficiency! Friedrich will have to do that for +Two, it would seem. + +BERLIN, 28th DECEMBER, 1751: LOUIS QUATORZE; AND DEATH OF +ROTHENBURG.--"Our LOUIS QUATORZE is out. But, Heavens, see, your +Majesty: a Pirate Printer, at Frankfurt-on-Oder, has been going on +parallel with us, all the while; and here is his foul blotch of an +Edition 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 the +Books thrown out,--it costs you but a word!" + +Quite a simple thing: "All Prussia to the rescue!" thinks an ardent +Proprietor of these Proof-sheets. But then, next day, hears that +Rothenburg is dead. That the silent Rothenburg lay dying, while the +vocal Voltaire was writing these fooleries, to a King sunk in grief. +"Repent, be sorry, be ashamed!" he says to himself; and does instantly +try;--but with little success; Frankfurt-on-Oder, with its Bielfeld +proof-sheets, still jangling along, contemptibly audible, for some time. +[Ib. 285-287.] And afterwards, from Frankfurt-on-Mayn new sorrow rises +on LOUIS QUATORZE, as will be seen.--Friedrich's grief for Rothenburg +was deep and severe; "he had visited him that last night," say the +Books; "and quitted his bedside, silent, and all in tears." It is mainly +what 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 an +ocean 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; and +pass on:-- + +THE ORANGE-SKIN (Potsdam, 2d September, 1751, to Niece Denis)--Good +Heavens, MON ENFANT, what is this I hear (through the great +Dionysius' Ear I maintain, at such expense to myself)!... "La Mettrie, +a man of no consequence, who talks familiarly with the King after their +reading; 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 the +bit of jealousy it excites, the King answered him: "I shall want him +still about a year:--you squeeze the orange, you throw away the skin (ON +EN 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, the +questionings, occasionally the horror of Voltaire: poor sick soul, +keeping a Dionysius'-Ear to boot! This blurt of La Mettrie's goes +through him like a shot of electricity through an elderly sick +Household-Cat; and he speaks of it again and ever again,--though we will +not farther. + +DIRTY LINEN (Potsdam, 24th July, 1752, To Niece Denis).--... "Maupertuis +has discreetly set the rumor going, that I found the King's Works very +bad; 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?' You +obliging 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, often +quoted by us [Did get out at last,--in England, through Lord Marischal +and David Hume: see PREFACE to it (London, 1760).]), when the +unfortunate Royal Verses came. Perhaps M. de Voltaire did say it:--why +not, had it only been prudent? He really likes those Verses much more +than I; but knows well enough, SUB ROSA, what kind of Verses they +are. This also is a horrible suspicion; that the King should hear of +this,--as doubtless the King did, though without going delirious upon +it at all. ["To Niece Denis," dates as above (--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxiv. 408, lxxv. 17).] Thank YOU, my Perpetual President, +not the less!-- + +OF MAUPERTUIS, IN SUCCESSIVE PHASES.--... "Maupertuis is not of very +engaging ways; he takes my dimensions harshly with his quadrant: it is +said there enters something of envy into his DATA. ... A somewhat surly +gentleman; 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 all +countries there are insociable fellows, with whom you are obliged to +live, though it is difficult. He has never forgiven me for"--omitting to +cite him, &c.--At Paris he had got the Academy of Sciences into trouble, +and himself into general dislike (DETESTER); then came this Berlin +offer. "Old Fleuri, when Maupertuis called to take leave, repeated that +verse of Virgil, NEC TIBI REGNANDI VENIAT TAM DIRA CUPIDO. Fleuri might +have whispered as much to himself: but he was a mild sovereign lord, and +reigned 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); it +is very dry and miserable. Reminds you of Advertisements for things +lost,--so poor a chance of finding them again. Happiness is not what +he gives to those who read him, to those who live with him; he is not +himself happy, and would be sorry that others were [to Niece Denis +this]. + +... "A very sweet life here, Madame [Madame d'Argental, an outside +party]: it would have been more so, if Maupertuis had liked. The wish +to please, is no part of his geometrical studies; the problem of +being agreeable to live with, is not one he has solved." [--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxiv. 330, 504 (4th May, 1751, and 14th March, 1752), to the +D'Argentals; to Niece Denis (6th November, 1750, and 24th August, 1751), +lxxiv. 250, 385.]--Add this Anecdote, which is probably D'Arget's, and +worth credit:-- + +"Voltaire had dinner-party, Maupertuis one of them; party still in the +drawing-room, dinner just coming up. 'President, your Book, SUR LE +BONHEUR, has given me pleasure,' said Voltaire, politely [very politely, +considering what we have just read]; given me pleasure,--a few +obscurities excepted, of which we will talk together some evening.' +'Obscurities?' said Maupertuis, in a gloomy arbitrary tone: 'There may +be such for you, Monsieur!' Voltaire laid his hand on the President's +shoulder [yellow wig near by], looked at him in silence, with +many-twinkling glance, gayety the topmost expression, but by no means +the 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 all +gone. Probably he answered almost nothing; what we have of his relates +always to specific business, receipt of LOUIS QUATORZE, and the like; +and is always in friendly tone. Handsomely keeping Silence for Two! Here +is a snatch from him, on neutral figures and movements of the time:-- + +FRIEDRICH TO WIILHELMINA (November 17th, 1751).--"I think the Margraf of +Anspach will not have stayed long with you. He is not made to taste the +sweets of society: his passion for hunting, and the tippling life he +leads this long time, throw him out when he comes among reasonable +persons.... "I expect my Sister of Brunswick, with the Duke and their +eldest Girl, the 4th of next month,"--to Carnival here. "It is seven +years since the Queen (our Mamma) has seen her. She holds a small +Board of Wit at Brunswick; of which your Doctor [Doctor Superville, +Dutch-French, whose perennial merit now is, That he did not burn +Wilhelmina's MEMOIRS, but left them safe to posterity, for long +centuries],--of which your Doctor is the director and oracle. You would +burst outright into laughing when she speaks of those matters. Her +natural vivacity and haste has not left her time to get to the bottom of +anything; she skips continually from one subject to the other, and +gives 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 to +Friedrich, there had fallen out, with a hideous dash of farce in it, the +death of La Mettrie. Here are Two Accounts, by different hands,--which +represent 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 a +piece of fun: ate, out of banter, a whole pheasant-pie; had a horrible +indigestion; took it into his head to have blood let, and convince the +German Doctors that bleeding was good in indigestion. But it succeeded +ill with him: he took a violent fever, which passed into putrid; and +carried him off. He is regretted by all that knew him. He was gay; BON +DIABLE, 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, 24th +December, 1751.... "No end to my astonishment. Milord Tyrconnel," always +ailing (died here himself), "sends to ask La Mettrie to come and see +him, 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 just +when 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 A +JUSQU'AU MENTON), they bring him a pie, of eagle disguised as pheasant, +which had arrived from the North, plenty of bad lard, pork-hash and +ginger in it; my gentleman eats the whole pie, and dies next day at Lord +Tyrconnel's, assisted by two Doctors," Cothenius and Lieberkuhn, "whom +he used to mock at.... How I should have liked to ask him, at +the article of death, about that Orange-skin!" [--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxiv. 439, 450.] + +Add this trait too, from authentic Nicolai, to complete the matter: "An +Irish Priest, Father Macmahon, Tyrconnel's Chaplain [more power to him], +wanted to convert La Mettrie: he pushed into the sick-room;--encouraged +by some who wished to make La Mettrie contemptible to Friedrich [the +charitable souls]. La Mettrie would have nothing to do with this Priest +and his talk; who, however, still sat and waited. La Mettrie, in +a twinge of agony, cried out, 'JESUS MARIE!' 'AH, VOUS VOILA ENFIN +RETOURNE A CES NOMS CONSOLATEURS!' exclaimed the Irishman. To which La +Mettrie answered (in polite language, to the effect), 'Bother you!' and +expired a few minutes after." [Nicolai,--Anekdoten,--i. 20 n.] + +Enough of this poor madcap. Friedrich's ELOGE of him, read to the +Academy some time after, it was generally thought (and with great +justice), might as well have been spared. The Piece has nothing noisy, +nothing untrue; but what has it of importance? And surely the subject +was questionable, or more. La Mettrie might have done without Eulogy +from a King of men. + +... "He had been used to put himself at once on the most familiar +footing with the King [says Thiebault, UNbelievable]. Entered the King's +apartment 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 off +his stock, unbuttoned his waistcoat, flung his periwig on the +floor;" [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, when +half seas-over (ENTRE DEUX VINS). De la Mettrie showed himself unworthy +of any favor he had. Not only did he babble, and repeat about Town what +he 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 Lord +Tyrconnel, the then French Ambassador's table, where at last he died." +[Nicolai,--Anekdoten,--i. 20.] But could not take the ORANGE-SKIN along +with 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, he +is scorbutic, dyspeptic; hag-ridden, as soul seldom was; and (in his +oblique way) APPEALS to Friedrich and us,--not in vain. And, in +short, we perceive, after the First Act of the Piece, beginning in +preternatural radiances, ending in whirlwinds of flaming soot, he has +been getting on with his Second Act better than could be expected. +Gyrating again among the bright planets, circum-jovial moons, in +the Court Firmament; is again in favor, and might--Alas, he had his +FELLOW-moons, his Maupertuis above all! Incurable that Maupertuis +misery; gets worse and worse, steadily from the first day. No smallest +entity that intervenes, not even a wandering La Beaumelle with his Book +of PENSEES, but is capable of worsening it. Take this of Smelfungus; +this Pair of Cabinet Sketches,--"hasty outlines; extant chiefly," he +declares, "by Voltaire's blame:"-- + +LA BEAUMELLE.--"Voltaire has a fatal talent of getting into I quarrels +with insignificant accidental people; and instead of silently, with +cautious finger, disengaging any bramble that catches to him, and +thankfully passing on, attacks it indignantly with potent steel +implements, wood-axes, war-axes; brandishing and hewing;--till he +has stirred up a whole wilderness of bramble-bush, and is himself +bramble-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 to +Copenhagen, as Professor of Rhetoric or some such thing; and, finding +that field also too narrow, and not to be widened by attempts at +Literature, MES PENSEES and the like, in such barbarous Country",--had +now [end of 1751] come to Berlin; and has Presentation copies of MES +PENSEES, OU LE QU'EN DIRA-T-ON, flying right and left, in hopes of doing +better there. Of these PENSEES (Thoughts so called) I will give but +one specimen" (another, that of "King Friedrich a common man," +being carefully suppressed in the Berlin Copies, of La Beaumelle's +distributing):-- + +"There have been greater Poets than Voltaire; there was never any so +well recompensed: and why? Because Taste (GOUT, inclination) sets no +limits to its recompenses. The King of Prussia overloads men of talent +with his benefits for precisely the reasons which induce a little German +Prince to overload with benefits a buffoon or a dwarf." [--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--xxvii. 220 n.] Could there be a phenomenon more indisputably +of bramble nature? + +"He had no success at Berlin, in spite of his merits; could not come +near the King at all; but assiduously frequented Maupertuis, the +flower of human thinkers in that era,--who was very humane to him in +consequence. 'How is it, O flower of human thinkers, that I cannot get +on with his Majesty, or make the least way?' (HELAS, MONSIEUR, you have +enemies!' answered he of the red wig; and told La Beaumelle (hear it, ye +Heavens), That M. de Voltaire had called his Majesty's attention to +the 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 declare +to Heaven, and again declare; it was not I, it was D'Argens quizzing +me about it, that called his Majesty's attention to that PENSEE of +Blockhead La Beaumelle,--you treacherous Perpetual President, stirring +up enemies against me, and betraying secrets of the King's table.' +Sorrow on your red wig, and you!--It is certain La Beaumelle, soon after +this, left Berlin: not in love with Voltaire. And there soon appeared, +at Franfurt-on-Mayn, a Pirate Edition of our brand-new SIECLE DE LOUIS +QUATORZE (with Annotations scurrilous and flimsy);--La Beaumelle the +professed 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 the +Bastille too, by and by; Royal Persons being touched by some of his +stupid foot-notes. + +"La Beaumelle had a long course of it, up and down the world, in and +out of the Bastille; writing much, with inconsiderable recompense, and +always in a wooden manure worthy of his First vocation in the Geneva +time. 'A man of pleasing physiognomy,' says Formey, 'and expressed +himself well. I received his visit 14th January, 1752,'--to which latter +small circumstance (welcome as a fixed date to us here) La Beaumelle's +Biography is now pretty much reduced for mankind. [Formey, ii. 221.] He +continued Maupertuis's adorer: and was not a bad creature, only a dull +wooden one, with obstinate temper. A LIFE OF MAUPERTUIS of his writing +was 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 tells +us nothing. + +"His enmity to M. de Voltaire did prove perpetual:--a bramble that might +have been dealt with by fingers, or by fingers and scissors, but could +not by axes, and their hewing and brandishing. 'This is the ninety-fifth +anonymous Calumny of La Beaumelle's, this that you have sent me!' says +Voltaire once. The first stroke or two had torn the bramble quite +on end: 'He says he will pursue you to Hell even,' writes one of the +Voltaire kind friends from Frankfurt, on that 7 pounds 10s. business. 'A +L'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, must +be a question!' If you want to have an insignificant accidental fellow +trouble you all your days, this is the way of handling him when he first +catches 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 La +Beaumelle's counterpart, or brother with a difference; concerning +whom also, one wants only to know the exact date of his arrival. As La +Beaumelle felt too strait-tied in the Geneva vestures (where it had +been good for him to adjust himself, and stay); so did De Prades in +the Sorbonne ditto,--and burst out, on taking Orders, not into eloquent +Preachings or edifying Devotional Exercises; but into loud blurts of +mere heresy and heterodoxy. Blurts which were very loud, and I believe +very stupid; which failed of being sublime even to the Philosophic +world; and kindled the Sorbonne into burning his Book, and almost +burning himself, had not he at once run for it. + +"Ran to Holland, and there continued blurting more at large,--decidedly +stupid 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's +eagle-pie; and came gladly, and stayed. At what date? one occasionally +asks: 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 does +not ask about De Prades. Rather an emphatic intrusive kind of fellow, +I should guess;--wrote, he, not Friedrich, that ABRIDGMENT OF PLEURY'S +ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, and other the like dreary Pieces, which used to +be 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, a +good while; got a Canonry of Glogau [small Catholic benefice, bad if +it was not better than its now occupant];--and unluckily, in the +Seven-Years-War time, fell into treasonous Correspondence with his +countrymen; which it was feared might be fatal, when found out. But no, +not fatal. Friedrich did lock him in Magdeburg for some months; then let +him out: 'Home to Glogau, sirrah; stick to your Canonry henceforth, and +let us hear no more of you at all!' Which shall be his fate in these +pages 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 of +people. They tempt one to ask, What is the good of wit, then, if this +be it? Here are people sparkling with wit, and have not understanding +enough to discern what lies under their nose. Cannot live wisely with +anybody, least of all with one another. + +In fact, it is tragic to think how ill this King succeeded in the matter +of gathering friends. With the whole world to choose from, one fancies +always he might have done better! But no, he could not;--and chiefly for +this reason: His love of Wisdom was nothing like deep enough, reverent +enough; 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 how +to choose friends; and that of ESPRIT, though a pretty thing, is by +no means the one requisite, if indeed it be a requisite at all. This +present Wit Colony was the best that Friedrich ever had; and we may all +see how good it was. He took, at last more and more, into bantering his +Table-Companions (which I do not wonder at), as the chief good he could +get of them. And had, as we said, especially in his later time, in the +manner of Dublin Hackney-Coachmen, established upon each animal its +RAW; and makes it skip amazingly at touch of the whip. "Cruel mortal!" +thought his cattle:--but, after all, how could he well help it, with +such a set? + +Native Literary Men, German or Swiss, there also were about Friedrich's +Court: of them happily he did not require ESPRIT; but put them into his +Academy; or employed them in practical functions, where honesty and +good sense were the qualities needed. Worthy men, several of these; +but unmemorable nearly all. We will mention Sulzer alone,--and not for +THEORIES and PHILOSOPHIES OF THE FINE ARTS [--Allgemeine Theorie der +Schonen Kunste,--3 vols.; &c. &c.] (which then had their multitudes of +readers); but for a Speech of Friedrich's to him once, which has +often been repeated. Sulzer has a fine rugged wholesome Swiss-German +physiognomy, both of face and mind; and got his admirations, as the +Berlin HUGH BLAIR that then was: a Sulzer whom Friedrich always rather +liked. + +Friedrich had made him School Inspector; loved to talk a little with +him, about business, were it nothing else. "Well, Monsieur Sulzer, how +are 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; and +much better in late years," answered Sulzer.--"In late years: why?" +"Well, your Majesty, in former time, the notion being that mankind were +naturally inclined to evil, a system of severity prevailed in schools: +but now, when we recognize that the inborn inclination of men is +rather to good than to evil, schoolmasters have adopted a more generous +procedure."--"Inclination rather to good?" said Friedrich, shaking his +old 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 DIESE +VERDAMMTE RACE) as I do!" [Nicolai, iii. 274;--the thing appears to +have been said in French ("JE VOIS BIEN, MON CHER SULZER, QUE VOUS +NE CONNAISSEZ PAS, COMME MOI, CETTE RACE MAUDITE A LAQUELLE NOUS +APPARTENONS"); but the German form is irresistibly attractive, and is +now heard proverbially from time to time in certain mouths.] Here is +a speech for you!"Pardon the King, who was himself so beneficent and +excellent a King!" cry several Editors of the rose-pink type. This +present Editor, for his share, will at once forgive; but how can he ever +forget!-- + +"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 a +fund of good sense, a basis of practicality and fact, necessary to be +in it withal; though otherwise it can foam over (if some La Mettrie be +there, and a good deal of wine in him) to very great heights. + + + + +A DEMON NEWSWRITER GIVES AN "IDEA" OF FRIEDRICH; INTELLIGIBLE TO THE +KNOWING CLASSES IN ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE. + +Practically, I can add only, That these Suppers of the gods begin +commonly at half-past eight ("Concert just over"); and last till towards +midnight,--not later conveniently, as the King must be up at five (in +Summer-time at four), and "needs between five and six hours of sleep." +Or would the reader care to consult a Piece expressly treating on all +these points; kind of MANUSCRIPT NEWSPAPER, fallen into my hands, +which seems to have had a widish circulation in its day. ["IDEE DE LA +PERSONNE, 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, to +appearance, once the property of George Selwyn. The other is among the +Robinson Papers: doubtless very luculent to Robinson, who is now home +in England, but remembers many a thing. Judging from various symptoms, +I could guess this MS. to have been much about, in the English +Aristocratic Circles of that time; and to have, in some measure, given +said Circles their "Idea" (as they were pleased to reckon it) of that +wonderful and questionable King:--highly distracted "Idea;" which, in +diluted form, is still the staple English one. + +By the label, DEMON NEWSWRITER, it is not meant that the Author of +this poor Paper was an actual Devil, or infernal Spiritual Essence of +miraculous spectral nature. By no means! Beyond doubt, he is some poor +Frenchman, 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; fatally +shut out from the beatitudes of this barbarous Court, and willing to +seek 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 quality +of transmuting, in his dirty organs, heavenly Brilliancy, more or less, +into infernal Darkness and Hatefulness; which I reckon to have been, at +all times, the principal function of a Devil;--function still carried on +extensively, under Firms of another title, in this world. + +Some snatches we will give. For, though it does not much concern a Man +or King, seriously busy, what the idle outer world may see good to talk +of him, his Biographers, in time subsequent, are called to notice the +matter, as part of his Life-element, and characteristic of the world +he had round him. Friedrich's affairs were much a wonder to his +contemporaries. Especially his Domesticities, an item naturally obscure +to the outer world, were wonderful; sure to be commented upon, to +all lengths; and by the unintelligent, first of all. Of contemporary +mankind, as we have sometimes said, nobody was more lied of:--of which, +let this of the Demon Newswriter be example, one instead of many. The +Demon Newswriter, deriving only from outside gossip and eavesdropping, +is wrong very often,--in fact, he is seldom right, except on points +which have been Officially fixed, and are within reach of an inquisitive +Clerk of Legation. Wrong often enough, even in regard to external +particulars, how much more as to internal;--and will need checking, as +we go along. + +Demon speaks first of Friedrich's stature, 5ft. 6in. (as we know better +than this Demon); "pretty well proportioned, not handsome, and even +something of awkward (GAUCHE), acquired by a constrained bearing +[head slightly off the perpendicular, acquired by his flute, say +the better-informed]. Is of the greatest politeness. Fine tone of +voice,--fine even in swearing, which is as common with him as with a +grenadier," adds this Demon; not worth attending to, on such points. + +"Has never had a nightcap [sleeps bareheaded; in his later times, would +sleep in his hat, which was always soft as duffel, kneaded to softness +as 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], much +worn and very dirty, for being powdered in. The whole year round he goes +in the uniform of his First Battalion of Guards:--blue with red facings, +button-hole trimmings in silver, frogs at the inner end; his coat +buttons 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. He +cannot walk with shoes [pooh, you--!]. + +"He rises daily at five:"--No, he does n't at all! In fact, we had +better clap the lid on this Demon, ill-informed as to all these points; +and, on such suggestion, give the real account of them, distilled from +Preuss, and the abundant authentic sources. + +Preuss says (if readers could but remember him): "An Almanac lies on +the King's Table, marking for each day what specific duties the day will +bring. 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 would +sleep occasionally eight hours or even nine, in certain medical +predicaments. Not so in his younger years: four A.M. and five, the set +hours then. Summer and winter, fire is lighted for him a quarter of an +hour before. King rises; gets into his clothes: 'stockings, breeches, +boots, he did sitting on the bed' (for one loves to be particular); the +rest in front of the fire, in standing posture. Washing followed; more +compendious than his Father's used to be. + +"Letters specifically to his address, a courier (leaving Berlin, 9 +P.M.) had brought him in the dead of night: these, on the instant of the +King's calling 'Here!' a valet in the ante chamber brought in to him, to +be read while his hair was being done. His uniform the King did not at +once put on; but got into a CASAQUIN [loose article of the dressing-gown +kind, only shorter than ours] of rich stuff, sometimes of velvet with +precious silver embroideries. These Casaquins were commonly sky-blue +(which color he liked), presents from his Sisters and Nieces. Letters +being glanced over, and hair-club done, the Life-guard General-Adjutant +hands in the Potsdam Report (all strangers that have entered Potsdam or +left it, the principal item): this, with a Berlin Report, which had come +with the Letters; and what of Army-Reports had arrived (Adjutant-General +delivering these),--were now glanced over. And so, by five o'clock in +the summer morning, by six in the winter, one sees, in the gross, what +one's day's-work is to be; the miscellaneous STONES of it are now mostly +here, only mortar and walling of them to be thought of. General-Adjutant +and his affairs are first settled: on each thing a word or two, which +the General-Adjutant (always a highly confidential Officer, a Hacke, a +Winterfeld, or the like) pointedly takes down. + +"General-Adjutant gone, the King, in sky-blue casaquin [often in very +faded condition] steps into his writing-room; walks about, reading his +Letters more completely; drinking, first, several glasses of water; then +coffee, perhaps three cups with or without milk [likes coffee, and +very strong]. After coffee he takes his flute; steps about practising, +fantasying: he has been heard to say, speaking of music and its effects +on the soul, That during this fantasying he would get to considering +all manner of things, with no thought of what he was playing; and that +sometimes even the luckiest ideas about business-matters have occurred +to him while dandling with the flute. Sauntering so, he is gradually +breakfasting 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 early +morning. + +"Between nine and ten, most of one's plan-work being got through, the +questions of the day are settled, or laid hold of for settling. Between +nine and ten, King takes to reading the 'Excerpts' (I suppose, of +the more intricate or lengthier things) of Yesterday, which his three +Cabinet Raths [Clerk Eichel and the other Two] have prepared for him. +King summons these Three, one after the other, according to their +Department; hands them the Letters just read, the Excerpts now decided +on, and signifies, in a minimum of words, what the answers are to +be,--Clerk, always in full dress, listening with both his ears, and +pencil in hand. May have, of Answers, CABINET-ORDERS so called, perhaps +a dozen, to be ready with before evening. ["In a certain Copy or +Final-Register Book [Herr Preuss's Windfall, of which INFRA] entitled +KABINETSORDENKOPIALBUCH, 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 his +regimental coat; has his hair touched off with pomade, with powder; and +is buttoned and ready in about five minutes;--ready for Parade, which +is at the stroke of eleven, instead of later, as it used to be in Papa's +time. If eleven is not yet come, he will get on horseback; go sweeping +about, oftenest with errands still, at all events in the free solitude +of air, till Parade-time do come. The Parole [Sentry's-WORD of the +Day] he has already given his Adjutant-General. Parole, which only the +Adjutant and Commandant had known till now, is formally given out; and +the troops go through their exercises, manoeuvres, under a strictness +of 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. Dinner +threefold; that is, a second table and a third. Only two courses, dishes +only eight, even at the King's Table, (eight also at the Marshal's or +second Table); guests from seven to ten. Dinner plentiful and savory +(for the King had his favorites among edibles), by no means caring to +be splendid,--yearly expense of threefold Dinner (done accurately by +contract) was 1,800 pounds." Linsenbarth we saw at the Third Table, +and how he fared. "The dinner-service was of beautiful porcelain; not +silver, still less gold, except on the grandest occasions. Every guest +eats at discretion,--of course!--and drinks at discretion, Moselle or +Pontac [kind of claret]; Champagne and Hungary are handed round on the +King's signal. King himself drinks Bergerac, or other clarets, with +water. Dinner lasts till two;--if the conversation be seductive, it has +been known to stretch to four. The King's great passion is for talk of +the right kind; he himself talks a great deal, tippling wine-and-water +to the end, and keeps on a level with the rising tide. + +"With a bow from Majesty, dinner ends; guests gently, with a little +saunter of talk to some of them, all vanish; and the King is in his own +Apartment again. Generally flute-playing for about half an hour; +till Eichel and the others come with their day's work: tray-loads of +Cabinet-Orders, I can fancy; which are to be 'executed,' that is, to be +glanced through, and signed. Signature for most part is all; but there +are Marginalia and Postscripts, too, in great number, often of a spicy +biting character; which, in our time, are in request among the curious." +Herr Preuss, who has right to speak, declares that the spice of mockery +has been exaggerated; and that serious sense is always the aim both of +Document and of Signer. Preuss had a windfall; 12,000 of these +Pieces, or more, in a lump, in the way of gift; which fell on him like +manna,--and led, it is said, to those Friedrich studies, extensive +faithful quarryings in that vast wilderness of sliding shingle and +chaotic boulders. + +"Coffee follows this despatch of Eichel and Consorts; the day now one's +own." Scandalous rumors, prose and verse, connect themselves with this +particular epoch of the day; which appear to be wholly LIES. Of which +presently. "In this after-dinner period fall the literary labors," +says Preuss:--a facile pen, this King's; only two hours of an afternoon +allowed 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 an +hour; half-past eight is Supper." [Preuss, i. 344-347 (and, with +intermittencies, pp. 356, 361, 363 &c. to 376), abridged.] + +Demon Newswriter says, of the Concert: "It is mostly of +wind-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; they +are unique voices. He cannot bear mediocrity. It is but seldom he has +any singing here. To be admitted, needs the most intimate favor; now and +then some young Lord, of distinction, if he meet with such." Concert, +very well;--but let us now, suppressing any little abhorrences, hear him +on another subject:-- + +"Dinner lasts one hour [says our Demon, no better informed]: upon which +the King returns to his Apartment with bows. It pretty often happens +that he takes with him one of his young fellows. These are all handsome, +like a picture (FAITS A PEINDRE), and of the beautifulest face,"--adds +he, still worse informed; poisonous malice mixing itself, this time, +with the human darkness, and reducing it to diabolic. This Demon's +Paper abounds with similar allusions; as do the more desperate sort of +Voltaire utterances,--VIE PRIVEE treating it as known fact; Letters to +Denis in occasional paroxysms, as rumor of detestable nature, probably +true of one who is so detestable, at least so formidable, to a guilty +sinner his Guest. Others, not to be called diabolical, as Herr Dr. +Busching, for example, speak of it as a thing credible; as good as +known to the well-informed. And, beyond the least question, there did a +thrice-abominable rumor of that kind run, whispering audibly, over +all the world; and gain belief from those who had appetite. A most +melancholy business. Solacing to human envy;--explaining also, to the +dark 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 the +nature of it impossible. That it is indisputable Friedrich did not now +live with his Wife, nor seem to concern himself with the empire of +women at all; having, except now and then his Sisters and some Foreign +Princess on short visit, no women in his Court; and though a great judge +of Female merits, graces and accomplishments, seems to worship women +in that remote way alone, and not in any nearer. Which occasioned great +astonishment in a world used so much to the contrary. And gave rise to +many conjectures among the idle of mankind, "What, on Earth, or under +Earth, can be the meaning of it?"--and among others, to the above +scandalous rumor, as some solacement to human malice and impertinent +curiosity. + +2. That an opposite rumor--which would indeed have been pretty fatal +to this one, but perhaps still more disgraceful in the eyes of a Demon +Newswriter--was equally current; and was much elaborated by the curious +impertinent. Till Nicolai got hold of it, in Herr Dr. Zimmermann's +responsible hands; and conclusively knocked it on the head. [See +Zimmermann'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 that +way, has not anywhere turned up. Nowhere for me, in these extensive +minings and siftings. Not the least of probable indication; but +contrariwise, here and there, rather definite indications pointing +directly the opposite way. [For example ("CORRESPONDENCE WITH +FREDERSDORF"),--OEuvres,--xxvii. iii. 145.] Friedrich, in his own +utterances and occasional rhymes, is abundantly cynical; now and then +rises to a kind of epic cynicism, on this very matter. But at no time +can the painful critic call it cynicism as of OTHER than an observer; +always a kind of vinegar cleanness in it, EXCEPT in theory. Cynicism +of an impartial observer in a dirty element; observer epically sensible +(when provoked to it) of the brutal contemptibilities which lie in Human +Life, alongside of its big struttings and pretensions. In Friedrich's +utterances there is that kind of cynicism undeniable;--and yet he had +a modesty almost female in regard to his own person; "no servant +having ever seen him in an exposed state." [Preuss, i. 376.] Which +had considerably strengthened rumor No. 2. O ye poor impious +Long-eared,--Long-eared I will call you, instead of Two-horned and with +only 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 possible +that sin, even now. And ought to be religiously abhorred by every soul +that has the least piety or nobleness. Act not the mutinous flunky, my +friend; though there be great wages going in that line. + +4. That in these circumstances, and taking into view the otherwise known +qualities 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, and +recommends his readers to leave it, hanging by its own head, in the sad +subterranean regions,--till (probably not for a long while yet) it drop +to a far Deeper and dolefuler Region, out of our way altogether. + +"Lamentable, yes," comments Diogenes; "and especially so, that the idle +public has a hankering for such things! But are there no obscene details +at all, then? grumbles the disappointed idle public to itself, something +of reproach in its tone. A public idle-minded; much depraved in every +way. Thus, too, you will observe of dogs: two dogs, at meeting, run, +first of all, to the shameful parts of the constitution; institute a +strict examination, more or less satisfactory, in that department. That +once settled, their interest in ulterior matters seems pretty much +to die away, and they are ready to part again, as from a problem +done."--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; which +he figures as the abode of horrid cruelty, a kind of Tartarus on +Earth;--where there is a dreadful scarcity of women, for one item; +lamentable to one's moral feelings. Scarcity nothing like so great, even +among the soldier-classes, as the Demon Newswriter imagines to himself; +nor productive of the results lamented. Prussian soldiers are not +encouraged to marry, if it will hurt the service; nor do their wives +march with the Regiment except in such proportions as there may be +sewing, washing and the like women's work fairly wanted in their +respective Companies: the Potsdam First Battalion, I understand, is +hardly permitted to marry at all. And in regard to lamentable results, +that of "LIEBSTEN-SCHEINE, Sweetheart-TICKETS,"--or actual military +legalizing of Temporary Marriages, with regular privileges attached, and +fixed rules to be observed,--might perhaps be the notablest point, and +the SEMI-lamentablest, to a man or demon in the habit of lamenting. +[Preuss, i. 426.] For the rest, a considerably dreadful place this +Potsdam, to the flaccid, esurient and disorderly of mankind;--"and +strict as Fate [Demon correct for once] in inexorably punishing military +sins. + +"This King," he says, "has a great deal of ESPRIT; much less of real, +knowledge (CONNAISSANCES) than is pretended. He excels only in the +military part; really excellent there. Has a facile expeditious pen and +head; understands what you say to him, at the first word. Not taking nor +wishing advice; never suffering replies or remonstrances, not even from +his Mother. Pretty well acquainted with Works of ESPRIT, whether in +Prose or in Verse: burning [very hot indeed] to distinguish himself by +performance of that kind; but unable to reach the Beautiful, unless +held up by somebody (ETAYE). It is said that, in a splenetic moment, his +Skeleton of an Apollo [SQUELETTE D'APOLLON, M. de Voltaire, who is lean +exceedingly] exclaimed once, some time ago, 'When is it, then, that he +will have done sending me his dirty linen to wash?' + +"The King is of a sharp mocking tongue withal; pricking into whoever +displeases him; often careless of policy in that. Understands nothing +of Finance, or still less of Trade; always looking direct towards more +money, which he loves much; incapable of sowing [as some of US do!] +for a distant harvest. Treats, almost all the world as slaves. All his +subjects are held in hard shackles. Rigorous for the least shortcoming, +where his interest is hurt:--never pardons any fault which tends to +inexactitude in the Military Service. Spandau very full,"--though I did +not myself count. "Keeps in his pay nobody but those useful to him, and +capable of doing employments well [TRUE, ALWAYS]; and the instant he has +no more need of them, dismissing them with nothing [FALSE, GENERALLY]. +The Subsidies imposed on his subjects are heavy; in constant proportion +to their Feudal Properties, and their Leases of Domains (CONTRATS ET +BAUX); and, what is dreadful, are exacted with the same rigor if your +Property gets into debt,"--no remission by the iron grip of this King +in the name of the State! Sell, if you can find a Purchaser; or get +confiscated altogether; that is your only remedy. Surely a tyrant of a +King. + +"People who get nearest him will tell you that his Politeness is not +natural, but a remnant of old habit, when he had need of everybody, +against the persecutions of his Father. He respects his Mother; the only +Female for whom he has a sort of attention. He esteems his Wife, and +cannot endure her; has been married nineteen years, and has not yet +addressed one word to her [how true!]. It was but a few days ago she +handed him a Letter, petitioning some things of which she had the +most pressing want. He took the Letter, with that smiling, polite and +gracious air which he assumes at pleasure; and without breaking the +seal, tore the Letter up before her face, made her a profound bow, and +turned his back on her." Was there ever such a Pluto varnished into +Literary 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 a +year for keeping up her House. It is said she hoards. Four days in the +week she has Apartment [Royal Soiree]; to which you cannot go without +express invitation. There is supper-table of twenty-four covers; only +eight dishes, served in a shabby manner (INDECEMMENT) by six little +scoundrels of Pages. Men and women of the Country [shivering Natives, +cheering their dull abode] go and eat there. Steward Royal sends the +invitations. At eleven, everybody has withdrawn. Other days, this Queen +eats by herself. Stewardess Royal and three Maids of Honor have their +separate table; two dishes the whole. She is shabbily lodged [in my +opinion], 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 [NOT +QUITE] she dines alone. Has Apartment on Thursdays; everybody gone at +nine o'clock. Her morsels are cut for her, her steps are counted, and +her words are dictated; she is miserable, and does what she can to hide +it"--according to our Small Devil. "She has scarcely the necessaries +of life allowed her,"--spends regularly two-thirds of her income in +charitable objects; translates French-Calvinist Devotional Works, for +benefit of the German mind; and complains to no Small Devil, of never +so sympathizing nature. "At Court she is lodged on the second floor +[scandalous]. Schonhausen her Country House, with the exception of the +Garden which is pretty enough,--our Shopkeepers of the Rue St. Honore +would 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 very +small;--Coadjutress of Quedlinburg; will be actual Abbess" in a year or +two. [11th April, 1756: Preuss, xxvii. p. xxxiv (of PREFACE).] + +"Eldest Prince, Heir-Apparent,"--do not speak of him, Small Devil, for +you are misinformed in every feature and particular:--enough, "he is +fac-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] to +hoard, and to follow Trade, extensive Trade with his Brother's Woods. + +"Prince Henri, who is just going to be married,"--thank you, Demon, for +reminding us of that. Bride is Wilhelmina, Princess of Hessen-Cassel. +Marriage, 25th June, 1752;--did not prove, in the end, very happy. A +small contemporary event; which would concern Voltaire and others +that concern us. Three months ago, April 14th, 1752, the +Berlin Powder-Magazine flew aloft with horrible crash; +[In--Helden-Geschichte--(iii. 531) the details.]--and would be audible +to Voltaire, in this his Second Act. Events, audible or not, never +cease. + +"Prince Henri," in Demon's opinion, "is the amiablest of the House. He +is polite, generous, and loves good company. Has 12,000 pounds a year +left him by Papa." Not enough, as it proved. "If, on this Marriage, his +Brother, who detests him [witness Reinsberg and other evidences, now and +onward], gives him nothing, he won't be well off. They are furnishing +a House for him, where he will lodge after wedding. Is reported to +be--POTZDAMISTE [says the scandalous Small Devil, whom we are weary of +contradicting],--Potsdamite, in certain respects. Poor Princess, what a +destiny for you! + +"Prince Ferdinand, little scraping of a creature (PETIT CHAFOUIN), +crapulous to excess, niggardly in the extreme, whom everybody +avoids,"--much more whose Portrait, by a Magic-lantern of this +kind: which let us hastily shut, and fling into the cellar!--"Little +Ferdinand, besides his 15,000 pounds a year, Papa's bequest, gets +considerable sums given him. Has lodging in the King's House; goes +shifting and visiting about, wherever he can live gratis; and strives +all he can to amass money. Has to be in boots and uniform every three +days. Three months of the year practically with his regiment: but the +shifts he has for avoiding expense are astonishing."... + +What an illuminative "Idea" are the Walpole-Selwyn Circles picking up +for 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, concerning +that Konig-Maupertuis dissentience on the LAW OF THRIFT. Wonderful +Controversy, much occupying the so-called Philosophic or Scientific +world; especially the idler population that inhabit there. Upon +this item of the Infinitely Little,--which has in our time sunk into +Nothing-at-all, and but for Voltaire, and the accident of his living +near 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 of +which have been known to us for some time past:-- + +"SEPTEMBER, 1750, Konig, his well-meant visit to Berlin proving so +futile, had left Maupertuis in the humor we saw;--pirouetting round his +Apartment, in tempests of rage at such contradiction of sinners on his +sublime Law of Thrift; and fulminating permission to Konig: 'No time to +read your Paper of Contradictions; publish it in Leipzig, in Jericho; +anywhere in the Earth, in Heaven, in the Other Place, where you have the +opportunity!' Konig, returning on these terms, had nothing for it but +to publish his Paper; and did publish it, in the Leipzig--Acta +Eruditorum--for March, 1751. There it stands, legible to this day: and +if any of the human species should again think of reading it, I believe +it will be found a reasonable, solid and decisive Paper; of steadfast, +openly articulate, by no means insolent, tone; considerably modifying +Maupertuis's Law of Thrift, or Minimum of Action;--fatal to the claim +of its being a 'Sublime Discovery,' or indeed, so far as TRUE, any +discovery at all. [In--Acta Eruditorum--(Lipsiae, 1751):--"De universali +Principio AEquilibrii et Motus."--By no means uncivil to Maupertuis; +though obliged to controvert him. For example:--"Quoe itaque de Minima +Actionis in modificationibus modum obtinente in genere proferuntur +vehementer laudo;" "continent nempe facundum longeque pulcherrimum +Dynamices sublimioris principium, cujus vim in difficillimis +quoestionibus soepe expertus fui."--] By way of finis to the Paper, +there is given, what proves extremely important to us, an Excerpt from +an old LETTER OF LEIBNITZ'S; which perhaps it will be better to present +here IN CORPORE, as so much turned on it afterwards. Konig thus winds +up:-- + +"I add only a word, in finishing; and that is, that it appears Mr. +Leibnitz had a theory of Action, perhaps much more extensive than +one would suspect at present. There is a Letter written by him to Mr. +Hermann [an ancient mathematical sage at Basel], where he uses these +expressions: 'Action, is not what you think; the consideration of Time +enters into it; Action is as the product of the mass by the space and +the velocity, or as the time by the VIS VIVA. I have remarked that in +the modifications of motion, the action becomes usually a maximum or +a minimum:--and from this there might several propositions of great +consequence be deduced. It might serve to determine the curves described +by bodies under attraction to one or more centres. I had meant to treat +of these things in the Second Part of my DYNAMIQUE; which I suppressed, +the reception of the First, by prejudice in many quarters, having +disgusted me.'" [MAUPERTUISIANA, No. ii. 22 (from--Acta Eruditorum,--ubi +supra). 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 even +Bookbinder's Farrago, with printed TITLE-PAGE and LIST, of the chief +Pamphlets which had appeared on this Business (sixteen by count, various +type, all 8vo size, in my copy). Of which only No. ii. (Konig's APPEL +AU PUBLIC) and No. iv. (2d edition of said APPEL, with APPENDIX OF +CORRESPONDENCE) are illuminative to read.] Your Minimum of Action, it +would appear, then, is in some cases a Maximum; nothing can be said but +that, in every case it is EITHER a Maximum or Minimum. What a stroke +for our LAW OF THRIFT, the "at last conclusive Proof" of an Intelligent +Creator, 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 he +can, writes to Konig: 'Very good, Monsieur. But please inform me +where is that Letter of Leibnitz's; I have never seen or heard of it +before,--and I want to make use of it myself.' To which Konig answers: +'Henzi gave it me, in Copy [unfortunate Conspirator Henzi, who lost his +head 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 angry +mutterings more than once, and in 1749 a Select Plot (not select ENOUGH, +for they discovered it in time). Poor Ex-Captain Henzi, "Clerk *of the +Salt-Office," most frugal, studious and quiet of men; a very miracle, It +would appear, of genius, solid learning, philosophy and piety,--not +the chief or first of the conspirators, but by far the most +distinguished,--was laid hold of, July 2d, 1749, and beheaded, with +another of them, a day or two after. Much bewailed in a private +way, even by the better kinds of people. (Copious account of him +in--Adelung,--vii. 86-91.)]--he, poor fellow, had no end of Papers and +Excerpts; 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 the +whole Letter, copied faithfully from his Copy.' ["The Hague, 26th June," +in--Maupertuisiana,--No. iv. 130.] To that effect, still in perfect +good-humor, was Konig's reply to his Maupertuis. + +"'Hm, Copy? By Henzi?' grumbles Maupertuis to himself:--'Search in +Berne, then; it must be there, if anywhere!' To Konig Maupertuis answers +nothing: but sulkily resolves on having Search made;--and, to give +solemnity to the matter, requests his Excellency Marquis de Paulmy, the +French Ambassador at Berne, to ask the Government there,--Government +having seized all Henzi's Papers, on beheading him. Excellency Paulmy +does, accordingly, make inquiry in the highest quarter; some inquiries +up 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 eight +months the highest Authorities have been looking about (with one +knows not what vivacity or skill in searching), and have found nothing +whatever." Stage second of the Business finishes in this manner. + +How lucky for the Perpetual President, had he stopped here! To Konig +and the common contradiction of sinners he could have opposed, as it was +apparently his purpose to do, an Olympian silence, "Pshaw!" Whereby +the small matter, interesting to few, would have dropped gently into +dubiety, into oblivion, and been got well rid of. But this of the great +Leibnitz, touching on one's LAW OF THRIFT; and not only "discovering" +it, half a century beforehand, but discovering that it was not true: to +Leibnitz one must speak;--and the abstruse question is, What is one to +say? "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, at +this time, as I conjecture, may have been not a little abstruse to the +Perpetual President! + +And now, had the Perpetual President but stopped here, there might still +have rested a saving shadow of suspicion on Konig's Excerpt, That it +was not exact, that it might be wrong in some vital point:--"You never +showed me the Original, Monsieur!" Unluckily, the Perpetual President +did not stop. One cannot well fancy him believing, now or ever, that +Konig had forged the Excerpt. Most likely he had the fatal persuasion +that these were Leibnitz's words; and the question, What was to be said +or done, if the Original SHOULD turn up? might justly be alarming to +a Son of the Pure Sciences. But at this point a new door of escape +disclosed itself: "Where is the Original, I say!"--and he rushed, full +speed, into that; galloping triumphantly, feeling all safe. + +"OCTOBER 7th (1751), Maupertuis summons his Academy: 'Messieurs, permit +me to submit a case perhaps requiring your attention. One of our number +dissents from your President's Discovery of the Law of Thrift; which +surely he is free to do: but furthermore he gives an Excerpt purporting +to be from Leibnitz; whereby it would appear that your President's +Discovery, 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 to +see the Original of said Excerpt; and the Honorable Member in question +does not produce it. What say you?' 'Shame to him!' say they all +[there seem to be but few Scientific Members, and most of them, it +is insinuated, have Pensions from the King through their Perpetual +President];--and determine to make a Star-chamber matter of it! + +"Accordingly, next day, OCTOBER 8th) Secretary Formey writes officially +to Konig, 'Produce that Letter within one month,'--and has got his +Majesty to order, That our Prussian Minister at the Hague shall take +charge of delivering such message, and shall mark on what day. Thing +serious, you see!--Prussian Minister at the Hague delivers, and dockets +accordingly. To Konig's astonishment; who is in a scene of deep trouble +at this time; Royal Highness the Stadtholder suddenly dead, or dying: +'died October 22d; leaving a very young Heir, and a very sorrowful Widow +and Country.' Much to think of, that lies apart from the Maupertuis +matter! Which latter, however, is so very serious too, his Prussian +Majesty's Minister at Berne is now charged to make new perquisition for +the Leibnitz Original there: In short, within one month that Document is +peremptorily 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 the +Question of MINIMUM; and quasi-scientific gentlemen to gather round, and +express, with cheery capable look, their opinions,--still legible in the +vanished JUGEMENS LIBRES (of Hamburg), GAZETTE DE SAVANS (Leipzig), +and other poor Shadows of JOURNALS, if you daringly evoke them from the +other side of Styx. Which, the whole matter being now so indisputably +extinct, shadowy, Stygian, we will not here be guilty of doing; but +hasten 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 months +before answering anything. Did then write however, in a friendly strain +to 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 send +off 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, no +kind of reason to doubt the authenticity of the Leibnitz Letter; that to +himself (and, so far as he can judge, to Maupertuis) the question of its +authenticity is without special interest;--he, Konig, having thrown it +in as a mere marginal illustration, which decides nothing, either for +or against the Law of Thrift. That he has, in obedience to the Academy, +caused search to be made in Switzerland, especially at Basel, where he +judged the chance might lie; but that of this particular Letter +nothing has come to light; that he has two other Leibnitz Letters, of +indifferent tenor, in the late Henzi's hand, if these will serve in +aught, [--Maupertuisiana,--No. iv. 155; and ib. 172-192, the two Letters +themselves.]--but what farther can he do?' In short, Konig speaks always +in a clear business-like manful tone; the one person that makes a really +respectful and respectable figure in this Controversy of the Infinitely +Little. A man whom, viewed from this quiet distance, it seems almost +inconceivably absurd to have suspected of forging for so small an +object. Oh, my President, that DIRA REGNANDI CUPIDO!-- + +"Question is, however, What the Academy will do? One Member, 'the best +Geometer among them' [whose name is not given, but which the Berlin +Academy should write in big letters across this sad Page of their +Annals, by way of erasure to the same], dissented from the high line +of procedure; asserting Konig's innocence in this matter; nay, hinting +agreement with Konig's opinion. But was met by such a storm, that he +withdrew from the deliberations; which henceforth went their own bad +course, unanimous though slow. And so the matter pendulates all through +Winter, 1751-52, and was much the theme of idle men." + +Voltaire heard of it vaguely all along; but not with distinctness till +the end of July following. As Spring advanced, Maupertuis had fallen +ill of lungs,--threatened with spitting of blood ("owing to excess of +brandy," hints the malicious Voltaire, "which is fashionable at St. +Malo," birthplace of Maupertuis),--and could not farther direct the +Academy in this affair. The Academy needs no direction farther. Here, +very soon, for a sick President's consolation, is what the Academy +decides on, by way of catastrophe:-- + +THURSDAY EVENING, 13th APRIL, 1752, The Academy met; Curator Monsieur +de Keith, presiding; about a score of acting Members present. To whom +Curator de Keith, as the first thing, reads a magnanimous brief Letter +from our Perpetual President: "That, for two reasons, he cannot attend +on this important occasion: First, because he is too ill, which would +itself be conclusive; but secondly, and A FORTIORI, because he is in +some sense a party to the cause, and ought not if he could." Whereupon, +Secretary Formey having done his Documentary flourishings, Curator +Euler--(great in Algebra, apparently not very great in common sense +and the rules of good temper)--reads considerable "Report;" [Is No. +1 of--Maupertuisiana.--] reciting, not in a dishonest, but in a dim +wearisome way, the various steps of the Affair, as readers already know +them; and concludes with this extraordinary practical result: "Things +being so (LES CHOSES ETANT TELLES): the Fragment being of itself suspect +[what could Leibnitz know of Maxima and Minima? They were not developed +till 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 (DES +PLUS MAUVAISES), and that this Fragment has been forged." Singular to +think!"And the Academy, all things duly considered, will not hesitate +to declare it false (SUPPOSE), and thereby deprive it publicly of all +authority which may have been ascribed to it" (HEAR, HEAR! from all +parts). + +Curator de Keith then collects the votes,--twenty-three in all; some +sixteen are of working Members; two are from accidental Strangers +("travelling students," say the enemy); the rest from Curators of +Quality:--Vote is unanimous, "Adopt the Report. Fragment evidently +forged, and cannot have the least shadow of authority (AUCUNE OMBRE +D'AUTHORITE). Forged by whom, we do not now ask; nor what the Academy +could, on plain grounds, now do to Monsieur Konig [NOT nail his ears +to the pump, oh no!]; enough, it IS forged, and so remains." Signed, +"Curator de Keith," and Six other Office-bearers; "Formey, Perpetual +Secretary"' closing the list. + +At the name Keith, a slight shadow (very slight, for how could +Keith help himself?) crosses the mind: "Is this, by ill luck, the +Feldmarschall Keith?" No, reader; this is Lieutenant-Colonel Keith; he +of Wesel, with "Effigy nailed to the Gallows" long since; whom none of +us cares for. Sulzer, I notice too, is of this long-eared Sanhedrim. +ACH, MEIN LIEBER SULZER, you don't know (do you, then?) DIESE VERDAMMTE +RACE, to what heights and depths of stupid malice, and malignant length +of ear, they are capable of going. "Thursday, 13th April," this is +Forger Konig's doom:--and, what is observable, next morning, with a +crash audible through Nature, the Powder-Magazine flew aloft, killing +several persons! [Supra, p. 203.] Had no hand, he, I hope, in that +latter atrocity? + +On authentic sight of this Sentence (for which Konig had at once, on +hearing of it, applied to Formey, and which comes to him, without help +of Formey, through the Public Newspapers) Konig, in a brief, proud +enough, but perfectly quiet, mild and manful manner, resigns his +Membership. "Ceases, from this day (June 18th, 1752), to have the honor +of belonging to your Academy; 'an honor I had been the prouder of, as it +came 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 on +the subject. Maupertuis, it appears, did write, and made others write to +Konig's Sovereign Lady, the Dowager Princess of Orange, "How extremely +handsome it would be, could her Most Serene Highness, a friend to +Pure Science, be pleased to induce Monsieur Konig not to continue this +painful Controversy, but to sit quiet with what he had got." [Voltaire +(infra).] Which her Most Serene Highness by no mean thought the suitable +course. Still less did Konig himself; whose APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC, with +DEFENCE OF APPEAL,--reasonably well done, as usual, and followed and +accompanied 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; and +nobody, hardly the signing Curators, or thin Euler himself, not to speak +of Perpetual Formey, who had never been strong in the matter, could well +believe in "forgery" or care to speak farther on such a subject. +Subject gone wholly to the Stygian Fens, long since; "forgery" not now +imaginable by anybody! + +The rumor of these things rose high and wide; and the quantity of +publishing upon them, quasi-scientifically and otherwise, in the serious +vein and the jocose, was greater than we should fancy. ["Letter from a +Marquis;" "Letter from Mr. T---to M. S---" (Mr. T. lives in London;--"JE +TRAVERSE LE Queen's Square, ET JE RENCONTRE NOTRE AMI D---: 'AVEZ-VOUS +LA l'Appel au Public?' DIT-IL"--); "Letter by Euler in the Berlin +Gazette," &c. &c. (in--Maupertuisiana--).] Voltaire, for above a month +past, had been fully aware of the case (24th July, 1752, writing to +Niece, "heard yesterday"); not without commentary to oneself and others. +Voltaire, with a kind of love to Konig, and a very real hatred to +Maupertuis and to oppression generally, took pen himself, among the +others (Konig's APPEAL just out),--could not help doing it, though he +had better not! The following small Piece is perhaps the one, if there +be one, still worth resuscitating from the Inane Kingdoms. Appeared +in the BIBLIOTHEQUE RAISONNEE (mild-shining Quarterly Review of those +days), JULY-SEPTEMBER Number. + + + + +"ANSWER FROM [VERY PRIVATELY VOLTAIRE, CALLING HIMSELF] A BERLIN +ACADEMICIAN TO A PARIS ONE. + +"BERLIN, 18th SEPTEMBER, 1752. This is the exact truth, in reply to +your inquiry. M. Moreau de Maupertuis in a Pamphlet entitled ESSAI DE +COSMOLOGIE, pretended that the only proof of the Existence of God is the +circumstance that AR+nRB is a Minimum. [ONLY proof:^??????^ (p.212 +Book XVI) VOILA!] He asserts that in all possible cases, 'Action is a +Minimum,' what has been demonstrated false; and he says, 'He discovered +this Law of Minimum,' what is not less false. + +"M. Konig, as well as other Mathematicians, wrote against this strange +assertion; and, among other things, M. Konig cited some sentences of a +Letter by Leibnitz, in which that great man says, He has observed 'that, +in the modifications of motion, the Action usually becomes either a +Maximum 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 pretended +discovery,--though Leibnitz says precisely the contrary of what he +advances. He forced some pensioned members of the Academy, who are +dependent on him, to summon M. Konig"--As we know too well; and +cannot bear to have repeated to us, even in the briefest and spiciest +form!"Sentence (JUGEMENT) on M. Konig, which declares him guilty of +having assaulted the glory of the Sieur Moreau Maupertuis by FORGING a +Leibnitz Letter.--Wrote then, and made write, to her Serene Highness the +Princess of Orange, who was indignant at so insolent"--... and in fine, + +"Thus the Sieur Moreau Maupertuis has been convicted, in the face of +Scientific Europe, not only of plagiarism and blunder, but of having +abused his place to suppress free discussion, and to persecute an honest +man who had no crime but that of not being of his opinion. Several +members of our Academy have protested against so crying a procedure; and +would leave the Academy, were it not for fear of displeasing the +King, 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 becoming +uncomfortable. Of the controversy he understood, or cared to understand, +nothing; had to believe steadily that his Academy must be right; that +Konig was some loose bird, envious of an eagle Maupertuis, sitting aloft +on his high Academic perch: this Friedrich took for the truth of the +matter;--and could not let himself imagine that his sublime Perpetual +President, 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 tricks +before high Heaven and other on-lookers. This view of the matter had +hitherto been Friedrich's; nor do I know that he ever inwardly departed +from it;--as outwardly he, for certain, never did; standing, King-like, +clear always for his Perpetual President, till this hurricane of +Pamphlets blew by. Voltaire's little Piece, therefore, was the +unwelcomest possible. + +This new bolt of electric fire, launched upon the storm-tost President +from Berlin itself, and even from the King's House itself,--by whom, too +clearly recognizable,--what an irritating thing! Unseemly, in fact, +on Voltaire's part; but could not be helped by a Voltaire charged with +electricity. Friedrich evidently in considerable indignation, finding +that public measures would but worsen the uproar, took pen in hand; +wrote rapidly the indignant LETTER FROM AN ACADEMICIAN OF BERLIN TO AN +ACADEMICIAN OF PARIS: [--OEuvres de Frederic,--xv. 59-64 (not dated; +datable "October, 1752").] which Piece, of some length, we cannot give +here; but will briefly describe as manifesting no real knowledge of the +LAW-OF-THRIFT Controversy; but as taking the above loose view of it, and +as directed principally against "the pretended Member of our Academy" +(mischievous Voltaire, to wit), whom it characterizes as "such a +manifest retailer of lies," a "concocter of stupid libels:" "have you +ever seen an action more malicious, more dastardly, more infamous?"--and +other hard terms, the hardest he can find. This is the privilege of +anonymity, on both sides of it. + +But imagine now a King and his Voltaire doing witty discourse over their +Supper of the gods (as, on the set days, is duly the case); with such a +consciousness, burning like Bude light, though close veiled, on the part +of Host and Guest! The Friedrich-Voltaire relation is evidently under +sore stress of weather, in those winter-autumn months of 1752,--brown +leaves, splashy rains and winds moaning outwardly withal. And, alas, the +irrepressibly electric Voltaire, still far from having ended, still +only just beginning his Anti-Maupertuis discharges, has, in the interim, +privately got his DOCTOR AKAKIA ready. Compared to which, the former +missile is as a popgun to a park of artillery shotted with old nails and +broken glass!--Such a constraint, at the Royal dinner-table, amid wine +and wit, could not continue. The credible account is, it soon cracked +asunder; and, after the conceivable sputterings, sparklings and +flashings of various complexion, issued in lambent airs of "tacit +mutual understanding; and in reading of AKAKIA together,--with peals of +laughter from the King," as the common French Biographers assert. + +"Readers know AKAKIA," [DIATRIBE DU DOCTEUR AKAKIA (in +Voltaire,--OEuvres,--lxi. 19-62).] says Smelfungus: "it is one of the +famous feats of Satirical Pyrotechny; only too pleasant to the corrupt +Race of Adam! There is not much, or indeed anything, of true poetic +humor in it: but there is a gayety of malice, a dexterity, felicity, +inexhaustibility of laughing mockery and light banter, capable +of driving a Perpetual President delirious. What an Explosion of +glass-crackers, fire-balls, flaming-serpents;--generally, of sleeping +gunpowder, in its most artistic forms,--flaming out sky-high over all +the Parish, on a sudden! The almost-sublime of Maupertuis, which exists +in large quantities, here is a new artist who knows how to treat it. +The engineer of the Sublime (always painfully engineering thitherward +without effect),--an engineer of the Comic steps in on him, blows him up +with his own petards in a most unexampled manner. Not an owlery has that +poor Maupertuis, in the struggle to be sublime (often nearly successful, +but never once quite), happened to drop from him, but Voltaire picks it +up; manipulates it, reduces it to the sublimely ridiculous; lodges it, +in the form of burning dust, about the head of MON PRESIDENT. Needless +to say of the Comic engineer that he is unfair, perversely exaggerative, +reiterative, on the owleries of poor Maupertuis;--it is his function +to BE all that. Clever, but wrong, do you say? Well, yes:--and yet the +ridiculous 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 to +be exploded in laughter, it could not have been more consummately +done;--though perversely always, as must be owned. + +"'The hole bored through the Earth,' for instance: really, one sometimes +reflects on such a thing; How you would see daylight, and the antipodal +gentleman (if he bent a little over) foot to foot; how a little stone +flung into it would exactly (but for air and friction) reach the other +side of the world; would then, in a computable few moments, come back +quiescent to your hand, and so continue forevermore;--with other the +like uncriminal fancies. + +"'The Latin Town,' again: truly, if learning the Ancient Languages +be human Education, it might, with a Greek Ditto, supersede the +Universities, and prove excellently serviceable in our struggle +Heavenward by that particular route. I can assure M. de Voltaire, it was +once practically proposed to this King's Great-grandfather, the Grosse +Kurfurst;--who looked into it, with face puckered to the intensest, in +his 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 PROJET +D'UNE VILLE SAVANTE DANS LE BRANDEBOURG (Berlin, 1792):" date of the +Project was 1667.] Then as to 'Dissecting the Brains of Patagonians;' +what harm, if you can get them gross enough? And as to that of (exalting +your mind to predict the future,' does not, in fact, man look BEFORE and +AFTER; are not Memory and (in a small degree) Prophecy the Two Faculties +he has? + +"These things--which are mostly to be found in the 'LETTRES DE +MAUPERTUIS' (Dresden, 1752, then a brand-new Book), but are now +clipt out from the Maupertuis Treatises--we can fancy to be almost +sublimities.--Almost, unfortunately not altogether. And then there is +such a Sisyphus-effort visible in dragging them aloft so far: and the +nimble wicked Voltaire so seizes his moment, trips poor Sisyphus; and +sends him down, heels-over-head, in a torrent of roaring debris! 'From +gradual 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 with +resinous varnish (INDUITS DE POIX RESINEUX); who knows!' Not a sublime +owlery can you drop, but it is manipulated, ground down, put in rifled +cannon, comes back on you as tempests of burning dust." Enough to send +Maupertuis pirouetting through the world, with red wig unquenchably on +fire! + +Peals of laughter (once you are allowed to be non-official) could not +fail, as an ovation, from the King;--so report the French Biographers. +But there was, besides, strict promise that the Piece should be +suppressed: "Never do to send our President pirouetting through the +world in this manner, with his wig on fire; promise me, on your honor!" +Voltaire promised. But, alas, how could Voltaire perform! Once more +the Rhadamanthine fact is: Voltaire, as King's Chamberlain, was bound, +without any promise, to forbear, and rigidly suppress such an AKAKIA +against the King's Perpetual President. But withal let candid readers +consider 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 train +laid. There wants but one spark,--(edition printed in Holland, +edition done in Berlin, plenty of editions made or makable by a little +surreptitious legerdemain,--and I never knew whether it was AKAKIA in +print, or AKAKIA in manuscript, that King and King's Chamberlain +were now reading together, nor does it matter much):--your Turkey +surreptitiously stuffed with gunpowder, I say; train ready waiting; one +flint-spark will shoot him aloft, scatter him as flaming ruin on all the +winds: and you are, once and always, to withhold said spark. Perhaps, +had AKAKIA not yet been written--But all lies ready there; one spark +will do it, at any moment;--and there are unguarded moments, and the +Tempter must prevail!-- + +On what day AKAKIA blazed out at Berlin, surreptitiously forwarded +from Holland or otherwise, I could never yet learn (so stupid these +reporters). But "on November 2d" the King makes a Visit to sick +Maupertuis, which is published in all the Newspapers; [Rodenbeck, IN +DIE;--Helden-Geschichte,--iii. 531, "2d November, 1752, 5 P.M."]--and +one might guess the AKAKIA conflagration, and cruel haha-ings of +mankind, to have been tacitly the cause. Then or later, sure enough, +AKAKIA does blaze aloft about that time; and all Berlin, and all the +world, is in conversation over Maupertuis and it,--30,000 copies sold +in Paris:--and Friedrich naturally was in a towering passion at his +Chamberlain. Nothing for the Chamberlain but to fly his presence; +to shriek, piteously, "Accident, your Majesty! Fatal treachery and +accident; after such precautions too!"--and fall sick to death (which +is always a resource one has); and get into private lodgings in the +TAUBEN-STRASSE, [At a "Hofrath Francheville's" (kind of subaltern +Literary Character, see Denina, ii. 67), "TAUBEN-STRASSE (Dove Street), +No. 20:" stayed there till "March, 1753" (Note by Preuss,--OEuvres de +Frederic,--xxii. 306 n.).] till one either die, or grow fit to be seen +again: "Ah, Sire"--let us give the Voltaire shriek of NOT-GUILTY, with +the Friedrich Answer; both dateless unluckily:-- + +VOLTAIRE. "AH, MON DIEU, Sire, in the state I am in! I swear to you +again, on my life, which I could renounce without pain, that it is a +frightful calumny. I conjure you to summon all my people, and confront +them. What? You will judge me without hearing me! I demand justice or +death." + +FRIEDRICH. "Your effrontery astonishes me. After what you have done, and +what is clear as day, you persist, instead of owning yourself culpable. +Do not imagine you will make people believe that black is white; when +one [ON, meaning _I_] does not see, the reason [sic]? ONE p. 218, book +XVI +++++++++++++++++ is, one does not want to see everything. But if +you drive the affair to extremity,--all shall be made public; and it +will be seen whether, if your Works deserve statues, your conduct does +not 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's +bed,--"Ah, Sire, sick to death!" + +December 24th, 1752, there is one thing dismally distinct, Voltaire +himself looking on (they say), from his windows in Dove Street: the +Public Burning of AKAKIA, near there, by the common Hangman. Figure it; +and Voltaire's reflections on it:--haggardly clear that Act Third is +culminating; 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, his +Gold Key and Cross of Merit. On the interior wrappage is an Inscription +in verse: "I received them with loving emotion, I return them with +grief; 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 kind +nursing 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, with +Decorations back. And a long dialogue ensues between Fredersdorf and +Voltaire; in which Collini, not eavesdropping, "heard the voice of M. de +Voltaire at times very loud." Precise result unknown. After which, for +three months more, follows waiting and hesitation and negotiation, also +quite obscure. Confused hithering and thithering about permission for +Plombieres, about repentance, sorrow, amendment, blame; in the end, +reconciliation, or what is to pass for such. Recorded for us in that +whirl of misdated Letter-clippings; in those Narratives, ignorant, and +pretending to know: perhaps the darkest Section in History, Sacred or +Profane,--were it of moment to us, here or elsewhere! + +Voltaire has got permission to return to Potsdam; Apartment in the +Palace ready again: but he still lingers in Dove Street; too ill, +in real truth, for Potsdam society on those new terms. Does not quit +Francheville's "till March 5th;" and then only for another Lodging, +called "the Belvedere", of suburban or rural kind. His case is intricate +to a degree. He is sick of body; spectre-haunted withal, more than +ever;--often thinks Friedrich, provoked, will refuse him leave. +And, alas, he would so fain NOT go, as well as go! Leave for +Plombieres,--leave in the angrily contemptuous shape, "Go, then, forever +and a day!"--Voltaire can at once have: but to get it in the friendly +shape, 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! Would +fain not go, withal;--and has to diplomatize at Potsdam, by D'Argens, +De Prades, and at Paris simultaneously, by Richelieu, D'Argenson and +friends. He is greatly to be pitied;--even Friedrich pities him, the +martyr of bodily ailments and of spiritual; and sends him "extract of +quinquina" at one time. [Letter of Voltaire's.] Three miserable months; +which only an OEdipus could read, and an OEdipus who had nothing else +to do! The issue is well known. Of precise or indisputable, on the road +thither, 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 the +instant, 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 something +like six; I brought two eyes, I have nearly lost one of them; I brought +no erysipelas, and I have got one, which I take a great deal of care +of.... 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 and +weather improve. [--OEuvres de Voltaire,--lxxxv. 141.] + +FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE (Potsdam, uncertain date). "There was no need of +that pretext about the waters of Plombieres, in demanding your leave +(CONGE). You can quit my service when you like: but, before going, be +so good as return me the Contract of your Engagement, the Key +[Chamberlain's], the Cross [of Merit], and the Volume of Verses which I +confided 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 think +of increasing their own reputation by lessening that of others. I have +not the folly nor vanity of certain Authors. The cabals of literary +people seem to me the disgrace of Literature. I do not the less esteem +honorable cultivators of Literature; it is only the caballers and their +leaders that are degraded in my eyes. On this, I pray God to have you in +his holy and worthy keeping.--FRIEDRICH." + +[In De Prades's hand;--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxii. 308, 309: Friedrich's +own Minute to De Prades has, instead of these last three lines: "That +I have not the folly and vanity of authors, and that the cabals of +literary people seem to me the depth of degradation," &c.] + +VOLTAIRE SPECTRALLY GIVEN (Collini LOQUITUR). "One evening walking +in the garden [at rural Belvedere,--after March 5th], talking of our +situation, he asked me, 'Could you drive a coach-and-two?' I stared at +him a moment; but knowing that there must be no direct contradiction +of his ideas, I said 'Yes.'--'Well, then, listen; I have thought of a +method 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 a +little 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 middle +of 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 going +to 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 sell +chariot, horses, hay; then straight to Leipzig, by post.' At which +point, or soon after, he burst into laughing." [Collini, p. 53.] + +VOLTAIRE TO FRIEDRICH ("Berlin, Belvedere," rural lodging, ["In the +STRALAUER VORSTADT (HODIE, Woodmarket Street):" Preuss's Note to this +Letter,--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 it +my duty to send your Majesty a duplicate of my Answer.... Will submit to +you every step of my conduct; of my whole life, in whatever place I end +it. I am Konig's friend; but assuredly I am much more attached to your +Majesty; and if he were capable the least in the world of failing in +respect [as is rumored], I would"--Enough! + +FRIEDRICH RELENTS (To Voltaire; De Prades writing, Friedrich covertly +dictating: no date). "The King has held his Consistory; and it has +there been discussed, Whether your case was a mortal sin or a venial? +In truth, all the Doctors owned that it was mortal, and even exceedingly +confirmed as such by repeated lapses and relapses. Nevertheless, by the +plenitude of the grace of Beelzebub, which rests in the said King, he +thinks 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 imposed +on you: but as, in the Empire of Satan, there is a great respect had of +genius, I think, on the whole, that, for the sake of your talents, one +might pardon a good many things which do discredit to your heart. These +are 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,--Your +style has not appeared to me soft. You are a frank Secretary of +State:--nevertheless I give you warning, it is to be a settled point +that I embrace you before going. I shall not be able to kiss you; my +lips are too choppy from my devil of a disorder [SCURVY, I hear]. You +will 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 is +a thing indispensable. Consider with our dear Marquis [D'Argens], with +Fredersdorf,--PARBLEU, with the King himself, How you can manage that I +have the consolation of seeing him before I go. I absolutely will +have it; I will embrace with my two arms the Abbe and the Marquis. The +Marquis sha'n't be kissed, any more than you; nor the King either. But +I shall perhaps fall blubbering; I am weak, I am a drenched hen. I shall +make a foolish figure: never mind; I must, once more, have sight of you +two. If I cannot throw myself at the King's feet, the Plombieres waters +will kill me. I await your answer, to quit this Country as a happy or +as a miserable man. Depend on me for life.--V." [Ib. 308.]--This is the +last 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, next +day;" stays with him almost a week, "quite gay together," "some private +quizzing even of Maupertuis" (if we could believe Collini or his master +on that point); means "to return in October, when quite refitted,"--does +at 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 have +left! And finally, morning of March 25th) 1753, [Collini, p. 56; see +Rodenbeck, i. 252.] drives off,--towards Dresden, where there are +Printing Affairs to settle, and which is the nearest safe City;--and +Friedrich and he, intending so or not, have seen one another for the +last time. Not quite intending that extremity, either of them, I should +think; but both aware that living together was a thing to be avoided +henceforth. + +"Take care of your health, above all; and don't forget that I expect +to see you again after the Waters!" such was Friedrich's adieu, say +the French Biographers, [Collini, p. 57; Duvernet, p. 186;--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxv. 187 ("will return in October").] "who is himself just +going off to the Silesian Reviews", add they;--who does, in reality, +drive to Berlin that day; but not to the Silesian Reviews till May +following. 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 for +Plombieres. He deliberately settled his Printing Affairs at Dresden; +then at Leipzig;--and scattered through Newspapers, or what port-holes +he had, various fiery darts against Maupertuis; aggravating the humors +in Berlin, and provoking Maupertuis to write him an express Letter. +Letter which is too curious, especially the Answer it gets, to be quite +omitted:-- + + +MAUPERTUIS TO VOLTAIRE (at Leipzig). + +"BERLIN, 3d APRIL, 1753. If it is true that you design to attack me +again [with your LA-BEAUMELLE doggeries and scurrilous discussions], I +declare to you that I have still health enough to find you wherever you +are, and to take the most signal vengeance on you (VENGEANCE LA PLUS +ECLATANTE). Thank the respect and the obedience which have hitherto +restrained my arm, and saved you from the worst adventure you have ever +yet had. MAUPERTUIS." + + +VOLTAIRE'S ANSWER (from Leipzig, a few days after). + +"M. le President,--I have had the honor to receive your Letter. You +inform 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], you +will come and assassinate me. What ingratitude to your poor medical man +Akakia!... If you exalt your soul so as to discern futurity, you will +see that if you come on that errand to Leipzig, where you are no better +liked than in other places, and where your Letter is in safe Legal +hands, you run some risk of being hanged. Poor me, indeed, you will find +in bed; and I shall have nothing for you but my syringe and vessel of +dishonor: but so soon as I have gained a little strength, I will have +my pistols charged CUM PULVERE PYRIO; and multiplying the mass by the +square of the velocity, so as to reduce the action and you to zero, I +will put some lead in your head;--it appears to have need of it. +ADIEU, MON PRESIDENT. AKAKIA." [Duvernet, pp. 186, 187;--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxi. 55-60.] + +Here, in the history of Duelling, or challenging to mortal combat, is +a unique article! At which the whole world haha'd again; perhaps King +Friedrich himself; though he was dreadfully provoked at it, too: "No +mending of that fellow!"--and took a resolution in consequence, as will +be seen. + +Dresden and Leipzig done with, Voltaire accepted an invitation to +the Court of Sachsen-Gotha (most polite Serene Highnesses there, and +especially a charming Duchess,--who set him upon doing the ANNALES +DE L'EMPIRE, decidedly his worst Book). "About April 2lst" +Voltaire arrived, stayed till the last days of May; [--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--lxxv. 182 n. Clogenson's Note).] and had, for five weeks, a +beautiful time at Gotha;--Wilhelmina's Daughter there (young Duchess +of Wurtemberg, on visit, as it chanced), [Wilhelmina-Friedrich +Correspondence (--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxvii. iii. 258, 249).] and all +manner of graces, melodies and beneficences; a little working, too, +at the ANNALES, in the big Library, between whiles. Five decidedly +melodious weeks. Beautiful interlude, or half-hour of orchestral +fiddling in this Voltaire Drama; half-hour which could not last! On the +heel of which there unhappily followed an Afterpiece or codicil to the +Berlin Visit; which, so to speak, set the whole theatre on fire, and +finished by explosion worse than AKAKIA itself. A thing still famous to +mankind;--of which some intelligible notion must be left with readers. + +The essence of the story is briefly this. Voltaire, by his fine +deportment in parting with Friedrich, had been allowed to retain his +Decorations, his Letter of Agreement, his Royal BOOK OF POESIES (one +of those "Twelve Copies," printed AU DONJON DU CHATEAU, in happier +times!)--and in short, to go his ways as a friend, not as a runaway or +one dismissed. But now, by his late procedures at Leipzig, and +"firings out of port-holes" in that manner, he had awakened Friedrich's +indignation again,--Friedrich's regret at allowing him to take those +articles with him; and produced a resolution in Friedrich to have them +back. They are not generally articles of much moment; but as marks of +friendship, they are now all falsities. One of the articles might be +of frightful importance: that Book of Poesies; thrice-private OEUVRE DE +POESIES, in which are satirical spurts affecting more than one crowned +head: one shudders to think what fires a spiteful Voltaire might cause +by publishing these! This was Friedrich's idea;--and by no means a +chimerical one, as the Fact proved; said OEUVRE being actually reprinted +upon him, at Paris afterwards (not by Voltaire), in the crisis of the +Seven-Years War, to put him out with his Uncle of England, whom +it quizzed in passages. [Title of it is,--OEuvres du Philosophe de +Sans-Souci--(Paris, pretending to be "Potsdam," 1760), 1 vol. 12mo: at +Paris, "in January" this; whereupon, at Berlin, with despatch, "April +9th," "the real edition" (properly castrated) was sent forth, under +title, POESIES DIVERSES, 1 vol. big 8vo (Preuss, in--OEuvres de +Frederic,--x. Preface, p. x. See Formey, ii. 255, under date misprinted +"1763").] "We will have those articles back," thinks Friedrich; "that +OEUVRE most especially! No difficulty: wait for him at Frankfurt, as he +passes home; demand them of him there." And has (directly on those +new "firings through port-holes" at Leipzig) bidden Fredersdorf take +measures accordingly. ["Friedrich to Wilhelmina, 12th April, 1753" +(--OEuvres,--xxvii. iii. 227).] + +Fredersdorf did so; early in April and onward had his Official Person +waiting at Frankfurt (one Freytag, our Prussian Resident there, +very celebrated ever since), vigilant in the extreme for Voltaire's +arrival,--and who did not miss that event. Voltaire, arriving at last +(May 31st), did, with Freytag's hand laid gently on his sleeve, at once +give 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. Under +Fredersdorf's guidance, all this, and what follows; King Friedrich, +after the general Order given, had nothing more to do with it, and was +gone 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 from +the unessential here. But he was not;--poor subaltern Freytag had to +say, on Voltaire's urgencies: "I will at once report to Berlin; if the +answer be (as we hope), 'All right,' you are that moment at liberty!" +This was a thing unexpected, astonishing to Voltaire; a thing demanding +patience, silence: in three days more, with silence, as turns out, it +would have been all beautifully over,--but he was not strong in those +qualities! + +Voltaire's arrest hitherto had been merely on his word of honor, "I +promise, on my honor, not to go beyond the Garden of this Inn." But he +now, without warning anybody, privately revoked said word of honor; and +Collini 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 loud +enough;--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 (as +to the old score): "All right; let him go!" But to punctual Freytag's +mind, here is now a new considerable item of sundries: insult to his +Majesty, to wit; breaking his Majesty's arrest, in such insolent loud +manner:--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 not +till July 7th (after a detention, not of nearly three weeks, as it might +and would have been, but of five and a day) that Voltaire gets off, and +then too at full gallop, and in a very unseemly way. + +This is authentically the world-famous Frankfurt Affair;--done by +Fredersdorf, as we say; Friedrich, absent in Silesia, or in Preussen +even, having no hand in it, except the original Order left with +Fredersdorf. Voltaire has used his flamingest colors on this occasion, +being indeed dreadfully provoked and chagrined; painting the thing in +a very flagrant manner,--known to all readers. Voltaire's flagrant +Narrative had the round of the world to itself, for a hundred years; and +did its share of execution against Friedrich. Till at length, recently, +a precise impartial hand, the Herr Varnhagen, thought of looking into +the Archives; and has, in a distinct, minute and entertaining way, +explained the truth of it to everybody;--leaving the Voltaire Narrative +in rather sad condition. [Varnhagen von Ense,--Voltaire in Frankfurt +am Mayn,--1753 (separate, as here, 12mo, pp. 92; or in--Berliner +Kalender--for 1846).] We have little room; but must give, compressed, +from Varnhagen and the other evidences, a few of the characteristic +points. 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, Voltaire +having set to firing through port-holes again, and the King being swift +in his resolution on it), Factotum Fredersdorf, who has a free-flowing +yet a steady and compact pen, directs Herr Freytag, our Resident at +Frankfurt-on-Mayn, To procure from the Authorities there, on Majesty's +request, the necessary powers; then vigilantly to look out for +Voltaire'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,--the +specification of which is somewhat indistinct. In Fredersdorf's writing, +all this; not so mathematically luminous and indisputable as in Eichel's +it would have been. Freytag put questions, and there passed several +Letters between Fredersdorf and him; but it was always uncomfortably +hazy to Freytag, and he never understood or guessed that the OEUVRE DE +POESIES was the vital item, and the rest formal in comparison. Which +is justly considered to have been an unlucky circumstance, as matters +turned. For help to himself, Freytag is to take counsel with one Hofrath +Schmidt; a substantial experienced Burgher of Frankfurt, whose rathship +is Prussian. + +APRIL 21st, Freytag answers, That Schmidt and he received his Majesty's +All-gracious Orders the day before yesterday (Post takes eight days, it +would seem); that they have procured the necessary powers; and are now, +and will be, diligently watchful to execute the same. Which, one must +say, they in right earnest are; patrolling about, with lips strictly +closed, eyes vividly open; and have a man or two privately on watch +at the likely stations, on the possible highways;--and so continue, +Voltaire doing his ANNALS OF THE EMPIRE, and enjoying himself at +Gotha, for weeks after, ["Left Gotha 25th May" (Clog. in--OEuvres de +Voltaire,--xxv. 192 n.).]--much unconscious of their patrolling. + +Freytag is in no respect a shining Diplomatist;--probably some EMERITUS +Lieutenant, doing his function for 30 pounds a year: but does it in a +practical solid manner. Writes with stiff brevity, stiff but distinct; +with perfect observance of grammar both in French and German; with good +practical sense, and faithful effort to do aright what his order is: no +trace of "MonSIR," of "OEuvre de PoesHie," to be found in Freytag; and +most, or all, of the ridiculous burs stuck on him by Voltaire, are to +be pulled off again as--as fibs, or fictions, solacing to the afflicted +Wit. Freytag is not of quick or bright intellect: and unluckily, just +at the crisis of Voltaire's actual arrival, both Schmidt and Fredersdorf +are off to Embden, where there is "Grand Meeting of the Embden Shipping +Company" (with comfortable dividends, let us hope),--and have left +Freytag to his own resources, in case of emergency. + +THURSDAY, MAY 31st, "about eight in the evening," Voltaire does +arrive,--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 "Your +Excellency," or "M. le Comte;"--and puts up at the Golden Lion at +Frankfurt, where rooms have been ordered; Freytag well aware, though he +says nothing. + +FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 1st) "his Excellency and Suite" (Voltaire and +Collini) have their horses harnessed, carriage out, and are about taking +the road again,--when Freytag, escorted by a Dr. Rucker, "Frankfurt +Magistrate DE MAUVAISE MINE," [Collini, p. 77.] and a Prussian +recruiting Lieutenant, presents himself in Voltaire's apartment! Readers +know Voltaire's account and MonSIR Collini's; and may now hear Freytag's +own, which is painted from fact:-- + +"Introductory civilities done (NACH GEMACHTEN POLITESSEN), I made him +acquainted with the will of your most All-gracious Majesty. He was much +astonished (BESTURZT," no wonder); "he shut his eyes, and flung himself +back 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, lasted +from nine A.M. till five P.M. Packets are made,--a great many +Papers, "and one Poem which he was unwilling to quit" (perilous LA +PUCELLE);--inventories are drawn, duly signed. Packets are signeted, +mutually sealed, Rucker claps on the Town-seal first, Freytag and +Voltaire following with theirs. "He made thousand protestations of his +fidelity to your Majesty; became pretty weak [like fainting, think you, +Herr Resident?], and indeed he looks like a skeleton.--We then made +demand of the Book, OEUVRE DE POESIES: That, he said, was in the Big +Case; and he knew not whether at Leipzig or Hamburg" (knew very well +where it was); and finding nothing else would do, wrote for it, showing +Freytag the Letter; and engaged, on his word of honor, not to stir hence +till it arrived. + +Upon which,--what is farther to be noted, though all seems now +settled,--Freytag, at Voltaire's earnest entreaty, "for behoof of +Madame Denis, a beloved Niece, Monsieur, who is waiting for me hourly at +Strasburg, whom such fright might be the death of!"--puts on paper a few +words (the few which Voltaire has twisted into "MonSIR," "PoesHies" +and so forth), to the effect, "That whenever the OEUVRE comes, Voltaire +shall actually have leave to go." And so, after eight hours, labor (nine +A.M. to five P.M.), everything is hushed again. Voltaire, much shocked +and astonished, poor soul, "sits quietly down to his ANNALES" (says +Collini),--to working, more or less; a resource he often flies to, in +such cases. Madame Denis, on receiving his bad news at Strasburg, sets +off towards him: arrives some days before the OEUVRE and its Big Case. +King Friedrich had gone, May 1st) for some weeks, to his Silesian +Reviews; June 1st (very day of this great sorting in the Lion d'Or), he +is off again, to utmost Prussia this time;--and knows, hitherto and till +quite the end, nothing, except that Voltaire has not turned up anywhere. + +... Voltaire cannot have done much at his ANNALS, in this interim at the +Golden 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, to +French 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 de +Frederic,--xxii. 303, and in--OEuvres de Voltaire,--lxxv. 185, is +the Letter to Friedrich (dateless, totally misplaced, and rendered +unintelligible, in both Works): Letter SENT through Wilhelmina (see her +fine remarks in forwarding it,--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxvii. iii. +234).] He has been receiving visits, from Serene Highnesses, "Duke of +Meiningen" and the like, who happen to be in Town. Visit from iniquitous +Dutch Bookseller, Van Duren (Printer of the ANTI-MACHIAVEL); with whom +we had such controversy once. Iniquitous, now opulent and prosperous, +Van Duren, happening to be here, will have the pleasure of calling on an +old distinguished friend: distinguished friend, at sight of him entering +the Garden, steps hastily up, gives him a box on the ear, without +words but an interjection or two; and vanishes within doors. That is +something! "Monsieur," said Collini, striving to weep, but unable, "you +have had a blow from the greatest man in the world." [Collini, p. 182.] +In short, Voltaire has been exciting great sensation in Frankfurt; and +keeping Freytag in perpetual fear and trouble. + +MONDAY, 18th JUNE, the Big Case, lumbering along, does arrive. It is +carried straight to Freytag's; and at eleven in the morning, Collini +eagerly attends to have it opened. Freytag,--to whom Schmidt has +returned from Embden, but no Answer from Potsdam, or the least light +about those SKRIPTUREN,--is in the depths of embarrassment; cannot open, +till he know completely what items and SKRIPTUREN he is to make sure of +on opening: "I cannot, till the King's answer come!"--"But your written +promise to Voltaire?" "Tush, that was my own private promise, Monsieur; +my own private prediction of what would happen; a thing PRO FORMA", and +to save Madame Denis's life. Patience; perhaps it will arrive this very +day. Come again to me at three P.M.;--there is Berlin post today; then +again in three days:--I surely expect the Order will come by this post +or next; God grant it may be by this!" Collini attends at three; there +is Note from Fredersdorf: King's Majesty absent in Preussen all this +while; expected now in two days. Freytag's face visibly brightens: "Wait +till next post; three days more, only wait!" [Varnhagen, pp. 39-41.] And +in fact, by next post, as we find, the OPEN-SESAME did punctually come. +Voltaire, and all this big cawing rookery of miseries and rages, would +have at once taken wing again, into the serene blue, could Voltaire but +have had patience three days more! But that was difficult for him, too +Difficult. + + + + +PART II. VOLTAIRE, IN SPITE OF HIS EFFORTS, DOES GET AWAY (June +20th-July 7th). + +WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20th, Voltaire and Collini ("word. of honor" fallen +dubious to them, dubious or more),--having laid their plan, striving +to think it fair in the circumstances,--walk out from the Lion d'Or, +"Voltaire in black-velvet coat," [Ib. p. 46.] with their valuablest +effects (LA PUCELLE and money-box included); leaving Madame Denis to +wait the disimprisonment of OEUVRE DE POESIE and wind up the general +business. Walk out, very gingerly,--duck into a hackney-coach; and +attempt to escape by the Mainz Gate! Freytag's spy runs breathless with +the 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 is +luckily standing yoked near by; and shoot with the velocity of life +and 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; and +speaks, not like what they call "a learned sergeant", but like a +drilled sergeant in heat of battle: Vol-taire's tongue, also, and +Collini's,--"Your Excellenz never heard such brazen-faced lies thrown +on a man; that I had offered, for 1,000 thalers, to let them go; that +I had"--In short, the thing has caught fire; broken into flaming chaos +again. + +"Freytag [to give one snatch from Collini's side] got into the carriage +along with us, and led us, in this way, across the mob of people to +Schmidt's [to see what was to be done with us]. Sentries were put at +the 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 before +Voltaire with a disdainful air, to listen to Freytag, recounting," in +the tone not of a LEARNED sergeant, what the matter is. They seize our +effects; under violent protest, worse than vain. "Voltaire demands to +have at least his snuffbox, cannot do without snuff; they answer, 'It is +usual to take everything.' + +"His," Voltaire's, "eyes were sparkling with fury; from time to time he +lifted them on mine, as if to interrogate me. All on a sudden, noticing +a door half open, he dashes through it, and is out. Madam Schmidt forms +her squad, shopmen and three maid-servants; and, at their head, rushes +after. 'What?' cries he, (cannot I be allowed to--to vomit, then?'" They +form 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 is +terrified; 'MON DIEU, are you ill, then?' He answered in a low voice, +tears in his eyes, 'FINGO, FINGO (I pretend,'" and Collini leads +him back, RE INFECTA. "The Author of the HENRIADE and MEROPE; what a +spectacle! [Collini, pp. 81, 86.]... Not for two hours had they +done with their writings and arrangings. Our portfolios and CASSETTE +(money-box) were thrown into an empty trunk [what else could they be +thrown 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" (or +BILLY-GOAT; there henceforth; LION D,OR refusing to be concerned with us +farther); twelve soldiers; Madame Denis with curtains of bayonets,--and +other well-known flagrancies.... The 7th of July, Voltaire did actually +go; and then in an extreme hurry,--by his own blame, again. These final +passages we touch only in the lump; Voltaire's own Narrative of these +being so copious, flamingly impressive, and still known to everybody. +How much better for Voltaire and us, had nobody ever known it; had +it never been written; had the poor hubbub, no better than a chance +street-riot all of it, after amusing old Frankfurt for a while, been +left 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 and +practical candor, instead of all that vituperative eloquence and power +of tragi-comic description! Nay, in that case, this wretched street-riot +hubbub need not have been at all. Truly M. de Voltaire had a talent for +speech, but lamentably wanted that of silence!--We have now only the +sad duty of pointing out the principal mendacities contained in M. de +Voltaire's world-famous Account (for the other side has been heard +since that); and so of quitting a painful business. The principal +mendacities--deducting all that about "POE'ShIE" and the like, which we +will define as poetic fiction--are:-- + +1. That of the considerable files of soldiers (almost a Company of +Musketeers, one would think) stuck up round M. de Voltaire and Party, in +THE BILLY-GOAT; Madame Denis's bed-curtains being a screen of +bayonets, and the like. The exact number of soldiers I cannot learn: "a +SCHILDWACHE of the Town-guard [means one; surely does not mean Four?] +for each prisoner," reports the arithmetical Freytag; which, in the +extreme 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 fellow +Dorn [Freytag's Clerk, a poor, hard-worked frugal creature, with frugal +wife and family not far off] insisting to sit in the Lady's bedroom; +there emptying bottle after bottle; nay at last [as Voltaire bethinks +him, after a few days] threatening to"--Plainly to EXCEL all belief! A +thing not to be spoken of publicly: indeed, what Lady could speak of +it at all, except in hints to an Uncle of advanced years?--Proved fact +being, that Madame Denis, all in a flutter, that first night at THE +BILLY-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 very +bad mendacity; clearly conscious on M. de Voltaire's part, and even +constructed by degrees. + +3. Very bad also is that of the moneys stolen from him by those Official +people. M. de Voltaire knows well enough how he failed to get his +moneys, and quitted Frankfurt in a hurry! Here, inexorably certain from +the Documents, and testimonies on both parts, is that final Passage +of the long Fire-work: last crackle of the rocket before it dropped +perpendicular:-- + +JULY 6th, complete OPEN-SESAME having come, Freytag and Schmidt duly +invited Voltaire to be present at the opening of seals (his and theirs), +and to have his moneys and effects returned from that "old trunk" he +speaks of. But Voltaire had by this time taken a higher flight. July +6th, Voltaire was protesting before Notaries, about the unheard-of +violence done him, the signal reparations due; and disdained, for the +moment, 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, to +have it opened by Voltaire himself. Collini, in THE BILLY-GOAT, +next morning (July 7th)) says, he (Collini) had just loaded two +journey-pistols, part of the usual carriage-furniture, and they lay on +the table. At sight of poor Dorn darkening his chamber-door, Voltaire, +the prey of various flurries and high-flown vehemences, snatched one of +the pistols ("pistol without powder, without flint, without lock," says +Voltaire; "efficient pistol just loaded", testifies Collini);--snatched +said pistol; and clicking it to the cock, plunged Dorn-ward, with +furious exclamations: not quite unlikely to have shot Dorn (in the +fleshy 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 with +Collini, clear off;--leaving Niece Denis, leaving moneys and other +things, 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 pounds +or more, as Voltaire variously gives it) was accurately taken from it +by Schmidt and Freytag, to be paid where due,--(in exact liquidation, +"Landlord of THE BILLY-GOAT" so much, "Hackney-Coachmen, Riding +Constables sent in chase," so much, as per bill);--and the rest, 76 +pounds 10s. was punctually locked up again, till Voltaire should apply +for it. "Send it after him," Friedrich answered, when inquired of; "send +it after him; but not [reflects he] unless there is somebody to take his +Receipt for it,"--our gentleman being the man he is. Which case, or any +application from Voltaire, never turned up. "Robbed by those highwaymen +of Prussian Agents!" exclaimed Voltaire everywhere, instead of applying. +Never applied; nor ever forgot. Would fain have engaged Collini to +apply,--especially when the French Armies had got into Frankfurt,--but +Collini 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 the +long last, to go by RIGHT OF WINDFALL to somebody or other:--unless, +perhaps, it still lie, overwhelmed under dust and lumber, in the garrets +of the old Rathhaus yonder, waiting for a legal owner? What became of +it, no man knows; but that no doit of it ever went Freytag's or +King Friedrich's way, is abundantly evident. On the whole, what an +entertaining Narrative is that of Voltaire's; but what a pity he had +ever written it! + +This was the finishing Catastrophe, tragical exceedingly; which went +loud-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 phrase +SKRIPTUREN, instead of sticking by the OEUVRE DE POESIES, the one +essential point. SECOND, That Freytag was of heavy pipe-clay nature. +THIRD, That Voltaire was of impatient explosive nature; and, in +calamities, was wont, not to be silent and consider, but to lift up his +voice (having such a voice), and with passionate melody appeal to the +Universe, and do worse, by way of helping himself!-- + +"The poor Voltaire, after all!" ejaculates Smelfungus. "Lean, of no +health, but melodious extremely (in a shallow sense); and truly very +lonely, old and weak, in this world. What an end to Visit Fifth; began +in Olympus, terminates in the Lock-up! His conduct, except in the Jew +Case, has nothing of bad, at least of unprovokedly bad. 'Lost my teeth,' +said he, when things were at zenith. 'Thought I should never weep +again,'--now when they are at nadir. A sore blow to one's Vanity, in +presence of assembled mankind; and made still more poignant by noises of +one's own adding. France forbidden to him [by expressive signallings]; +miraculous Goshen of Prussia shut: (these old eyes, which I thought +would continue dry till they closed forever, were streaming in tears;'" +[Letter from "Mainz, 9th July," third day of rout or flight; To Niece +Denis, left behind (--OEuvres,--lxxv. 220).]--but soon brightened up +again: Courage! + +How Voltaire now wanders about for several years, doing his ANNALES, +and other Works; now visiting Lyon City (which is all in GAUDEAMUS +round him, though Cardinal Tencin does decline him as dinner-guest); now +lodging with Dom Calmet in the Abbey of Senones (ultimately in one's +own first-floor, in Colmar near by), digging, in Calmet's Benedictine +Libraries, stuff for his ANNALES;--wandering about (chiefly in Elsass, +latterly on the Swiss Border), till he find rest for the sole of his +foot: [Purchased LES DELICES (The Delights), as he named it, a glorious +Summer Residence, on the Lake, near Geneva (supplemented by a Winter +ditto, 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 years +thenceforth (ib. lxxvii. 398, xxxix. 307: thank the exact "Clog." for +both these Notes).] all this may be known to readers; and we must +say nothing of it. Except only that, next year, in his tent, or hired +lodgings at Colmar, the Angels visited him (Abraham-like, after a sort). +Namely, that one evening (late in October, 1754), a knock came to his +door, "Her Serene Highness of Baireuth wishes to see you, at the Inn +over there!" "Inn, Baireuth, say you? Heavens, what?"--Or, to take it in +the prose form:-- + +"January 26th, 1753, about eight P.M. [while Voltaire sat desolate in +Francheville's, far away], the Palace at Baireuth,--Margraf with candle +at an open window, and gauze curtains near--had caught fire; inexorably +flamed up, and burnt itself to ashes, it and other fine edifices +adjoining. [Holle, STADT BAYREUTH (Bayreuth, 1833), p. 178.] Wilhelmina +is always very ill in health; they are now rebuilding their Palace: +Margraf has suggested, 'Why not try Montpellier; let us have a winter +there!' On that errand they are (end of October, 1754) got the length +of Colmar; and do the Voltaire miracle in passing. Very charming to the +poor man, in his rustication here. + +"'Eight hours in a piece, with the Sister of the King of Prussia" writes +he: think of that, my friends! 'She loaded me with bounties; made me a +most beautiful present. Insisted to see my Niece; would have me go with +them to Montpellier.' [Letters (in--OEuvres,--lxxv. 450, 452), "Colmar, +23d October, &c. 1754."] Other interviews and meetings they had, there +and farther on: Voltaire tried for the Montpellier; but could not. +[Wrote to Friedrich about it (one of his first Letters after the +Explosion), applying to Friedrich "for a Passport" or Letter of +Protection; which Friedrich answers by De Prades, openly laughing at +it (--OEuvres,--xxiii. 6).] Wilhelmina wintered at Montpellier, +without Voltaire "Thank your stars!' writes Friedrich to her. The +Friedrich-Wilhelmina LETTERS are at their best during this Journey; here +unfortunately very few). [--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxvii. iii. 248-273 +(September, 1754, and onwards).] Winter done, Wilhelmina went still +South, to Italy, to Naples, back by Venice:--at Naples, undergoing the +Grotto del Cane and neighborhood, Wilhelmina plucked a Sprig of Laurel +from Virgil's Grave, and sent it to her Brother in the prettiest +manner;--is home at Baireuth, new Palace ready, August, 1755." + +These points, hurriedly put down, careful readers will mark, and perhaps +try to keep in mind. Wilhelmina's Tourings are not without interest to +her friends. Of her Voltaire acquaintanceship, especially, we shall hear +again. With Voltaire, Friedrich himself had no farther Correspondence, +or as good as none, for four years and more. What Voltaire writes to +him (with Gifts of Books and the like, in the tenderest regretful +pathetically COOING tone, enough to mollify rocks), Friedrich usually +answers by De Prades, if at all,--in a quite discouraging manner. In the +end 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. Law +is reformed; Embden has its Shipping Companies; Industry flourishes: but +as to the Trismegistus of the Muses coming to our Hearth--! Some Eight +of 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 celestial +one of them has gone to wreck. "Understand at last, your Majesty, that +there is no Muses'-Heaven possible on Telluric terms; and cast that +notion out of your head!" + +Friedrich does cast it out, more and more, henceforth,--"ACH, MEIN +LIEBER 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 some +sort, loving this and the other of them; Chasot, Algarotti, Voltaire +even, 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, new +hope inextinguishably welling up; really with a loyalty, a modesty, a +cheery brother manhood unexpected by readers. + +Eight of the Eleven Peace Years are gone in these courses. The next +three, still silent and smooth to the outward eye, were defaced by +subterranean mutterings, electric heralds of coming storm. "Meaning +battle and wrestle again?" thinks Friedrich, listening intent. A far +other than welcome message to Friedrich. A message ominous; thrice +unwelcome, not to say terrible. Requires to be scanned with all one's +faculty; to be interpreted; to be obeyed, in spite of one's reluctances +and lazinesses. To plunge again into the Mahlstrom, into the clash of +Chaos, and dive for one's Silesia, the third time;--horrible to lazy +human 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 during +this 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 least +expected of them. + +Witty Hanbury Williams, the English Excellency at Berlin, busy +intriguing little creature, became distasteful there, long since; and +they 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;" [Manuscript +LIST in State-Paper Office.] but I think did not much reside, nor intend +to reside; having all manner of wandering Continental duties to do; and +a world of petty businesses and widespread intrigues, Russian, German +and other, on hand. Robinson, too, is now home; returned, 1748 (Treaty +of Aix in his pocket); and an Excellency Keith, more and more famous +henceforth, has succeeded him in that Austrian post. Busy people, these +and others; now legationing in Foreign parts: able in their way; but +whose work proved to be that of spinning ropes from sand, and must not +detain 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 made +tight, and the Peace of Aix double-riveted, so to speak, and rendered +secure against every contingency,--by having Archduke Joseph at once +elected "King of the Romans." King of the Romans straightway; whereby +he follows at once as Kaiser, should his Father die; and is liable to +no French or other intriguing; and we have taken a bond of Fate that +the Balance cannot be canted again. Excellent scheme, think both these +heads; and are stirring Germany with all their might, purse in hand, to +co-operate, and do it. Inconceivable what trouble these prescient +minds are at, on this uncertain matter. It was Britannic Majesty's +and Newcastle's main problem in this world, for perhaps four years +(1749-1753):--"My own child," as a fond Noodle of Newcastle used to +call it; though I rather think it was the other that begot the wretched +object, but had tired sooner of nursing it under difficulties. + +Unhappily there needs unanimity of all the Nine Electors. The poorer you +can 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): endless +Correspondence between Newcastle and his Brother (curious to read, +though of the most long-eared description on the Duke's part), in +Coxe'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 dear +Hanover kept scathless. But unfortunately Friedrich, whom we must not +think of buying, is not enthusiastic in the cause! Far from it. The now +Kaiser has never yet got him, according to bargain, a Reichs-Guarantee +for the Peace of Dresden; and needs endless flagitating to do it. [Does +it, at length, by way of furtherance to this Romish-King Business, "23d +January-14th May, 1751" (--Adelung,--vii. 217).] The chase of security +and aggrandizement to the House of Austria is by no means Friedrich's +chief aim! This of King of the Romans never could be managed by +Britannic Majesty and his Newcastle. + +It was very triumphant, and I think at its hopefulest, in 1750, soon +after starting,--when Excellency Hanbury first appeared at Berlin +on behalf of it. That was Excellency Hanbury's first journey on this +errand; and he made a great many more, no man readier; a stirring, +intriguing creature (and always with such moneys to distribute); had +victorious hopes now and then,--which one and all proved fatuous. +["June, 1750," Hanbury for Berlin (Britannic Majesty much anxious +Hanbury were there): Hanbury to Warsaw next (hiring Polish Majesty +there); at Dresden, does make victorious Treaty, September, 1751; at +Vienna, 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 the +Political Circles. Which--(though it was not the fact; Friedrich's +opposition, once that Reichs-Guarantee of his own was got, being mostly +passive, "Push it through the stolid element, then, YOU stolid fellows, +if you can!")--awoke considerable outcry in England. Lively suspicion +there, of treasonous intentions to the Cause of Liberty, on his Prussian +Majesty's part; and--coupled with other causes that had risen--a +great deal of ill-nature, in very dark condition, against his Prussian +Majesty. And it was not Friedrich's blame, chiefly or at all. If indeed +Friedrich would have forwarded the Enterprise:--but he merely did not; +and the element was viscous, stolid. Austria itself had wished the +thing; but with nothing like such enthusiasm as King George;--to whom +the refusal, by Friedrich and Fate, was a bitter disappointment. Poor +Britannic Majesty: Archduke Joseph came to be King of the Romans, in due +course; right enough. And long before that event (almost before George +had ended his vain effort to hasten it), Austria turned on its pivot; +and had clasped, not England to its bosom, but France (thanks to that +exquisite Kaunitz); and was in arms AGAINST England, dear Hanover, and +the Cause of Liberty! Vain to look too far ahead,--especially with those +fish-eyes. Smelfungus has a Note on Kaunitz; readable, though far too +irreverent of that superlative Diplomatist, and unjust to the real human +merits he had. + +"The struggles of Britannic George to get a King of the Romans elected +were many. Friedrich never would bite at this salutary scheme for +strengthening the House of Austria: 'A bad man, is not he?' And all the +while, the Court of Austria seemed indifferent, in comparison;--and Graf +von Kaunitz-Rietberg, Ambassador at Paris, was secretly busy, wheeling +Austria round on its axis, France round on its; and bringing them +to embrace in political wedlock! Feat accomplished by his Excellency +Kaunitz (Paris, 1752-1753);--accomplished, not consummated; left ready +for consummating when he, Kaunitz, now home as Prime Minister, or +helmsman on the new tack, should give signal. Thought to be one of the +cleverest feats ever done by Diplomatic art. + +"Admirable feat, for the Diplomatic art which it needed; not, that I +can see, for any other property it had. Feat which brought, as it was +intended to do, a Third Silesian War; death of about a million fighting +men, and endless woes to France and Austria in particular. An exquisite +Diplomatist this Kaunitz; came to be Prince, almost to be God-Brahma +in Austria, and to rule the Heavens and Earth (having skill with his +Sovereign Lady, too), in an exquisite and truly surprising manner. Sits +there 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.] one +catches evidence of his well knowing his Diplomatic element, and how to +rule it and impose on it. Traits there are of human cunning, shrewdness +of eye;--of the loftiest silent human pride, stoicism, perseverance of +determination,--but not, to my remembrance, of any conspicuous human +wisdom whatever, One asks, Where is his wisdom? Enumerate, then, do me +the pleasure of enumerating, What he contrived that the Heavens answered +Yes to, and not No to? All silent! A man to give one thoughts. Sits like +a God-Brahma, human idol of gilt crockery, with nothing in the belly of +it (but a portion of boiled chicken daily, very ill-digested); and +such a prostrate worship, from those around him, as was hardly +seen 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, I +privately assure you!'--and, by continued private determination, to have +got all men about him to ratify the same, and accept it as valid. Much +can be done in that way with stupidish populations; nor is Beau Brummel +the only instance of it, among ourselves, in the later epochs. + +"Kaunitz is a man of long hollow face, nose naturally rather turned +into the air, till artificially it got altogether turned thither. Rode +beautifully; but always under cover; day by day, under glass roof in +the riding-school, so many hours or minutes, watch in hand. Hated, or +dreaded, fresh air above everything: so that the Kaiserinn, a noble +lover of it, would always good-humoredly hasten to shut her windows when +he made her a visit. Sumptuous suppers, soirees, he had; the pink of +Nature assembling in his house; galaxy, domestic and foreign, of all the +Vienna Stars. Through which he would walk one turn; glancing stoically, +over his nose, at the circumambient whirlpool of nothings,--happy the +nothing to whom he would deign a word, and make him something. O my +friends!--In short, it was he who turned Austria on its axis, and France +on its, and brought them to the kissing pitch. Pompadour and Maria +Theresa kissing mutually, like Righteousness and--not PEACE, at any +rate! 'MA CHERE COUSINE,' could I have believed it, at one time?" + +A SECOND Prussian-English cause of offence had arisen, years ago, and +was 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 Foreign +Trade,--not as formerly from Stettin alone, into the Baltic Russian +ports; but from Embden now, which looks out into the Atlantic and the +general waters of Europe and the World. About which he is abundantly +careful, as we have seen. Anxious to go on good grounds in this matter, +and be accurately neutral, and observant of the Maritime Laws, he +had, in 1744, directly after coming to possession of Ost-Friesland, +instructed Excellency Andrie, his Minister in London, to apply at the +fountain-head, and expressly ask of my Lord Carteret: "Are hemp, flax, +timber contraband?" "No," answered Carteret; Andrie reported, No. And +on this basis they acted, satisfactorily, for above a year. But, +in October, 1745, the English began violently to take PLANKS for +contraband; and went on so, and ever worse, till the end of the War. +[Adelung, vii. 334.] Excellency Andrie has gone home; and a Secretary of +Legation, Herr Michel, is now here in his stead:--a good few dreary +old Pamphlets of Michel's publishing (official Declaration, official +Arguments, Documents, in French and English, 4to and 8vo, on this +extinct subject), if you go deep into the dust-bins, can be disinterred +here to this day. Tread lightly, touching only the chief summits. The +Haggle stretches through five years, 1748-1753,--and then at last ceases +HAGGLING:-- + +"JANUARY 8th, 1748 [War still on foot, but near ending], Michel applies +about injuries, about various troubles and unjust seizures of ships; +Secretary Chesterfield answers, 'We have an Admiralty Court; beyond +question, right shall be done.' 'Would it were soon, then!' hints +Michel. Chesterfield, who is otherwise politeness itself, confidently +hopes so; but cannot push Judicial people. + +"FEBRUARY, 1748. Admiralty being still silent, Michel applies by +Memorial, in a specific case: 'Two Stettin Ships, laden with wine from +Bordeaux, and a third vessel,' of some other Prussian port, laden with +corn; 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 far +from being the issue just yet! + +"On the contrary, his Prussian Majesty's Merchants, perhaps encouraged +by this piece of British justice, came forward with more and ever more +complaints and instances. To winnow the strictly true out of which, +from the half-true or not provable, his Prussian Majesty has appointed +a 'Commission,'" fit people, and under strict charges, I can believe, +"Commission takes (to Friedrich's own knowledge) a great deal of +pains;--and it does not want for clean corn, after all its winnowing. +Plenty of facts, which can be insisted on as indisputable. 'Such and +such 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 justice +done.' 'Contraband of War,' answer the English; 'sorry to have given +your Majesty the least uneasiness; but they were carrying'--'No, pardon +me; nothing contraband discoverable in them;' and hands in his verified +Schedules, with perfectly polite, but more and more serious request, +That the said ships be restored, and damages accounted for. 'Our Prize +Courts have sat on every ship of them,' eagerly shrieks Newcastle all +along: 'what can we do!' 'Nay a Special Commission shall now [1751, date +not worth seeking farther]--special Commission shall now sit, till his +Prussian Majesty get every satisfaction in the world!' + +"English Special Commission, counterpart of that Prussian one (which is +in vacation by this time), sits accordingly: but is very slow; reports +for a long while nothing, except, 'Oh, give us time!' and reports, in +the end, nothing in the least satisfactory. ["Have entirely omitted +the essential points on which the matter turns; and given such confused +account, in consequence, that it is not well possible to gather from +their Report any clear and just idea of it at all." (Verdict of the +PRUSSIAN Commission: which had been re-assembled by Friedrich, on this +Report from the English one, and adjured to speak only "what they +could answer to God, to the King and to the whole world," concerning +it:--Seyfarth,--ii. 183.)] 'Prize Courts? Special Commission?' thinks +Friedrich: 'I must have my ships back!' And, after a great many months, +and a great many haggles, Friedrich, weary of giving time, instructs +Michel to signify, in proper form ('23d November, 1752'), 'That the +Law's delay seemed to be considerable in England; that till the fulness +of time did come, and right were done his poor people, he, Friedrich +himself, would hopefully wait; but now at last must, provisionally, pay +his poor people their damages;--would accordingly, from the 23d day +of April next, cease the usual payment to English Bondholders on their +Silesian Bonds; and would henceforth pay no portion farther of that +Debt, principal or interest [about 250,000 pounds now owing], but +proceed to indemnify his own people from it, to the just length,--and +deposit the remainder in Bank, till Britannic Majesty and Prussian +could UNITE in ordering payment of it; which one trusts may be +soon!'" [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 biggest +Pamphlet, 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 had +said. With what rumor in the City, commentaries in the Newspapers and +flutter to his Grace of Newcastle, may be imagined. "What a Nephew have +I!" thinks Britannic Majesty: "Hah, and Embden, Ost-Friesland, is not +his. Embden itself is mine!" A great deal of ill-nature was generated, +in England, by this one affair of the Privateers, had there been no +other: and in dark cellars of men's minds (empty and dark on this +matter), there arose strange caricature Portraitures of Friedrich: and +very mad notions--of Friedrich's perversity, astucity, injustice, malign +and dangerous intentions--are more or less vocal in the Old Newspapers +and Distinguished Correspondences of those days. Of which, this one +sample: + +To what height the humor of the English ran against Friedrich is still +curiously noticeable, in a small Transaction of tragic Ex-Jacobite +nature, which then happened, and in the commentaries it awoke in +their imagination. Cameron of Lochiel, who forced his way through the +Nether-Bow in Edinburgh, had been a notable rebel; but got away to +France, 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, and +attended the Rebel March in a medical capacity,--"not from choice," as +he alleged, "but from compulsion of kindred;"--and had been of help to +various Loyalists as well; a foe of Human Pain, and not of anything else +whatever: in fact, as appears, a very mild form of Jacobite Rebel. +He too got, to France; but had left his Wife, Children and frugal +Patrimonies behind him,--and had to return in proper concealment, +more than once, to look after them. Two Visits, I think two, had been +successfully transacted, at intervals; but the third, in 1753, proved +otherwise. + +March 12th, 1753, wind of him being had, and the slot-hounds uncoupled +and put on his trail, poor Cameron was unearthed "at the Laird +of Glenbucket's," and there laid hold of; locked in Edinburgh +Castle,--thence to the Tower, and to Trial for High Treason. Which went +against him; in spite of his fine pleadings, and manful conciliatory +appearances and manners. Executed 7th June, 1753. His poor Wife had +twice squeezed her way into the Royal Levee at Kensington, with +Petition for mercy;--fainted, the first time, owing to the press and +the agitation; but did, the second time, fall on her knees before Royal +George, and supplicate,--who had to turn a deaf ear, royal gentleman; I +hope, not without pain. + +The truth is, poor Cameron---though, I believe, he had some vague +Jacobite errands withal--never would have harmed anybody in the rebel +way; and might with all safety have been let live. But his Grace of +Newcastle, and the English generally, had got the strangest notion into +their head. Those appointments of Earl Marischal to Paris, of Tyrconnel +to Berlin; Friedrich's nefarious spoiling of that salutary Romish-King +Project; and now simultaneous with that, his nefarious oonduct in our +Privateer Business: all this, does it not prove him--as the Hanburys, +Demon Newswriters and well-informed persons have taught us--to be one +of 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 Classes +and Political Circles, universally believed, That this Dr. Cameron was +properly an "Emissary of the King of Prussia's;" that Cameron's errand +here was to rally the Jacobite embers into new flame;--and that, at +the first clear sputter, Friedrich had 15,000 men, of his best +Prussian-Spartan troops, ready to ferry over, and help Jacobitism to +do 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,--in +Cremorne Gardens fist of all, which was Bishop Hoadly's Place,--to the +terror of mitres and wigs); or that, the Emperor of China was concerned +in Meux's Porter-Brewery, with an eye to sale of NUX VOMICA. Among +all the Kings that then were, or that ever were, King Friedrich +distinguished himself by the grand human virtue (one of the most +important for Kings and for men) of keeping well at home,--of always +minding his own affairs. These were, in fact, the one thing he minded; +and he did that well. He was vigilant, observant all round, for +weather-symptoms; thoroughly well informed of what his neighbors had on +hand; ready to interfere, generally in some judicious soft way, at any +moment, if his own Countries or their interests came to be concerned; +certain, till then, to continue a speculative observer merely. He had +knowledge, to an extent of accuracy which often surprised his +neighbors: but there is no instance in which he meddled where he had no +business;--and few, I believe, in which he did not meddle, and to the +purpose, when he had. + +Later in his Reign, in the time of the American War (1777), there is, on +the English part, in regard to Friedrich, an equally distracted notion +of the same kind brought to light. Again, a conviction, namely, +or moral-certainty, that Friedrich is about assisting the American +Insurgents against us;--and a very strange and indubitable step is +ordered to be taken in consequence. [--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxvi. 394 +(Friedrich to Prince Henri, 29th June, 1777.)] As shall be noticed, if +we have time. No enlightened Public, gazing for forty or fifty years +into an important Neighbor Gentleman, with intent for practical +knowledge 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 in +the 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, under +a new form, our old friend the inexorable JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION; +soul of all these Controversies, and--except Silesia and Friedrich's +Question--the one meaning they have! Huddled together it had been, at +the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, and left for closed under "New Spanish +Assiento Treaty," or I know not what:--you thought to close it by +Diplomatic 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 we +often say, and is the fountain and determining element of very large +Sections of Human History, still hidden in the unseen Time. + +"Ocean Highway to be free; for the English and others who have business +on it?" The English have a real and weighty errand there. "English to +trade and navigate, as the Law of Nature orders, on those Seas; and to +ponderate or preponderate there, according to the real amount of weight +they and their errand have? OR, English to have their ears torn off; +and imperious French-Spanish Bourbons, grounding on extinct +Pope'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 that +Treaty omitted to settle a Line of Boundary to landward, or westward, +for their "NOVA SCOTIA;" or generally, a Boundary from NORTH TO SOUTH +between 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 furnishings +entire, should be restored at once (France extremely anxious on +that point); but for the rest had, being in such haste, flung itself +altogether into the principle of STATUS-QUO-ANTE, as the short way for +getting through. The boundary in America was vaguely defined, as "now to +be what it had been before the War." It had, for many years before the +War, been a subject of constant altercation. ACADIE, for instance, the +NOVA SCOTIA of the English since Utrecht time, the French maintained to +mean only "the Peninsula", or Nook included between the Ocean Waters and +the Bay of Fundy. And, more emphatic still, on the "Isthmus" (or narrow +space, at northwest, between said Bay and the Ocean or the Gulf of St. +Lawrence) they had built "Forts:" "Stockades," or I know not what, "on +the Missaquish" (HODIE Missiquash), a winding difficult river, northmost +of the Bay of Fundy's rivers, which the French affirm to be the real +limit in that quarter. The sparse French Colonists of the interior, +subjects of England, are not to be conciliated by perfect toleration of +religion and the like; but have an invincible proclivity to join their +Countrymen outside, and wish well to those Stockades on the Missiquash. +It must be owned, too, the French Official People are far from +scrupulous or squeamish; show energy of management; and are very skilful +with the Indians, who are an important item. Canada is all French; has +its Quebecs, Montreals, a St. Lawrence River occupied at all the good +military points, and serving at once as bulwark and highway. + +Southward and westward, France, in its exuberant humor, claims for +itself The whole Basin of the St. Lawrence, and the whole Basin of the +Mississippi as well: "Have not we Stockades, Castles, at the military +points; Fortified Places in Louisiana itself?" Yes;--and how many +Ploughed Fields bearing Crop have you? It is to the good Plougher, not +ultimately to the good Cannonier, that those portions of Creation will +belong? The exuberant intention of the French is, after getting back +Cape Breton, "To restrict those aspiring English Colonies," mere +Ploughers and Traders, hardly numbering above one million, "to the Space +eastward of the Alleghany Mountains," over which they are beginning +to climb, "and southward of that Missiquash, or, at farthest, of the +Penobscot and Kennebunk" (rivers HODIE in the State of Maine). [La +Gallisonniere, 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 (in +Canada 45,000, in Louisiana 7,000), in all 52,000:"--History of British +Dominions in North America--(London, 1773), p. 13. Bancroft (i. 154) +counts the English Colonists in "1754 about 1,200,000."] That will be +a very pretty Parallelogram for them and their ploughs and trade-packs: +we, who are 50,000 odd, expert with the rifle far beyond them, will +occupy the rest of the world. Such is the French exuberant notion: and, +October, 1745, before signature at Aix-la-Chapelle, much more before +Delivery of Cape Breton, the Commandant at Detroit (west end of Lake +Erie) had received orders, "To oppose peremptorily every English +Establishment 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 in +those parts; beyond the Alleghanies all is desert: "from the Canada +Lakes to the Carolinas, mere hunting-ground of the Six Nations; dotted +with here and there an English trading-house, or adventurous Squatter's +farm:"--to whom now the French are to say: "Home you, instantly; and +leave the Desert alone!" The French have distinct Orders from Court, +and energetically obey the same; the English have indistinct Orders from +Nature, and do not want energy, or mind to obey these: confusions and +collisions are manifold, ubiquitous, continual. Of which the history +would be tiresome to everybody; and need only be indicated here by a +mark 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 the +Foundling Hospital there, had turned his attention to the fine +capabilities and questionable condition of NOVA SCOTIA, with few +inhabitants, and those mostly disaffected; and, by many efforts now +forgotten, had got the Government persuaded to despatch (June, 1749) +a kind of Half-pay or Military Colony to those parts: "more than 1,400 +persons disbanded officers, soldiers and marines, under Colonel +Edward Cornwallis," Brother of the since famous Lord Cornwallis. +[Coxe's--Pelham,--ii. 113.] Who landed, accordingly, on that rough +shore; stockaded themselves in, hardily endeavoring and enduring; and +next year, built a Town for themselves; Town of HALIFAX (so named from +the then Lord Halifax, President of the Board of Trade); which stands +there, in more and more conspicuous manner, at this day. Thanks to you, +Captain Coram; though the ungrateful generations (except dimly in CORAM +Street, near your Hospital) have lost all memory of you, as their wont +is. 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 Ohio +regions, since you are minded to colonize there in a fixed manner. +Britannic Majesty thinks the Country "between the Monongahela and +the Kanahawy" (southern feeders of Ohio) will do best; but is not +particular. Ohio Company, we shall find, chose at last, as the eligible +spot, the topmost fork or very Head of the Ohio,--where Monongahela +River from south and Alleghany River from north unite to form "The +Ohio;" where stands, in our day, the big sooty Town of Pittsburg and +its industries. Ohio Company was laudably eager on this matter; +Land-Surveyor in it (nay, at length, "Colonel of a Regiment of 150 men +raised by the Ohio Company") was Mr. George Washington, whose Family +had much promoted the Enterprise; and who was indeed a steady-going, +considerate, close-mouthed Young Gentleman; who came to great +distinction in the end. + +French Governor (La Gallisonniere still the man), getting wind of this +Ohio Company still in embryo, anticipates the birth; sends a vigilant +Commandant thitherward, "with 300 men, To trace and occupy the Valleys +of the Ohio and of the St. Lawrence, as far as Detroit." That officer +"buries plates of lead," up and down the Country, with inscriptions +signifying that "from the farthest ridge, whence water trickled towards +the Ohio, the Country belonged to France; and nails the Bourbon Lilies +to the forest-trees; forbidding the Indians all trade with the English; +expels the English traders from the towns of the Miamis; and writes +to the Governor of Pennsylvania, requesting him to prevent all farther +intrusion." Vigilant Governors, these French, and well supported from +home. Duquesne, the vigilant successor of La Gallisonniere (who is now +wanted at home, for still more important purposes, as will appear), +finding "the lead plates" little regarded, sends, by and by, 500 new +soldiers from Detroit into those Ohio parts (march of 100 miles or +so);--"the French Government having, in this year 1750, shipped no +fewer than 8,000 men for their American Garrisons;"--and where the Ohio +Company venture on planting a Stockade, tears it tragically out, as will +be seen! + +The THIRD thing worth notice, in 1749, and still more in the following +year and years, had reference to Nova Scotia again. One La Corne, "a +recklessly sanguinary partisan" (military gentleman of the Trenck, +INDIGO-Trenck species), nestles himself (winter, 1749-50) on that +Missiquash River, head of the Bay of Fundy; in the Village of Chignecto, +which is admittedly English ground, though inhabited by French. La Corne +compels, or admits, the Inhabitants to swear allegiance to France +again; and to make themselves useful in fortifying, not to say in +drilling,--with an eye to military work. Hearing of which, Colonel +Cornwallis and incipient Halifax are much at a loss. They in vain seek +aid from the Governor of Massachusetts ("Assembly to be consulted first, +to be convinced; Constitutional rights:--Nothing possible just, at +once");--and can only send a party of 400 men, to try and recover +Chignecto at any rate. April 20th, 1750, the 400 arrive there; order La +Corne instantly to go. Bourbon Flag is waving on his dikes, this side +the Missiquash: high time that he and it were gone. "Village Priest +[flamingly orthodox, as all these Priests are, all picked for the +business], with his own hands, sets fire to the Church in Chignecto; +"inhabitants burn their houses, and escape across the river,--La Corne +as rear-guard. La Corne, across the Missiquash, declares, That, to a +certainty, he is now on French ground; that he will, at all hazards, +defend the Territory here; and maintain every inch of it,--"till +regular Commissioners [due ever since the Treaty of Aix, had not that +ROMISH-KING Business been so pressing] have settled what the Boundary +between the two Countries is."--Chignecto being ashes, and the +neighboring population gone, Cornwallis and his Four Hundred had to +return to Halifax. + +It was not till Autumn following, that Chignecto could be solidly got +hold of by the Halifax people; nor till a long time after, that La Corne +could be dislodged from his stockades, and sent packing. [--Gentleman's +Magazine,--xx. 539, 295.] September, 1750, a new Expedition on Chignecto +found the place populous again, Indians, French "Peasants" (seemingly +Soldiers of a sort); who stood very fiercely behind their defences, and +needed a determined on-rush, and "volley close into their noses," before +disappearing. This was reckoned the first military bloodshed (if this +were really military on the French side). And in November following, +some small British Cruiser on those Coasts, falling in with a French +Brigantine, from Quebec, evidently carrying military stores and +solacements for La Corne, seized the same; by force of battle, since +not otherwise,--three men lost to the British, five to the French,--and +brought it to Halifax. "Lawful and necessary!" says the Admiralty Court; +"Sheer Piracy!" shriek the French;--matters breaking out into actual +flashes 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 manifold +conferences with French ditto,--to no "purpose, any of them. One reads +the dreary tattle of the Duke of Newcastle upon it, in the Years +onward: "Just going to agree," the Duke hopes; "some difficulties, but +everybody, French and English, wanting mere justice; and our and their +Commissioners being in such a generous spirit, surely they will soon +settle 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 Louisiana +mean all America West of the Alleghanies, had not yet oozed out to the +English; but it is gradually oozing out, and that England will have to +content itself with the moderate Country lying east of that Blue range. +"Not much above a million of you", say the French; "and surely there is +room 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 are +Army-Detachments, Block-houses, fortified Posts, command of the Rivers, +of the Indian Nations, of the water-highways and military keys (to you +unintelligible); and we will make it good!" + +The exact cipher of the French (guessed to be 50,000), and their +precise relative-value as tillers and subduers of the soil, in these +Two Colonies of theirs, as against the English Thirteen, would be +interesting to know: curious also their little bill, of trouble taken +in creating the Continent of America, in discovering it, visiting, +surveying, planting, taming, making habitable for man:--and what +Rhadamanthus would have said of those Two Documents! Enough, the French +have taken some trouble, more or less,--especially in sending soldiers +out, of late. The French, to certain thousands, languidly tilling, +hunting and adventuring, and very skilful in wheedling the Indian +Nations, are actually there; and they, in the silence of Rhadamanthus, +decide that merit shall not miss its wages for want of asking. "Ours is +America West of the Alleghanies," say the French, openly before long. + +"Yours? Yours, of all people's?" answer the English; and begin, with +lethargic effort, to awake a little to that stupid Foreign Question; +important, though stupid and foreign, or lying far off. Who really owned +all America, probably few Englishmen had ever asked themselves, in their +dreamiest humors, nor could they now answer; but, that North America +does 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, of +all others, it is least doubtful. Pitt is in Office at last,--in some +subaltern capacity, "Paymaster of the Forces" for some years past, in +spite of Majesty's dislike of the outspoken man;--and has his eyes bent +on America;--which is perhaps (little as you would guess it such) the +main fact in that confused Controversy just now!-- + +In 1753 (28th August of that Year), goes message from the Home +Government, "Stand on your defence, over there! Repel by force any +Foreign encroachments on British Dominions." [Holderness, OR Robinson +our old friend.] And directly on the heel of this, November, 1753, the +Virginia Governor,--urged, I can believe, by the Ohio Company, who are +lying wind-bound so long,--despatches Mr. George Washington to inquire +officially of the French Commandant in those parts, "What he means, +then, by invading the British Territories, while a solid Peace +subsists?" Mr. George had a long ride up those desert ranges, and down +again on the other side; waters all out, ground in a swash with December +rains, no help or direction but from wampums and wigwams: Mr. George +got to Ohio Head (two big Rivers, Monongahela from South, Alleghany +from North, coalescing to form a double-big Ohio for the Far West); +and thought to himself, "What an admirable three-legged place: might be +Chief Post of those regions,--nest-egg of a diligent Ohio Company.!" +Mr. George, some way down the Ohio River, found a strongish French +Fort, log-barracks, "200 river-boats, with more building," and a French +Commandant, who cannot enter into questions of a diplomatic nature about +Peace and War: "My orders are, To keep this Fort and Territory against +all comers; one must do one's orders, Monsieur: Adieu!" And the +steadfast Washington had to return; without result,--except that of the +admirable Three-legged Place for dropping your Nest-egg, in a commanding +and defenceful way! + +Ohio Company, painfully restrained so long in that operation, took +the hint at once. Despatched, early in 1754, a Party of some Forty or +Thirty-three stout fellows, with arms about them, as well as tools, +"Go build us, straightway, a Stockade in the place indicated; you are +warranted to smite down, by shot or otherwise, any gainsayer!" And +furthermore, directly got on foot, and on the road thither, a "regiment +of 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 or +two of cannon, all well attended to--vigorously climbed the Mountains; +got to the top 27th May, 1754; and there MET the Thirty-three in retreat +homewards! Stockade had been torn out, six weeks ago (17th April last); +by overwhelming French Force, from the Gentleman who said ADIEU, and had +the river-boats, last Fall. And, instead of our Stockade, they are now +building a regular French Fort,--FORT DUQUESNE, they call it, in honor +of their Governor Duquesne:--against which, Washington and his regiment, +what are they? Washington, strictly surveying, girds himself up for the +retreat; descends diligently homewards again, French and Indians rather +harassing 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 he +can, through nine hours of heavy rain; has lost thirty, the French only +three;--and is obliged to capitulate: "Free Withdrawal" the terms +given. This is the last I heard of the Ohio Company; not the last +of Washington, by any means. Ohio Company,--its judicious Nest-egg +squelched in this manner, nay become a fiery Cockatrice or "FORT +DUQUESNE:"--need not be mentioned farther. + +By this time, surely high time now, serious military preparations were +on foot; especially in the various Colonies most exposed. But, as usual, +it is a thing of most admired disorder; every Governor his own King or +Vice-King, horses are pulling different ways: small hope there, +unless the Home Government (where too I have known the horses a little +discrepant, unskilful in harness!) will seriously take it in hand. +The Home Government is taking it in hand; horses willing, if a thought +unskilful. Royal Highness of Cumberland has selected General +Braddock, and Two Regiments of the Line (the two that ran away +at Prestonpans,--ABSIT OMEN). Royal Highness consults, concocts, +industriously prepares, completes; modestly certain that here now is the +effectual remedy. + +About New-year's day, 1755, Braddock, with his Two Regiments and +completed apparatus, got to sea. Arrived, 20th February, at Williamsburg +in Virginia ("at Hampden, near there," if anybody is particular); found +now that this was not the place to arrive at; that he would lose six +weeks of marching, by not having landed in Pennsylvania instead. Found +that his Stores had been mispacked at Cork,--that this had happened, +and also that;--and, in short, that Chaos had been very considerably +prevalent in this Adventure of his; and did still, in all that now lay +round it, much prevail. Poor man: very brave, they say; but without +knowledge, except of field-drill; a heart of iron, but brain mostly +of 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 the +Enterprise ahead. Chaos is very strong,--especially if within oneself +as well! Poor Braddock took the Colonial Militia Regiments, Colonel +Washington as Aide-de-Camp; took the Indians and Appendages, Colonial +Chaos 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 a +Commissariat, such a wagon-service, as was seldom seen before. Poor +General and Army, he was like to be starved outright, at one time; had +not a certain Mr. Franklin come to him, with charitable oxen, with +500 pounds-worth provisions live and dead, subscribed for at +Philadelphia,--Mr Benjamin Franklin, since celebrated over all the +world; who did not much admire this iron-tempered General with the +pipe-clay brain. [Franklin's AUTOBIOGRAPHY;--Gentleman's Magazine,--xxv. +378.] Thereupon, however, Braddock took the road again; sprawled and +staggered, at the long last, to the top; "at the top of the Alleghanies, +15th June;"--and forward down upon FORT DUQUESNE, "roads nearly +perpendicular 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 keeping +their brightest outlook. + +July 8th, Braddock crossed the Monongahela without hindrance. July 9th, +was within ten miles of FORT DUQUESNE; plodding along; marching through +a wood, when,--Ambuscade of French and Indians burst out on him, French +with defences in front and store of squatted Indians on each flank,--who +at once blew him to destruction, him and his Enterprise both. His men +behaved very ill; sensible perhaps that they were not led very well. +Wednesday, 9th July, 1755, about three in the afternoon. His two +regiments gave one volley and no more; utterly terror-struck by the +novelty, by the misguidance, as at Prestonpans before; shot, it was +whispered, several of their own Officers, who were furiously rallying +them with word and sword: of the sixty Officers, only five were not +killed or wounded. Brave men clad in soldier's uniform, victims of +military Chaos, and miraculous Nescience, in themselves and in others: +can there be a more distressing spectacle? Imaginary workers are all +tragical, in this world; and come to a bad end, sooner or later, they +or their representatives here: but the Imaginary Soldier--he is paid his +wages (he and his poor Nation are) on the very nail! + +Braddock, refusing to fall back as advised, had five horses shot under +him; was himself shot, in the arm, in the breast; was carried off the +field in a death-stupor,--forward all that night, next day and next (to +Fort Cumberland, seventy miles to rear);--and on the fourth day died. +The Colonial Militias had stood their ground, Colonel Washington now of +some use again;--who were ranked well to rearward; and able to receive +the ambuscade as an open fight. Stood striving, for about three hours. +And would have saved the retreat; had there been a retreat, instead of +a panic rout, to save. The poor General--ebbing homewards, he and his +Enterprise, 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, days +after, in a tone of hope, "Another time we will do better!" which were +his last words, "death following in a few minutes." Weary, heavy-laden +soul; deep Sleep now descending on it,--soft sweet cataracts of Sleep +and Rest; suggesting hope, and triumph over sorrow, after all:--"Another +time we will do better;" and in few minutes was dead! [Manuscript +JOURNAL OF GENERAL BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755 (British Museum: King's +Library, 271 e, King's Mss. 212): raw-material, this, of the Official +Account (--London Gazette,--August 26th, 1755), where it is faithfully +enough abridged. Will perhaps be printed by some inquiring PITTSBURGHER, +one day, after good study on the ground itself? It was not till 1758 +that 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 Arches +for Braddock's return, are struck to the nadir by this news. French and +Indians break over the Mountains, harrying, burning, scalping; the Black +Settlers fly inward, with horror and despair: "And the Home Government, +too, can prove a broken reed? What is to become of us; whose is America +to be?"--And in fact, under such guidance from Home Governments and +Colonial, there is no saying how the matter might have gone. To men of +good judgment, and watching on the spot, it was, for years coming, an +ominous dubiety,--the chances rather for the French, "who understand +war, and are all under one head." [Governor Pownal's Memorial (of which +INFRA), in Thackeray's--Life of Chatham.--] But there happens to be in +England a Mr. Pitt, with royal eyes more and more indignantly set +on this Business; and in the womb of Time there lie combinations and +conjunctures. If the Heavens have so decreed!-- + +The English had, before this, despatched their Admiral Boscawen, to +watch certain War-ships, which they had heard the French were fitting +out for America; and to intercept the same, by capture if not otherwise. +Boscawen is on the outlook, accordingly; descries a French fleet, Coast +of Newfoundland, first days of June; loses it again in the fogs of the +Gulf-Stream; but has, June 9th (a month before that of Braddock), come +up with Two Frigates of it, and, after short broadsiding, made prizes +of them. And now, on this Braddock Disaster, orders went, "To seize and +detain 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 watery +ways. Which the French ("our own conduct in America being so undeniably +proper") characterized as utter piracy and robbery;--and getting no +redress upon it, by demand in that style, had to take it as no better +than meaning Open War Declared. [Paris, December 21st, 1755, Minister +Rouille's Remonstrance, with menace "UNLESS--:" London, January 13th, +1756, Secretary Fox's reply, "WELL THEN, NO!" Due official "Declaration +of War" followed: on the English part, "17th May, 1756;" "9th June," on +the 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, Carnival +1752-1753, King Friedrich had, in a profoundly private manner, come upon +certain extensive Anti-Prussian Symptoms, Austrian, Russian, Saxon, of +a most dangerous, abstruse, but at length indubitable sort; and is, ever +since, prosecuting his investigation of them, as a thing of life and +death to him! Symptoms that there may well be a THIRD Silesian War +ripening forward, inevitable, and of weightier and fiercer quality than +ever. So the Symptoms indicate to Friedrich, with a fatally increasing +clearness. And, of late, he has to reflect withal: "If these +French-English troubles bring War, our Symptoms will be ripe!" As, in +fact, they proved to be. + +King Friedrich's investigations and decisions on this matter will be +touched upon, farther on: but readers can take, in the mean time, the +following small Documentary Piece as Note of Preparation. The facts +shadowed forth are of these Years now current (1752-1755), though this +judicial Deposition to the Facts is of ulterior date (1757). + +In the course of 1756, as will well appear farther on, it became +manifest to the Saxon Court and to all the world that somebody had been +playing traitor in the Dresden Archives. Somebody, especially in +the Foreign Department; copying furtively, and imparting to Prussia, +Despatches of the most secret, thrice-secret and thrice-dangerous +nature, which lie reposited there! Who can have done it? Guesses, +researcher, were many: at length suspicion fell on one Menzel, a +KANZELLIST (Government Clerk), of good social repute, and superior +official ability; who is not himself in the Foreign Department at +all; but whose way of living, or the like sign, had perhaps seemed +questionable. In 1757, Menzel, and the Saxon Court and its businesses, +were all at Warsaw; Menzel dreaming of no disturbance, but prosecuting +his affairs as formerly,--when, one day, September 24th (the +slot-hounds, long scenting and tracking, being now at the mark), Menzel +and an Associate of his were suddenly arrested. Confronted with their +crimes, with the proofs in readiness; and next day,--made a clear +Confession, finding the matter desperate otherwise, Copy of which, in +Notarial form, exact and indisputable, the reader shall now see. As +this story, of Friedrich and the Saxon Archives, was very famous in the +world, and mythic circumstances are prevalent, let us glance into it +with 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 AND +JOHANN BENJAMIN ERFURTH." + +"AT WARSAW, 25th SEPTEMBER, 1757: This day, in the King's Name, in +presence of Legationsrath von Saul, Hofrath Ferbers and Kriegsrath von +Gotze the Undersigned: Examination of the Kabinets-Kanzellist Menzel, +arrested yesterday, and now brought from his place of arrest to the +Royal Palace;--who, ADMONITUS DE DICENDA VERITATE, made answers, to the +effect following:-- + +"His name is Friedrich Wilhelm Menzel; age thirty-eight; is a son of +the late Hofrath and Privy-referendary Menzel, who formerly was in the +King's service, and died a few years back. Has been seventeen years +Kanzellist at the GEHEIME CABINETS-CANZLEI (Secret Archive); had taken +the oath when he entered on his office. + +"Acknowledges some Slips of Paper (ZETTEL), now shown to him, to be +his handwriting: they contained news intended to be communicated to the +Prussian 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 likewise +arrested yesterday), to convey to the Prussian Secretaries, Plessmann +and Benoit, such pieces and despatches from the Secret Cabinet, +especially the Foreign department, as he, Menzel, wanted to communicate +to said Prussian Secretaries. + +"Confesses having received, by degrees, since the year 1752, from the +Prussian Minister (ENVOYE) von Mahlzahn, and the Secretaries Plessmann +and Benoit, for such communications, the sum of 3,000 thalers (450 +pounds) 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 certain +Rhenitz, who then lived (HIELT SICH AUF) at Dresden, and who pressed him +much for payment. As he pleaded inability to pay, Rhenitz hinted that he +could put him into the way of getting money; and accordingly, at last, +took him to the then Prussian Secretary Hecht, at Dresden; by whom he +was at once carried to the Prussian Minister von Mahlzahn; who gave him +100 thalers (15 pounds), with the request to communicate to him, now +and then, news from the Archive of the Cabinet. For a length of time +Prisoner could not accomplish this; as the said Von Mahlzahn wanted +Pieces from the Foreign Office, and especially the Correspondence with +the two Imperial Courts of Austria and Russia. These papers were locked +in presses, which Prisoner could not get at; moreover, the Court had, +in the mean time, gone to Warsaw, Prisoner remaining at Dresden. In that +way, many months passed without his being able to communicate anything; +till, at last, about December, 1752, the Secretary Plessmann gave him +a whole bunch of keys, which were said to be sent by Privy-counsellor +Eichel of Potsdam [whom we know], to try whether any of them would +unlock the presses of the Foreign Department. But none of them would; +and Prisoner returned the keys; pointing out, however, what alterations +were required to fit the keyhole. + +"And, about three weeks after this, Plessmann provided Prisoner with +another set of keys; among which one did unlock said presses. With this +key 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 after +Easter-Fair, 1753; Prisoner not having, till said Fair, received the +second bunch of keys from Plessmann. Now and then he had to communicate +French Despatches. Whenever he gave original Despatches, he received +them back shortly after, and replaced them in the presses. During this +present stay of the Court at Warsaw, has communicated little to Benoit +except from the CIRCULARS [Legation NEWS-LETTERS], when he found +anything 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; age +thirty-two; the Prisoner Menzel's Brother-in-law. + +"Confesses that Menzel had made use of him, at Dresden, during one +year: to deliver, several times, sealed papers to the Prussian Secretary +Plessmann, or rather mostly to Plessmann's servant. Also that, here in +Warsaw, he has had to carry Despatches to Benoit, and to deliver them +into his own hands. Latterly he has delivered the Despatches to certain +Prussian peasants, who stopped at Benoit's, and who always relieved each +other; 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 sealed +packet, which he was to convey to the Prussian peasant who had made an +appointment with him at the Prussian Office (HOF) here. But as he +was going to take it, and had just got outside of the Palace Court, a +corporal took hold of him and arrested him. Confesses having concealed +the parcel in his trousers-pocket, and to have denied that he had +anything upon him.... ACTUM UT SUPRA." + +Signed "GOTZE" (with titles). + +"Next day, September 26th, Menzel re-examined; answers in effect +following:-- + +"Plessmann never himself came into the Archive Office at Dresden; except +the one time [a time that will be notable to us!] when the Prussians +were there to take away the Papers by force; then Plessmann was with +them,"--and we will remember the circumstance. + +"Before leaving Dresden for Poland, last Year (1756), he, Menzel, had +returned the said key to Plessmann; who gave him others for use here. +After his arrival here, he returned these keys to Benoit, in the +presence of Erfurth; saying, they were of no use to him, and that he +could not get at the Despatches here. Prisoner farther declares, that it +was the Minister von Mahlzahn who, of his own accord, and quite at the +beginning, made the proposal concerning the keys; and when Plessmann +brought the keys, he said expressly they were for the Minister, along +with fifty thalers, which he, Menzel, received at the same time. ACTUM +UT SUPRA." Signed as before. [--Helden-Geschichte,--v. 677 (as BEYLAGE +or Appendix to the Kur-Sachsen "PRO MEMORIA to the Reich's Diet;" of +date, Regensburg, 31st January, 1758).] + +We could give some of the stolen Pieces, too; but they are of abstruse +tenor, and would be mere enigmas to readers here. Enough that Friedrich +understands them. To Friedrich's intense and long-continued scrutiny, +they indicate, what is next to incredible, but is at length fatally +undeniable, That the old TREATY, which we called OF WARSAW, "Treaty +for Partitioning Prussia," is still (in spite of all subsequent and +superincumbent Treaties to the contrary) vigorously alive underground; +that Saxon Bruhl and her Hungarian Majesty, to whom is now added Czarish +Majesty, are fixed as ever on cutting down this afflictive, too aspiring +King of Prussia to the size of a Brandenburg Elector; busy (in these +Menzel Documents) considering how it may be done, especially how +the 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 called +SEVEN-YEARS WAR, that proving to be the length of it--is now near. +Breaks out, has to break out, August, 1756. The heaviest and direst +struggle Friedrich ever had; the greatest of all his Prowesses, +Achievements and Endurances in this world. And, on the whole, the last +that was very great, or that is likely to be memorable with Posterity. +Upon which, accordingly, we must try our utmost to leave some not untrue +notion 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 first +very 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 French +Editors).] seductively repentant, and oh, so true, so tender;--Royal +Friend still obstinate, who answers nothing, or answers only through +De Prades: "Yes, yes, we are aware!" And it was in the same Year that +Friedrich first saw D'Alembert,--Voltaire's successor, in a sense. And +farther on (1st November, 1755), that the Earthquake of Lisbon went, +horribly crashing, through the thoughts of all mortals,--thoughts of +King Friedrich, among others; whose reflections on it, I apprehend, are +stingy, snarlingly contemptuous, rather than valiant and pious, and need +not detain us here. One thing only we will mention, for an accidental +reason: That Friedrich, this Year, made a short run to Holland,--and +that actual momentary sight of him happens thereby to be still possible. + +In Summer, 1755, after the West-Country Reviews, and a short Journey +into Ost-Friesland, whence to Wesel on the Rhine,--whither Friedrich had +invited 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) and +one page. Bade his D'Alembert adieu; and left Wesel thitherward +June 19th. [Rodenbeck, i. 287.] At Amsterdam he viewed the Bramkamp +Picture-Gallery, the illustrious Country-house of Jew Pinto at +TULPENBURG (Tulip-borough!)... "I saw nothing but whim-whams +(COLIFICHETS)," says he: "I gave myself out for a Musician of the +King 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-houses +along the Vechte. Fine enough Country-houses,--not mud and sedges the +main thing, as idle readers think. To Arnheim up the Vechte in this +manner; Wesel and his own Country just at hand again. + +Now it happened that a young Swiss--poor enough in purse, but not +without talent and eyesight, assistant Teacher in some Boarding-school +thereabouts; name of him De Catt, age twenty-seven, "born at Morges near +Geneva 1728"--had got holiday, or had got errand, poor good soul; had +decided, on this same day (23d June, 1755), to go to Utrecht, and so +stept into the very boat where Friedrich was. He himself (in a Letter +written 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, I +stayed with the other passengers in the Steerage (DANS LA BARQUE MEME), +and the weather being fine, came up on deck. After some time, there +stept out of the Cabin a man in cinnamon-colored coat with gold +button-HOLES; in black wig; face and coat considerably dusted with +Spanish snuff. He looked fixedly at me, for a while; and then said, +without farther preface, 'Who are you, Monsieur?' This cavalier tone +from an unknown person, whose exterior indicated nothing very important, +did not please me; and I declined satisfying his curiosity. He was +silent. 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 the +Steerage, amid the tobacco-smoke.' This polite address put an end to +all anger; and as the singular manner of the man excited my curiosity, +I took advantage of his invitation. We sat down, and began to speak +confidentially 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.'--'I +know not,' answered I: 'but it seems to me, until one knows a man, and +is completely acquainted with his situation and his way of thought, one +cannot possibly determine whether he is happy or unhappy.' + +"My gentleman admitted this [very good-natured!]; and led the +conversation on the Dutch Government. He criticised it,--probably to +bring me to speak. I did speak; and gave him frankly to know that he +was not perfectly instructed in the thing he was criticising.--'You +are right,' answered he; 'one can only criticise what one is thoroughly +acquainted with.'--He now began to speak of Religion; and with eloquent +tongue to recount what mischief Scholastic Philosophy had brought upon +the world; then tried to prove 'That Creation was impossible.' At this +last point I stood out in opposition. 'But how can one create Something +out of Nothing?' said he. 'That is not the question,' answered I; 'the +question is, Whether such a Being as God can or cannot give existence to +what has yet none.' He seemed embarrassed, and added, 'But the Universe +is eternal.'--'You are in a circle,' said I; 'how will you get out of +it?'--'I skip over it" said he, laughing; and then began to speak of +other things. + +"'What form of Government do you reckon the best?' inquired he, +among other things. 'The monarchic, if the King is just and +enlightened.'--'Very well,' answered he; 'but where will you find Kings +of that sort?' And thereupon went into such a sally upon Kings, as could +not in the least lead me to the supposition that he was one. In the +end he expressed pity for them, that they could not know the sweets +of friendship; and cited on the occasion these verses (his own, I +suppose):-- + + --'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 to +judge by what one has read in History of several of them, I should +believe, Monsieur, that you, on the whole, are right.'--'AH, OUI, OUI, I +am right; I know the gentlemen!' + +"We now got to speak of Literature. The stranger expressed himself with +enthusiastic admiration of Racine. A droll incident happened during +our dialogue. My gentleman wanted to let down a little sash-window, and +could n't manage it. 'You don't understand that,' said I; 'let me +do 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 my +honor, understand as little of it as I!'--'That is true; and I beg your +pardon; I was too rash in accusing you of want of expertness.'--'Were +you ever in Germany?' he now asked me. 'No; but I should like to make +that journey: I am very curious to see the Prussian States, and their +King, of whom one hears so much.' And now I began to launch out on +Friedrich's actions; but he interrupted me rapidly, with the words: +'Nothing more of Kings, Monsieur! What have we to do with them? We will +spend the rest of our voyage on more agreeable and cheering objects.' +And now he spoke of the best of all possible worlds; and maintained +that, in our Planet Earth, there was more Evil than Good. I maintained +the contrary; and this dispute brought us to the end of our voyage. + +"On quitting me, he said, 'I hope, Monsieur, you will leave me your +name: I am very glad to have made your acquaintance; perhaps we shall +see one another again.' I replied, as was fitting, to the compliment; +and begged him to excuse me for contradicting him a little. 'Ascribe +this,' I concluded, 'to the ill-humor which various little journeys I +had to make in these days have given me.' I then told him my name, and +we parted." [Laveaux,--Histoire de Frederic--(2d edition, Strasbourg, +1789, and blown now into SIX vols. instead of four; dead all, except +this fraction), vi. 365. Seyfarth, ii. 234, is right; ib. 170, wrong, +and has led others wrong.] Parted to meet again; and live together for +about 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," we +shall hear again. ["September, 1755," sent for (but De Catt was ill and +couldn't); "December, 1757" got (Rodenbeck, i. 285).] He did, from 1757 +onwards, what De Prades now does with more of noise, the old D'Arget +functions; faithfully and well, for above twenty years;--left a +Note-Book (not very Boswellian) about the King, which is latterly in +the Royal Archives at Berlin; and which might without harm, or even with +advantage, be printed, but has never yet been. A very harmless De +Catt. And we are surely obliged to him for this view of the Travelling +Gentleman "with the cinnamon-colored coat, snuffy nose and black wig," +and his manner of talking on light external subjects, while the +inner man of him has weights enough pressing on it. Age still under +five-and-forty, but looks old for his years. + +"June 23d, 1755:" it is in the very days while poor Braddock is +staggering down the Alleghanies; Braddock fairly over the top;--and the +Fates waiting him, at a Fortnight's distance. Far away, on the other +side of the World. But it is notable enough how Pitt is watching the +thing; and will at length get hand laid on it, and get the kingship over +it for above four years. Whereby the JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION will +again, this time on better terms, coalesce with the SILESIAN, or +PARTITION-OF-PRUSSIA QUESTION; and both these long Controversies get +definitely closed, as the Eternal Decrees had seen good. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, +Vol. XVI. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + +***** This file should be named 2116.txt or 2116.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/2116/ + +Produced by D.R. 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