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diff --git a/old/16frd10.txt b/old/16frd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d3e644 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/16frd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9509 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Thomas Carlyle's "History of +Friedrich II of Prussia V" volume 16. + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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.'" +[<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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, <italic> Histoire de la derniere +Revolution de Genes; <end italic> 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" (<italic> OEuvres, +<end italic> ii. 151). +The "Farce" (which by no means CALLED itself such) was PRINCESSE DE +NAVARRE (<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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). <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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 <italic> Voltairiana, ou Eloges Amphigouriques, +<end italic> &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 <italic> OEuvres de +Voltaire. <end italic>] 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 <italic> Voltairiana, <end +italic> 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 +<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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. (<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> +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 <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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 lmsband 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 NARRIED? Farce in +three acts: <italic> 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." [<italic> 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; [<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> xvii. 223 +(EPITRE A M. DE ST. LAMBERT, 1749); &c. &c. In <italic> Memoires +sur Voltaire par Longchamp et Wagniere <end italic> (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 <italic> Chesterfield's Works, <end italic> +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, <italic> Schwedische Biographie, <end italic> +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, <italic> Leben +des Feldmarschalls Jakob Keith <end italic> (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 (<italic> OEuvres +de Frederic, <end italic> 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 <italic> Pelham <end italic> +("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 <italic> Gentleman's Magazine, <end italic> and +OLD NEWSPAPERS of 1748; Coxe's <italic> Pelham, <end italic> 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, <italic> OEsterreichischer +Plutarch, <end italic> 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:-- + +<italic> 'Demain nous donnerons relache, + Quoique le Directeur s'en fache, + Vous voir combleroit nos desirs: <end italic> + + 'To-morrow is no Play, + To the Manager's regret, + Whose sole study is to keep you happy: + +<italic> On doit ceder tout a la gloire; + Vous ne songes qu'a la victoire, + Nous ne songeons qu'a vos plaisires' <end italic> +[<italic> Biographic Universelle, <end italic> 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 o5cial 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;--aud 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 iuto +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)! [<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> lxxiv. 57 +(Voltaire to D'Argental).] ... + +And then, six clays 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 comiug 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, <italic> +Memoires sur Voltaire, <end italic> 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 <italic> +Gentleman's Magazine, <end italic> 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 +(<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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: <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> x. +(Preface, p. ix); IB. xi. (Preface, p. ix); IB. <italic> Table +Chhronologique <end italic> (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 he shot, and (owing to cattle- +murrain) No VEAL to be killed: [Seyfarth, ii. 71, 83, 81; Preuss, +<italic> Buch fur Jedermann, <end italic> 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 <italic> Pelham, <end italic> 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, <italic> +George the Second, <end italic> 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, <italic> +George the Second <end italic> (i. 448-461), the Pieces which +regard Friedrich. In <italic> Sir Charles Hanbury Williams's Works +<end italic> (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 <italic> Hanbury's +Works, <end italic> 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 <italic> Hanbury's Works, <end +italic> 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. [<italic> Maria Theresiens +Leben, <end italic> 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, <italic> George the Second, <end italic> +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, <italic> Beitrage, <end +italic> 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 <italic> +Edicten-Sammlung, <end italic> in SEYFARTH and elsewhere; [Mylius, +<italic> Edict <end italic> 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 <italic> Luther's Works, <end italic> 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:-- + +<italic> "Wer kommt von Jena ungeschlagen, + Der hat von grossen Gluck zu sagen. <end italic> + "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, <italic> Beitrage, <end italic> 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" (<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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, <italic> An Account of &c. +<end italic> (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, <italic> Mon +Sejour aupres de Voltaire <end italic> (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, <italic> Life of De +Ziethen <end italic> (Ziethen was in it, and gained a prize), +i. 257-263 et seq.; Voltaire's LETTERS to Niece Denis +(<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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:-- + +<italic> '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.'" <end italic> +[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." +(<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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 Carrouse1; 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, <italic> Mon Sejour, <end italic> 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!" +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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" (<italic> OEuvres de +Voltaire, <end italic> 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" +(<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xxii. 255);--Voltaire +to Niece Denis, "24th August" (misprinted "14th"); to D'Argental, +"28th August" (<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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. +[<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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," <italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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, <italic> Souvenirs, <end italic> 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, <italic> Vie de +Maupertuis <end italic> (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 <italic> Vie de Maupertuis <end italic> (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, +[<italic> OEuvres de Maupertuis, <end italic> 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 (<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> +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, +<italic> Annalen der Gesetzgebung und Rechtsgelehrsamkeit in den +Preussischen Staaten <end italic> (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 <italic> Supplement aux OEuvres Posthumes de Frederic II. +<end italic> (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 splendor of diamonds; Hirsch having no doubt been punctual. +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:-- + +<italic> '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.' +<end italic> + +'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:-- + +<italic> '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.' <end italic> [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 <italic> Tantale en Proces, <end italic> 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" (<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, +<end italic> 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 (<italic> +OEuvres, <end italic> 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, <italic> +OEuvres, <end italic> 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). + +<italic> "'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. <end italic> +"'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] + +<italic> 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 +<end italic> +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] + +<italic> je lui remettrai surtout les 40,000 livres de billets de +change sur paris qu'il mavoit donnez et fiez' <end italic> +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:-- + +<italic> "'Pour quittance generale de tout compte solde entre nous, +tout paye au sieur abraham hersch a berlin, 16 Decembre, +1750.--Voltaire' <end italic> +"'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 +<italic> Tantale, <end italic> 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 <italic> Tantale +<end italic>).] 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" (<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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 <italic> +OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire; <end +italic>--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." [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de Frederic <end +italic> (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." [<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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 3lst, +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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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, <italic> Erdbeschreibung, <end italic> +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 <italic> +Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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 0F TEE 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 hy 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." [<italic> OEuvres, +<end italic> 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" (<italic> OEuvres, +<end italic> 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 (<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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:-- + +<italic> "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?" <end italic> + +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--) + +<italic> "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'?" <end italic> +[In <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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, <italic> Anekdoten, +<end italic> 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 (<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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. +[<italic> Anekdoten, <end italic> 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 qu.estion 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 <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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 (<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, +<end italic> 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. [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end +italic> 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." [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> +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! [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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 (<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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." [<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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." [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, +<end italic> 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!" [<italic> OEuvres +de Voltaire, <end italic> 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, <italic> Anekdoten, <end italic> +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, +<italic> Anekdoten, <end italic> 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." [<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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, [<italic> Vie de Maupertuis <end italic> (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 [<italic> Allgemeine Theorie der Schonen Kunste, <end italic> +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 <italic> +Robinson Papers <end italic> (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 <italic> Fragmente, <end italic> 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"), <italic> OEuvres, <end italic> +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 <italic> +Helden-Geschichte <end italic> (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 <italic> Acta Eruditorum <end italic> 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 <italic> Acta Eruditorum <end +italic> (Lipsiae, 1751): <italic> "De universali Principio +AEquilibrii et Motus." <end italic> By no means uncivil to +Maupertuis; though obliged to controvert him. For example: <italic> +"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." <end italic>] +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 <italic> Acta +Eruditorum, <end italic> 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 <italic> +Adelung, <end italic> 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 <italic> Maupertuisiana, <end +italic> 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). +[<italic> Maupertuisiana, <end italic> 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, [<italic> Maupertuisiana, <end italic> 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 <italic> Maupertuisiana. <end italic>] 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!], [<italic> Maupertuisians, <end +italic> 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." [<italic> Maupertuisiana, <end italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end +italic> 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 <italic> +Maupertuisiana <end italic>).] 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. Koinig"-- 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." +[<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> lxiii. 227 (in <italic> +Maupertuisiana, <end italic> 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: +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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, +<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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; <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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, <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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." [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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:-- + +<italic> 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." <end italic> + +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 <italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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. +[<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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; <italic> +OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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, <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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." [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> +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; <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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; +<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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; [<italic> +OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> 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 (<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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, <italic> +OEuvres du Philosophe de Sans-Souci <end italic> (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 <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, +<end italic> 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" (<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> +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, <italic> Voltaire in Frankfurt +am Mayn, <end italic> 1753 (separate, as here, 12mo, pp. 92; or in +<italic> Berliner Kalender <end italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, +<end italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, +<end italic> lxxv. 207-214, &c., Letters to Stadion (of strange +enough tenor: see Varnhagen, pp. 30, &c.). In <italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> xxii. 303, and in <italic> OEuvres de +Voltaire, <end italic> 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, <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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),--havmg 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), +<italic> Collini, <end italic> 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 explosrve 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 (<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> +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 Febrnary, 1755" (<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> +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 <italic> +OEuvres, <end italic> 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 +(<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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). [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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, <italic> +George the Second, <end italic> 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 <italic> +Pelham, <end italic> ii, 338-465 ("31st May, 1750-3d November, +1752"): precise Account (if anybody now wanted it), in <italic> +Adelung, <end italic> 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" (<italic> Adelung, <end italic> 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 <italic> Pelham, <end italic> 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 +<italic> OEsterreichischer Plutarch, <end italic> 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;' [<italic> Gentleman's +Magazine, <end italic> 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: <italic> Seyfarth, +<end italic> 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; +<italic> Gentleman's Magazine; <end italic> &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, <italic> George +the Second, <end italic> i. 333, 353; and <italic> Letters to +Horace Mann <end italic> (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. +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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, <italic> History of the United States, <end italic> +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:" <italic> History of British Dominions in North America +<end italic> (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 <italic> Pelham, <end italic> 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. +[<italic> Gentleman's Magazine, <end italic> 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 +<italic> Pelham, <end italic> 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; <italic> +Gentleman's Magazine, <end italic> 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 +(<italic> London Gazette, <end italic> 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 <italic> Life of Chatham. <end italic>] 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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> +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:" [<italic> +OEuvres, <end italic> 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):-- + +<italic> 'Amitie, plaisir des grandes ames; + Amitie, que les Rois, ces illustres ingrats, + Sont assez malheureux de ne connaitre pas!' <end italic> + +'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, <italic> +Histoire de Frederic <end italic> (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 BOOK 16--------------- + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg etext of Carlyle's "History of +Friedrich II of Prussia V" volume 16. diff --git a/old/16frd10.zip b/old/16frd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7db03ec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/16frd10.zip |