They are a
Prophecy
rather.
Thomas Carlyle
net/2027/hvd.
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hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? 128 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
July--December 1752.
"These things, -- which are mostly to be found in the
"'Lettres de Maupertuis' (Dresden, 1752, then a brand-new
"Book), but are now dipt out from the Maupertuis Treatises,
"-- we can fancy to be almost sublimities. Almost, unfortun-
"ately 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 gotourselves japanned, coated with
'"resinous varnish (induits depoix 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 honour! " Voltaire
promised. But, alas, how could Voltaire perform!
Once more the rhadamanthine fact is: Voltaire, as
King's Chamberlain, was bound, without any pro-
mise, 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 tyrannising 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 makeable by a little sur-
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? CHAP. XI. ] THIRD ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 129
Jnly--December 1752.
reptitious 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,
Lad 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, sur-
reptitiously 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;*
-- 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,**
* Rodenbeck, in: Die Helden-Geschichtc, m. 531, "2d November 1752,
5 P. M. "
** At a "Hofrath Francheville's " (kind of subaltern Literary Character,
see Denina, n. 57), "Tauben-Strasse (Dove-street), No. 20:" staid there till
"March 1753" (Note by Preuss: (Euvres de Frtderic, xxir. 306n. ).
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. IX. 9
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? 130 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
24th December 1752.
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
/) "does not see, the reason 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. " *
Most dark element (not in date only), with 'ter-
rific 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 ithe
Palace, his Gold Key and Cross of Merit. On the in-
* (Entires ie Frederic, xxn. 302, 301.
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? PHAP. XI. ] THIRD ACT OP THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 131
1st Jan25th March 1753.
terior wrappage is an Inscription: "I received them
"with loving emotion, I return them with grief; as a
"broken-hearted Lover returns the Portrait of his "Mistress:
"Je les recus avec tendresse,
"3e vous les rends avec douleur;
'' Cest ainsi qu'un amant, dans son extreme ardeur,
"Rend le portrait desa maitresse. "
And, -- in a Letter enclosed, tender as the Song of
Swans, -- has one wish: Permission for the waters of
Plombieres, some alleviations amid kind nursing
friends there; and to die craving blessings on your
Majesty. *
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 Vol-
taire; in which Collini, not eaves-dropping, "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
* Collini, p. 48; Letter, in (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 305.
9*
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? 132 THE TEN TEAKS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1st Jan. -- 25th March 1753.
lingers in Dove-Street; too ill, in real truth, for Pots-
dam society on those new terms. Does not quit
Francheville's "till March 5th;" and then only for an-
other 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 con-
temptuous 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 diplomatise at Potsdam, by D'Argens,
De Prades, and at Paris simultaneously, by Richelieu,
DArgenson and friends. He is greatly to be pitied;
-- even Friedrich pities him, the martyr of bodily ail-
ments and of spiritual; and sends him "extract of
quinquina" at one time. * Three miserable months;
which only an CEdipus could read, and an CEdipus
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 1 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; 1
"brought no erysipelas, and I have got one, which I take a
"great deal of care of. " "Meanwhile I have buried almost
* Letter of Voltaire's.
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? CHAP. XI. J THIRD ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 133
1st Jan. --25th March 1753.
"all my Doctors; even La Mettrie. Eemains only that I bury
"Coddnius" (Cothenius), "who looks too stiff, however," --
and, at any rate, return to you in Spring, when roads and
weather improve. *
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" (Chamber-
lain'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 ofcertain Authors. The cabals of literary people
"seem to me the disgrace of Literature. I do not the less
"esteem honourable 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. " **
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; butknowing
"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. 'Levoicif 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
* (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxv. 141. ** In De Prades's hand; (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 308-9: 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.
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? 134 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1st Jan. -- 25th March 1753.
'"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. *
Voltaire to Friedrich ("Berlin, Belvedere," rural lodg-
ing, ** "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
rumoured), "Iwould" -- Enough!
Friedrich relents (To Voltaire; De Prades writing, Fried-
rich 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. "***
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, 1 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
* CoIIini, p. 53.
** "In the Stralauer Vorstadt Ihodie, Woodmarket Street): " Preuss's
Note to this Letter, ffiuures de Frederic, xxn. 306 n.
*** (Eurres de Frederic, xxn. 307.
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? CHAP. XI. ] THIRD ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 135
lit J<<n. -- 25th March 1753.
"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 shan't be kissed, any more than
"you; nor the King either. But I shall perhaps fall blubber-
"ing; 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. " * -- This is the last of these obscure
Documents.
Three days after which, "evening of March 18th,"**
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 pri-
vate 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 CEuvre de Poesies: which he had
much better have left! And finally, morning of March
25th, 1753. *** 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
* tEuvres de Fr&Mric, xxn. 808.
M Collini, pp. 55, 56.
*** Collini, p. 56; see ROdenbeck, I. 252.
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? 136 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
25th. March 1753.
forget that I expect to see you again after the Waters! "
such was Friedrich's adieu, say the French Biographers,*
"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 fol-
lowing. As Voltaire himself will experience, to his
cost!
* Collini, p. 57; Duvernet, p. 186; (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxv. 187
("will return in October'*).
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? CHAP. XII. ] AFTERPIECE STILL MORE TRAGICAL. 137
April--July 1753.
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 portholes
he had, various fiery darts against Maupertuis; ag-
gravating the humours in Berlin, and provoking Mau-
pertuis 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 ecla-
"tante). Thank the respect and the obedience which have
"hitherto restrained my arm, and saved you from the worst
"adventure you have ever yet had. -- MAupektuis. "
Voltaire's Answer (from Leipzig, a few days after).
"M. le President, -- I have had the honour to receive your
"Letter. You inform me that you are well; that yourstrength
"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 as-
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? 138 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April --July 1753.
"sassinate 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
"dishonour: but so soon as I have gained a little strength, I
"will have my pistols charged cum pulverepyrio; andmulti-
"plying 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 Presi- "dent. -- AkAkiA. "*
Here, in the history of Duelling, or challengings
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 po-
lite Serene Highnesses there, and especially a charming
Duchess, -- who set him upon doing the Annales de
VEmpirr, decidedly his worst Book). "About April
21st," Voltaire arrived, stayed till the last days of
May;** and had, for five weeks, a beautiful time at
Gotha; -- Wilhelmina's Daughter there (young Duchess
of Wiirtemberg, on visit, as it chanced),*** and all manner of graces, melodies and beneficences; a little
* Duvernet, pp. 186, 187; (Euvres de Voltaire, lxi. 55-60.
** (Euvres de Voltaire, lmv. 182 n. (Clogenson's Note).
*** Wilhelmina-Friedrich Correspondence ((Euvres de Frediric, xxvn.
III. 258, 249).
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? CHAP. XII. ] AFTERPIECE STILL MORE TRAGICAL. 139
April--July 1753.
working, too, at the Annales, in the big Library, be-
tween whiles. Five decidedly melodious weeks. Beauti-
ful 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 After-
piece 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 man-
kind;-- 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, da Chateau, in
happier times! ) -- and, in short, to go his ways, as a
friend, not as a run-away or one dismissed. But now,
by his late procedures at Leipzig, and "firings out of
portholes" 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 reso-
lution 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 CEuvre 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 CEuvre 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
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? 140 THE TEN TEAKS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April --July 1753.
of England, whom it quizzed in passages. * "We "will
have those articles back," thinks Friedrich; that CEuvre
most especially! No difficulty: wait for him at Frank-
furt, 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. **
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 CEuvre, unluckily, not one of them;
and agreed to be under mild arrest ("Parole d'honneur;
in the Lion-d'Or H6tel here! ") till said CEuvre should
come up. Under Fredersdorfs 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 CEuvre de
Poesies 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:
* Title of it is, (Euvres du Philosophe de Sans-Souci (Paris, pretending
to be "Potsdam," 1760), lvol. 12mo: at Paris, "in January" this; where-
upon, at Berlin, with despatch, "April 9th," "the real edition" (properly
castrated) was sent forth, under title, Poisies Diverses, 1 vol. big 8vo.
(Preuss, in (Euvres de Frederic, x. Preface, p. x. SeeFormey, n. 225, under
date misprinted "1763").
>><< "Friedrich to Wilhelmina, 12th April 1753" ((Entires, xxvh. m. 227).
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? CHAP. xir. ] AFTERPIECE STILL MORE TRAGICAL. 141
April--July 1753.
"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 honour, "I promise, on my honour, not to go
"beyond the Garden of this Inn. " But he now, without
warning anybody, privately revoked said word of
honour; 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 Trey tag
too, -- the matter taking fire here; and scenes oc-
curring, 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 Freitag'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 Freitag 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.
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? 128 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
July--December 1752.
"These things, -- which are mostly to be found in the
"'Lettres de Maupertuis' (Dresden, 1752, then a brand-new
"Book), but are now dipt out from the Maupertuis Treatises,
"-- we can fancy to be almost sublimities. Almost, unfortun-
"ately 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 gotourselves japanned, coated with
'"resinous varnish (induits depoix 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 honour! " Voltaire
promised. But, alas, how could Voltaire perform!
Once more the rhadamanthine fact is: Voltaire, as
King's Chamberlain, was bound, without any pro-
mise, 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 tyrannising 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 makeable by a little sur-
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? CHAP. XI. ] THIRD ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 129
Jnly--December 1752.
reptitious 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,
Lad 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, sur-
reptitiously 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;*
-- 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,**
* Rodenbeck, in: Die Helden-Geschichtc, m. 531, "2d November 1752,
5 P. M. "
** At a "Hofrath Francheville's " (kind of subaltern Literary Character,
see Denina, n. 57), "Tauben-Strasse (Dove-street), No. 20:" staid there till
"March 1753" (Note by Preuss: (Euvres de Frtderic, xxir. 306n. ).
Carlyle, Frederick the Great. IX. 9
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? 130 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
24th December 1752.
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
/) "does not see, the reason 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. " *
Most dark element (not in date only), with 'ter-
rific 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 ithe
Palace, his Gold Key and Cross of Merit. On the in-
* (Entires ie Frederic, xxn. 302, 301.
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? PHAP. XI. ] THIRD ACT OP THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 131
1st Jan25th March 1753.
terior wrappage is an Inscription: "I received them
"with loving emotion, I return them with grief; as a
"broken-hearted Lover returns the Portrait of his "Mistress:
"Je les recus avec tendresse,
"3e vous les rends avec douleur;
'' Cest ainsi qu'un amant, dans son extreme ardeur,
"Rend le portrait desa maitresse. "
And, -- in a Letter enclosed, tender as the Song of
Swans, -- has one wish: Permission for the waters of
Plombieres, some alleviations amid kind nursing
friends there; and to die craving blessings on your
Majesty. *
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 Vol-
taire; in which Collini, not eaves-dropping, "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
* Collini, p. 48; Letter, in (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 305.
9*
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? 132 THE TEN TEAKS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1st Jan. -- 25th March 1753.
lingers in Dove-Street; too ill, in real truth, for Pots-
dam society on those new terms. Does not quit
Francheville's "till March 5th;" and then only for an-
other 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 con-
temptuous 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 diplomatise at Potsdam, by D'Argens,
De Prades, and at Paris simultaneously, by Richelieu,
DArgenson and friends. He is greatly to be pitied;
-- even Friedrich pities him, the martyr of bodily ail-
ments and of spiritual; and sends him "extract of
quinquina" at one time. * Three miserable months;
which only an CEdipus could read, and an CEdipus
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 1 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; 1
"brought no erysipelas, and I have got one, which I take a
"great deal of care of. " "Meanwhile I have buried almost
* Letter of Voltaire's.
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? CHAP. XI. J THIRD ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 133
1st Jan. --25th March 1753.
"all my Doctors; even La Mettrie. Eemains only that I bury
"Coddnius" (Cothenius), "who looks too stiff, however," --
and, at any rate, return to you in Spring, when roads and
weather improve. *
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" (Chamber-
lain'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 ofcertain Authors. The cabals of literary people
"seem to me the disgrace of Literature. I do not the less
"esteem honourable 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. " **
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; butknowing
"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. 'Levoicif 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
* (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxv. 141. ** In De Prades's hand; (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 308-9: 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.
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? 134 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1st Jan. -- 25th March 1753.
'"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. *
Voltaire to Friedrich ("Berlin, Belvedere," rural lodg-
ing, ** "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
rumoured), "Iwould" -- Enough!
Friedrich relents (To Voltaire; De Prades writing, Fried-
rich 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. "***
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, 1 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
* CoIIini, p. 53.
** "In the Stralauer Vorstadt Ihodie, Woodmarket Street): " Preuss's
Note to this Letter, ffiuures de Frederic, xxn. 306 n.
*** (Eurres de Frederic, xxn. 307.
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? CHAP. XI. ] THIRD ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 135
lit J<<n. -- 25th March 1753.
"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 shan't be kissed, any more than
"you; nor the King either. But I shall perhaps fall blubber-
"ing; 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. " * -- This is the last of these obscure
Documents.
Three days after which, "evening of March 18th,"**
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 pri-
vate 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 CEuvre de Poesies: which he had
much better have left! And finally, morning of March
25th, 1753. *** 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
* tEuvres de Fr&Mric, xxn. 808.
M Collini, pp. 55, 56.
*** Collini, p. 56; see ROdenbeck, I. 252.
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? 136 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
25th. March 1753.
forget that I expect to see you again after the Waters! "
such was Friedrich's adieu, say the French Biographers,*
"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 fol-
lowing. As Voltaire himself will experience, to his
cost!
* Collini, p. 57; Duvernet, p. 186; (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxv. 187
("will return in October'*).
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? CHAP. XII. ] AFTERPIECE STILL MORE TRAGICAL. 137
April--July 1753.
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 portholes
he had, various fiery darts against Maupertuis; ag-
gravating the humours in Berlin, and provoking Mau-
pertuis 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 ecla-
"tante). Thank the respect and the obedience which have
"hitherto restrained my arm, and saved you from the worst
"adventure you have ever yet had. -- MAupektuis. "
Voltaire's Answer (from Leipzig, a few days after).
"M. le President, -- I have had the honour to receive your
"Letter. You inform me that you are well; that yourstrength
"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 as-
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? 138 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April --July 1753.
"sassinate 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
"dishonour: but so soon as I have gained a little strength, I
"will have my pistols charged cum pulverepyrio; andmulti-
"plying 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 Presi- "dent. -- AkAkiA. "*
Here, in the history of Duelling, or challengings
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 po-
lite Serene Highnesses there, and especially a charming
Duchess, -- who set him upon doing the Annales de
VEmpirr, decidedly his worst Book). "About April
21st," Voltaire arrived, stayed till the last days of
May;** and had, for five weeks, a beautiful time at
Gotha; -- Wilhelmina's Daughter there (young Duchess
of Wiirtemberg, on visit, as it chanced),*** and all manner of graces, melodies and beneficences; a little
* Duvernet, pp. 186, 187; (Euvres de Voltaire, lxi. 55-60.
** (Euvres de Voltaire, lmv. 182 n. (Clogenson's Note).
*** Wilhelmina-Friedrich Correspondence ((Euvres de Frediric, xxvn.
III. 258, 249).
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? CHAP. XII. ] AFTERPIECE STILL MORE TRAGICAL. 139
April--July 1753.
working, too, at the Annales, in the big Library, be-
tween whiles. Five decidedly melodious weeks. Beauti-
ful 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 After-
piece 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 man-
kind;-- 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, da Chateau, in
happier times! ) -- and, in short, to go his ways, as a
friend, not as a run-away or one dismissed. But now,
by his late procedures at Leipzig, and "firings out of
portholes" 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 reso-
lution 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 CEuvre 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 CEuvre 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
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? 140 THE TEN TEAKS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April --July 1753.
of England, whom it quizzed in passages. * "We "will
have those articles back," thinks Friedrich; that CEuvre
most especially! No difficulty: wait for him at Frank-
furt, 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. **
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 CEuvre, unluckily, not one of them;
and agreed to be under mild arrest ("Parole d'honneur;
in the Lion-d'Or H6tel here! ") till said CEuvre should
come up. Under Fredersdorfs 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 CEuvre de
Poesies 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:
* Title of it is, (Euvres du Philosophe de Sans-Souci (Paris, pretending
to be "Potsdam," 1760), lvol. 12mo: at Paris, "in January" this; where-
upon, at Berlin, with despatch, "April 9th," "the real edition" (properly
castrated) was sent forth, under title, Poisies Diverses, 1 vol. big 8vo.
(Preuss, in (Euvres de Frederic, x. Preface, p. x. SeeFormey, n. 225, under
date misprinted "1763").
>><< "Friedrich to Wilhelmina, 12th April 1753" ((Entires, xxvh. m. 227).
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijh Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. xir. ] AFTERPIECE STILL MORE TRAGICAL. 141
April--July 1753.
"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 honour, "I promise, on my honour, not to go
"beyond the Garden of this Inn. " But he now, without
warning anybody, privately revoked said word of
honour; 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 Trey tag
too, -- the matter taking fire here; and scenes oc-
curring, 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 Freitag'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 Freitag 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.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl.
