They are not hired and
"set on, as angry suspicion might suggest; but they are
"covertly somewhat patronised by the Mirepoix, or orthodox
"Official class.
"set on, as angry suspicion might suggest; but they are
"covertly somewhat patronised by the Mirepoix, or orthodox
"Official class.
Thomas Carlyle
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 155
Aug. 1736.
"freer turn of thinking. And (what to M. de Voltaire is a
"pleasant feature) it is Freethinking with ruffles to its shirt
"and rings on its fingers; -- never yet, the least, dreaming
"of the shirtless or sansculottic state that lies ahead for it!
"That is the palmy condition of English Liberty, when M. de
"Voltaire arrives there.
"In a man just out of the Bastille on those terms, there is
"a mind driven by hard suffering into seriousness, and pro-
voked by indignant comparisons and remembrances. As if
"you had elaborately ploughed and pulverised the mind of
"this Voltaire to receive with its utmost avidity, and strength
"of fertility, whatever seed England may have for it. That
"was a notable conjuncture of a man with circumstances.
"The question, Is this man to grow up a Court Poet; to do
"legitimate dramas, lampoons, witty verses, and wild spiri-
"tual and practical magnificences, the like never seen;
"Princes and Princesses recognising him as plainly divine,
"and keeping him tied by enchantments to that poor trade as
"his task in life? is answeredin the negative. No: and it is
"not quite to decorate and comfort your 'dry dungheap' of a
"world, or the fortunate cocks that scratch on it, that the
"man Voltaire is here; but to shoot lightnings into it, and
"set it ablaze one day! That was an important alternative;
"truly of world-importance to the poor generations that now
"are: and it was settled, in good part, by this voyage to
"England, as one may surmise. Such is sometimes the use
"of a dissolute Rohan in this world; for the gods make im-
"plements of all manner of things.
"M. de Voltaire (for we now drop the Arouet altogether,
"and never hear of it more) came to England--when? Quitted
"England -- when? Sorrow on all fatuous Biographers, who
"spend their time not in laying permanent foundation-stones,
"but in fencing with the wind! -- I at last find indisputably,
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? 156 AT REINSBERG. [nooK X.
Aug. 1736.
"it was in 1726 that he came to England:* and he himself
''tells us that he quitted it 'in 1728. ' Spent, therefore, some
"two years there in all, -- last year of George I. 's reign, and
"first of George II. 's. But mere inanity and darkness visible
"reign, in all his Biographies, over this period of his life,
"which was above all others worth investigating: seek not to
'' know it; no man has inquired into it, probably no competent
"man now ever will. By hints in certain Letters of the period,
"we learn that he lodged, or at one time lodged, in'Maiden
"Lane, Covent Garden;' one of those old Houses that yet
"stand in Maiden Lane: for which small fact let us be thank-
"ful. His own Letters of the period are dated now and then
"from 'Wandsworth. ' Allusions there are to Bolingbroke;
"but the Wandsworth is not Bolingbroke's mansion, which
"stood in Battersea; the Wandsworth was one Edward
"Fawkener's; a man somewhat admirable to young Voltaire,
"but extinct now, or nearly so, in human memory. He had
"been a Turkey Merchant, it would seem, and nevertheless
"was admitted to speak his word in intellectual, even in
"political circles; which was wonderful to young Voltaire.
"This Fawkener, I think, became Sir Edward Fawkener,
"and some kind of 'Secretary to the Duke of Cumberland:'
"-- I judge it to be the same Fawkener; a man highly un-
"memorable now, were it not for the young Frenchman he
"was hospitable to. Fawkener's and Bolingbroke's are per-
"haps the only names that turn up in Voltaire's Letters of this
"English Period: over which generally there reigns, in the
"French Biographies, inane darkness, with an intimation,
"half-involuntary, that it should have been made luminous,
"and would if perfectly easy.
"We know, from other sources, that he had acquaintance
* Got out of the Bastille, with orders to leave France, "20th April" of
that year ((Enures de Voltaire, i. 40 n. ).
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? CHaP. n. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 157
Aug. 1736.
"with many men in England, with all manner of important
"men: Notes to Pope in Voltaire-English, visit of Voltaire to
"Congreve, Notes even to such as Lady Sundon in the interior
"of the Palace, are known of. The brightest young fellow
"in the world did not want for introductions to the highest
"quarters, in that time of political alliance, and extensive
"private acquaintance, between his Country and ours. And
"all this he was the man to improve, both in the trivial and
"the deep sense. His bow to the divine Princess Caroline
"and suite, could it fail in graceful reverence or what else was
"needed? Dextrous right words in the right places, winged
"with esprit so-called: that was the man's supreme talent, in
'' which he had no match, to the last. A most brilliant, swift,
"far-glancing young man, disposed to make himself generally
"agreeable. For the rest, his wonder, we can see, was kept
"awake; wonder readily inclining, in his circumstances, to-
"wards admiration. The stereotype figure of the English-
"man, always the same, which turns up in Voltaire's Works,
"is worth noting in this respect. A rugged surly kind of
"fellow, much-enduring, not intrinsically bad; splenetic with-
"out complaint, standing oddly inexpugnable in that natural
"stoicism of his; taciturn, yet with strange flashes of speech
"in him now and then, something which goes beyond laughter
"and articulate logic, and is the taciturn elixir of these two,
"what they call'humour' in their dialect: this is pretty much
"the reverse of Voltaire's own self, and therefore all the wel-
"comer to him; delineated always with a kind of mockery,
"but with evident love. What excellences are in England,
"thought Voltaire; no Bastille in it, for one thing! Newton's
"Philosophy annihilated the vortexes of Descartes for him;
"Locke's Toleration is very grand (especially if all is un-
"certain, and you are in the minority); then Collins, Wol-
"laston and Company, -- no vile Jesuits here, strong in their
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? 158 AT REINSBEKG. [book X.
Aug. 1736.
"mendacious malodorous stupidity, despicablest yet most
"dangerous of creatures, to check freedom or thought! Illus-
"trious Mr. Pope, of the Essay on Man, surely he is admir-
able; as are Pericles Bolingbroke, and many others. Even
"Bolingbroke's high-lackered brass is gold to this young
"French friend of his. -- Through all which admirations
"and exaggerations the progress of the young man, toward
"certain very serious attainments and achievements, iscon-
"ceivable enough.
"One other man, who ought to be mentioned in the Bio-
"graphies, I find Voltaire to have made acquaintance with,
"in England: a German M. Fabrice, one of several Brothers
"called Fabrice or Fabricius, -- concerning whom, how he
"had been at Bender, and how Voltaire picked Charles Donze
"from the memory of him, there was already mention. The
"same Fabrice who held poor George I. in his arms while they
"drove, galloping, to Osnabriick, that night, in extremis:
"--not needing mention again. The following is more to
"the point.
"Voltaire, among his multifarious studies while in Eng-
"land, did not forget that of economics: his Poem La Ligue,
"-- surreptitiously printed, three years since, under that
"title (one Desfontaines, a hungry Ex-Jesuit, the perpetra-
tor),* -- he now took in hand for his own benefit; washed
"it clean of its blots; christened it Henriade, under which
"name it is still known over all the world; -- and printed it;
"published it here, by subscription, in 1726; one of the first
"things he undertook. Very splendid subscription; headed
"by Princess Caroline, and much favoured by the opulent of
"quality. Which yielded an unknown but very considerable
"sum of thousands sterling, and grounded not only the world-
* 1723, Vie, par T. J. D. V. (that is, "M**" in the second form), p. 59.
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 159
Aug. 1736.
"renown but the domestic finance of M. de Voltaire. For the
"fame of the 'new epic,' as this Henriade was called, soon
"spread into all lands. And such fame, and other agencies
"on his behalf, having opened the way home for Voltaire,
"he took this sum of Thousands Sterling along with him; laid
"it out judiciously in some city lottery, or profitable scrip
"then going at Paris, which at once doubled the amount:
"after which he invested it in Corn-trade, Army Clothing,
"Barbary-trade, Commissariat Bacon-trade, all manner of
"well-chosen trades, --being one of the shrewdest financiers
"on record; -- and never from that day wanted abundance of
"money, for one thing. Which he judged to be extremely
"expedient for a literary man, especially in times of Jesuit
"and other tribulation. 'You have only to watch,' he would
"say, 'what scrips, public loans, investments in the field of
'"agio, are offered; if you exert any judgment, it is easy to
"' gain there: do not the stupidest of mortals gain there, by
"' intensely attending to it? '
"Voltaire got almost nothing by his Books, which he
"generally had to disavow, and denounce as surreptitious
"supposititious scandals, when some sharp-set Bookseller, in
"whose way he had laid the savoury article as bait, chose to
"risk his ears for the profit of snatching and publishing it.
"Next to nothing by his Books; but by his fine finance-talent
"otherwise, he had become possessed of ample moneys.
"Which were so cunningly disposed, too, that he had re-
sources in every Country; and no conceivable combination
"of confiscating Jesuits and dark fanatic Official Persons
"could throw him out of a livelihood, whithersoever he might
"be forced to run. A man that looks facts in the face; which
"is creditable of him. The vulgar call it avarice and the like,
"as their way is: butM. de Voltaire is convinced that effects
"will follow causes; and that it well beseems a lonely Ishma-
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? 160 AT REINSBERG. [booKX.
Aug. 1736.
"elite, hunting his way through the howling wildernesses and
"confused ravenous populations of this world, to have money
"in his pocket. He died with a revenue of some 7,000/. a
"year, probably as good as 20,000/. at present; the richest
"literary man ever heard of hitherto, as well as the remark-
"ablest in some other respects. But we have to mark the se-
"condphasis of his life" (in which Friedrich now sees him),
"and how it grew out of this first one.
"Phasis Second (1728-1733). --Returning home as if quietly
"triumphant, with such a talent in him, and such a sanction
"put upon it and him by a neighbouring Nation and by all the
"world, Voltaire was warmly received, in his old aristocratic
"circles, by cultivated France generally; and now in 1728, in
"his thirty-second year, might begin to have definite outlooks
"of a sufficiently royal kind, in Literature and otherwise.
"Nor is he slow, far from it, to advance, to conquer and
"enjoy. He writes successful literature, falls in love with
"women of quality; encourages the indigent and humble;
"eclipses, and in case of need tramples down, the too proud.
"He elegises poor AdrienneLecouvreur, the Actress, --our
"poor friend the Comte de Saxe's female friend; who loyally
"emptied out her whole purse for him, 30,000/. in one sum,
"that he might try forCourland, and whether he could fall
"in love with her of the Swollen Cheek there; which proved
"impossible. Elegises Adrienne, we say, and even buries
"her under cloud of night: ready to protect unfortunate-
"females of merit. Especially theatrical females; having much
"to do in the theatre, which we perceive to be the pulpit or
"real preaching-place of cultivated France in those years.
"All manner of verse, all manner of prose, he dashes off with
"surprising speed and grace: showers of light spray for the
"moment; and always some current of graver enterprise,
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? CHaP, n. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 161
Aug. 1736.
"Steele de Louis Quatorze or the like, going on beneath it.
"For he is a most diligent, swift, unresting man; and studies
"and learns amazingly in such a rackety existence. Vic-
"torious enough in some senses; defeat, in Literature, never
"visited him. His Plays, coming thick on the heels of one
"another, rapid brilliant pieces, are brilliantly received by
'. the unofficial world; and ought to dethrone dull Cr^billon,
"and the sleepy potentates of Poetry that now are. Which
"in fact is their result with the public; but not yet in the
"highest courtly places; -- a defect much to be condemned
"and lamented.
"Numerous enemies arise, as is natural, of an envious
"venomous description; this is another ever-widening shadow
"in the sunshine. In fact we perceive he has, besides the
"inner obstacles and griefs, two classes of outward ones:
"There are Lions on his path and also Dogs. Lions are the
"Ex-Bishop of Mirepoix, and certain other dark Holy Fathers,
"or potent orthodox Official Persons. These, though Vol-
"taire does not yet declare his heterodoxy (which, indeed, is
"but the oriAodoxy of the cultivated private circles), perceive
"well enough, even by the Henriade, and its talk of'tolerance,'
"horror of'fanaticism' and the like, what this one's 'doxy is;
"and how dangerous he, not a mere mute man of quality, but
"a talking spirit with winged words, may be; -- and they
"much annoy and terrify him, by their roaring in the distance.
"Which roaring cannot, of course, convince; and since it is
"not permitted to kill, can only provoke a talking spirit into
"still deeper strains of heterodoxy for his own private behoof.
"These are the Lions on his path: beasts conscious to them-
"selves of good intentions; but manifesting from Voltaire's
"point of view, it must be owned, a physiognomy unlovely
"to a degree. 'Light is superior to darkness, I should think,'
"meditates Voltaire; 'power of thought to the want of power!
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. V. H
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? AT REOiSBEKG.
[book X.
Aug. 1736.
"'The Ane de Mirepoix (Ass of Mirepoix),* pretending to use
"' me in this manner, is it other, in the court of Rhadamanthus,
"'than transcendent Stupidity, with transcendent Insolence
"'superadded? ' Voltaire grows more andmore heterodox; and
"is ripening towards dangerous utterances, though he strives
"to hold in.
"The Dogs upon his path, again, are all the disloyal en-
"vious persons of the Writing Class, whom his success has
"offended; and, more generally, all the dishonest hungry
"persons who can gainamorselby biting him: and their name
"is legion. It must be owned, about as ugly a Doggery ('in-
"fdme Canaille' he might well reckon them) as has, before or
"since, infested the path of a man.
They are not hired and
"set on, as angry suspicion might suggest; but they are
"covertly somewhat patronised by the Mirepoix, or orthodox
"Official class. Scandalous Ex-Jesuit Desfontaines, Thersites
"Freron,--these are buttypes of an endless Doggery; whose
"names and works should be blotted out; whose one claim
"to memory is, that the riding man so often angrily sprang
"down, and tried horsewhipping them into silence. A vain
"attempt. The individual hound flies howling, abjectly
"petitioning and promising; but the rest bark all with new
"comfort, and even he starts again straightway. It is bad
"travelling in these woods, with such Lions and such Dogs.
"And then the sparsely scattered Human Creatures (so we may
"call them in contrast, persons of Quality for most part)
"are not always what they should be. The grand mansions
"you arrive at, in this waste-howling solitude, prove some-
"times essentially Robber-towers;--and there may be Armida
"Palaces, and divine-looking Armidas, where your ultimate
"fate is still worse.
'Que le monde est rempli d'cnchanleursje ne dis rien d'enchanteresses! ' * Poor joke of Voltaire's, continually applied to this Bishop, or Ex-
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 163
Aug. 1736.
"To think of it, the solitary Ishmaelite journeying, never so
"well mounted, through such a wilderness; with lions, dogs,
"human robbers and Armidas all about him; himself lonely,
"friendless under the stars: -- one could pity him withal,
"though that is not the feeling he solicits; nor gets hitherto,
"even at this impartial distance.
"One of the beautiful creatures of Quality, -- we hope, not
"an Armida, --who came athwart Voltaire, in these times,
"was a Madame du Chatelet; distinguished from all the others
"by a love of mathematics and the pure sciences, were it no-
"thing else. She was still young, under thirty; the literary
"man still under forty. With her Husband, to whom she
"had brought a child, or couple of children, there was no
"formal quarrel; but they were living apart, neither much
"heeding the other, as was by no means a case without exam-
"ple at that time; Monsieur soldiering, and philandering
"about, in garrison or elsewhere; Madame, in a like humour,
"doing the best for herself in the high circles of society, to
"which he and she belonged. Most wearisome barren circles
"to a person of thought, as both she and M. de Voltaire em-
phatically admitted to one another, on first making acquaint-
"ance. But is there no help?
"Madame had tried the pure sciences and philosophies, in
"Books: but how much more charming, when they come to
"you as a Human Philosopher; handsome, magnanimous, and
"the wittiest man in the world. Young Madame was not
"regularly beautiful; but she was very piquant, radiant, ad-
venturous; understood other things than the pure sciences,
Bishop, -- who was thought, generally, a rather tenebrific man for appoint-
ment to the Feuille des Benefices (charge of nominating Bishops, keeping
King's conscience , &c. ); and who, in that capacity, signed himself anc. (by
no means 'Ane," but 'Ancien, Whilom') de Mircpoix, -- to the enragement of
Voltaire often enough.
11*
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? 164 AT BEIN8BERG. [BooK*.
Aug. 1736.
"and could be abundantly coquettish and engaging. I have
"known her scuttle off, on an evening, with a couple of ad-
venturous young wives of Quality, to the remote lodging of
"the. witty M. de Voltaire, and make his dim evening radiant
"to him. * Then again, in public crowds, I have seen them;
"obliged to dismount, to the peril of Madame's diamonds,
"there being a jam of carriages, and no getting forward for
"half the day. In short, they are becoming more and more
"intimate, to the extremest degree; and, scorning the world,
"thank Heaven that they are mutually indispensable. Cannot
"we get away from this scurvy wasp's-nest of a Paris, thought
"they, and live to ourselves and our Books?
"Madame was of high quality, one of the Breteuils; but
"was poor in comparison, and her Husband the like. An old
"Ch&teau of theirs, named Cirey, stands in a pleasant enough
"little valley in Champagne; but so dilapidated, gaunt and
"vacant, nobody can live in it. Voltaire, who is by this time
"a man of ample moneys, furnishes the requisite cash; Ma-
"dame and he, in sweet symphony, concert the plans:
"Cirey is repaired, at least parts of it are, into a boudoir
"of the gods, regardless of expense; nothing ever seen so
"tasteful, so magnificent; and the two repair thither to
"study, in peace, what sciences, pure and other, they have
"a mind to. They are recognised as lovers, by the Parisian
"public, with little audible censure from anybody there,
"-- with none at all from the easy Husband; who occa-
"sionally even visits Cirey, if he be passing that way; and
"is content to take matters as he finds them, without look-
"ing below the surface. ** For the Ten Commandments are
* One of Voltaire's Letters.
See (whoever is curious) Madame de Grafigny: Vie Privee de Voltaire
et de Madame du Chatelct (Paris, 1820). A six months of actual Letters
written by poor Grafigny, while sheltering at Cirey, Winter and Spring
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 165
Aug. 1736.
"at a singular pass, in cultivated France at this epoch. Such
"illicit-idyllic form of life has been the form of Voltaire's
"since 1733," --for some three years now, when Friedrich
and we first make acquaintance with him. "It lasted above a
"dozen years more: an illicit marriage after its sort, and sub-
ject only to the liabilities of such. Perhaps we may look in
"upon the Cirey Household, ourselves, at some future time;
"and " -- This Editor hopes not!
"Madame admits that for the first ten years it was, on the
"whole, sublime; a perfect Eden on Earth, though stormy
"now and then. * After ten years, it began to grow decidedly
"dimmer; and in the course of few years more, it became
"undeniably evident that M. de Voltaire 'didnot love me as
"formerly':--in fact, if Madame could have seen it, M. de
"Voltaire was growing old, losing his teeth, and the like; and
"did not care for anything as formerly! Which was a dread-
"ful discovery, and gave rise to results by and by.
"In this retreat at Cirey, varied with flying visits to Pa-
"ris, and kept awake by multifarious Correspondences, the
"quantity of Literature done by the two was great and miscel-
"laneous. By Madame, chiefly in the region of the pure
"sciences, inNewtonian Dissertations, competitions for Prizes,
"and the like: really sound and ingenious Pieces, entirely
"forgotten long since. By Voltaire, in serious Tragedies,
"Histories, in light Sketches and deep Dissertations; --
"mockery getting ever wilder with him; the satirical vein, in
1738-1739; straitened there in various respects, -- extremely ill off for fuel,
among other things. Rugged practical Letters, shadowing out to us, un-
consciously oftenest, and like a very mirror, the splendid and the sordid,
the seamy side and the smooth, of Life at Cirey, in her experience of it.
Published, four-score years after, under the above title.
* Lettres lnedites de Madame la Marquise du Chastelet; avxqueUes on a
joint une Dissertation (&c. of hers): Paris, 1806.
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? 166
[boos X.
AT REINSBERG.
Aug. 1736.
"prose and verse, amazingly copious, and growing more and
"more heterodox, as we can perceive. His troubles from the
"ecclesiastical or Lion kind in the Literary forest, still more
"from the rabid Doggery in it, are manifold, incessant. And
"it is pleasantly notable, --during these first ten years, --
"with what desperate intensity, vigilance and fierceness, Ma-
"dame watches over all his interests and liabilities and ca-
sualties great and small; leaping with her whole force into
"M. de Voltaire's scale of the balance, careless of antece-
"dences and consequences alike; flying, with the spirit of an
"angry brood-hen, at the face of mastiffs, in defence of any
"feather that is M. de Voltaire's. To which Voltaire replies,
"as he well may, with eloquent gratitude; with Verses to the
"divine Emilie, with Gifts to her, verses and gifts the prettiest
"in the world; -- and industriously celebrates the divine
"Emilie to herself and all third parties.
"An ardent, aerial, gracefully predominant, and in the
"end somewhat termagant female figure, this divine Emilie.
"Her temper, radiant rather than bland, was none of the
"patientest on occasion; nor was M. de Voltaire the least of a
"Job, if you came athwart him the wrong way. I have heard,
"their domestic symphony was liable to furious flaws, -- let us
"hope at great distances apart: -- that'plates,' in presence of
"the lackeys, actual crockery or metal, have been known to
"fly from end to end of the dinner-table; nay they mention
"'knives' (though only in the way of oratorical action); and
"Voltaire has been heard to exclaim, the sombre and majestic
"voice of him risen to a very high pitch: 'Ne me regardez tant
*" de ces yeux hagards et louches, Don't fix those haggard side-
'"long eyes on me, in that way! ' -- mere shrillness of pale
"rage presiding over the scene. But we hope it was only
"once in the quarter, or seldomer: after which the element
"would be clearer for some time. A lonesome literary man,
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 167
Aug 1736.
"who has got a Brood Phoenix to preside over him, and fly
"at the face of gods and men for him in that manner, ought to
"be grateful.
"Perhaps we shall one day glance, personally, as it were,
"into Cirey with our readers;" -- Not with this Editor or his!
"It will turn out beyond the reader's expectation. Tolerable
"illicit resting-place, so far as the illicit can be tolerable, for
"a lonesomeMan of Letters, who goes into the illicit. Helpful-
"ness, affection, or the flattering image of such, are by no
"means wanting: squalls of infirm temper are not morefre-
"quent than in the most licit establishments of a similar sort.
"Madame, about this time, has a swift Palfrey, 'Rossignol
"(Nightingale)' the name of him; and gallops fairy-like through
"the winding valleys; being an ardent rider, and well-look-
"ing on horseback. Voltaire's study is inlaid with -- the
"Grafigny knows all what:-- mere china tiles, gilt sculptures,
"marble slabs, and the supreme of taste and expense: study
"fit for the Phoebus Apollo of France, so far as Madame
"could contrive it. Takes coffee with Madame, in the Gal-
"lery, about noon. And his bedroom, I expressly discern,*
"looks out upon a running brook, the murmur of which is
"pleasant to one. "
Enough, enough. We can perceive what kind of
Voltaire it was to whom the Crown-Prince now ad-
dressed himself; and how luminous an object, shining
afar out of the solitudes of Champagne upon the ardent
young-man, still so capable of admiration. Model
Epic, Jlenriade; model History, Charles Dome; sublime
Tragedies, Cesar, Alzire and others, which readers still
know though with less enthusiasm, are blooming fresh
* Letters of Voltaire.
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? 168 AT KEINSBERG. [book. 3C.
Aug. 1736.
in Friedrich's memory and heart; such Literature as
man never saw before; -- and in the background
Friedrich has inarticulately a feeling as if, in this man,
there were something grander than all Literatures: a
Reform of human Thought itself; a new "Gospel,"
good-tidings or God's-Message, by this man; -- which Friedrich does not suspect, as the world with horror
does, to be a new Ba'spel, or Devil's-Message of bad-
tidings! A sublime enough Voltaire; radiant enough,
over at Cirey yonder. To all lands, a visible Phoebus
Apollo, climbing the eastern steeps; with arrows of
celestial "new light" in his quiver; -- capable of
stretching many a big foul Python, belly uppermost,
in its native mud, and ridding the poor world of her
Nightmares and Mud-Serpents in some measure, we
may hope! --
And so there begins, from this point, a lively Cor-
respondence between Friedrich and Voltaire; which,
with some interruptions of a notable sort, continued
during their mutual Life; and is a conspicuous feature
in the Biographies of both. The world talked much
of it, and still talks; and has now at last got it all
collected, and elucidated into a dimly legible form for
studious readers. * It is by no means the diabolically
wicked Correspondence it was thought to be; the re-
verse, indeed, on both sides; -- but it has unfortunately
become a very dull one, to the actual generation of
mankind. Not without intrinsic merit; on the contrary
* Preuss, CEtmret deFrederic (xxi. xxli. xxlii. , Berlin, 1863); who super-
sedes the lazy French Editors in this matter.
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? CHaP. n. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 169
Aug. 1736.
(if you read intensely, and bring the extinct alive
again), it sparkles notably with epistolary grace and
vivacity, and, on any terms, it has still passages of
biographical and other interest: but the substance of it,
then so new and shining, has fallen absolutely com-
monplace, the property of all the world, since then;
and is now very wearisome to the reader. No doctrine
or opinion in it that you have not heard, with clear
belief or clear disbelief, a hundred times, and could
wish rather not to hear again. The common fate of
philosophical originalities in this world. As a Bio-
graphical Document, it is worth a very strict perusal,
if you are interested that way in either Friedrich or
Voltaire: finely significant hints and traits, though often
almost evanescent, so slight are they, abound in this
Correspondence; frankness, veracity under graceful
forms, being the rule of it, strange to say! As an
illustration of Two memorable Characters, and of their
Century; showing on what terms the Sage Plato of the
Eighteenth Century and his Tyrant Dionysius corre-
spond, and what their manners are to one another, it
may long have a kind of interest to mankind: other-
wise it has not much left.
In Friedrich's History it was, no doubt, an impor-
tant fact, that there lived a Voltaire along with him,
twenty years his senior. With another Theory of the
Universe than the Voltaire one, how much other had
Friedrich too been! But the Theory called by Voltaire's
name was not properly of Voltaire's creating, but only
of his uttering and publishing; it lay ready for every-
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? 170 AT REINSBERa. [book X.
Aug. 1736. body's finding; and could not well have been altogether
missed by such a one as Friedrich. So that perhaps
we exaggerate the effects of Voltaire on him, though
undoubtedly they were considerable. Considerable;
but not derived from this express Correspondence, which
seldom turns on didactic points at all; derived rather
from Voltaire's Printed Works, where they lay deri-
vable to all the world. Certain enough it is, Voltaire
was at this time, and continued all his days, Friedrich's
chief Thinker in the world; unofficially, the chief
Preacher, Prophet and Priest of this Working King;
-- no better off for a spiritual Trismegistus was poor
Friedrich in the world! On the practical side, Friedrich
soon outgrew him, -- perhaps had already outgrown,
having far more veracity of character, and an intellect
far better built in the silent parts of it, and trained too
by hard experiences to know shadow from substance;
-- outgrew him, and gradually learned to look down
upon him, occasionally with much contempt, in regard
'to the practical. But in all changes of humour towards
Voltaire, Friedrich, we observe, considers him as plainly
supreme in speculative intellect; and has no doubt but,
for thinking and speaking, Nature never made such
another. Which may be taken as a notable feature of
Friedrich's History; and gives rise to passages between
Voltaire and him, which will make much noise in time
coming.
Here, meanwhile, faithfully presented though in
condensed form, is the starting of the Correspondence:
First Letter of it, and first Response. Two Pieces
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 155
Aug. 1736.
"freer turn of thinking. And (what to M. de Voltaire is a
"pleasant feature) it is Freethinking with ruffles to its shirt
"and rings on its fingers; -- never yet, the least, dreaming
"of the shirtless or sansculottic state that lies ahead for it!
"That is the palmy condition of English Liberty, when M. de
"Voltaire arrives there.
"In a man just out of the Bastille on those terms, there is
"a mind driven by hard suffering into seriousness, and pro-
voked by indignant comparisons and remembrances. As if
"you had elaborately ploughed and pulverised the mind of
"this Voltaire to receive with its utmost avidity, and strength
"of fertility, whatever seed England may have for it. That
"was a notable conjuncture of a man with circumstances.
"The question, Is this man to grow up a Court Poet; to do
"legitimate dramas, lampoons, witty verses, and wild spiri-
"tual and practical magnificences, the like never seen;
"Princes and Princesses recognising him as plainly divine,
"and keeping him tied by enchantments to that poor trade as
"his task in life? is answeredin the negative. No: and it is
"not quite to decorate and comfort your 'dry dungheap' of a
"world, or the fortunate cocks that scratch on it, that the
"man Voltaire is here; but to shoot lightnings into it, and
"set it ablaze one day! That was an important alternative;
"truly of world-importance to the poor generations that now
"are: and it was settled, in good part, by this voyage to
"England, as one may surmise. Such is sometimes the use
"of a dissolute Rohan in this world; for the gods make im-
"plements of all manner of things.
"M. de Voltaire (for we now drop the Arouet altogether,
"and never hear of it more) came to England--when? Quitted
"England -- when? Sorrow on all fatuous Biographers, who
"spend their time not in laying permanent foundation-stones,
"but in fencing with the wind! -- I at last find indisputably,
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? 156 AT REINSBERG. [nooK X.
Aug. 1736.
"it was in 1726 that he came to England:* and he himself
''tells us that he quitted it 'in 1728. ' Spent, therefore, some
"two years there in all, -- last year of George I. 's reign, and
"first of George II. 's. But mere inanity and darkness visible
"reign, in all his Biographies, over this period of his life,
"which was above all others worth investigating: seek not to
'' know it; no man has inquired into it, probably no competent
"man now ever will. By hints in certain Letters of the period,
"we learn that he lodged, or at one time lodged, in'Maiden
"Lane, Covent Garden;' one of those old Houses that yet
"stand in Maiden Lane: for which small fact let us be thank-
"ful. His own Letters of the period are dated now and then
"from 'Wandsworth. ' Allusions there are to Bolingbroke;
"but the Wandsworth is not Bolingbroke's mansion, which
"stood in Battersea; the Wandsworth was one Edward
"Fawkener's; a man somewhat admirable to young Voltaire,
"but extinct now, or nearly so, in human memory. He had
"been a Turkey Merchant, it would seem, and nevertheless
"was admitted to speak his word in intellectual, even in
"political circles; which was wonderful to young Voltaire.
"This Fawkener, I think, became Sir Edward Fawkener,
"and some kind of 'Secretary to the Duke of Cumberland:'
"-- I judge it to be the same Fawkener; a man highly un-
"memorable now, were it not for the young Frenchman he
"was hospitable to. Fawkener's and Bolingbroke's are per-
"haps the only names that turn up in Voltaire's Letters of this
"English Period: over which generally there reigns, in the
"French Biographies, inane darkness, with an intimation,
"half-involuntary, that it should have been made luminous,
"and would if perfectly easy.
"We know, from other sources, that he had acquaintance
* Got out of the Bastille, with orders to leave France, "20th April" of
that year ((Enures de Voltaire, i. 40 n. ).
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? CHaP. n. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 157
Aug. 1736.
"with many men in England, with all manner of important
"men: Notes to Pope in Voltaire-English, visit of Voltaire to
"Congreve, Notes even to such as Lady Sundon in the interior
"of the Palace, are known of. The brightest young fellow
"in the world did not want for introductions to the highest
"quarters, in that time of political alliance, and extensive
"private acquaintance, between his Country and ours. And
"all this he was the man to improve, both in the trivial and
"the deep sense. His bow to the divine Princess Caroline
"and suite, could it fail in graceful reverence or what else was
"needed? Dextrous right words in the right places, winged
"with esprit so-called: that was the man's supreme talent, in
'' which he had no match, to the last. A most brilliant, swift,
"far-glancing young man, disposed to make himself generally
"agreeable. For the rest, his wonder, we can see, was kept
"awake; wonder readily inclining, in his circumstances, to-
"wards admiration. The stereotype figure of the English-
"man, always the same, which turns up in Voltaire's Works,
"is worth noting in this respect. A rugged surly kind of
"fellow, much-enduring, not intrinsically bad; splenetic with-
"out complaint, standing oddly inexpugnable in that natural
"stoicism of his; taciturn, yet with strange flashes of speech
"in him now and then, something which goes beyond laughter
"and articulate logic, and is the taciturn elixir of these two,
"what they call'humour' in their dialect: this is pretty much
"the reverse of Voltaire's own self, and therefore all the wel-
"comer to him; delineated always with a kind of mockery,
"but with evident love. What excellences are in England,
"thought Voltaire; no Bastille in it, for one thing! Newton's
"Philosophy annihilated the vortexes of Descartes for him;
"Locke's Toleration is very grand (especially if all is un-
"certain, and you are in the minority); then Collins, Wol-
"laston and Company, -- no vile Jesuits here, strong in their
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? 158 AT REINSBEKG. [book X.
Aug. 1736.
"mendacious malodorous stupidity, despicablest yet most
"dangerous of creatures, to check freedom or thought! Illus-
"trious Mr. Pope, of the Essay on Man, surely he is admir-
able; as are Pericles Bolingbroke, and many others. Even
"Bolingbroke's high-lackered brass is gold to this young
"French friend of his. -- Through all which admirations
"and exaggerations the progress of the young man, toward
"certain very serious attainments and achievements, iscon-
"ceivable enough.
"One other man, who ought to be mentioned in the Bio-
"graphies, I find Voltaire to have made acquaintance with,
"in England: a German M. Fabrice, one of several Brothers
"called Fabrice or Fabricius, -- concerning whom, how he
"had been at Bender, and how Voltaire picked Charles Donze
"from the memory of him, there was already mention. The
"same Fabrice who held poor George I. in his arms while they
"drove, galloping, to Osnabriick, that night, in extremis:
"--not needing mention again. The following is more to
"the point.
"Voltaire, among his multifarious studies while in Eng-
"land, did not forget that of economics: his Poem La Ligue,
"-- surreptitiously printed, three years since, under that
"title (one Desfontaines, a hungry Ex-Jesuit, the perpetra-
tor),* -- he now took in hand for his own benefit; washed
"it clean of its blots; christened it Henriade, under which
"name it is still known over all the world; -- and printed it;
"published it here, by subscription, in 1726; one of the first
"things he undertook. Very splendid subscription; headed
"by Princess Caroline, and much favoured by the opulent of
"quality. Which yielded an unknown but very considerable
"sum of thousands sterling, and grounded not only the world-
* 1723, Vie, par T. J. D. V. (that is, "M**" in the second form), p. 59.
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 159
Aug. 1736.
"renown but the domestic finance of M. de Voltaire. For the
"fame of the 'new epic,' as this Henriade was called, soon
"spread into all lands. And such fame, and other agencies
"on his behalf, having opened the way home for Voltaire,
"he took this sum of Thousands Sterling along with him; laid
"it out judiciously in some city lottery, or profitable scrip
"then going at Paris, which at once doubled the amount:
"after which he invested it in Corn-trade, Army Clothing,
"Barbary-trade, Commissariat Bacon-trade, all manner of
"well-chosen trades, --being one of the shrewdest financiers
"on record; -- and never from that day wanted abundance of
"money, for one thing. Which he judged to be extremely
"expedient for a literary man, especially in times of Jesuit
"and other tribulation. 'You have only to watch,' he would
"say, 'what scrips, public loans, investments in the field of
'"agio, are offered; if you exert any judgment, it is easy to
"' gain there: do not the stupidest of mortals gain there, by
"' intensely attending to it? '
"Voltaire got almost nothing by his Books, which he
"generally had to disavow, and denounce as surreptitious
"supposititious scandals, when some sharp-set Bookseller, in
"whose way he had laid the savoury article as bait, chose to
"risk his ears for the profit of snatching and publishing it.
"Next to nothing by his Books; but by his fine finance-talent
"otherwise, he had become possessed of ample moneys.
"Which were so cunningly disposed, too, that he had re-
sources in every Country; and no conceivable combination
"of confiscating Jesuits and dark fanatic Official Persons
"could throw him out of a livelihood, whithersoever he might
"be forced to run. A man that looks facts in the face; which
"is creditable of him. The vulgar call it avarice and the like,
"as their way is: butM. de Voltaire is convinced that effects
"will follow causes; and that it well beseems a lonely Ishma-
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? 160 AT REINSBERG. [booKX.
Aug. 1736.
"elite, hunting his way through the howling wildernesses and
"confused ravenous populations of this world, to have money
"in his pocket. He died with a revenue of some 7,000/. a
"year, probably as good as 20,000/. at present; the richest
"literary man ever heard of hitherto, as well as the remark-
"ablest in some other respects. But we have to mark the se-
"condphasis of his life" (in which Friedrich now sees him),
"and how it grew out of this first one.
"Phasis Second (1728-1733). --Returning home as if quietly
"triumphant, with such a talent in him, and such a sanction
"put upon it and him by a neighbouring Nation and by all the
"world, Voltaire was warmly received, in his old aristocratic
"circles, by cultivated France generally; and now in 1728, in
"his thirty-second year, might begin to have definite outlooks
"of a sufficiently royal kind, in Literature and otherwise.
"Nor is he slow, far from it, to advance, to conquer and
"enjoy. He writes successful literature, falls in love with
"women of quality; encourages the indigent and humble;
"eclipses, and in case of need tramples down, the too proud.
"He elegises poor AdrienneLecouvreur, the Actress, --our
"poor friend the Comte de Saxe's female friend; who loyally
"emptied out her whole purse for him, 30,000/. in one sum,
"that he might try forCourland, and whether he could fall
"in love with her of the Swollen Cheek there; which proved
"impossible. Elegises Adrienne, we say, and even buries
"her under cloud of night: ready to protect unfortunate-
"females of merit. Especially theatrical females; having much
"to do in the theatre, which we perceive to be the pulpit or
"real preaching-place of cultivated France in those years.
"All manner of verse, all manner of prose, he dashes off with
"surprising speed and grace: showers of light spray for the
"moment; and always some current of graver enterprise,
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? CHaP, n. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 161
Aug. 1736.
"Steele de Louis Quatorze or the like, going on beneath it.
"For he is a most diligent, swift, unresting man; and studies
"and learns amazingly in such a rackety existence. Vic-
"torious enough in some senses; defeat, in Literature, never
"visited him. His Plays, coming thick on the heels of one
"another, rapid brilliant pieces, are brilliantly received by
'. the unofficial world; and ought to dethrone dull Cr^billon,
"and the sleepy potentates of Poetry that now are. Which
"in fact is their result with the public; but not yet in the
"highest courtly places; -- a defect much to be condemned
"and lamented.
"Numerous enemies arise, as is natural, of an envious
"venomous description; this is another ever-widening shadow
"in the sunshine. In fact we perceive he has, besides the
"inner obstacles and griefs, two classes of outward ones:
"There are Lions on his path and also Dogs. Lions are the
"Ex-Bishop of Mirepoix, and certain other dark Holy Fathers,
"or potent orthodox Official Persons. These, though Vol-
"taire does not yet declare his heterodoxy (which, indeed, is
"but the oriAodoxy of the cultivated private circles), perceive
"well enough, even by the Henriade, and its talk of'tolerance,'
"horror of'fanaticism' and the like, what this one's 'doxy is;
"and how dangerous he, not a mere mute man of quality, but
"a talking spirit with winged words, may be; -- and they
"much annoy and terrify him, by their roaring in the distance.
"Which roaring cannot, of course, convince; and since it is
"not permitted to kill, can only provoke a talking spirit into
"still deeper strains of heterodoxy for his own private behoof.
"These are the Lions on his path: beasts conscious to them-
"selves of good intentions; but manifesting from Voltaire's
"point of view, it must be owned, a physiognomy unlovely
"to a degree. 'Light is superior to darkness, I should think,'
"meditates Voltaire; 'power of thought to the want of power!
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. V. H
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? AT REOiSBEKG.
[book X.
Aug. 1736.
"'The Ane de Mirepoix (Ass of Mirepoix),* pretending to use
"' me in this manner, is it other, in the court of Rhadamanthus,
"'than transcendent Stupidity, with transcendent Insolence
"'superadded? ' Voltaire grows more andmore heterodox; and
"is ripening towards dangerous utterances, though he strives
"to hold in.
"The Dogs upon his path, again, are all the disloyal en-
"vious persons of the Writing Class, whom his success has
"offended; and, more generally, all the dishonest hungry
"persons who can gainamorselby biting him: and their name
"is legion. It must be owned, about as ugly a Doggery ('in-
"fdme Canaille' he might well reckon them) as has, before or
"since, infested the path of a man.
They are not hired and
"set on, as angry suspicion might suggest; but they are
"covertly somewhat patronised by the Mirepoix, or orthodox
"Official class. Scandalous Ex-Jesuit Desfontaines, Thersites
"Freron,--these are buttypes of an endless Doggery; whose
"names and works should be blotted out; whose one claim
"to memory is, that the riding man so often angrily sprang
"down, and tried horsewhipping them into silence. A vain
"attempt. The individual hound flies howling, abjectly
"petitioning and promising; but the rest bark all with new
"comfort, and even he starts again straightway. It is bad
"travelling in these woods, with such Lions and such Dogs.
"And then the sparsely scattered Human Creatures (so we may
"call them in contrast, persons of Quality for most part)
"are not always what they should be. The grand mansions
"you arrive at, in this waste-howling solitude, prove some-
"times essentially Robber-towers;--and there may be Armida
"Palaces, and divine-looking Armidas, where your ultimate
"fate is still worse.
'Que le monde est rempli d'cnchanleursje ne dis rien d'enchanteresses! ' * Poor joke of Voltaire's, continually applied to this Bishop, or Ex-
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 163
Aug. 1736.
"To think of it, the solitary Ishmaelite journeying, never so
"well mounted, through such a wilderness; with lions, dogs,
"human robbers and Armidas all about him; himself lonely,
"friendless under the stars: -- one could pity him withal,
"though that is not the feeling he solicits; nor gets hitherto,
"even at this impartial distance.
"One of the beautiful creatures of Quality, -- we hope, not
"an Armida, --who came athwart Voltaire, in these times,
"was a Madame du Chatelet; distinguished from all the others
"by a love of mathematics and the pure sciences, were it no-
"thing else. She was still young, under thirty; the literary
"man still under forty. With her Husband, to whom she
"had brought a child, or couple of children, there was no
"formal quarrel; but they were living apart, neither much
"heeding the other, as was by no means a case without exam-
"ple at that time; Monsieur soldiering, and philandering
"about, in garrison or elsewhere; Madame, in a like humour,
"doing the best for herself in the high circles of society, to
"which he and she belonged. Most wearisome barren circles
"to a person of thought, as both she and M. de Voltaire em-
phatically admitted to one another, on first making acquaint-
"ance. But is there no help?
"Madame had tried the pure sciences and philosophies, in
"Books: but how much more charming, when they come to
"you as a Human Philosopher; handsome, magnanimous, and
"the wittiest man in the world. Young Madame was not
"regularly beautiful; but she was very piquant, radiant, ad-
venturous; understood other things than the pure sciences,
Bishop, -- who was thought, generally, a rather tenebrific man for appoint-
ment to the Feuille des Benefices (charge of nominating Bishops, keeping
King's conscience , &c. ); and who, in that capacity, signed himself anc. (by
no means 'Ane," but 'Ancien, Whilom') de Mircpoix, -- to the enragement of
Voltaire often enough.
11*
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? 164 AT BEIN8BERG. [BooK*.
Aug. 1736.
"and could be abundantly coquettish and engaging. I have
"known her scuttle off, on an evening, with a couple of ad-
venturous young wives of Quality, to the remote lodging of
"the. witty M. de Voltaire, and make his dim evening radiant
"to him. * Then again, in public crowds, I have seen them;
"obliged to dismount, to the peril of Madame's diamonds,
"there being a jam of carriages, and no getting forward for
"half the day. In short, they are becoming more and more
"intimate, to the extremest degree; and, scorning the world,
"thank Heaven that they are mutually indispensable. Cannot
"we get away from this scurvy wasp's-nest of a Paris, thought
"they, and live to ourselves and our Books?
"Madame was of high quality, one of the Breteuils; but
"was poor in comparison, and her Husband the like. An old
"Ch&teau of theirs, named Cirey, stands in a pleasant enough
"little valley in Champagne; but so dilapidated, gaunt and
"vacant, nobody can live in it. Voltaire, who is by this time
"a man of ample moneys, furnishes the requisite cash; Ma-
"dame and he, in sweet symphony, concert the plans:
"Cirey is repaired, at least parts of it are, into a boudoir
"of the gods, regardless of expense; nothing ever seen so
"tasteful, so magnificent; and the two repair thither to
"study, in peace, what sciences, pure and other, they have
"a mind to. They are recognised as lovers, by the Parisian
"public, with little audible censure from anybody there,
"-- with none at all from the easy Husband; who occa-
"sionally even visits Cirey, if he be passing that way; and
"is content to take matters as he finds them, without look-
"ing below the surface. ** For the Ten Commandments are
* One of Voltaire's Letters.
See (whoever is curious) Madame de Grafigny: Vie Privee de Voltaire
et de Madame du Chatelct (Paris, 1820). A six months of actual Letters
written by poor Grafigny, while sheltering at Cirey, Winter and Spring
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 165
Aug. 1736.
"at a singular pass, in cultivated France at this epoch. Such
"illicit-idyllic form of life has been the form of Voltaire's
"since 1733," --for some three years now, when Friedrich
and we first make acquaintance with him. "It lasted above a
"dozen years more: an illicit marriage after its sort, and sub-
ject only to the liabilities of such. Perhaps we may look in
"upon the Cirey Household, ourselves, at some future time;
"and " -- This Editor hopes not!
"Madame admits that for the first ten years it was, on the
"whole, sublime; a perfect Eden on Earth, though stormy
"now and then. * After ten years, it began to grow decidedly
"dimmer; and in the course of few years more, it became
"undeniably evident that M. de Voltaire 'didnot love me as
"formerly':--in fact, if Madame could have seen it, M. de
"Voltaire was growing old, losing his teeth, and the like; and
"did not care for anything as formerly! Which was a dread-
"ful discovery, and gave rise to results by and by.
"In this retreat at Cirey, varied with flying visits to Pa-
"ris, and kept awake by multifarious Correspondences, the
"quantity of Literature done by the two was great and miscel-
"laneous. By Madame, chiefly in the region of the pure
"sciences, inNewtonian Dissertations, competitions for Prizes,
"and the like: really sound and ingenious Pieces, entirely
"forgotten long since. By Voltaire, in serious Tragedies,
"Histories, in light Sketches and deep Dissertations; --
"mockery getting ever wilder with him; the satirical vein, in
1738-1739; straitened there in various respects, -- extremely ill off for fuel,
among other things. Rugged practical Letters, shadowing out to us, un-
consciously oftenest, and like a very mirror, the splendid and the sordid,
the seamy side and the smooth, of Life at Cirey, in her experience of it.
Published, four-score years after, under the above title.
* Lettres lnedites de Madame la Marquise du Chastelet; avxqueUes on a
joint une Dissertation (&c. of hers): Paris, 1806.
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? 166
[boos X.
AT REINSBERG.
Aug. 1736.
"prose and verse, amazingly copious, and growing more and
"more heterodox, as we can perceive. His troubles from the
"ecclesiastical or Lion kind in the Literary forest, still more
"from the rabid Doggery in it, are manifold, incessant. And
"it is pleasantly notable, --during these first ten years, --
"with what desperate intensity, vigilance and fierceness, Ma-
"dame watches over all his interests and liabilities and ca-
sualties great and small; leaping with her whole force into
"M. de Voltaire's scale of the balance, careless of antece-
"dences and consequences alike; flying, with the spirit of an
"angry brood-hen, at the face of mastiffs, in defence of any
"feather that is M. de Voltaire's. To which Voltaire replies,
"as he well may, with eloquent gratitude; with Verses to the
"divine Emilie, with Gifts to her, verses and gifts the prettiest
"in the world; -- and industriously celebrates the divine
"Emilie to herself and all third parties.
"An ardent, aerial, gracefully predominant, and in the
"end somewhat termagant female figure, this divine Emilie.
"Her temper, radiant rather than bland, was none of the
"patientest on occasion; nor was M. de Voltaire the least of a
"Job, if you came athwart him the wrong way. I have heard,
"their domestic symphony was liable to furious flaws, -- let us
"hope at great distances apart: -- that'plates,' in presence of
"the lackeys, actual crockery or metal, have been known to
"fly from end to end of the dinner-table; nay they mention
"'knives' (though only in the way of oratorical action); and
"Voltaire has been heard to exclaim, the sombre and majestic
"voice of him risen to a very high pitch: 'Ne me regardez tant
*" de ces yeux hagards et louches, Don't fix those haggard side-
'"long eyes on me, in that way! ' -- mere shrillness of pale
"rage presiding over the scene. But we hope it was only
"once in the quarter, or seldomer: after which the element
"would be clearer for some time. A lonesome literary man,
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? CHaP. II. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 167
Aug 1736.
"who has got a Brood Phoenix to preside over him, and fly
"at the face of gods and men for him in that manner, ought to
"be grateful.
"Perhaps we shall one day glance, personally, as it were,
"into Cirey with our readers;" -- Not with this Editor or his!
"It will turn out beyond the reader's expectation. Tolerable
"illicit resting-place, so far as the illicit can be tolerable, for
"a lonesomeMan of Letters, who goes into the illicit. Helpful-
"ness, affection, or the flattering image of such, are by no
"means wanting: squalls of infirm temper are not morefre-
"quent than in the most licit establishments of a similar sort.
"Madame, about this time, has a swift Palfrey, 'Rossignol
"(Nightingale)' the name of him; and gallops fairy-like through
"the winding valleys; being an ardent rider, and well-look-
"ing on horseback. Voltaire's study is inlaid with -- the
"Grafigny knows all what:-- mere china tiles, gilt sculptures,
"marble slabs, and the supreme of taste and expense: study
"fit for the Phoebus Apollo of France, so far as Madame
"could contrive it. Takes coffee with Madame, in the Gal-
"lery, about noon. And his bedroom, I expressly discern,*
"looks out upon a running brook, the murmur of which is
"pleasant to one. "
Enough, enough. We can perceive what kind of
Voltaire it was to whom the Crown-Prince now ad-
dressed himself; and how luminous an object, shining
afar out of the solitudes of Champagne upon the ardent
young-man, still so capable of admiration. Model
Epic, Jlenriade; model History, Charles Dome; sublime
Tragedies, Cesar, Alzire and others, which readers still
know though with less enthusiasm, are blooming fresh
* Letters of Voltaire.
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? 168 AT KEINSBERG. [book. 3C.
Aug. 1736.
in Friedrich's memory and heart; such Literature as
man never saw before; -- and in the background
Friedrich has inarticulately a feeling as if, in this man,
there were something grander than all Literatures: a
Reform of human Thought itself; a new "Gospel,"
good-tidings or God's-Message, by this man; -- which Friedrich does not suspect, as the world with horror
does, to be a new Ba'spel, or Devil's-Message of bad-
tidings! A sublime enough Voltaire; radiant enough,
over at Cirey yonder. To all lands, a visible Phoebus
Apollo, climbing the eastern steeps; with arrows of
celestial "new light" in his quiver; -- capable of
stretching many a big foul Python, belly uppermost,
in its native mud, and ridding the poor world of her
Nightmares and Mud-Serpents in some measure, we
may hope! --
And so there begins, from this point, a lively Cor-
respondence between Friedrich and Voltaire; which,
with some interruptions of a notable sort, continued
during their mutual Life; and is a conspicuous feature
in the Biographies of both. The world talked much
of it, and still talks; and has now at last got it all
collected, and elucidated into a dimly legible form for
studious readers. * It is by no means the diabolically
wicked Correspondence it was thought to be; the re-
verse, indeed, on both sides; -- but it has unfortunately
become a very dull one, to the actual generation of
mankind. Not without intrinsic merit; on the contrary
* Preuss, CEtmret deFrederic (xxi. xxli. xxlii. , Berlin, 1863); who super-
sedes the lazy French Editors in this matter.
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? CHaP. n. ] VOLTAIRE AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCES. 169
Aug. 1736.
(if you read intensely, and bring the extinct alive
again), it sparkles notably with epistolary grace and
vivacity, and, on any terms, it has still passages of
biographical and other interest: but the substance of it,
then so new and shining, has fallen absolutely com-
monplace, the property of all the world, since then;
and is now very wearisome to the reader. No doctrine
or opinion in it that you have not heard, with clear
belief or clear disbelief, a hundred times, and could
wish rather not to hear again. The common fate of
philosophical originalities in this world. As a Bio-
graphical Document, it is worth a very strict perusal,
if you are interested that way in either Friedrich or
Voltaire: finely significant hints and traits, though often
almost evanescent, so slight are they, abound in this
Correspondence; frankness, veracity under graceful
forms, being the rule of it, strange to say! As an
illustration of Two memorable Characters, and of their
Century; showing on what terms the Sage Plato of the
Eighteenth Century and his Tyrant Dionysius corre-
spond, and what their manners are to one another, it
may long have a kind of interest to mankind: other-
wise it has not much left.
In Friedrich's History it was, no doubt, an impor-
tant fact, that there lived a Voltaire along with him,
twenty years his senior. With another Theory of the
Universe than the Voltaire one, how much other had
Friedrich too been! But the Theory called by Voltaire's
name was not properly of Voltaire's creating, but only
of his uttering and publishing; it lay ready for every-
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? 170 AT REINSBERa. [book X.
Aug. 1736. body's finding; and could not well have been altogether
missed by such a one as Friedrich. So that perhaps
we exaggerate the effects of Voltaire on him, though
undoubtedly they were considerable. Considerable;
but not derived from this express Correspondence, which
seldom turns on didactic points at all; derived rather
from Voltaire's Printed Works, where they lay deri-
vable to all the world. Certain enough it is, Voltaire
was at this time, and continued all his days, Friedrich's
chief Thinker in the world; unofficially, the chief
Preacher, Prophet and Priest of this Working King;
-- no better off for a spiritual Trismegistus was poor
Friedrich in the world! On the practical side, Friedrich
soon outgrew him, -- perhaps had already outgrown,
having far more veracity of character, and an intellect
far better built in the silent parts of it, and trained too
by hard experiences to know shadow from substance;
-- outgrew him, and gradually learned to look down
upon him, occasionally with much contempt, in regard
'to the practical. But in all changes of humour towards
Voltaire, Friedrich, we observe, considers him as plainly
supreme in speculative intellect; and has no doubt but,
for thinking and speaking, Nature never made such
another. Which may be taken as a notable feature of
Friedrich's History; and gives rise to passages between
Voltaire and him, which will make much noise in time
coming.
Here, meanwhile, faithfully presented though in
condensed form, is the starting of the Correspondence:
First Letter of it, and first Response. Two Pieces
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