Of Maupertuis, in
successive
Phases.
Thomas Carlyle
"***
Rothenburg is ill; Voltaire has been to see him("Berlin, 14th,"
no month; year, too surely, 1751, as we shall find! Letter is
in Verse). -- "Lieberkiihn was going to kill poor Rothenburg;
"to send him off to Pluto, -- for liking his dish a little; --
"monster Lieberkiihn! But Doctor Joyous," your reader,
La Mettrie, -- led by, need I say whom? -- "has brought him
In (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 271, 273. ** lb. 281.
*** lb. 270.
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? CHAP. rx. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 85
April 1751--July 1752.
"back to us: -- think of Lieberkiihn's solemn stare! Pretty
"contrasts, those, of sublime Quacksalverism, with Sense
"under the mask of Folly. May the hemorrhoidal vein" --
(follows here, note it, exquisite reader, that of "cul de mon
heros" cited above! ) -- * *
And then (a day or two after; King, too hemorrhoidal to
come twenty miles, but anxious to know): "Sire, no doubt
"Doctor Joyous (le medecinjoyeux) has informed your Majesty
"that when we arrived, the Patient was sleeping tranquil; and
"Cothenius assured us, in Latin, that there was no danger. I
"know not what has passed since, but I am persuaded your
"Majesty approves my journey" (of a street or two), -- must
you speak of it, then!
Goes to an Evening-Party now and then (To Niece Denis). --
* * "Madame Tyrconnel" (French Excellency's Wife) "has
"plenty of fine people at her house on an evening; perhaps too
"many" (one of the first houses in Berlin, this of Milord Tyr-
connel's, which we frequent a good deal). * * "Madame got
"very well through her part of Andromaque" (in those old
playacting times of ours): "never saw actresses with finer
"eyes," -- how should you!
"As to Milord Tyrconnel, he is an Anglais of dignity,"
-- Irish in reality, and a thought blusterous. "He has a
"condensed (serre') caustic way of talk; and I know not what
"of frank which one finds in the English, and does not usually
"find in persons of his trade. French Tragedies played at
"Berlin, I myself taking part; an Englishman Envoy of France
"there: strange circumstances these, aren't they? "* Yes,
that latter especially; and Milord Mare'chal our Prussian En-
voy with you1 Which the English note, sulkily, as a weather-
symptom.
At Potsdam, BigDevils of Grenadiers (No date). -- * * "But,
"Sire; one isn't always perched on the summit of Parnassus;
"one is a man. There are sicknesses about; I did not bring
"an athlete's health to these parts; and the scorbutic humour
"which is eating my life renders me truly, of all that are sick,
"the sickest. lam absolutely alone from morning to night.
* To D'Argental this ((Buwes de Voltaire, lxxiv. 289. )
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? 86 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 -- July 1752.
"My one solace is the necessary pleasure of taking the air.
"I bethink me of walking, and clearing my head a little, in
"your Gardens at Potsdam. I fancy it is a permitted thing;
"I present myself, musing; -- I find huge devils of Grenadiers,
"who clap bayonets in my belly, who cry Furt, Sacrament,
"and Der Konig" (Off, Sackerment, The King, quite tolerably spelt)! "And I take to my heels, as Austrians and Saxons
''would do before them. Have you ever read, that in Titus's
"or Marcus-Aurelius's Gardens, a poor devil of a Gaulish
"Poet" -- In short, it shall be mended. *
Have been laying it on too thick (No date; in Verse). --
"Marcus Aurelius was wont to" -- (Well, we know who that
is: What of Marcus, then? ) "A certain lover of his glory"
(still in verse) spoke once, at Supper, of a magnanimity of
"Marcus's; -- at which Marcus" (flattery too thick) "rather
"gloomed, and sat quite silent,--which was another fine saying
"of his" (ends verse, starts prose):
"Pardon, Sire, some hearts that are full of you! To justify
"myself, I dare supplicate your Majesty to give one glance at
"this Letter (lines pencil-marked), which has just come from
"M. de Chauvelin, Nephew of the famous Garde-des-Sceaux.
"Your Majesty cannot gloom at him, writing these from the
"fulness of his heart; nor at me, who" -- Pooh; no, then!
Perhaps do you a niche again, -- poor restless fellow! **
Potsdam Palace (No date): Sire, may I change my room? * *
"I ascend to your ante-chambers, to find some one by whom
"I may ask permission to speak with you. I find nobody; I
"have to return:" and what I wanted was this, "yourprotec-
"tion for my Stecle deLouis Quatorze, which I am about to print
"in Berlin. " Surely, -- but also this:
"I am unwell, I am asick man born. And withall am obliged
"to work, almost as much as your Majesty. I pass the whole
"day alone. If you would permit that I might shift to the
"Apartment next the one I have, -- to that where General
"Bredow slept last winter. -- I should work more commo-
"diously. My Secretary (Collini) and I could work together
"there. I should have a little more sun, which is a great point
* (Euvres de FrMMc, xxn. 273. ** lb. 280.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 87
April 1751--July 1752.
"for me. -- Only the whim of a sick man, perhaps! Well,
"even so, your Majesty will have pity on it. You promised to
"make me happy. *
I suspect that I am suspected (No date). -- "Sire, if Iamnot
"brief, forgive me. Yesterday the faithful D'Arget told me
"with sorrow that in Paris people were talking of your Poem. "
Horrible; but, oh Sire, -- me? -- "I showed him the eighteen
"Letters that I received yesterday. They are from Cadiz,"
all about Finance, no blabbing there! "Permit me to send
"you now the last six from my Niece, numbered by her own
"hand" (no forgery, no suppression); "deign to cast your
"eyes on the places! have underlined, where she speaks of
"your Majesty, ofD'Argens, of Potsdam, of D'Ammon" (to
whom she can't be Phyllis, innocent being)! -- Mon cher Vol-
taire, must I again do some niche upon you, then? Tie some
tin-canister to your too-sensitive tail? What an element you
inhabit within that poor skin of yours! **
Majesty invites us to a Literary Christening, Potsdam (No date.
These 'Six Twins' are the "Art de la Guerre," in Six Chants;
part of that revised Edition which is getting printed "Au
Donjon du Chateau;" time must be, well on in 1751). Friedrich
writes to Voltaire:
"I have just been brought to bed of Six Twins; which
"require to be baptised, in the name of Apollo, in the waters
"of Hippocrene. La Henriade is requested to become god-
"mother: you will have the goodness to bring her, this
"evening at five, to the Father's Apartment. D'Arget Lucina
"will be there; and the Imagination of Man-a-Machine will
"hold the poor infants over the Font. "***
Deign to say if I have offended. -- * * "As they write to
"me from Paris that I am in disgrace with you, I dare to beg
"very earnestly that you will deign to say if I have displeased
"in anything! May go wrong by ignorance or from over-
"zeal; but with my heart never! I live in the profoundest
"retreat; giving to study my whole" -- "Your assurances
"once vouchsafed" (famous Document of August 23d). "I
* (Euvres de Frederic, xm. 277. ** lb. 209.
**? lb. 266.
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? 88 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [booKXVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
"write only to my Niece. I" (a page more of this) -- have
my sorrows and merits, and absolutely no silence at all! *
"In the gift of Speech, he is the most brilliant of mankind,"
said Smelfungus; but in the gift of Silence, what a de-
ficiency! Fnedrich will have to do that for Two, it would
seem.
Berlin, 28th December 1751: Louis Quatorze; and Death of
Rothenburg. -- "Our Louis Quatorze is out. But, Heavens,
"see, your Majesty: a Pirate Printer, at Frankfurt-on-Oder,
"has been going on parallel with us, all the while; and here "is his foul blotch of an Edition on sale, too! Bielfeld,"
fantastic fellow, "had proof-sheets; Bielfeld sent them to a
"Professor there, though I don't blame Bielfeld: result too
"evident. Protect me, your Majesty; Order all wagons,
"especially wagons for Leipzig, to be stopped, to be searched,
"and the Books thrown out, -- it costs you but a word! "
Quite a simple thing: "All Prussia to the rescue! " thinks
an ardent Proprietor of these Proof-sheets. But then, next
day, hears that Rothenburg is dead. That the silent Rothen-
burg lay dying, while the vocal Voltaire was writing these
fooleries, to a King sunk in grief. "Repent, be sorry, be
ashamed! " he says to himself; and does instantly try; --
but with little success; Frankfurt-on-Oder, with its Bielfeld
proof-sheets, still jangling along, contemptibly audible, for
sometime. ** And afterwards, from Frankfurt-on-Mayn new
sorrow rises on Louis Quatorze, as will be seen. -- Friedrich's
frief for Rothenburg was deep and severe; "he had visited
im that last night, say the Books; "and quitted his bed-
side, silent, and all in tears. " It is mainly what of Biography
the silent Rothenburg now has.
From the current Narratives, as they are called,
readers will recollect, out of this Voltaire Period, two
small particles of Event amid such an ocean of noisy
froth, -- two and hardly more: that of the "Orange-
Skin," and that of the "Dirty Linen. " Let us put
these two, on their basis; and pass on:
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 289. *? lb. 285-7.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 89
April 1751--July 1752.
The Orange-Skin (Potsdam, 2d September 1751, To Niece
Denis). -- Good Heavens, mon enfant, what is this I hear
(through the great Dionysius'-Ear I maintain, at such ex-
pense to myself)! * * "La Mettrie, a man of no consequence,
"who talks familiarly with the King after their reading; and
"with me too, now and then: La Mettrie swore to me, that
"speaking to the King, one of those days, of my supposed
"favour, and the bit of jealousy it excites, the King answered
"him: 'I shall want him still about a year: -- you squeeze
"' the orange, you throw away the skin (on enjette Vecorce)! '
Here is a pretty bit of babble (lie, most likely, and bit of
mischievous fun) from Dr. Joyous. "It cannot be true, No!
And yet -- and yet --? " Words cannot express the agonising
doubts, the questionings, occasionally the horror of Voltaire:
poor sick soul, keeping a Dionysius'-Ear to boot! This blurt
of La Mettrie's goes through him like a shot of electricity
through an elderly sick Household-Cat; and he speaks of it
again and ever again, -- though we will not farther.
Dirty Linen (Potsdam, 24th July 1752, To Niece Denis). --
* * "Maupertuis has discreetly set the rumour going, that I
"found the King's Works very bad; that I said to some one,
"on Verses from the King coming in, 'Will he never tire,
'"then, of sending me his dirty linen to wash? ' You obliging
"Maupertuis! "
Rumour says, it was General Mannstein, once Aide-de-
Camp in Russia, who had come to have his Work on Russia
revised (excellent Work, often quoted by us*), when the un-
fortunate Royal Verses came. Perhaps M. de Voltaire did
say it: -- whyiiot, had it only been prudent? He really
likes those Verses much more than I; but knows well enough,
sub rosd, what kind of Verses they are. This also is a hor-
rible suspicion; that the King should hear of this, -- as
doubtless the King did, though without going delirious upon
it at all. ** Thank you, my Perpetual President, not the
less! --
* Did get out at last, -- in England, through Lord Marischal, and
David Hume: see Preface to it (London, 1760).
** "To Niece Denis," dates as above ((Euvres de Voltaire, lxxiv. 408,
lxxv. 17).
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? 90 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 -- Jul? 1752.
Of Maupertuis, in successive Phases. -- * * "Maupertuis
"is not of very engaging ways; he takes my dimensions
"harshly with his quadrant: it is said there enters something
"of envy into his data. " * * "A somewhat surly gentleman;
"not too sociable; and, truth to say, considerably sunk here"
(assez baisse, my D'Argental).
* * "I endure Maupertuis, not having been able to soften
"him. In all countries there are insociable fellows, with
"whom you are obliged to live, though it is difficult. He has
"never forgiven me for" -- "omitting to cite him,"&c. -- "At
"Paris he had got the Academy of Sciences into trouble, and
"himself into general dislike (mtester); then came this Berlin
"offer. Old Fleuri, when Maupertuis called to take leave,
"repeated that verse of Virgil, Nee tibi regnandi veniat tain
"Aira cupido. Fleuri might have whispered as much to him-
"self: but he was a mild sovereign Lord, and reigned in a
"gentle polite manner. I swear to you, Maupertuis does
"not, in his shop" (the Academy here) -- "where, God be
"thanked, I never go.
"He has printed a little Pamphlet, on Happiness (Sur le
"Bonheur); it is very dry and miserable. Reminds you of
"Advertisements for things lost, -- so poor a chance of find-
"ing them again. Happiness is not what he gives to those
'' who read him, to those who live with him; he is not himself
"happy, and would be sorry that others were" (to Niece
"Denis this).
* * "A very sweet life here, Madame" (Madame d'Ar-
gental, an outside party): "it would have been more so, if
"Maupertuis had liked. The wish to please, is no part of his
"geometrical studies; the problem of being agreeable to live
"with, is not one he has solved. " * -- Add this Anecdote,
which is probably D'Arget's, and worth credit:
"Voltaire had dinner-party, Maupertuis one of them;
"party still in the drawing-room, dinner just coming up.
"'President, your Book, Sur le Bonheur, has given me
"'pleasure,' said Voltaire, politely" (very politely, consider-
ing what we have just read); '"given me pleasure, -- a
* (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxiv. 380, 504 (4th May 1751, and 14th March
1752), to the D'Argentals; -- to Niece Denis (6th November 1750, and 24th
August 1751), lxxiv. 250, 385.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 91
ApriU751 --July 1752.
"'few obscurities excepted, of which we will talk together
"' some evening. ' 'Obscurities ? ' said Maupertuis,in a gloomy
"arbitrary tone: 'There may be such for you, Monsieur! '
"Voltaire laid his hand on the President's shoulder" (yellow
wig near by), "looked at him in silence, with many-twinkling
"glance, gaiety the topmost expression, but by no means the
"sole one: 'President, I esteem you, Jevous estime, monPre-
"'Merit: you are brave; you want war: we will have it.
"' But, in the mean while, let us eat the King's roast meat. '" *
Friedrich's Answers to these Voltaire Letters, if he
wrote any, are all gone. Probably he answered almost
nothing; what we have of his, relates always to specific
business, receipt of Louis Quatorze, and the like; and
is always in friendly tone. Handsomely keeping Silence
for Two! Here is a snatch from him, on neutral figures
and movements of the time.
Friedrich to Wilhelmina (November 17th, 1751). "I think
"the Margraf of Anspach will not have stayed long with you.
"He is not made to taste the sweets of society: his passion
"for hunting, and the tippling life he leads this long time,
"throw him out when he comes among reasonable persons. "
* * "I expect my Sister of Brunswick, with the Duke and
"their eldest Girl, the 4th of next month," -- to Carnival
here. "It is seven years since the Queen (our Mamma) has
"seen her. She holds a small Board of Wit at Brunswick;
"of which your Doctor," -- (Doctor Superville, Dutch-
French, whose perennial merit now is, That he did not burn
Wilhelmina's Memoirs, but left them safe to posterity, for
long centuries), -- "of which your Doctor is the director and
"oracle. You would burst outright into laughing when she
"speaks of those matters. Her natural vivacity and haste
"has not left her time to get to the bottom of anything; she
"skips continually from one subject to the other, and gives
"twenty decisions in a minute. " **
? Duvernet (2d form of him, always), p. 176.
*? (Euvres de Frederic, xxvn. i. 202: -- On Superville, see Preuss's Note,
ib. 56.
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? 92 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [BOOK XVI.
April 1751--July 1752.
About a month before Rothenburg's death, which was so
tragical to Friedrich, there had fallen out, with a hideous
dash of farce in it, the death of LaMettrie. Here are Two
Accounts, by different hands, -- which represent to us an im-
mensity of babble in the then Voltaire circle.
La Mettrie dies. -- Two accounts: 1? . King Friedrich's:
to Wilhelmina. "21st November 1751. ** We have lost
"poor La Mettrie. He died for a piece of fun: ate out of
"banter a whole pheasant-pie; had a horrible indigestion,
"took it into his head to have blood let, and convince the
"German Doctors that bleeding was good in indigestion.
"But it succeeded ill with him: he took a violent fever, which
"passed into putrid; and carried him off. He is regretted
"by all that knew him. He was gay; bon diable, good Doctor,
"and very bad Author: by avoiding to read his Books, one
"could manage to be well content with himself. " *
2? . Voltaire's: to Niece Denis (not his first to her): Pots-
dam, 24th December 1751. * * "No end to my astonishment.
"Milord Tyrconnel," always ailing (died here himself),
"sends to ask La Mettrie to come and see him, to cure him or
"amuse him. The King grudges to part with his Reader,
"who makes him laugh. LaMettrie sets out; arrives at his
"Patient's just when Madame Tyrconnel is sitting down to
"table: he eats and drinks, talks and laughs more than all
"the guests; when he has got crammed (en ajusqu'au menton),
"they bring him a pie, of eagle disguised as pheasant, which
"had arrived from the North, plenty of bad lard, pork-hash
"and ginger in it; my gentleman eats the whole pie, and dies
"next day at Lord Tyrconnel's, assisted by two Doctors,"
Cothenius and Lieberkiihn, "whom he used to mock at. * i* *
"How I should have liked to ask him, at the article of death,
"about that Orange-skin! " **
Add this trait, too, from authentic Nicolai, to complete
the matter: "An Irish Priest, Father Macmahon, Tyrconnel's
"Chaplain" (more power to him), "wanted to convert La
"Mettrie: he pushed into the sick-room; -- encouraged by
"some who wished to make La Mettrie contemptible to
"Friedrich" (the charitable souls). "LaMettrie would have
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxvu. i. 203.
** (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxiv. 439; ib. 450.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 93
April 1751 --July 1752.
"nothing to do with this Priest and his talk; who, however,
"still sat and waited. La Mettrie, in a twinge of agony,
"cried out, 'Jesus Marie! ' lAh, vous voila enfin retourne a ces
'"noms consolateurs/' exclaimed the Irishman. To which La
"Mettrie answered (in polite language, to the effect), 'Bother
"you! ' and expired, a few minutes after. " *
Enough of this poor madcap. Friedrich's Eloge of him,
read to theAcademy some time after,it was generally thought
(and with great justice), might as well have been spared. The
Piece has nothing noisy, nothing untrue; but what has it of
importance? And surely the subject was questionable, or
more. La Mettrie might have done without Eulogy from a
King of men.
* * "He had been used to put himself at once on the
"most familiar footing with the King" (says Thie'bault, un-
believable). "Entered the King's apartment, as he would
"that of a friend; plunged down whenever he liked, which
"was often, and lay upon the sofas: if it was warm, took off
"his stock, unbuttoned his waistcoat, flung his periwig on
"the floor;" ** -- highly probable, thinks stupid Thiebault!
"The truth is," says "Nicolai, "the King put no real value
"on La Mettrie. He considered him as a merry-andrew
"fellow, who might amuse you, when half seas-over (entre
"deux vins). De la Mettrie showed himself unworthy of any
"favour he had. Not only did he babble, and repeat about
"Town, what he heard at the King's table; but he told
"everything in a false way, and with malicious twists and
"additions. This he especially did at LordTyrconnel, the
"then French Ambassador's table, where at last he died. " ***
But could not take the Orange-Skin along with him; alas,
no! --
On the whole, be not too severe on poor Voltaire!
He is very fidgetty, noisy; something of a pickthank,
of a wheedler; but, above all, he is scorbutic, dyspeptic;
hag-ridden, as soul seldom was; and (in his oblique
* Nicolai, Anekdolen, i. 20 n.
** Thie'bault, v. 405 (calls him "LaMetherie;" knows, as usual, nothing).
**? Nicolai, Anekdolen, i. 20.
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? 94 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
way) appeals to Friedrich and us, -- not in vain. And
in short, we perceive, after the First Act of the Piece,
beginning in preternatural radiances, ending in whirl-
winds of flaming soot, he has been getting on with his
Second Act better than could be expected. Gyrating
again among the bright planets, circum-jovial moons,
in the Court Firmament; is again in favour, and might
-- Alas, he had his /W/oie-moons, his Maupertuis above
all! Incurable that Maupertuis misery; gets worse and
worse, steadily from the first day. No smallest entity
that intervenes, not even a wandering La Beaumelle
with his Book of Pense'es, but is capable of worsening
it. Take this of Smelfungus; this Pair of Cabinet-
Sketches, -- "hasty outlines; extant chiefly," he de-
clares, "by Voltaire's blame:" i
La Beaumelle. -- "Voltaire has a fatal talent of getting
"into quarrels with insignificant accidental people; and
"instead of silently, with cautious finger, disengaging any
"bramble that catches to him, and thankfully passing on,
"attacks it indignantly with potent steel implements, wood-
"axes, war-axes; brandishing and hewing; -- till he has
"stirred up a whole wilderness of bramble-bush, and is him-
"self bramble-chips all over. M. Angliviel de La Beaumelle,
"for example, was nothing but a bramble: some conceited
"Licentiate of Theology, who, finding the Presbytery of
"Geneva too narrow a field, had gone to Copenhagen, as
"Professor of Rhetoric or some such thing; and, -- finding
"that field also too narrow, and not to be widened by at-
"tempts at Literature, Mes Pense'es and the like, in such
"barbarous Country, -- had now" (end of 1751) "come to
"Berlin; and has Presentation Copies of Mes Pensees, ou le
"Qu'en dira-t-on, flying right and left, in hopes of doing
"better there. Of these Pense'es (Thoughts so-called) I will
"give but one specimen" (another, that of "KingFriedricha
common man/ being carefully suppressed in the Berlin
Copies, of LaBeaumeUe's distributing):
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? CHAP. a. . ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 95
April 1751 --July 1752.
"There have been greater Poets than Voltaire; there
"was never any so well recompensed: and why? Because
"Taste (gofit, inclination) sets no limits to its recompenses.
"The King of Prussia overloads men of talent with his bene-
"fits for precisely the reasons which induce a little German
"Prince to overload with benefits a buffoon or a dwarf. " **
Could there be a phenomenon more indisputably of bramble
nature?
"He had no success at Berlin, in spite of his merits; could
"not come near the King at all; but assiduously frequented
"Maupertuis, the flower of human thinkers in that era, --
"who was very humane to him in consequence. 'Howis it,
"0 flower of human thinkers, that I cannot get on with his
"Majesty, or make the least way? ' lHeT. as, Monsieur, you
"have enemies! ' answered he of the red wig; and told La
"Beaumelle (hear it, ye Heavens), That M. de Voltaire had
"called his Majesty's attention to the Pensie given above,
"one evening at Supper Royal; 'heard it myself, Monsieur--
"husht! " Upon which --
"'Upon which, see, paltry La Beaumelle has become my
"enemy for life! ' shrieks Voltaire many times afterwards:
"'And it was false, I declare to Heaven, and again declare;
"it was not I, it was D'Argens quizzing me about it, that
"called his Majesty's attention to that Pensee of Blockhead
"La Beaumelle, -- you treacherous Perpetual President,
"stirring up enemies against me, and betraying secrets of the
"King's table. ' Sorrow on your red wig, and you! -- It is
"certain La Beaumelle, soon after this, left Berlin: not in
"love with Voltaire. And there soon appeared, at Frankfurt-
"on-Mayn, a Pirate Edition of our brand-new Steele de Louis
"Quatorze (with Annotations scurrilous and flj^sy); -- La
"Beaumelle the professed Perpetrator; 'who received for
"the job 11. 10s. net! '** asseverates the well-informed Vol-
"taire. Oh, M. de Voltaire, and why not leave it to him,
"then? Poor devil, he got put into the Bastille too, by and
"by; Royal Persons bemg touched by some of his stupid
"foot-notes.
"La Beaumelle had a long course of it, up and down the
"world, in and out of the Bastille; writing much, with in-
* (Enures de Voltaire, xxvu. 220 n. ** lb. xxvu. 219, 236.
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? 96 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [bOOK XVI.
Rothenburg is ill; Voltaire has been to see him("Berlin, 14th,"
no month; year, too surely, 1751, as we shall find! Letter is
in Verse). -- "Lieberkiihn was going to kill poor Rothenburg;
"to send him off to Pluto, -- for liking his dish a little; --
"monster Lieberkiihn! But Doctor Joyous," your reader,
La Mettrie, -- led by, need I say whom? -- "has brought him
In (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 271, 273. ** lb. 281.
*** lb. 270.
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? CHAP. rx. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 85
April 1751--July 1752.
"back to us: -- think of Lieberkiihn's solemn stare! Pretty
"contrasts, those, of sublime Quacksalverism, with Sense
"under the mask of Folly. May the hemorrhoidal vein" --
(follows here, note it, exquisite reader, that of "cul de mon
heros" cited above! ) -- * *
And then (a day or two after; King, too hemorrhoidal to
come twenty miles, but anxious to know): "Sire, no doubt
"Doctor Joyous (le medecinjoyeux) has informed your Majesty
"that when we arrived, the Patient was sleeping tranquil; and
"Cothenius assured us, in Latin, that there was no danger. I
"know not what has passed since, but I am persuaded your
"Majesty approves my journey" (of a street or two), -- must
you speak of it, then!
Goes to an Evening-Party now and then (To Niece Denis). --
* * "Madame Tyrconnel" (French Excellency's Wife) "has
"plenty of fine people at her house on an evening; perhaps too
"many" (one of the first houses in Berlin, this of Milord Tyr-
connel's, which we frequent a good deal). * * "Madame got
"very well through her part of Andromaque" (in those old
playacting times of ours): "never saw actresses with finer
"eyes," -- how should you!
"As to Milord Tyrconnel, he is an Anglais of dignity,"
-- Irish in reality, and a thought blusterous. "He has a
"condensed (serre') caustic way of talk; and I know not what
"of frank which one finds in the English, and does not usually
"find in persons of his trade. French Tragedies played at
"Berlin, I myself taking part; an Englishman Envoy of France
"there: strange circumstances these, aren't they? "* Yes,
that latter especially; and Milord Mare'chal our Prussian En-
voy with you1 Which the English note, sulkily, as a weather-
symptom.
At Potsdam, BigDevils of Grenadiers (No date). -- * * "But,
"Sire; one isn't always perched on the summit of Parnassus;
"one is a man. There are sicknesses about; I did not bring
"an athlete's health to these parts; and the scorbutic humour
"which is eating my life renders me truly, of all that are sick,
"the sickest. lam absolutely alone from morning to night.
* To D'Argental this ((Buwes de Voltaire, lxxiv. 289. )
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? 86 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 -- July 1752.
"My one solace is the necessary pleasure of taking the air.
"I bethink me of walking, and clearing my head a little, in
"your Gardens at Potsdam. I fancy it is a permitted thing;
"I present myself, musing; -- I find huge devils of Grenadiers,
"who clap bayonets in my belly, who cry Furt, Sacrament,
"and Der Konig" (Off, Sackerment, The King, quite tolerably spelt)! "And I take to my heels, as Austrians and Saxons
''would do before them. Have you ever read, that in Titus's
"or Marcus-Aurelius's Gardens, a poor devil of a Gaulish
"Poet" -- In short, it shall be mended. *
Have been laying it on too thick (No date; in Verse). --
"Marcus Aurelius was wont to" -- (Well, we know who that
is: What of Marcus, then? ) "A certain lover of his glory"
(still in verse) spoke once, at Supper, of a magnanimity of
"Marcus's; -- at which Marcus" (flattery too thick) "rather
"gloomed, and sat quite silent,--which was another fine saying
"of his" (ends verse, starts prose):
"Pardon, Sire, some hearts that are full of you! To justify
"myself, I dare supplicate your Majesty to give one glance at
"this Letter (lines pencil-marked), which has just come from
"M. de Chauvelin, Nephew of the famous Garde-des-Sceaux.
"Your Majesty cannot gloom at him, writing these from the
"fulness of his heart; nor at me, who" -- Pooh; no, then!
Perhaps do you a niche again, -- poor restless fellow! **
Potsdam Palace (No date): Sire, may I change my room? * *
"I ascend to your ante-chambers, to find some one by whom
"I may ask permission to speak with you. I find nobody; I
"have to return:" and what I wanted was this, "yourprotec-
"tion for my Stecle deLouis Quatorze, which I am about to print
"in Berlin. " Surely, -- but also this:
"I am unwell, I am asick man born. And withall am obliged
"to work, almost as much as your Majesty. I pass the whole
"day alone. If you would permit that I might shift to the
"Apartment next the one I have, -- to that where General
"Bredow slept last winter. -- I should work more commo-
"diously. My Secretary (Collini) and I could work together
"there. I should have a little more sun, which is a great point
* (Euvres de FrMMc, xxn. 273. ** lb. 280.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 87
April 1751--July 1752.
"for me. -- Only the whim of a sick man, perhaps! Well,
"even so, your Majesty will have pity on it. You promised to
"make me happy. *
I suspect that I am suspected (No date). -- "Sire, if Iamnot
"brief, forgive me. Yesterday the faithful D'Arget told me
"with sorrow that in Paris people were talking of your Poem. "
Horrible; but, oh Sire, -- me? -- "I showed him the eighteen
"Letters that I received yesterday. They are from Cadiz,"
all about Finance, no blabbing there! "Permit me to send
"you now the last six from my Niece, numbered by her own
"hand" (no forgery, no suppression); "deign to cast your
"eyes on the places! have underlined, where she speaks of
"your Majesty, ofD'Argens, of Potsdam, of D'Ammon" (to
whom she can't be Phyllis, innocent being)! -- Mon cher Vol-
taire, must I again do some niche upon you, then? Tie some
tin-canister to your too-sensitive tail? What an element you
inhabit within that poor skin of yours! **
Majesty invites us to a Literary Christening, Potsdam (No date.
These 'Six Twins' are the "Art de la Guerre," in Six Chants;
part of that revised Edition which is getting printed "Au
Donjon du Chateau;" time must be, well on in 1751). Friedrich
writes to Voltaire:
"I have just been brought to bed of Six Twins; which
"require to be baptised, in the name of Apollo, in the waters
"of Hippocrene. La Henriade is requested to become god-
"mother: you will have the goodness to bring her, this
"evening at five, to the Father's Apartment. D'Arget Lucina
"will be there; and the Imagination of Man-a-Machine will
"hold the poor infants over the Font. "***
Deign to say if I have offended. -- * * "As they write to
"me from Paris that I am in disgrace with you, I dare to beg
"very earnestly that you will deign to say if I have displeased
"in anything! May go wrong by ignorance or from over-
"zeal; but with my heart never! I live in the profoundest
"retreat; giving to study my whole" -- "Your assurances
"once vouchsafed" (famous Document of August 23d). "I
* (Euvres de Frederic, xm. 277. ** lb. 209.
**? lb. 266.
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? 88 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [booKXVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
"write only to my Niece. I" (a page more of this) -- have
my sorrows and merits, and absolutely no silence at all! *
"In the gift of Speech, he is the most brilliant of mankind,"
said Smelfungus; but in the gift of Silence, what a de-
ficiency! Fnedrich will have to do that for Two, it would
seem.
Berlin, 28th December 1751: Louis Quatorze; and Death of
Rothenburg. -- "Our Louis Quatorze is out. But, Heavens,
"see, your Majesty: a Pirate Printer, at Frankfurt-on-Oder,
"has been going on parallel with us, all the while; and here "is his foul blotch of an Edition on sale, too! Bielfeld,"
fantastic fellow, "had proof-sheets; Bielfeld sent them to a
"Professor there, though I don't blame Bielfeld: result too
"evident. Protect me, your Majesty; Order all wagons,
"especially wagons for Leipzig, to be stopped, to be searched,
"and the Books thrown out, -- it costs you but a word! "
Quite a simple thing: "All Prussia to the rescue! " thinks
an ardent Proprietor of these Proof-sheets. But then, next
day, hears that Rothenburg is dead. That the silent Rothen-
burg lay dying, while the vocal Voltaire was writing these
fooleries, to a King sunk in grief. "Repent, be sorry, be
ashamed! " he says to himself; and does instantly try; --
but with little success; Frankfurt-on-Oder, with its Bielfeld
proof-sheets, still jangling along, contemptibly audible, for
sometime. ** And afterwards, from Frankfurt-on-Mayn new
sorrow rises on Louis Quatorze, as will be seen. -- Friedrich's
frief for Rothenburg was deep and severe; "he had visited
im that last night, say the Books; "and quitted his bed-
side, silent, and all in tears. " It is mainly what of Biography
the silent Rothenburg now has.
From the current Narratives, as they are called,
readers will recollect, out of this Voltaire Period, two
small particles of Event amid such an ocean of noisy
froth, -- two and hardly more: that of the "Orange-
Skin," and that of the "Dirty Linen. " Let us put
these two, on their basis; and pass on:
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 289. *? lb. 285-7.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 89
April 1751--July 1752.
The Orange-Skin (Potsdam, 2d September 1751, To Niece
Denis). -- Good Heavens, mon enfant, what is this I hear
(through the great Dionysius'-Ear I maintain, at such ex-
pense to myself)! * * "La Mettrie, a man of no consequence,
"who talks familiarly with the King after their reading; and
"with me too, now and then: La Mettrie swore to me, that
"speaking to the King, one of those days, of my supposed
"favour, and the bit of jealousy it excites, the King answered
"him: 'I shall want him still about a year: -- you squeeze
"' the orange, you throw away the skin (on enjette Vecorce)! '
Here is a pretty bit of babble (lie, most likely, and bit of
mischievous fun) from Dr. Joyous. "It cannot be true, No!
And yet -- and yet --? " Words cannot express the agonising
doubts, the questionings, occasionally the horror of Voltaire:
poor sick soul, keeping a Dionysius'-Ear to boot! This blurt
of La Mettrie's goes through him like a shot of electricity
through an elderly sick Household-Cat; and he speaks of it
again and ever again, -- though we will not farther.
Dirty Linen (Potsdam, 24th July 1752, To Niece Denis). --
* * "Maupertuis has discreetly set the rumour going, that I
"found the King's Works very bad; that I said to some one,
"on Verses from the King coming in, 'Will he never tire,
'"then, of sending me his dirty linen to wash? ' You obliging
"Maupertuis! "
Rumour says, it was General Mannstein, once Aide-de-
Camp in Russia, who had come to have his Work on Russia
revised (excellent Work, often quoted by us*), when the un-
fortunate Royal Verses came. Perhaps M. de Voltaire did
say it: -- whyiiot, had it only been prudent? He really
likes those Verses much more than I; but knows well enough,
sub rosd, what kind of Verses they are. This also is a hor-
rible suspicion; that the King should hear of this, -- as
doubtless the King did, though without going delirious upon
it at all. ** Thank you, my Perpetual President, not the
less! --
* Did get out at last, -- in England, through Lord Marischal, and
David Hume: see Preface to it (London, 1760).
** "To Niece Denis," dates as above ((Euvres de Voltaire, lxxiv. 408,
lxxv. 17).
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? 90 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 -- Jul? 1752.
Of Maupertuis, in successive Phases. -- * * "Maupertuis
"is not of very engaging ways; he takes my dimensions
"harshly with his quadrant: it is said there enters something
"of envy into his data. " * * "A somewhat surly gentleman;
"not too sociable; and, truth to say, considerably sunk here"
(assez baisse, my D'Argental).
* * "I endure Maupertuis, not having been able to soften
"him. In all countries there are insociable fellows, with
"whom you are obliged to live, though it is difficult. He has
"never forgiven me for" -- "omitting to cite him,"&c. -- "At
"Paris he had got the Academy of Sciences into trouble, and
"himself into general dislike (mtester); then came this Berlin
"offer. Old Fleuri, when Maupertuis called to take leave,
"repeated that verse of Virgil, Nee tibi regnandi veniat tain
"Aira cupido. Fleuri might have whispered as much to him-
"self: but he was a mild sovereign Lord, and reigned in a
"gentle polite manner. I swear to you, Maupertuis does
"not, in his shop" (the Academy here) -- "where, God be
"thanked, I never go.
"He has printed a little Pamphlet, on Happiness (Sur le
"Bonheur); it is very dry and miserable. Reminds you of
"Advertisements for things lost, -- so poor a chance of find-
"ing them again. Happiness is not what he gives to those
'' who read him, to those who live with him; he is not himself
"happy, and would be sorry that others were" (to Niece
"Denis this).
* * "A very sweet life here, Madame" (Madame d'Ar-
gental, an outside party): "it would have been more so, if
"Maupertuis had liked. The wish to please, is no part of his
"geometrical studies; the problem of being agreeable to live
"with, is not one he has solved. " * -- Add this Anecdote,
which is probably D'Arget's, and worth credit:
"Voltaire had dinner-party, Maupertuis one of them;
"party still in the drawing-room, dinner just coming up.
"'President, your Book, Sur le Bonheur, has given me
"'pleasure,' said Voltaire, politely" (very politely, consider-
ing what we have just read); '"given me pleasure, -- a
* (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxiv. 380, 504 (4th May 1751, and 14th March
1752), to the D'Argentals; -- to Niece Denis (6th November 1750, and 24th
August 1751), lxxiv. 250, 385.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 91
ApriU751 --July 1752.
"'few obscurities excepted, of which we will talk together
"' some evening. ' 'Obscurities ? ' said Maupertuis,in a gloomy
"arbitrary tone: 'There may be such for you, Monsieur! '
"Voltaire laid his hand on the President's shoulder" (yellow
wig near by), "looked at him in silence, with many-twinkling
"glance, gaiety the topmost expression, but by no means the
"sole one: 'President, I esteem you, Jevous estime, monPre-
"'Merit: you are brave; you want war: we will have it.
"' But, in the mean while, let us eat the King's roast meat. '" *
Friedrich's Answers to these Voltaire Letters, if he
wrote any, are all gone. Probably he answered almost
nothing; what we have of his, relates always to specific
business, receipt of Louis Quatorze, and the like; and
is always in friendly tone. Handsomely keeping Silence
for Two! Here is a snatch from him, on neutral figures
and movements of the time.
Friedrich to Wilhelmina (November 17th, 1751). "I think
"the Margraf of Anspach will not have stayed long with you.
"He is not made to taste the sweets of society: his passion
"for hunting, and the tippling life he leads this long time,
"throw him out when he comes among reasonable persons. "
* * "I expect my Sister of Brunswick, with the Duke and
"their eldest Girl, the 4th of next month," -- to Carnival
here. "It is seven years since the Queen (our Mamma) has
"seen her. She holds a small Board of Wit at Brunswick;
"of which your Doctor," -- (Doctor Superville, Dutch-
French, whose perennial merit now is, That he did not burn
Wilhelmina's Memoirs, but left them safe to posterity, for
long centuries), -- "of which your Doctor is the director and
"oracle. You would burst outright into laughing when she
"speaks of those matters. Her natural vivacity and haste
"has not left her time to get to the bottom of anything; she
"skips continually from one subject to the other, and gives
"twenty decisions in a minute. " **
? Duvernet (2d form of him, always), p. 176.
*? (Euvres de Frederic, xxvn. i. 202: -- On Superville, see Preuss's Note,
ib. 56.
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? 92 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [BOOK XVI.
April 1751--July 1752.
About a month before Rothenburg's death, which was so
tragical to Friedrich, there had fallen out, with a hideous
dash of farce in it, the death of LaMettrie. Here are Two
Accounts, by different hands, -- which represent to us an im-
mensity of babble in the then Voltaire circle.
La Mettrie dies. -- Two accounts: 1? . King Friedrich's:
to Wilhelmina. "21st November 1751. ** We have lost
"poor La Mettrie. He died for a piece of fun: ate out of
"banter a whole pheasant-pie; had a horrible indigestion,
"took it into his head to have blood let, and convince the
"German Doctors that bleeding was good in indigestion.
"But it succeeded ill with him: he took a violent fever, which
"passed into putrid; and carried him off. He is regretted
"by all that knew him. He was gay; bon diable, good Doctor,
"and very bad Author: by avoiding to read his Books, one
"could manage to be well content with himself. " *
2? . Voltaire's: to Niece Denis (not his first to her): Pots-
dam, 24th December 1751. * * "No end to my astonishment.
"Milord Tyrconnel," always ailing (died here himself),
"sends to ask La Mettrie to come and see him, to cure him or
"amuse him. The King grudges to part with his Reader,
"who makes him laugh. LaMettrie sets out; arrives at his
"Patient's just when Madame Tyrconnel is sitting down to
"table: he eats and drinks, talks and laughs more than all
"the guests; when he has got crammed (en ajusqu'au menton),
"they bring him a pie, of eagle disguised as pheasant, which
"had arrived from the North, plenty of bad lard, pork-hash
"and ginger in it; my gentleman eats the whole pie, and dies
"next day at Lord Tyrconnel's, assisted by two Doctors,"
Cothenius and Lieberkiihn, "whom he used to mock at. * i* *
"How I should have liked to ask him, at the article of death,
"about that Orange-skin! " **
Add this trait, too, from authentic Nicolai, to complete
the matter: "An Irish Priest, Father Macmahon, Tyrconnel's
"Chaplain" (more power to him), "wanted to convert La
"Mettrie: he pushed into the sick-room; -- encouraged by
"some who wished to make La Mettrie contemptible to
"Friedrich" (the charitable souls). "LaMettrie would have
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxvu. i. 203.
** (Euvres de Voltaire, lxxiv. 439; ib. 450.
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? CHAP. IX. ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 93
April 1751 --July 1752.
"nothing to do with this Priest and his talk; who, however,
"still sat and waited. La Mettrie, in a twinge of agony,
"cried out, 'Jesus Marie! ' lAh, vous voila enfin retourne a ces
'"noms consolateurs/' exclaimed the Irishman. To which La
"Mettrie answered (in polite language, to the effect), 'Bother
"you! ' and expired, a few minutes after. " *
Enough of this poor madcap. Friedrich's Eloge of him,
read to theAcademy some time after,it was generally thought
(and with great justice), might as well have been spared. The
Piece has nothing noisy, nothing untrue; but what has it of
importance? And surely the subject was questionable, or
more. La Mettrie might have done without Eulogy from a
King of men.
* * "He had been used to put himself at once on the
"most familiar footing with the King" (says Thie'bault, un-
believable). "Entered the King's apartment, as he would
"that of a friend; plunged down whenever he liked, which
"was often, and lay upon the sofas: if it was warm, took off
"his stock, unbuttoned his waistcoat, flung his periwig on
"the floor;" ** -- highly probable, thinks stupid Thiebault!
"The truth is," says "Nicolai, "the King put no real value
"on La Mettrie. He considered him as a merry-andrew
"fellow, who might amuse you, when half seas-over (entre
"deux vins). De la Mettrie showed himself unworthy of any
"favour he had. Not only did he babble, and repeat about
"Town, what he heard at the King's table; but he told
"everything in a false way, and with malicious twists and
"additions. This he especially did at LordTyrconnel, the
"then French Ambassador's table, where at last he died. " ***
But could not take the Orange-Skin along with him; alas,
no! --
On the whole, be not too severe on poor Voltaire!
He is very fidgetty, noisy; something of a pickthank,
of a wheedler; but, above all, he is scorbutic, dyspeptic;
hag-ridden, as soul seldom was; and (in his oblique
* Nicolai, Anekdolen, i. 20 n.
** Thie'bault, v. 405 (calls him "LaMetherie;" knows, as usual, nothing).
**? Nicolai, Anekdolen, i. 20.
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? 94 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
April 1751 --July 1752.
way) appeals to Friedrich and us, -- not in vain. And
in short, we perceive, after the First Act of the Piece,
beginning in preternatural radiances, ending in whirl-
winds of flaming soot, he has been getting on with his
Second Act better than could be expected. Gyrating
again among the bright planets, circum-jovial moons,
in the Court Firmament; is again in favour, and might
-- Alas, he had his /W/oie-moons, his Maupertuis above
all! Incurable that Maupertuis misery; gets worse and
worse, steadily from the first day. No smallest entity
that intervenes, not even a wandering La Beaumelle
with his Book of Pense'es, but is capable of worsening
it. Take this of Smelfungus; this Pair of Cabinet-
Sketches, -- "hasty outlines; extant chiefly," he de-
clares, "by Voltaire's blame:" i
La Beaumelle. -- "Voltaire has a fatal talent of getting
"into quarrels with insignificant accidental people; and
"instead of silently, with cautious finger, disengaging any
"bramble that catches to him, and thankfully passing on,
"attacks it indignantly with potent steel implements, wood-
"axes, war-axes; brandishing and hewing; -- till he has
"stirred up a whole wilderness of bramble-bush, and is him-
"self bramble-chips all over. M. Angliviel de La Beaumelle,
"for example, was nothing but a bramble: some conceited
"Licentiate of Theology, who, finding the Presbytery of
"Geneva too narrow a field, had gone to Copenhagen, as
"Professor of Rhetoric or some such thing; and, -- finding
"that field also too narrow, and not to be widened by at-
"tempts at Literature, Mes Pense'es and the like, in such
"barbarous Country, -- had now" (end of 1751) "come to
"Berlin; and has Presentation Copies of Mes Pensees, ou le
"Qu'en dira-t-on, flying right and left, in hopes of doing
"better there. Of these Pense'es (Thoughts so-called) I will
"give but one specimen" (another, that of "KingFriedricha
common man/ being carefully suppressed in the Berlin
Copies, of LaBeaumeUe's distributing):
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? CHAP. a. . ] SECOND ACT OF THE VOLTAIRE VISIT. 95
April 1751 --July 1752.
"There have been greater Poets than Voltaire; there
"was never any so well recompensed: and why? Because
"Taste (gofit, inclination) sets no limits to its recompenses.
"The King of Prussia overloads men of talent with his bene-
"fits for precisely the reasons which induce a little German
"Prince to overload with benefits a buffoon or a dwarf. " **
Could there be a phenomenon more indisputably of bramble
nature?
"He had no success at Berlin, in spite of his merits; could
"not come near the King at all; but assiduously frequented
"Maupertuis, the flower of human thinkers in that era, --
"who was very humane to him in consequence. 'Howis it,
"0 flower of human thinkers, that I cannot get on with his
"Majesty, or make the least way? ' lHeT. as, Monsieur, you
"have enemies! ' answered he of the red wig; and told La
"Beaumelle (hear it, ye Heavens), That M. de Voltaire had
"called his Majesty's attention to the Pensie given above,
"one evening at Supper Royal; 'heard it myself, Monsieur--
"husht! " Upon which --
"'Upon which, see, paltry La Beaumelle has become my
"enemy for life! ' shrieks Voltaire many times afterwards:
"'And it was false, I declare to Heaven, and again declare;
"it was not I, it was D'Argens quizzing me about it, that
"called his Majesty's attention to that Pensee of Blockhead
"La Beaumelle, -- you treacherous Perpetual President,
"stirring up enemies against me, and betraying secrets of the
"King's table. ' Sorrow on your red wig, and you! -- It is
"certain La Beaumelle, soon after this, left Berlin: not in
"love with Voltaire. And there soon appeared, at Frankfurt-
"on-Mayn, a Pirate Edition of our brand-new Steele de Louis
"Quatorze (with Annotations scurrilous and flj^sy); -- La
"Beaumelle the professed Perpetrator; 'who received for
"the job 11. 10s. net! '** asseverates the well-informed Vol-
"taire. Oh, M. de Voltaire, and why not leave it to him,
"then? Poor devil, he got put into the Bastille too, by and
"by; Royal Persons bemg touched by some of his stupid
"foot-notes.
"La Beaumelle had a long course of it, up and down the
"world, in and out of the Bastille; writing much, with in-
* (Enures de Voltaire, xxvu. 220 n. ** lb. xxvu. 219, 236.
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? 96 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [bOOK XVI.
