This is the affair
with the Bishop of Liege, called also the Affair of
Herstal, which his Majesty has had privately laid up
in the corner of his mind, as a thing to be done during
this Excursion.
with the Bishop of Liege, called also the Affair of
Herstal, which his Majesty has had privately laid up
in the corner of his mind, as a thing to be done during
this Excursion.
Thomas Carlyle
A
bon gart;on, Voltaire says; though otherwise, I think, a little
noisy on occasion. There has been no end of Madame's kind-
ness to him, nay to his Brother and him, -- sons of a Theolo-
fical Professorial Syriac-Hebrew kind of man at Berne who
as too many sons; and I grieve to report that this heedless
Konig has produced an explosion in Madame's feelings, such
as little beseemed him. On the road to Paris, namely, as we
drove hitherward to the Honsbruck Lawsuit by way of Paris,
in Autumn last, there had fallen out some dispute, about the
monads, the vis viva, the infinitely little, between Madame
and Konig; dispute which rose crescendo in disharmonious
duet, and "ended," testifies M. de Voltaire, "in a scene trh
desagreable. " Madame, with an effort, forgave the thoughtless
fellow, who is still rather young, and is without malice. But
thoughtless Konig, strong in his opinion about the infinitely
little, appealed to Maupertuis: "Am not I right, Monsieur? "
uHe is right beyond question! " wrote Maupertuis to Madame;
"somewhat drily," thinks Voltaire: and the result is, there is
considerable rage in one celestial mind ever since against
another male one in red wig and yellow bottom; and they are
not on speaking terms, for a good many months past. Voltaire
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? CHAP. m. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 83
June--Sept. 1740.
has bis heart sore ("fen ai le emir perfe") about it, needs to
double-dose Maupertuis with flattery; and in fact has used the
utmost diplomacy to effect some varnish of a reconcilement as
Maupertuis passed on this occasion. As forKiinig, who had
studied in some Dutch university, he went by and by to be
Librarian to the Prince of Orange; and we shall not fail to
hear of him again, -- once more upon the infinitely little. *
Voltaire too, in his way, is fond of these mathematical
people; eager enough to fish for knowledge, here as in all ele-
ments, when he has the chance offered: this is much an inter-
est of his at present. And he does attain sound ideas, outlines
of ideas, in this province, -- though privately defective in the
due transcendency of admiration for it; -- was wont to discuss
cheerily with Konig, about vis viva, monads, gravitation and
the infinitely little; above all, bows to the ground before the
red-wigged Bashaw, Flattener of the Earth, whom for Ma-
dame's sake and his own he is anxious to be well with. "Pall
onyourfaee nine times,ye esoteric of only Impure Science! "--
intimates Maupertuis to mankind. "By all means! " answers
M. de Voltaire, doing it with alacrity; with a kind of loyalty,
one can perceive, and also with a hypocrisy grounded on love
of peace. If that is the nature of the Bashaw, and one's sole
mode of fishing knowledge from him, why not? thinks M. de
Voltaire. His patience with M. de Maupertuis, first and last,
was very great. But we shall find it explode at length, a dozen
years hence, in a conspicuous manner! --
"Maupertuis had come to us to Cirey, with Jean
"Bernouilli," says Voltaire; "and thenceforth Mau-
pertuis, who was born the most jealous of men, took
"me for the object of this passion, which has always
"been very dear to him. "** Husht, Monsieur! -- Here
is a poor rheumatic kind of Letter, which illustrates
the interim condition, after that varnish of reconcile-
ment at Brussels:
* Prom (Euvres de Voltaire, ii. 126, btxii. (20, 216, 230), lxiii. (229-239),
&c. fkc.
"Vie Privie.
6*
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? 84 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book xr.
June--Sept. 1740.
Voltaire to M. de Maupertuis (at Wesel, waiting for the King,
or with him rather).
"Brussels, 29th August f 1740), 3d year since
"Ike world flallcnetl.
"How the Devil, great Philosopher, would you have had
"me write to you at Wesel? I fancied you gone from Wesel,
"to seek the King of Sages on his Journey somewhere. I had
"understood, too, they were so delighted to have you in that
"fortified lodge (bmtge fortifie) that you must be taking
"pleasure there, for he that gives pleasure gets it.
"You have already seen the jolly Ambassador of the
"amiablest Monarch in the world," -- Camas, a fattish man,
on his road to Versailles (who called at Brussels here, with
fine compliments, and a keg of Hungary Wine, as you may
have heard whispered). "No doubt M. de Camas is with you.
"For my own share, I think it is after you that he is running
"at present. But in truth, at the hour while I say this, you
"are with the King;" -- a lucky guess; King did return to
Wesel this very day. "The Philosopher and the Prince
"perceive already that they are made for each other. You
"and M. Algarotti will say, Faciamus Tric tria tabernacula: as
"to me, I can only make duo tabernacula" -- profane Vol-
taire!
"Without doubt I would be with you if I were not at
"Brussels; butmy heart is with you all the same; and is the
"subject, all the same, of a King who is formed to reign over
"every thinking and feeling being. I do not despair that Ma-
"dame du Chatelet will find herself somewhere on your route:
"it will be a scene in a fairy tale; -- she will arrive with a
"sufficient reason" (as your Leibnitz says) "and with monads.
"She does not love you the less though she now believes the
"universe a, plenum, and has renounced the notion of void.
"Over her you have an ascendant which you will never lose.
"In fine, my dear Monsieur, I wish as ardently as she to
"embrace you the soonest possible. I recommend myself to
"your friendship in the Court, worthy of you, where you now
"are. " -- Tout a vous, somewhat rheumatic! *
1
* Voltaire, lxxii. p. 213.
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? CHAP. Hi. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 85
Jane-Sept. 1740.
Always an anxious almost tremulous desire to con-
ciliate this big glaring geometrical bully in red wig.
Through the sensitive transparent being of M. de
Voltaire, you may see that feeling almost painfully
busy in every Letter he writes to the Flattener of the
Earth.
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? 86 FRIEDKICH TAKES THE REINS IX HAN'D. [boOK XI.
2d-Uth Sept. 1740.
CHAPTEE IV.
voltaire's first interview with friedrich.
At Wesel, in the rear of all this travelling excite-
ment, Friedrich falls unwell; breaks down there into an
aguish feverish distemper, which, for several months
after, impeded his movements, would he have yielded
to it. He has much business on hand, too, -- some of
it of prickly nature just now; -- but is intent as ever
on seeing Voltaire, among the first things. Diligently
reading in the Voltaire-Friedrich Correspondence (which
is a sad jumble of misdates and opacities, in the com-
mon editions),* this of the aguish condition frequently
turns up; "Quartan ague," it seems; occasionally very
bad: but Friedrich struggles with it; will not be cheated
of any of his purposes by it.
He had a busy fortnight here; busier than we yet
imagine. Much employment there naturally is of the
usual Inspection sort; which fails in no quarter of his
Dominions, but which may be particularly important
here, in these disputed Berg-Julich Countries, when
the time of decision falls. How he does his Inspections
we know; -- and there are still weightier matters afoot
here, in a silent way, of which we shall have to speak
before long, and all the world will speak. Business
enough, parts of it grave and silent, going on, and the
* Preuss (the recent latest Editor, and the only well-informed one, as
we said) prints with accuracy; but cannot be read at all (in the sense of
understood) without other light.
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? chap. iv. ] voltaiue's first interview. 87
2d-llth Sept. 1740.
much that is public, miscellaneous, small: done, all of
it, in a rapid punctual precise manner; -- and always,
after the crowded day, some passages of Supper with
the Sages, to wind up with on melodious terms. A most
alert and miscellaneously busy young King, in spite of
the ague.
It was in these Cleve Countries, and now as pro-
bably as afterwards, that the light scene recorded in
Laveaux's poor History, and in all the Anecdote-Books,
transacted itself one day. Substance of the story is
true; though the details of it go all at random, --
somewhat to this effect:
"Inspecting his Finance Affairs, and questioning the
"parties interested, Friedrich notices a certain Convent in
"Cleve, which appears to have, payable from the Forest-dues,
"considerable revenues bequeathed by the old Dukes, 'for
"masses to be said on their behalf. ' He goes to look at the
"place; questions the Monks on this point, who are all drawn
"out, in two rows, and have broken into Te-Deum at sight of
"him: Husht! ' You still say those Masses, then? ' 'Certainly
"your Majesty! ' -- 'And what good does anybody get of
"them? ' 'Your Majesty, those old Sovereigns are to obtain
"Heavenly mercy by them, to be delivered out of Purgatory
"by them. ' -- 'Purgatory? It is a sore thing for the Forests,
"all this while! And they are not yet out, those poor souls,
"after so many hundred years of praying? ' Monks have a
"fatal apprehension, No. 'When will they be out, and the
"thing complete? ' Monks cannot say. 'Send me a courier
"whenever it is complete! ' sneers the King, and leaves them
"totheir re-jDeum. "*
* C. Hildebrandt's Modern Edition of the (mostly dubious) Anekdoten
tind Charakterzuije aus dem Leben Friedrichs des Grossen (and a very igno-
rant and careless Edition it is; 6volI. 12mo, Halberstadt, 1829), ii. 160;
Laveaux (whom we already cited), Vie de Fr&diric; &c. &c. Nicolafs Anek-
doten alone, which are not included in this Hildebrandt Collection, are of
sure authenticity; the rest, occasionally true, and often with a kind of
mylfiic truth in them worth attending to, are otherwise of all degrees of
dubiety, down to the palpably false and absurd.
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? 88 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
2d-llth Sept. 17i0.
Mournful state of the Catholic Religion so-called!
How long must these wretched Monks go on doing
their lazy thrice-deleterious torpid blasphemy; and a
King, not histrionic but real, merely signify that he
laughs at them and it? Meseems a heavier whip than
that of satire might be in place here, your Majesty?
The lighter whip is easier; -- Ah yes, undoubtedly!
cry many men. But horrible accounts are running up,
enough to sink the world at last, while the heavier
whip is lazily withheld, and lazy blasphemy, fallen
torpid, chronic, and quite unconscious of being blas-
phemous, insinuates itself into the very heart's-blood
of mankind! Patience, however; the heavy whip too
is coming, -- unless universal death be coming. King
Friedrich is not the man to wield such whip. Quite
other work is in store for King Friedrich; and Nature
will not, by any suggestion of that terrible task, put
him out in the one he has. He is nothing of a Luther,
of a Cromwell; can look upon fakeers praying by their
rotatory calabash, as a ludicrous platitude; and grin
delicately as above, with the approval of his wiser con-
temporaries. Speed to him on his own course!
What answer Friedrich found to his English pro-
posals, -- answer due here on the 24th from Captain
Dickens, -- I do not pointedly learn; but can judge
of it by Harrington's reply to that Despatch of Dickens's,
which entreated candour and open dealing towards his
Prussian Majesty. Harrington is at Herrenhausen,
still with the Britannic Majesty there; both of them
much at a loss about their Spanish War, and the French
and other aspects upon it; "Suppose his Prussian Ma-
jesty were to give himself to France against us! " We
will hope, not. Harrington's reply is to the effect,
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? chap, iv. ] voltaire's first interview. 89
2d-llt! i Sept. 17i0.
"Hum, drum: -- Berg and Jiilich, say you? Impos-
"sible to answer; minds not made up here: -- What
"will his Prussian Majesty do for us? " Not much, I
should guess, till something more categorical come
from you! His Prussian Majesty is careful not to
spoil anything by over-haste; but will wait and try
farther to the utmost, Whether England or France is
the likelier bargain for him.
Better still, the Prussian Majesty is intent to do
something for himself in that Berg-Jiilich matter: we
find him silently examining these Wesel localities for
a proper "Entrenched Camp," Camp say of 40,000,
against a certain contingency that may be looked for.
Camp which will much occupy the Gazetteers when
they get eye on it. This is one of the concerns he
silently attends to, on occasion, while riding about in
the Cleve Countries. Then there is another small
item of business, important to do well, which is now in
silence diligently getting under way at Wesel; which
also is of remarkable nature, and will astonish the
Gazetteer and Diplomatic circles.
This is the affair
with the Bishop of Liege, called also the Affair of
Herstal, which his Majesty has had privately laid up
in the corner of his mind, as a thing to be done during
this Excursion. Of which the reader shall hear anon,
to great lengths, -- were a certain small preliminary
matter, Voltaire's Arrival in these parts, once off our
hands.
Friedrich's First Meeting with Voltaire! These
other high things were once loud in the Gazetteer and
Diplomatic circles, and had no doubt they were the
World's History; and now they are sunk wholly to the
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? 90 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN IIAND. [book XI.
2d-llth Sept. 1740.
Nightmares, and all mortals have forgotten them, --
and it is such a task as seldom was to resuscitate the
least memory of them, on just cause of a Friedrich or
the like, so impatient are men of what is putrid and
extinct: -- and a quite unnoticed thing, Voltaire's
First Interview, all readers are on the alert for it, and
ready to demand of me impossibilities about it! Pa-
tience, readers. You shall see it, without and within,
in such light as there was, and form some actual notion
of it, if you will cooperate. From the circumambient
inanity of Old Newspapers, Historical shot-rubbish,
and unintelligible Correspondences, we sift out the
following particulars, of this First Meeting, or actual
Osculation of the Stars.
The Newspapers, though their eyes were not yet
of the Argus quality now familiar to us, have been in-
tent on Friedrich, during this Baireuth-Cleve Journey,
especially since that sudden eclipse of him at Stras-
burg lately; forming now one scheme of route for him,
now another; Newspapers, and even private friends,
being a good deal uncertain about his movements.
Rumour now ran, since his reappearance in the Cleve
Countries, that Friedrich meant to have a look at Hol-
land before going home. And that had, in fact, been
a notion or intention of Friedrich's. "Holland? We
could pass through Brussels on the way, and see Vol-
taire! " thought he.
In Brussels this was, of course, the rumour of ru-
mours. As Voltaire's Letters, visibly in a twitter, still
testify to us. King of Prussia coming! Madame du
Chatelet, the "Princess Tour" (that is, Tour-and-Taxis),
all manner of high Dames, are on the tiptoe. Princess
Tour hopes she shall lodge this unparalleled Prince in
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? chap, iv. ] voltaire's first interview. 91
2il-lHh Sept. mo.
her Palace: "You, Madame? " answers the Du Chatelet,
privately, with a toss of her head: "His Majesty, I
hope, belongs more to M. de Voltaire and me: he shall
lodge here, please Heaven! " Voltaire, i can observe,
has sublime hostelry arrangements chalked out for his
Majesty, in case he go to Paris; which he doesn't, as
we know. Voltaire is all on the alert, awake to the
great contingencies far and near; the Chatelet-Voltaire
breakfast-table, -- fancy it on those interesting morn-
ings, while the post comes round! *
Alas, in the first days of September, -- Friedrich's
Letter is dated ''Wesel, 2d" (and has the Stvasburg
Doggerel enclosed in it), -- the Brussels Postman de-
livers far other intelligence at one's door; very morti-
fying to Madame: "That his Majesty is fallen ill at
"Wesel; has an aguish fever hanging on him, and
"only hopes to come:" Vbila, Madame! -- Next Letter,
Wesel, Monday, 5th Sept. , is to the effect: "Do still
"much hope to come; tomorrow is my trembling day;
if that prove to be off! " -- Out upon it, that proves
not to be off; that is on: next Letter, Tuesday,
Sept. 6th, which comes by express (Courier dash-
ing up with it, say on the Thursday following) is, --
alas, Madame! -- here it is:
King Friedrich to M. de Voltaire at Brussels.
"Wesel, 6th Sept. 1740.
"My dear Voltaire, -- In spite of myself, I have to yield to
"the Quartan Fever, which is more tenacious than a Jansenist;
"and whatever desire I had of going to Antwerp and Brussels,
"I find myself not in a condition to undertake such a journey
"without risk. I would ask of you, then, if the road from
"Brussels to Cleve would not to you seem too long for a meet-
"ing; it is the one means of seeing you which remains to me.
'Voltaire, lxxli. 233-250 (Letters 22d August -- 22d September 1740).
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? 92 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
2d-llth Sept. 1740.
"Confess that I am unlucky: for now when I could dispose of
"my person, and nothing hinders me from seeing you, the
"fever gets its hand into the business, and seems to intend
"disputing me that satisfaction.
"Let us detfeive the fever, my dear Voltaire; and let me
"at least have the pleasure of embracing you. Make my best
"excuses" (polite, rather than sincere) "to Madame the Mar-
"guise, that I cannot have the satisfaction of seeing her at
"Brussels. All that are about me know the intention I was
"in; which certainly nothing but the fever could have made
"me change.
"Sunday next I shall be at a little Place near Cleve," --
Schloss of Moyland, which, and the route to which, this Cou-
rier can tell you of; -- "where I shall be able to possess you at
"my ease. If the sight of you don't cure me, I will send for a
"Confessor at once. Adieu; you know my sentiments and my
"heart. "* -- Fkdkhic.
After which the Correspondence suddenly extin-
guishes itself: ceases for about a fortnight, -- in the
bad misdated Editions even does worse; -- and we are
left to thick darkness, to our own poor shifts; Dryas-
dust being grandly silent on this small interest of ours.
What is to be done?
Particulars of First Interview, on severe Scrutiny.
Here, from a painful Predecessor whose Papers I
inherit, are some old Documents and Studies on the
subject, -- sorrowful collection, in fact, of what poor
sparks of certainty were to be found hovering in that
dark element; -- which do at last (so luminous are
certainties always, or "sparks" that will shine steady)
coalesce into some feeble general twilight, feeble but
indubitable; and even show the sympathetic reader
how they were searched out and brought together. We
number and label these poor Patches of Evidence on
so small a matter; and leave them to the curious:
* Prcus8,(Euiires de Frederic, ixii. 27.
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? chap, iv. ] voltairb's first interview. 93
llth Sept. 1740.
No. 1. Date of the First Interview. It is certain Voltaire
did arrive at the little Schloss of Moyland, Sept. llth, Sunday
night, -- which is the "Sunday" just specified in Priedrich's
Letter. Voltaire had at once decided on complying, -- what
else? -- and lost no time in packing himself: Kings Courier
on Thursday late; Voltaire on the road on Saturday early, or
the night before. With Madame's shrill blessing (not the
most musical in this vexing case), and plenty of fuss. "Was
wont to travel in considerable style," 1 am told; "the inn-
keepers calling him "Your Lordship (M. le Comte). '" Arrives,
sure enough, Sunday night; old Schloss of Moyland, six miles
fromCleve; "moonlight," I find, -- the Harvest Moon. Visit
lasted three days. *
No. 2. Voltaire's Drive thither. Schloss Moyland: How far
from Brussels, and by what route? ByLouvain, Tirlemont,
Tongres to Maestricht; then from Maestricht up the Maas
(left bank) to Venlo, where cross; through Geldern and Goch
to Cleve: between the Maas and Rhine this last portion. Flat
damp country; tolerably under tillage; original constituents
bog and sand. Distances I guess to be: To Tongres 60 miles
and odd; to Maestricht 12 or 15, from Maestricht 75; in all
150 miles English. Two days'driving? There is equinoctial
moon, and still above twelve hours of sunlight for "M. le
Comte. "
No. 3. Of the Place Where. Voltaire, who should have
known, calls it ll petit Chateau de Meuse;" which is a Castle
existing nowhere but in Dreams. Other French Biographers
are still more imaginary. The little Schloss of Moyland, --
by no means "Meuse," nor even Mors, which Voltaire pro-
bably means in saying Chateau tie Meuse, -- was, as the least
inquiry settles beyond question, the place where Voltaire and
Friedrich first met. Friedrich Wilhelm used often to lodge
there in his Cleve journeys: he made thither for shelter, in the
sickness that overtook him in friend Ginkel's house, coming
home from the Rhine Campaign in 1734; lay there for several
weeks after quitting Ginkel's. Any other light I can get upon
it, is darkness visible. Biisching pointedly informs me,**
"It is a Parish" (or patch of country under one priest), "and
"Till and it are a Jurisdiction" (pair of patches under one
* Rodenbcck, p. 21: Preuss, &c. &c.
'* Kritbeschrcibung, v. GGO, G77.
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? 04 FEIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
llth-14th Sept. 1740.
court of justice): -- which does not much illuminate the in-
quiring mind. Small patch, this of Moyland, size not given;
"was bought," says he, "in 1695, by Friedrich afterwards
"First King, from the Family of Spaen," -- we once knew a
Lieutenant Spaen, of those Dutch regions, -- "and was named
a Royal Mansion ever thereafter. " Who lived in it; what
kind of thing was it, is it? Altum silentium, from Biisching and
mankind. Belonged to the Spaens, fifty years ago; -- some
shadow of our poor banished friend the Lieutenant resting on
it? Dim enough old Mansion, with "court" to it, with modi-
cum of equipment; lying there in the moonlight; -- did not
look sublime to Voltaire on stepping out. So that all our
knowledge reduces itself to this one point: of finding Moyland
in the Map, with date, with reminiscence to us, hanging by it
henceforth! Good. *
Mors, -- which is near the Town of Ruhrort, about mid-
way between Wesel and Dusseldorf, -- must be some forty
miles fromMoyland, forty-five from Cleve; southward of both.
So that the place, "a deux liev. es deCleves" is, even by Vol-
taire's showing, this Moyland; were there otherwise any doubt
upon it. "Chateau de Meuse," -- hanging out a prospect of
Mors to us, -- is bad usage to readers. Of an intelligent man,
not to say a Trismegistus of men; one expects he will know in
what town he is, after three days' experience, as here. But he
does not always; he hangs out a mere "shadow of Mors by
"moonlight," till we learn better. Duvernet, his Biographer,
even calls it "Sleus-Meuse;" some wonderful idea of Sluices
and a River attached to it, in Duvernet's head! **
What Voltaire thought of. the Interview Twenty Years
afterwards.
Of the Interview itself, with general bird's-eye
view of the Visit combined (in a very incorrect stated-
there is direct testimony by Voltaire himself. Voltaire
* Stieler's Deutachltind (excellent Map in 25 Pieces), Piece 12. -- Till
is a mile or two north-east from Moyland; Moyland about 5 or 6 south-
east from Cleve
"Duvernet (2d form of him, -- that is, Vie de Voltaire par T. J. D. V. ),
p. 117.
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? CHAP. IV. ] voltairk's first interview. 95
Uth-14tti Sept. 1740.
himself, twenty years after, in far other humour, all
jarred into angry sarcasm, for causes we shall see by
and by, -- Voltaire, at the request of friends, writes
down, as his Friedrich Reminiscences, that scandalous
Vie Prive'e above spoken of, a most sad Document; and
this is the passage referring to "the little Place in the
neighbourhood of Cleve," where Friedrich now waited
for him: errors corrected by our laborious Friend.
After quoting something of that Strasburg Doggerel,
the whole of which is now too well known to us, Vol-
taire proceeds:
"From Strasburg he," King Friedrich, "went to see his
"Lower German Provinces; he said he would come and see
"me incognito at Brussels. We prepared a fine house for
him," -- were ready to prepare such hired house as we had for
him, with many apologies for its slight degree of perfection
(error first), -- "but having fallen ill in the little Mansion-
"Royal of'Meuse (Chateau <ie Meuse), a couple of leagues from
"Cleve," -- fell ill at Wesel; and there is no Chateau de
Meuse in the world (errors 2d and 3d), -- "he wrote to me that
"he expected I would make the advances. I went, accord-
ingly, to present my profound homages. Maupertuis, who
"already had his views, and was possessed with the rage of
"being President to an Academy, had of his own accord," --
no, being invited, and at my suggestion (error 4/7i),-- "pre-
sented himself there; and was lodged with Algarotti and
"Keyserling" (which latter, I suppose, had come from Berlin,
not being of the Strasburg party, he) "in a garret of this
"Palace.
"At the door of the court, I found, by way of guard, one
"soldier. Privy-Councillor Rambonet, Minister of State " --
(very subaltern man; never heard of him except in the Herstal
Business, and here) "-- was walking in the court; blowing in
"his fingers to keep them warm. " Sunday night, 11th Sep-
tember 1740; world all bathed in moonshine; and mortals
mostly shrunk into their huts, out of the raw air. "He" Bam-
bonet "wore big linen ruffles at his wrists, "very dirty"
(visibly so in the moonlight? Error 5th extends ad libitum
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? 9G PRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [bOOK XI.
bon gart;on, Voltaire says; though otherwise, I think, a little
noisy on occasion. There has been no end of Madame's kind-
ness to him, nay to his Brother and him, -- sons of a Theolo-
fical Professorial Syriac-Hebrew kind of man at Berne who
as too many sons; and I grieve to report that this heedless
Konig has produced an explosion in Madame's feelings, such
as little beseemed him. On the road to Paris, namely, as we
drove hitherward to the Honsbruck Lawsuit by way of Paris,
in Autumn last, there had fallen out some dispute, about the
monads, the vis viva, the infinitely little, between Madame
and Konig; dispute which rose crescendo in disharmonious
duet, and "ended," testifies M. de Voltaire, "in a scene trh
desagreable. " Madame, with an effort, forgave the thoughtless
fellow, who is still rather young, and is without malice. But
thoughtless Konig, strong in his opinion about the infinitely
little, appealed to Maupertuis: "Am not I right, Monsieur? "
uHe is right beyond question! " wrote Maupertuis to Madame;
"somewhat drily," thinks Voltaire: and the result is, there is
considerable rage in one celestial mind ever since against
another male one in red wig and yellow bottom; and they are
not on speaking terms, for a good many months past. Voltaire
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? CHAP. m. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 83
June--Sept. 1740.
has bis heart sore ("fen ai le emir perfe") about it, needs to
double-dose Maupertuis with flattery; and in fact has used the
utmost diplomacy to effect some varnish of a reconcilement as
Maupertuis passed on this occasion. As forKiinig, who had
studied in some Dutch university, he went by and by to be
Librarian to the Prince of Orange; and we shall not fail to
hear of him again, -- once more upon the infinitely little. *
Voltaire too, in his way, is fond of these mathematical
people; eager enough to fish for knowledge, here as in all ele-
ments, when he has the chance offered: this is much an inter-
est of his at present. And he does attain sound ideas, outlines
of ideas, in this province, -- though privately defective in the
due transcendency of admiration for it; -- was wont to discuss
cheerily with Konig, about vis viva, monads, gravitation and
the infinitely little; above all, bows to the ground before the
red-wigged Bashaw, Flattener of the Earth, whom for Ma-
dame's sake and his own he is anxious to be well with. "Pall
onyourfaee nine times,ye esoteric of only Impure Science! "--
intimates Maupertuis to mankind. "By all means! " answers
M. de Voltaire, doing it with alacrity; with a kind of loyalty,
one can perceive, and also with a hypocrisy grounded on love
of peace. If that is the nature of the Bashaw, and one's sole
mode of fishing knowledge from him, why not? thinks M. de
Voltaire. His patience with M. de Maupertuis, first and last,
was very great. But we shall find it explode at length, a dozen
years hence, in a conspicuous manner! --
"Maupertuis had come to us to Cirey, with Jean
"Bernouilli," says Voltaire; "and thenceforth Mau-
pertuis, who was born the most jealous of men, took
"me for the object of this passion, which has always
"been very dear to him. "** Husht, Monsieur! -- Here
is a poor rheumatic kind of Letter, which illustrates
the interim condition, after that varnish of reconcile-
ment at Brussels:
* Prom (Euvres de Voltaire, ii. 126, btxii. (20, 216, 230), lxiii. (229-239),
&c. fkc.
"Vie Privie.
6*
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? 84 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book xr.
June--Sept. 1740.
Voltaire to M. de Maupertuis (at Wesel, waiting for the King,
or with him rather).
"Brussels, 29th August f 1740), 3d year since
"Ike world flallcnetl.
"How the Devil, great Philosopher, would you have had
"me write to you at Wesel? I fancied you gone from Wesel,
"to seek the King of Sages on his Journey somewhere. I had
"understood, too, they were so delighted to have you in that
"fortified lodge (bmtge fortifie) that you must be taking
"pleasure there, for he that gives pleasure gets it.
"You have already seen the jolly Ambassador of the
"amiablest Monarch in the world," -- Camas, a fattish man,
on his road to Versailles (who called at Brussels here, with
fine compliments, and a keg of Hungary Wine, as you may
have heard whispered). "No doubt M. de Camas is with you.
"For my own share, I think it is after you that he is running
"at present. But in truth, at the hour while I say this, you
"are with the King;" -- a lucky guess; King did return to
Wesel this very day. "The Philosopher and the Prince
"perceive already that they are made for each other. You
"and M. Algarotti will say, Faciamus Tric tria tabernacula: as
"to me, I can only make duo tabernacula" -- profane Vol-
taire!
"Without doubt I would be with you if I were not at
"Brussels; butmy heart is with you all the same; and is the
"subject, all the same, of a King who is formed to reign over
"every thinking and feeling being. I do not despair that Ma-
"dame du Chatelet will find herself somewhere on your route:
"it will be a scene in a fairy tale; -- she will arrive with a
"sufficient reason" (as your Leibnitz says) "and with monads.
"She does not love you the less though she now believes the
"universe a, plenum, and has renounced the notion of void.
"Over her you have an ascendant which you will never lose.
"In fine, my dear Monsieur, I wish as ardently as she to
"embrace you the soonest possible. I recommend myself to
"your friendship in the Court, worthy of you, where you now
"are. " -- Tout a vous, somewhat rheumatic! *
1
* Voltaire, lxxii. p. 213.
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? CHAP. Hi. ] EXCURSION TO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. 85
Jane-Sept. 1740.
Always an anxious almost tremulous desire to con-
ciliate this big glaring geometrical bully in red wig.
Through the sensitive transparent being of M. de
Voltaire, you may see that feeling almost painfully
busy in every Letter he writes to the Flattener of the
Earth.
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? 86 FRIEDKICH TAKES THE REINS IX HAN'D. [boOK XI.
2d-Uth Sept. 1740.
CHAPTEE IV.
voltaire's first interview with friedrich.
At Wesel, in the rear of all this travelling excite-
ment, Friedrich falls unwell; breaks down there into an
aguish feverish distemper, which, for several months
after, impeded his movements, would he have yielded
to it. He has much business on hand, too, -- some of
it of prickly nature just now; -- but is intent as ever
on seeing Voltaire, among the first things. Diligently
reading in the Voltaire-Friedrich Correspondence (which
is a sad jumble of misdates and opacities, in the com-
mon editions),* this of the aguish condition frequently
turns up; "Quartan ague," it seems; occasionally very
bad: but Friedrich struggles with it; will not be cheated
of any of his purposes by it.
He had a busy fortnight here; busier than we yet
imagine. Much employment there naturally is of the
usual Inspection sort; which fails in no quarter of his
Dominions, but which may be particularly important
here, in these disputed Berg-Julich Countries, when
the time of decision falls. How he does his Inspections
we know; -- and there are still weightier matters afoot
here, in a silent way, of which we shall have to speak
before long, and all the world will speak. Business
enough, parts of it grave and silent, going on, and the
* Preuss (the recent latest Editor, and the only well-informed one, as
we said) prints with accuracy; but cannot be read at all (in the sense of
understood) without other light.
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? chap. iv. ] voltaiue's first interview. 87
2d-llth Sept. 1740.
much that is public, miscellaneous, small: done, all of
it, in a rapid punctual precise manner; -- and always,
after the crowded day, some passages of Supper with
the Sages, to wind up with on melodious terms. A most
alert and miscellaneously busy young King, in spite of
the ague.
It was in these Cleve Countries, and now as pro-
bably as afterwards, that the light scene recorded in
Laveaux's poor History, and in all the Anecdote-Books,
transacted itself one day. Substance of the story is
true; though the details of it go all at random, --
somewhat to this effect:
"Inspecting his Finance Affairs, and questioning the
"parties interested, Friedrich notices a certain Convent in
"Cleve, which appears to have, payable from the Forest-dues,
"considerable revenues bequeathed by the old Dukes, 'for
"masses to be said on their behalf. ' He goes to look at the
"place; questions the Monks on this point, who are all drawn
"out, in two rows, and have broken into Te-Deum at sight of
"him: Husht! ' You still say those Masses, then? ' 'Certainly
"your Majesty! ' -- 'And what good does anybody get of
"them? ' 'Your Majesty, those old Sovereigns are to obtain
"Heavenly mercy by them, to be delivered out of Purgatory
"by them. ' -- 'Purgatory? It is a sore thing for the Forests,
"all this while! And they are not yet out, those poor souls,
"after so many hundred years of praying? ' Monks have a
"fatal apprehension, No. 'When will they be out, and the
"thing complete? ' Monks cannot say. 'Send me a courier
"whenever it is complete! ' sneers the King, and leaves them
"totheir re-jDeum. "*
* C. Hildebrandt's Modern Edition of the (mostly dubious) Anekdoten
tind Charakterzuije aus dem Leben Friedrichs des Grossen (and a very igno-
rant and careless Edition it is; 6volI. 12mo, Halberstadt, 1829), ii. 160;
Laveaux (whom we already cited), Vie de Fr&diric; &c. &c. Nicolafs Anek-
doten alone, which are not included in this Hildebrandt Collection, are of
sure authenticity; the rest, occasionally true, and often with a kind of
mylfiic truth in them worth attending to, are otherwise of all degrees of
dubiety, down to the palpably false and absurd.
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? 88 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
2d-llth Sept. 17i0.
Mournful state of the Catholic Religion so-called!
How long must these wretched Monks go on doing
their lazy thrice-deleterious torpid blasphemy; and a
King, not histrionic but real, merely signify that he
laughs at them and it? Meseems a heavier whip than
that of satire might be in place here, your Majesty?
The lighter whip is easier; -- Ah yes, undoubtedly!
cry many men. But horrible accounts are running up,
enough to sink the world at last, while the heavier
whip is lazily withheld, and lazy blasphemy, fallen
torpid, chronic, and quite unconscious of being blas-
phemous, insinuates itself into the very heart's-blood
of mankind! Patience, however; the heavy whip too
is coming, -- unless universal death be coming. King
Friedrich is not the man to wield such whip. Quite
other work is in store for King Friedrich; and Nature
will not, by any suggestion of that terrible task, put
him out in the one he has. He is nothing of a Luther,
of a Cromwell; can look upon fakeers praying by their
rotatory calabash, as a ludicrous platitude; and grin
delicately as above, with the approval of his wiser con-
temporaries. Speed to him on his own course!
What answer Friedrich found to his English pro-
posals, -- answer due here on the 24th from Captain
Dickens, -- I do not pointedly learn; but can judge
of it by Harrington's reply to that Despatch of Dickens's,
which entreated candour and open dealing towards his
Prussian Majesty. Harrington is at Herrenhausen,
still with the Britannic Majesty there; both of them
much at a loss about their Spanish War, and the French
and other aspects upon it; "Suppose his Prussian Ma-
jesty were to give himself to France against us! " We
will hope, not. Harrington's reply is to the effect,
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? chap, iv. ] voltaire's first interview. 89
2d-llt! i Sept. 17i0.
"Hum, drum: -- Berg and Jiilich, say you? Impos-
"sible to answer; minds not made up here: -- What
"will his Prussian Majesty do for us? " Not much, I
should guess, till something more categorical come
from you! His Prussian Majesty is careful not to
spoil anything by over-haste; but will wait and try
farther to the utmost, Whether England or France is
the likelier bargain for him.
Better still, the Prussian Majesty is intent to do
something for himself in that Berg-Jiilich matter: we
find him silently examining these Wesel localities for
a proper "Entrenched Camp," Camp say of 40,000,
against a certain contingency that may be looked for.
Camp which will much occupy the Gazetteers when
they get eye on it. This is one of the concerns he
silently attends to, on occasion, while riding about in
the Cleve Countries. Then there is another small
item of business, important to do well, which is now in
silence diligently getting under way at Wesel; which
also is of remarkable nature, and will astonish the
Gazetteer and Diplomatic circles.
This is the affair
with the Bishop of Liege, called also the Affair of
Herstal, which his Majesty has had privately laid up
in the corner of his mind, as a thing to be done during
this Excursion. Of which the reader shall hear anon,
to great lengths, -- were a certain small preliminary
matter, Voltaire's Arrival in these parts, once off our
hands.
Friedrich's First Meeting with Voltaire! These
other high things were once loud in the Gazetteer and
Diplomatic circles, and had no doubt they were the
World's History; and now they are sunk wholly to the
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? 90 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN IIAND. [book XI.
2d-llth Sept. 1740.
Nightmares, and all mortals have forgotten them, --
and it is such a task as seldom was to resuscitate the
least memory of them, on just cause of a Friedrich or
the like, so impatient are men of what is putrid and
extinct: -- and a quite unnoticed thing, Voltaire's
First Interview, all readers are on the alert for it, and
ready to demand of me impossibilities about it! Pa-
tience, readers. You shall see it, without and within,
in such light as there was, and form some actual notion
of it, if you will cooperate. From the circumambient
inanity of Old Newspapers, Historical shot-rubbish,
and unintelligible Correspondences, we sift out the
following particulars, of this First Meeting, or actual
Osculation of the Stars.
The Newspapers, though their eyes were not yet
of the Argus quality now familiar to us, have been in-
tent on Friedrich, during this Baireuth-Cleve Journey,
especially since that sudden eclipse of him at Stras-
burg lately; forming now one scheme of route for him,
now another; Newspapers, and even private friends,
being a good deal uncertain about his movements.
Rumour now ran, since his reappearance in the Cleve
Countries, that Friedrich meant to have a look at Hol-
land before going home. And that had, in fact, been
a notion or intention of Friedrich's. "Holland? We
could pass through Brussels on the way, and see Vol-
taire! " thought he.
In Brussels this was, of course, the rumour of ru-
mours. As Voltaire's Letters, visibly in a twitter, still
testify to us. King of Prussia coming! Madame du
Chatelet, the "Princess Tour" (that is, Tour-and-Taxis),
all manner of high Dames, are on the tiptoe. Princess
Tour hopes she shall lodge this unparalleled Prince in
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? chap, iv. ] voltaire's first interview. 91
2il-lHh Sept. mo.
her Palace: "You, Madame? " answers the Du Chatelet,
privately, with a toss of her head: "His Majesty, I
hope, belongs more to M. de Voltaire and me: he shall
lodge here, please Heaven! " Voltaire, i can observe,
has sublime hostelry arrangements chalked out for his
Majesty, in case he go to Paris; which he doesn't, as
we know. Voltaire is all on the alert, awake to the
great contingencies far and near; the Chatelet-Voltaire
breakfast-table, -- fancy it on those interesting morn-
ings, while the post comes round! *
Alas, in the first days of September, -- Friedrich's
Letter is dated ''Wesel, 2d" (and has the Stvasburg
Doggerel enclosed in it), -- the Brussels Postman de-
livers far other intelligence at one's door; very morti-
fying to Madame: "That his Majesty is fallen ill at
"Wesel; has an aguish fever hanging on him, and
"only hopes to come:" Vbila, Madame! -- Next Letter,
Wesel, Monday, 5th Sept. , is to the effect: "Do still
"much hope to come; tomorrow is my trembling day;
if that prove to be off! " -- Out upon it, that proves
not to be off; that is on: next Letter, Tuesday,
Sept. 6th, which comes by express (Courier dash-
ing up with it, say on the Thursday following) is, --
alas, Madame! -- here it is:
King Friedrich to M. de Voltaire at Brussels.
"Wesel, 6th Sept. 1740.
"My dear Voltaire, -- In spite of myself, I have to yield to
"the Quartan Fever, which is more tenacious than a Jansenist;
"and whatever desire I had of going to Antwerp and Brussels,
"I find myself not in a condition to undertake such a journey
"without risk. I would ask of you, then, if the road from
"Brussels to Cleve would not to you seem too long for a meet-
"ing; it is the one means of seeing you which remains to me.
'Voltaire, lxxli. 233-250 (Letters 22d August -- 22d September 1740).
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? 92 FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
2d-llth Sept. 1740.
"Confess that I am unlucky: for now when I could dispose of
"my person, and nothing hinders me from seeing you, the
"fever gets its hand into the business, and seems to intend
"disputing me that satisfaction.
"Let us detfeive the fever, my dear Voltaire; and let me
"at least have the pleasure of embracing you. Make my best
"excuses" (polite, rather than sincere) "to Madame the Mar-
"guise, that I cannot have the satisfaction of seeing her at
"Brussels. All that are about me know the intention I was
"in; which certainly nothing but the fever could have made
"me change.
"Sunday next I shall be at a little Place near Cleve," --
Schloss of Moyland, which, and the route to which, this Cou-
rier can tell you of; -- "where I shall be able to possess you at
"my ease. If the sight of you don't cure me, I will send for a
"Confessor at once. Adieu; you know my sentiments and my
"heart. "* -- Fkdkhic.
After which the Correspondence suddenly extin-
guishes itself: ceases for about a fortnight, -- in the
bad misdated Editions even does worse; -- and we are
left to thick darkness, to our own poor shifts; Dryas-
dust being grandly silent on this small interest of ours.
What is to be done?
Particulars of First Interview, on severe Scrutiny.
Here, from a painful Predecessor whose Papers I
inherit, are some old Documents and Studies on the
subject, -- sorrowful collection, in fact, of what poor
sparks of certainty were to be found hovering in that
dark element; -- which do at last (so luminous are
certainties always, or "sparks" that will shine steady)
coalesce into some feeble general twilight, feeble but
indubitable; and even show the sympathetic reader
how they were searched out and brought together. We
number and label these poor Patches of Evidence on
so small a matter; and leave them to the curious:
* Prcus8,(Euiires de Frederic, ixii. 27.
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? chap, iv. ] voltairb's first interview. 93
llth Sept. 1740.
No. 1. Date of the First Interview. It is certain Voltaire
did arrive at the little Schloss of Moyland, Sept. llth, Sunday
night, -- which is the "Sunday" just specified in Priedrich's
Letter. Voltaire had at once decided on complying, -- what
else? -- and lost no time in packing himself: Kings Courier
on Thursday late; Voltaire on the road on Saturday early, or
the night before. With Madame's shrill blessing (not the
most musical in this vexing case), and plenty of fuss. "Was
wont to travel in considerable style," 1 am told; "the inn-
keepers calling him "Your Lordship (M. le Comte). '" Arrives,
sure enough, Sunday night; old Schloss of Moyland, six miles
fromCleve; "moonlight," I find, -- the Harvest Moon. Visit
lasted three days. *
No. 2. Voltaire's Drive thither. Schloss Moyland: How far
from Brussels, and by what route? ByLouvain, Tirlemont,
Tongres to Maestricht; then from Maestricht up the Maas
(left bank) to Venlo, where cross; through Geldern and Goch
to Cleve: between the Maas and Rhine this last portion. Flat
damp country; tolerably under tillage; original constituents
bog and sand. Distances I guess to be: To Tongres 60 miles
and odd; to Maestricht 12 or 15, from Maestricht 75; in all
150 miles English. Two days'driving? There is equinoctial
moon, and still above twelve hours of sunlight for "M. le
Comte. "
No. 3. Of the Place Where. Voltaire, who should have
known, calls it ll petit Chateau de Meuse;" which is a Castle
existing nowhere but in Dreams. Other French Biographers
are still more imaginary. The little Schloss of Moyland, --
by no means "Meuse," nor even Mors, which Voltaire pro-
bably means in saying Chateau tie Meuse, -- was, as the least
inquiry settles beyond question, the place where Voltaire and
Friedrich first met. Friedrich Wilhelm used often to lodge
there in his Cleve journeys: he made thither for shelter, in the
sickness that overtook him in friend Ginkel's house, coming
home from the Rhine Campaign in 1734; lay there for several
weeks after quitting Ginkel's. Any other light I can get upon
it, is darkness visible. Biisching pointedly informs me,**
"It is a Parish" (or patch of country under one priest), "and
"Till and it are a Jurisdiction" (pair of patches under one
* Rodenbcck, p. 21: Preuss, &c. &c.
'* Kritbeschrcibung, v. GGO, G77.
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? 04 FEIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [book XI.
llth-14th Sept. 1740.
court of justice): -- which does not much illuminate the in-
quiring mind. Small patch, this of Moyland, size not given;
"was bought," says he, "in 1695, by Friedrich afterwards
"First King, from the Family of Spaen," -- we once knew a
Lieutenant Spaen, of those Dutch regions, -- "and was named
a Royal Mansion ever thereafter. " Who lived in it; what
kind of thing was it, is it? Altum silentium, from Biisching and
mankind. Belonged to the Spaens, fifty years ago; -- some
shadow of our poor banished friend the Lieutenant resting on
it? Dim enough old Mansion, with "court" to it, with modi-
cum of equipment; lying there in the moonlight; -- did not
look sublime to Voltaire on stepping out. So that all our
knowledge reduces itself to this one point: of finding Moyland
in the Map, with date, with reminiscence to us, hanging by it
henceforth! Good. *
Mors, -- which is near the Town of Ruhrort, about mid-
way between Wesel and Dusseldorf, -- must be some forty
miles fromMoyland, forty-five from Cleve; southward of both.
So that the place, "a deux liev. es deCleves" is, even by Vol-
taire's showing, this Moyland; were there otherwise any doubt
upon it. "Chateau de Meuse," -- hanging out a prospect of
Mors to us, -- is bad usage to readers. Of an intelligent man,
not to say a Trismegistus of men; one expects he will know in
what town he is, after three days' experience, as here. But he
does not always; he hangs out a mere "shadow of Mors by
"moonlight," till we learn better. Duvernet, his Biographer,
even calls it "Sleus-Meuse;" some wonderful idea of Sluices
and a River attached to it, in Duvernet's head! **
What Voltaire thought of. the Interview Twenty Years
afterwards.
Of the Interview itself, with general bird's-eye
view of the Visit combined (in a very incorrect stated-
there is direct testimony by Voltaire himself. Voltaire
* Stieler's Deutachltind (excellent Map in 25 Pieces), Piece 12. -- Till
is a mile or two north-east from Moyland; Moyland about 5 or 6 south-
east from Cleve
"Duvernet (2d form of him, -- that is, Vie de Voltaire par T. J. D. V. ),
p. 117.
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijk Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? CHAP. IV. ] voltairk's first interview. 95
Uth-14tti Sept. 1740.
himself, twenty years after, in far other humour, all
jarred into angry sarcasm, for causes we shall see by
and by, -- Voltaire, at the request of friends, writes
down, as his Friedrich Reminiscences, that scandalous
Vie Prive'e above spoken of, a most sad Document; and
this is the passage referring to "the little Place in the
neighbourhood of Cleve," where Friedrich now waited
for him: errors corrected by our laborious Friend.
After quoting something of that Strasburg Doggerel,
the whole of which is now too well known to us, Vol-
taire proceeds:
"From Strasburg he," King Friedrich, "went to see his
"Lower German Provinces; he said he would come and see
"me incognito at Brussels. We prepared a fine house for
him," -- were ready to prepare such hired house as we had for
him, with many apologies for its slight degree of perfection
(error first), -- "but having fallen ill in the little Mansion-
"Royal of'Meuse (Chateau <ie Meuse), a couple of leagues from
"Cleve," -- fell ill at Wesel; and there is no Chateau de
Meuse in the world (errors 2d and 3d), -- "he wrote to me that
"he expected I would make the advances. I went, accord-
ingly, to present my profound homages. Maupertuis, who
"already had his views, and was possessed with the rage of
"being President to an Academy, had of his own accord," --
no, being invited, and at my suggestion (error 4/7i),-- "pre-
sented himself there; and was lodged with Algarotti and
"Keyserling" (which latter, I suppose, had come from Berlin,
not being of the Strasburg party, he) "in a garret of this
"Palace.
"At the door of the court, I found, by way of guard, one
"soldier. Privy-Councillor Rambonet, Minister of State " --
(very subaltern man; never heard of him except in the Herstal
Business, and here) "-- was walking in the court; blowing in
"his fingers to keep them warm. " Sunday night, 11th Sep-
tember 1740; world all bathed in moonshine; and mortals
mostly shrunk into their huts, out of the raw air. "He" Bam-
bonet "wore big linen ruffles at his wrists, "very dirty"
(visibly so in the moonlight? Error 5th extends ad libitum
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-11-14 09:22 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hwiijk Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 9G PRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. [bOOK XI.
