HumanitiesWeb.org - History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great (Chapter VI. - Voltaire Visits Friedrich for the Fourth Time.) by Thomas Carlyle
History of Friedrich II of Prussia - Frederick the Great Chapter VI. - Voltaire Visits Friedrich for the Fourth Time.
by Thomas Carlyle
In the last days of August, there appears at Berlin M. de Voltaire,
on his Fourth Visit:--thrice and four times welcome; though this
time, privately, in a somewhat unexpected capacity. Come to try his
hand in the diplomatic line; to sound Friedrich a little, on behalf
of the distressed French Ministry. That, very privately indeed, is
Voltaire's errand at present; and great hopes hang by it for
Voltaire, if he prove adroit enough.
Poor man, it had turned out he could not get his Academy Diploma,
after all,--owing again to intricacies and heterodoxies. King Louis
was at first willing, indifferent; nay the Chateauroux was willing:
but orthodox parties persuaded his Majesty; wicked Maurepas (the
same who lasted till the Revolution time) set his face against it;
Maurepas, and ANC. de Mirepoix (whom they wittily call "ANE" or Ass
of Mirepoix, that sour opaque creature, lately monk), were
industrious exceedingly; and put veto on Voltaire. A stupid Bishop
was preferred to him for filling up the Forty. Two Bishops
magnanimously refused; but one was found with ambitious stupidity
enough: Voltaire, for the third time, failed in this small matter,
to him great. Nay, in spite of that kiss in MEROPE, he could not
get his MORT DE CESAR acted; cabals rising; ANCIEN de Mirepoix
rising; Orthodoxy, sour Opacity prevailing again. To Madame and him
(though finely caressed in the Parisian circles) these were
provoking months;--enough to make a man forswear Literature, and
try some other Jacob's-Ladder in this world. Which Voltaire had
actual thoughts of, now and then. We may ask, Are these things of a
nature to create love of the Hierarchy in M. de Voltaire?
"Your Academy is going to be a Seminary of Priests," says
Friedrich. The lynx-eyed animal,--anxiously asking itself,
"Whitherward, then, out of such a mess?"--walks warily about, with
its paws of velvet; but has, IN POSSE, claws under them, for
certain individuals and fraternities.
Nor, alas, is the Du Chatelet relation itself so celestial as it
once was. Madame has discovered, think only with what feelings,
that this great man does not love her as formerly! The great man
denies, ready to deny on the Gospels, to her and to himself;
and yet, at bottom, if we read with the microscope, there are
symptoms, and it is not deniable. How should it? Leafy May, hot
June, by degrees comes October, sere, yellow; and at last, a quite
leafless condition,--not Favonius, but gray Northeast, with its
hail-storms (jealousies, barren cankered gusts), your main wind
blowing. "EMILIE FAIT DE L'ALGEBRE," sneers he once, in an
inadvertent moment, to some Lady-friend: "Emilie doing? Emilie is
doing Algebra; that is Emilie's employment,--which will be of great
use to her in the affairs of Life, and of great charm in Society."
[Letter of Voltaire "To Madame Chambonin," end of 1742
( OEuvres, Edition in 40 vols., Paris, 1818,
xxxii. 148);--is MISSED in the later Edition (97 vols., Paris,
1837), to which our habitual reference is.] Voltaire (if you read
with the microscope) has, on this side also, thoughts of being off.
"Off on this side?" Madame flies mad, becomes Megaera, at the
mention or suspicion of it! A jealous, high-tempered Algebraic
Lady. They have had to tell her of this secret Mission to Berlin;
and she insists on being the conduit, all the papers to pass
through her hands here at Paris, during the great man's absence.
Fixed northeast; that is, to appearance, the domestic wind blowing!
And I rather judge, the great man is glad to get away for a time.
This Quasi-Diplomatic Speculation, one perceives, is much more
serious, on the part both of Voltaire and of the Ministry, than any
of the former had been. And, on Voltaire's part, there glitter
prospects now and then of something positively Diplomatic, of a
real career in that kind, lying ahead for him. Fond hopes these!
But among the new Ministers, since Fleury's death, are Amelot, the
D'Argensons, personal friends, old school-fellows of the poor
hunted man, who are willing he should have shelter from such a
pack; and all French Ministers, clutching at every floating spar,
in this their general shipwreck in Germany, are aware of the uses
there might be in him, in such crisis. "Knows Friedrich;
might perhaps have some power in persuading him,--power in spying
him at any rate. Unless Friedrich do step forward again, what is to
become of us!"--The mutual hintings, negotiatings, express
interviews, bargainings and secret-instructions, dimly traceable in
Voltaire's LETTERS, had been going on perhaps since May last, time
of those ACADEMY failures, of those Broglio Despatches from the
Donau Countries, "No staying here, your Majesty!"--and I think it
was, in fact, about the time when Broglio blew up like gunpowder
and tumbled home on the winds, that Voltaire set out on his
mission. "Visit to Friedrich," they call it;--"invitation" from
Friedrich there is, or can, on the first hint, at any point of the
Journey be.
Voltaire has lingered long on the road; left Paris, middle of June;
[His Letters ( OEuvres, lxxiii. 42, 48).] but
has been exceedingly exerting himself, in the Hague, at Brussels,
and wherever else present, in the way of forwarding his errand,
Spying, contriving, persuading; corresponding to right and left,--
corresponding, especially much, with the King of Prussia himself,
and then with "M. Amelot, Secretary of State," to report progress
to the best advantage. There are curious elucidative sparks, in
those Voltaire Letters, chaotic as they are; small sparks,
elucidative, confirmatory of your dull History Books, and adding
traits, here and there, to the Image you have formed from them.
Yielding you a poor momentary comfort; like reading some riddle of
no use; like light got incidentally, by rubbing dark upon dark (say
Voltaire flint upon Dryasdust gritstone), in those labyrinthic
catacombs, if you are doomed to travel there. A mere weariness,
otherwise, to the outside reader, hurrying forward,--to the light
French Editor, who can pass comfortably on wings or balloons!
[ OEuvres, lxxiii. pp. 40-138. Clogenson, a
Dane (whose Notes, signed "Clog.," are in all tolerable recent
Editions), has, alone among the Commentators of Voltaire's LETTERS,
made some real attempt towards explaining the many passages that
are fallen unintelligible. "Clog.," travelling on foot, with his
eyes open, is--especially on German-History points--incomparable
and unique, among his French comrades going by balloon; and drops a
rational or half-rational hint now and then, which is meritoriously
helpful. Unhappily he is by no means well-read in that German
matter, by no means always exact; nor indeed ever quite to be
trusted without trial had.] Voltaire's assiduous finessings with
the Hague Diplomatist People, or with their Secretaries if
bribable; nay, with the Dutch Government itself ("through channels
which I have opened,"--with infinitesimally small result); his
spyings ("young Podewils," Minister here, Nephew of the Podewils we
have known, "young Podewils in intrigue with a Dutch Lady of rank:"
think of that, your Excellency); his preparatory subtle
correspondings with Friedrich: his exquisite manoeuvrings, and
really great industries in the small way:--all this, and much else,
we will omit. Impatient of these preludings, which have been many!
Thus, at one point, Voltaire "took a FLUXION" (catarrhal, from the
nose only), when Friedrich was quite ready; then, again, when
Voltaire was ready, and the fluxion off, Friedrich had gone upon
his Silesian Reviews: in short, there had been such cross-purposes,
tedious delays, as are distressing to think of;--and we will say
only, that M. de Voltaire did actually, after the conceivable
adventures, alight in the Berlin Schloss (last day of August, as I
count); welcomed, like no other man, by the Royal Landlord there;
--and that this is the Fourth Visit; and has (in strict privacy)
weightier intentions than any of the foregoing, on M. de
Voltaire's part.
Voltaire had a glorious reception; apartment near the King's;
King gliding in, at odd moments, in the beautifulest way; and for
seven or eight days, there was, at Berlin and then at Potsdam, a
fine awakening of the sphere-harmonies between them, with touches
of practicality thrown in as suited. Of course it was not long
till, on some touch of that latter kind, Friedrich discerned what
the celestial messenger had come upon withal;--a dangerous moment
for M. de Voltaire, "King visibly irritated," admits he, with the
aquiline glance transfixing him! "Alas, your Majesty, mere excess
of loyalty, submission, devotion, on my poor part! Deign to think,
may not this too,--in the present state of my King, of my Two
Kings, and of all Europe,--be itself a kind of spheral thing?"
So that the aquiline lightning was but momentary; and abated to
lambent twinklings, with something even of comic in them, as we
shall gather. Voltaire had his difficulties with Valori, too;
"What interloping fellow is this?" gloomed Valori, "A devoted
secretary of your Excellency's; on his honor, nothing more!"
answered Voltaire, bowing to the ground:--and strives to behave as
such; giving Valori "these poor Reports of mine to put in cipher,"
and the like. Very slippery ice hereabouts for the adroit man!
His reports to Amelot are of sanguine tone; but indicate, to the
by-stander, small progress; ice slippery, and a twinkle of the
comic. Many of them are lost (or lie hidden in the French Archives,
and are not worth disinterring): but here is one, saved by
Beaumarchais and published long afterwards, which will sufficiently
bring home the old scene to us. In the Palace of Berlin or else of
Potsdam (date must be, 6th-8th September, 1743), Voltaire from his
Apartment hands in a "Memorial" to Friedrich; and gets it back with
Marginalia,--as follows:
"Would your Majesty be pleased to have the kind condescension
(ASSEZ DE BONTE) to put on the margin your reflections and orders."
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"1. Your Majesty is to know that the Sieur Bassecour [signifies
BACKYARD], chief Burghermaster of Amsterdam, has come lately to beg
M. de la Ville, French Minister there, to make Proposals of Peace.
La Ville answered, If the Dutch had offers to make, the King his
master could hear them.
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"1. This Bassecour, or Backyard, seems to be the gentleman that
has charge of fattening the capons and turkeys for their
High Mightinesses?
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"2. Is it not clear that the Peace Party will infallibly carry it,
in Holland,--since Bassecour, one of the most determined for War,
begins to speak of Peace? Is it not clear that France shows vigor
and wisdom?
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"2. I admire the wisdom of France; but God preserve me from ever
imitating it!
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"3. In these circumstances, if your Majesty took the tone of a
Master, gave example to the Princes of the Empire in assembling an
Army of Neutrality,--would not you snatch the sceptre of Europe
from the hands of the English, who now brave you, and speak in an
insolent revolting manner of your Majesty, as do, in Holland also,
the party of the Bentincks, the Fagels, the Opdams? I have myself
heard them, and am reporting nothing but what is very true.
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"3. This would be finer in an ode than in actual reality. I disturb
myself very little about what the Dutch and English say, the rather
as I understand nothing of those dialects (PATOIS) of theirs.
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"4. Do not you cover yourself with an immortal glory in declaring
yourself, with effect, the protector of the Empire? And is it not
of most pressing interest to your Majesty, to hinder the English
from making your Enemy the Grand-Duke [Maria Theresa's Husband]
King of the Romans?
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"4. France has more interest than Prussia to hinder that. Besides,
on this point, dear Voltaire, you are ill informed. For there can
be no Election of a King of the Romans without the unanimous
consent of the Empire;--so you perceive, that always depends on me.
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"5. Whoever has spoken but a quarter of an hour to the Duke
d'Ahremberg [who spilt Lord Stair's fine enterprises lately, and
reduced them to a DETTINGEN, or a getting into the mouse-trap and a
getting out], to the Count Harrach [important Austrian Official],
Lord Stair, or any of the partisans of Austria, even for a quarter
of an hour [as I have often done], has beard them say, That they
burn with desire to open the campaign in Silesia again. Have you in
that case, Sire, any ally but France? And, however potent you are,
is an ally useless to you? You know the resources of the House of
Austria, and how many Princes are united to it. But will they
resist your power, joined to that of the House of Bourbon?
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"5. On les y recevra, Biribi,
A la facon de Barbari, Mon ami.
We will receive them, Twiddledee,
In the mode of Barbary, Don't you see?
[Form of Song, very fashionable at Paris (see Barbier soepius) in
those years: "BIRIBI," I believe, is a kind of lottery-game.]
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"6. If you were but to march a body of troops to Cleves, do not you
awaken terror and respect, without apprehension that any one dare
make war on you? Is it not, on the contrary, the one method of
forcing the Dutch to concur, under your orders, in the pacification
of the Empire, and re-establishment of the Emperor, who will thus a
second time he indebted to you for his throne, and will aid in the
splendor of yours?
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"6. Vous voulez qu'en vrai dieu de la machine,
"You will have me as theatre-god, then,
"J'arrive pour te denouement?
"Swoop in, and produce the catastrophe?
"Qu'aux Anglais, aux Pandours, a ce peuple insolent,
"J'aille donner la discipline?--
"Tame to sobriety those English, those Pandours, and obstreperous
people?
"Mais examinez mieux ma mine;
"Examine the look of me better;
"Je ne suis pas assez mechant!
"I have not surliness euough.
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"7. Whatever resolution may be come to, will your Majesty deign to
confide it to me, and impart the result,--to your servant, to him
who desires to pass his life at your Court? May I have the honor to
accompany your Majesty to Baireuth; and if your goodness go so far,
would you please to declare it, that I may have time to prepare for
the journey? One favorable word written to me in the Letter on that
occasion [word favorable to France, ostensible to M. Amelot and the
most Christian Majesty], one word would suffice to procure me the
happiness I have, for six years, been aspiring to, of living
beside you." Oh, send it!
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"7. If you like to come to Baireuth, I shall be glad to see you
there, provided the journey don't derange your health. It will
depend on yourself, then, to take what measures you please.
[And about the ostensible WORD,--Nothing!]
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"8. During the short stay I am now to make, if I could be made the
bearer of some news agreeable to my Court, I would supplicate your
Majesty to honor me with such a commission. [This does not want for
impudence, Monsieur! Friedrich answers, from aloft!]
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"8. I am not in any connection with France; I have nothing to fear
nor to hope from France. If you would like, I will make a Panegyric
on Louis XV. without a word of truth in it: but as to political
business, there is, at present, none to bring us together;
and neither is it I that am to speak first. When they put a
question to me, it will he time to reply: but you, who are so much
a man of sense, you see well what a ridiculous business it would he
if, without ground given me, I set to prescribing projects of
policy to France, and even put them on paper with my own hand!
MEMORIAL BY VOLTAIRE.
"9. Do whatsoever you may please, I shall always love your Majesty
with my whole heart."
MARGINALIA BY FRIEDRICH.
"9. I love you with all my heart; I esteem you: I will do all to
have you, except follies, and things which would make me forever
ridiculous over Europe, and at bottom would he contrary to my
interests and my glory. The only commission I can give you for
France, is to advise them to behave with more wisdom than they have
done hitherto. That Monarchy is a body with much strength, but
without, soul or energy (NERF)."
And so you may give it to Valori to put in cipher, my illustrious
Messenger from the Spheres. [ OEuvres de Voltaire,
lxxiii. 101-105 (see Ib. ii. 55); OEuvres de
Frederic, xxii. 141-144.]
Worth reading, this, rather well. Very kingly, and characteristic
of the young Friedrich. Saved by Beaumarchais, who did not give it
in his famous Kehl Edition of VOLTAIRE, but "had it in Autograph
ever after, and printed it in his DECADE PHILOSOPHIQUE, 10
Messidor, An vii. [Summer, 1799j: Beaumarchais had several other
Pieces of the same sort;" which, as bits of contemporary
photographing, one would have liked to see.
FRIEDRIC VISITS BAIREUTH: ON A PARTICULAR ERRAND;--VOLTAIRE
ATTENDING, AND PRIVATELY REPORTING.
This "BIRIBI" Document, I suppose to have been delivered perhaps on
the 7th; and that Friedrich HAD it, but had not yet answered it,
when he wrote the following Letter:--
"POTSDAM, 8th SEPTEMBER, 1743 [Friedrich to Voltaire].--I dare not
speak to a son of Apollo about horses and carriages, relays and
such things; these are details with which the gods do not concern
themselves, and which we mortals take upon us. You will set out on
Monday afternoon, if you like the journey, for Baireuth, and you
will dine with me in passing, if you please [at Potsdam here].
"The rest of my MEMOIRE [Paper before given?] is so blurred and in
so bad a state, I cannot yet send it you.--I am getting Cantos 8
and 9 of LA PUCELLE copied; I at present have Cantos 1, 2, 4, 5, 8
and 9: I keep them under three keys, that the eye of mortal may not
see them.
"I hear you supped yesternight in good company [great gathering in
some high house, gone all asunder now];
"The finest wits of the Canton
All collected in your name,
People all who could not but be pleased with you,
All devout believers in Voltaire,
Unanimously took you
For the god of their Paradise.
"'Paradise,' that you may not be scandalized, is taken here in a
general sense for a place of pleasure and joy. See the 'remark' on
the last verse of the MONDAIN." [ OEuvres de Frederic,
xxii. 144; Voltaire, lxxiii. 100 (scandalously MISdated in
Edition 1818, xxxix. 466). As to MONDAIN, and "remark" upon it,--
the ghost of what was once a sparkle of successful coterie-speech
and epistolary allusion,--take this: "In the MONDAIN Voltaire had
written, 'LE PARADIS TERRESTRE EST OU JE SUIS;' and as the Priests
made outcry, had with airs of orthodoxy explained the phrase away,"
--as Friedrich now affects to do; obliquely quizzing, in the
Friedrich manner.
Voltaire is to go upon the Baireuth Journey, then, according to
prayer. Whether Voltaire ever got that all-important "word which he
could show," I cannot say: though there is some appearance that
Friedrich may have dashed off for him the Panegyric of Louis, in
these very hours, to serve his turn, and have done with him.
Under date 7th September, day before the Letter just read, here are
snatches from another to the same address:--
"POTSDAM, 7th SEPTEMBER, 1743 [Friedrich to Voltaire].--You tell me
so much good of France and of its King, it were to be wished all
Sovereigns had subjects like you, and all Commonwealths such
citizens,--[you can show that, I suppose?] What a pity France and
Sweden had not had Military Chiefs of your way of thinking! But it
is very certain, say what you will, that the feebleness of their
Generals, and the timidity of their counsels, have almost ruined in
public repute two Nations which, not half a century ago, inspired
terror over Europe."--... "Scandalous Peace, that of Fleury, in
1735; abandoning King Stanislaus, cheating Spain, cheating
Sardinia, to get Lorraine! And now this manner of abandoning the
Emperor [respectable Karl VII. of your making]; sacrificing
Bavaria; and reducing that worthy Prince to the lowest poverty,--
poverty, I say not, of a Prince, but into the frightfulest state
for a private man!" Ah, Monsieur.
"And yet your France is the most charming of Nations; and if it is
not feared, it deserves well to be loved. A King worthy to command
it, who governs sagely, and acquires for himself the esteem of all
Europe,--[there, won't that do!] may restore its ancient splendor,
which the Broglios, and so many others even more inept, have a
little eclipsed. That is assuredly a work worthy of a Prince
endowed with such gifts! To reverse the sad posture of affairs,
nobly repairing what others have spoiled; to defend his country
against furious enemies, reducing them to beg Peace, instead of
scornfully rejecting it when offered: never was more glory
acquirable by any King! I shall admire whatsoever this great man
[CE GRAND HOMME, Louis XV., not yet visibly tending to the dung-
heap, let us hope better things!] may achieve in that way; and of
all the Sovereigns of Europe none will be less jealous of his
success than I:"--there, my spheral friend, show that!
[ OEuvres de Frederic, xxii. 139: see, for
what followed, OEuvres de Voltaire, lxxiii.
129 (report to Amelot, 27th October).]
Which the spheral friend does. Nor was it "irony," as the new
Commentators think; not at all; sincere enough, what you call
sincere;--Voltaire himself had a nose for "irony"! This was what
you call sincere Panegyric in liberal measure; why be stingy with
your measure? It costs half an hour: it will end Voltaire's
importunities; and so may, if anything, oil the business-wheels
withal. For Friedrich foresees business enough with Louis and the
French Ministries, though he will not enter on it with Voltaire.
This Journey to Baireuth and Anspach, for example, this is not for
a visit to his Sisters, as Friedrich labels it; but has extensive
purposes hidden under that title,--meetings with Franconian
Potentates, earnest survey, earnest consultation on a state of
things altogether grave for Germany and Friedrich; though he
understands whom to treat with about it, whom to answer with a
"BIRIBIRI, MON AMI." That Austrian Exorbitancy of a message to the
Diet has come out (August 16th, and is struggling to DICTATUR);
the Austrian procedures in Baiern are in their full flagrancy:
Friedrich intends trying once more, Whether, in such crisis, there
be absolutely no "Union of German Princes" possible; nor even of
any two or three of them, in the "Swabian and Franconian Circles,"
which he always thought the likeliest?
The Journey took effect, Tuesday, 10th September [Rodenbeck,
i. 93.] (not the day before, as Friedrich had been projecting);
went by Halle, straight upon Baireuth; and ended there on Thursday.
As usual, Prince August Wilhelm, and Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick,
were of it; Voltaire failed not to accompany. What the complexion
of it was, especially what Friedrich had meant by it, and how ill
he succeeded, will perhaps be most directly visible through the
following compressed Excerpts from Voltaire's long LETTER to
Secretary Amelot on the subject,--if readers will be diligent with
them. Friedrich, after four days, ran across to Anspach on
important business; came back with mere failure, and was
provokingly quite silent on it; stayed at Baireuth some three days
more; thence home by Gotha (still on "Union" business, still mere
failure), by Leipzig, and arrived at Potsdam, September 25th;--
leaving Voltaire in Wilhelmina's charmed circle (of which unhappily
there is not a word said), for about a week more.
Voltaire, directly on getting back to Berlin, "resumes the thread
of his journal" to Secretary Amelot; that is, writes him another
long Letter:--
VOLTAIRE (from Berlin, 3d October, 1743) TO SECRETARY AMELOT.
"... The King of Prussia told me at Baireuth, on the 13th or 14th
of last month, He was glad our King had sent the Kaiser money;"--
useful that, at any rate; Noailles's 6,000 pounds would not go far.
"That he thought M. le Marechal de Noailles's explanation [of a
certain small rumor, to the disadvantage of Noailles in reference
to the Kaiser] was satisfactory: 'but,' added he, 'it results from
all your secret motions that you are begging Peace from everybody,
and there may have been something in this rumor, after all.'
"He then told me he was going over to Anspach, to see what could be
done for the Common Cause [Kaiser's and Ours]; that he expected to
meet the Bishop of Wurzburg there; and would try to stir the
Frankish and Swabian Circles into some kind of Union. And, at
setting off [from Baireuth, September 16th, on this errand], he
promised his Brother-in-law the Margraf, He would return with great
schemes afoot, and even with great success;" which proved
otherwise, to a disappointing degree.
"... The Margraf of Anspach did say he would join a Union of
Princes in favor of the Kaiser, if Prussia gave example. But that
was all. The Bishop of Wurzburg," a feeble old creature, "never
appeared at Anspach, nor even sent an apology; and Seckendorf, with
the Imperial Army"--Seckendorf, caged up at Wembdingen (whom
Friedrich drove off from Anspach, twenty miles, to see and
consult), was in a disconsolate moulting condition, and could
promise or advise nothing satisfactory, during the dinner one took
with him. [September 19th, "under a shady tree, after muster of the
troops" (Rodenbeck, p. 93).] Four days running about on those
errands had yielded his Prussian Majesty nothing. "Whilst he
(Prussian Majesty) was on this Anspach excursion, the Margraf of
Baireuth, who is lately made Field-marshal of his Circle, spoke
much to me of present affairs: a young Prince, full of worth and
courage, who loves the French, hates the Austrians,"--and would
fain make himself generally useful. "To whom I suggested this
and that" (does your Lordship observe?), if it could ever come
to anything.
"The King of Prussia, on returning to Baireuth [guess, 20th
September], did not speak the least word of business to the
Margraf: which much surprised the latter! He surprised him still
more by indicating some intention to retain forcibly at Berlin the
young Duke of Wurtemberg, under pretext, 'that Madam his Mother
intended to have him taken to Vienna,' for education. To anger this
young Duke, and drive his Mother to despair, was not the method for
acquiring credit in the Circle of Swabia, and getting the Princes
brought to unite!
"The Duchess of Wurtemberg, who was there at Baireuth, by
appointment, to confer with the King of Prussia, sent to seek me.
I found her all dissolved in tears. 'Ah!' said she,--[But why is
our dear Wilhelmina left saying nothing; invisible, behind the
curtains of envious Chance, and only a skirt of them lifted to show
us this Improper Duchess once more!]--'Ah!' said she (the Improper
Duchess, at sight of me), 'will the King of Prussia be a tyrant,
then? To pay me for intrusting my Boys to him, and giving him two
Regiments [for money down], will he force me to implore justice
against him from the whole world? I must have my Child! He shall
not go to Vienna; it is in his own Country that I will have him
brought up beside me. To put my Son in Austrian hands? [unless,
indeed, your Highness were driven into Financial or other straits?]
You know if I love France;--if my design is not to pass the rest of
my days there, so soon as my Son comes to majority!' Ohone, ohoo!
"In fine, the quarrel was appeased. The King of Prussia told me he
would be gentler with the Mother; would restore the Son if they
absolutely wished it; but that he hoped the young Prince would of
himself like better to stay where he was." ...--"I trust your
Lordship will allow me to draw for those 300 ducats, for a new
carriage. I have spent all I had, running about these four months.
I leave this for Brunswick and homewards, on the evening of the
12th." [Voltaire, lxxiii. 105-109.] ...
And so the curtain drops on the Baireuth Journey, on the Berlin
Visit; and indeed, if that were anything, on Voltaire's Diplomatic
career altogether. The insignificant Accidents, the dull Powers
that be, say No. Curious to reflect, had they happened to say Yes:
--"Go into the Diplomatic line, then, you sharp climbing creature,
and become great by that method; WRITE no more, you; write only
Despatches and Spy-Letters henceforth!"--how different a world for
us, and for all mortals that read and that do not read, there had
now been!
Voltaire fancies he has done his Diplomacy well, not without fruit;
and, at Brunswick,--cheered by the grand welcome he found
there,--has delightful outlooks (might I dare to suggest them,
Monseigneur?) of touring about in the German Courts, with some
Circular HORTATORIUM, or sublime Begging-Letter from the Kaiser, in
his hand; and, by witchery of tongue, urging Wurtemberg, Brunswick,
Baireuth, Anspach, Berlin, to compliance with the Imperial Majesty
and France. [Ib. lxxiii. 133.] Would not that be sublime! But that,
like the rest, in spite of one's talent, came to nothing. Talent?
Success? Madame de Chateauroux had, in the interim, taken a dislike
to M. Amelot; "could not bear his stammering," the fastidious
Improper Female; flung Amelot overboard,--Amelot, and his luggage
after him, Voltaire's diplomatic hopes included; and there was
an end.
How ravishing the thing had been while it lasted, judge by these
other stray symptoms; hastily picked up, partly at Berlin, partly
at Brunswick; which show us the bright meridian, and also the
blaze, almost still more radiant, which proved to be sunset.
Readers have heard of Voltaire's Madrigals to certain Princesses;
and must read these Three again,--which are really incomparable in
their kind; not equalled in graceful felicity even by Goethe, and
by him alone of Poets approached in that respect. At Berlin, Autumn
1743, Three consummate Madrigals:--
1. TO PRINCESS ULRIQUE.
"Souvent un peu de verite
Se mele au plus grossier mensonge:
Cette nuit, dans l'erreur d'un songe,
Au rang des rois j'etais monte.
Je vous aimais, Princesse, et j'osais vous le dire!
Les dieux a mon reveil ne m'ont pas tout ote,
Je n'ai perdu que mon empire."
2. TO PRINCESSES ULRIQUE AND AMELIA.
"Si Paris venait sur la terre
Pour juger entre vos beaux yeux,
Il couperait la pomme en deux,
Et ne produirait pas de guerre."
3. TO PRINCESSES ULRIQUE, AMELIA AND WILHELMINA.
"Pardon, charmante Ulrique; pardon, belle Amelie;
J'ai cru n'aimer que vous la reste de ma vie,
Et ne servir que sous vos lois;
Mais enfin j'entends et je vois
Cette adorable Soeur dont l'Amour suit les traces:
Ah, ce n'est pas outrager les Trois Graces
Que de les aimer toutes trois!"
[1. "A grain of truth is often mingled with the stupidest delusion.
Yesternight, in the error of a dream, I had risen to the rank of
king; I loved you, Princess, and had the audacity to say so! The
gods, at my awakening, did not strip me wholly; my kingdom was all
they took from me."
2. If Paris [of Troy] came back to decide on the charms of you Two,
he would halve the Apple, and produce no War."
3. "Pardon, charming Ulrique; beautiful Amelia, pardon: I thought I
should love only you for the rest of my life, and serve under your
laws only: but at last I hear and see this adorable Sister, whom
Love follows as Page:--Ah, it is not offending the Three Graces to
love them all three!"
--In Oeuvres de Voltaire, xviii.: No. 1 is,
p. 292 (in OEuvres de Frederic, xiv. 90-92,
the ANSWERS to it); No. 2 is, p. 320; No. 3, p. 321.]
BRUNSWICK, 16th October (blazing sunset, as it proved, but
brighter almost than meridian), a LETTER FROM VOLTAIRE TO
MAUPERTUIS (still in France since that horrible
Mollwitz-Pandour Business).
"In my wanderings I received the Letter where my dear Flattener of
this Globe deigns to remember me with so much friendship. Is it
possible that--... I made your compliments to all your friends at
Berlin; that is, to all the Court." "Saw Dr. Eller decomposing
water into elastic air [or thinking he did so, 1743]; saw the Opera
of TITUS, which is a masterpiece of music [by Friedrich himself,
with the important aid of Graun]: it was, without vanity, a treat
the King gave me, or rather gave himself; he wished I should see
him in his glory.
"His Opera-House is the finest in Europe. Charlottenburg is a
delicious abode: Friedrich does the honors there, the King knowing
nothing of it. ... One lives at Potsdam as in the Chateau of a
French Seigneur who had culture and genius,--in spite of that big
Battalion of Guards, which seems to me the terriblest Battalion in
this world.
"Jordan is still the same,--BON GARCON ET DISCRET; has his
oddities, his 1,600 crowns (240 pounds) of pension. D'Argens is
Chamberlain, with a gold key at his breast-pocket, and 100 louis
inside, payable monthly. Chasot [whom readers made acquaintance
with at Philipsburg long since], instead of cursing his destiny,
must have taken to bless it: he is Major of Horse, with income
enough. And he has well earned it, having saved the King's Baggage
at the last Battle of Chotusitz,"--what we did not notice, in the
horse-charges and grand tumults of that scene.
"I passed some days [a fortnight in all] at Baireuth. Her Royal
Highness, of course, spoke to me of you. Baireuth is a delightful
retreat, where one enjoys whatever there is agreeable in a Court,
without the bother of grandeur. Brunswick, where I am, has another
species of charm. 'Tis a celestial Voyage this of mine, where I
pass from Planet to Planet,"-- to tumultuous Paris; and, I do hope,
to my unique Maupertuis awaiting me there at last. [Voltaire,
lxxiii. 122-125.]'
We have only to remark farther, that Friedrich had again pressed
Voltaire to come and live with him, and choose his own terms;
and that Voltaire (as a second string to his bow, should this fine
Diplomatic one fail) had provisionally accepted. Provisionally;
and with one most remarkable clause: that of leaving out Madame,--
"imagining it would be less agreeable to you if I came with others
(AVEC D'AUTRES); and I own, that belonging to your Majesty alone, I
should have my mind more at ease:" [ OEuvres de Voltaire,
lxxiii. 112,116 (Proposal and Response, both of them
"7th October," five days before leaving Berlin).]--whew! And then
to add a third thing: That Madame, driven half delirious, by these
delays, and gyratings from Planet to Planet, especially by that
last Fortnight at Baireuth, had rushed off from Paris, to seek her
vagabond, and see into him with her own eyes: "Could n't help it,
my angels!" writes she to the D'Argentals (excellent guardian
angels, Monsieur and Madame; and, I am sure, PATIENT both of them,
as only MONSIEUR Job was, in the old case): "A whole fortnight
[perhaps with madrigals to Princesses], and only four lines to me!"
--and is now in bed, or lately was, at Lille, ill of slow fever
(PETITE FIEVRE); panting to be upon the road again.
[ Lettres inedites de Madame du Chastelet a M. le Comte
d'Argental (Paris, 1806) p. 253. A curiously
elucidative Letter this ("Brussels, 15th October, 1743"); a curious
little Book altogether.]
Fancy what a greeting for M. de Voltaire, from those eyes HAGARDES
ET LOUCHES; and whether he mentioned that pretty little clause of
going to Berlin "WITHOUT others," or durst for the life of him
whisper of going at all! After pause in the Brussels region, they
came back to Paris "in December;" resigned, I hope, to inexorable
Fate,--though with such Diplomatic and other fine prospects flung
to the fishes, and little but GREDINS and confusions waiting you,
as formerly.
