History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 11 [25]
I leave for [where thinks the reader?
"DANTZIG" deliberately print all the Editors, careful Preuss among
them; overturning the terrestrial azimuths for us, and making day
night!]--for Leipzig, and reckon on being at Frankfurt on the 22d.
In case you could be there, I expect, on my passage, to give you
lodging! At Cleve or in Holland, I depend for certain on embracing
you." [Preuss, OEuvres de Frederic, xx.
pp. 5, 19-21; Voltaire, OEuvres, lxxii. 226,
&c. (not worth citing, in comparison).]
Intrinsically the Friedrich correspondence at this time, with
Voltaire especially, among many friends now on the wing towards
Berlin and sending letters, has,--if you are forced into
struggling for some understanding of it, and do get to read parts
of it with the eyes of Friedrich and Voltaire,--has a certain
amiability; and is nothing like so waste and dreary as it looks in
the chaotic or sacked-city condition. Friedrich writes with
brevity, oftenest on practicalities (the ANTI-MACHIAVEL, the
coming Interview, and the like), evidently no time to spare;
writes always with considerable sincerity; with friendliness,
much admiration, and an ingenuous vivacity, to M. de Voltaire.
Voltaire, at his leisure in Brussels or the Old Palace and its
spider-webs, writes much more expansively; not with insincerity,
he either;--with endless airy graciosities, and ingenious twirls,
and touches of flattering unction, which latter, he is aware, must
not be laid on too thick. As thus:--
In regard to the ANTI-MACHIAVEL,--Sire, deign to give me your
permissions as to the scoundrel of a Van Duren; well worth while,
Sire,--"IT is a monument for the latest posterity; the only Book
worthy of a King for these fifteen hundred years."
This is a strongish trowelful, thrown on direct, with adroitness;
and even this has a kind of sincerity. Safer, however, to do it in
the oblique or reflex way,--by Ambassador Cumas, for example:--
"I will tell you boldly, Sir [you M. de Camas], I put more value
on this Book (ANTI-MACHIAVEL) than on the Emperor Julian's CAESAR,
or on the MAXIMS of Marcus Aurelius,"--I do indeed, having a kind
of property in it withal! [Voltaire, OEuvres, italic> lxxii. 280 (to Camas, 18th October, 1740).]
In fact, Voltaire too is beautiful, in this part of the
Correspondence; but much in a twitter,--the Queen of Sheba, not
the sedate Solomon, in prospect of what is coming. He plumes
himself a little, we perceive, to his d'Argentals and French
Correspondents, on this sublime intercourse he has got into with a
Crowned Head, the cynosure of mankind:---Perhaps even you, my best
friend, did not quite know me, and what merits I had!
Plumes himself a little; but studies to be modest withal; has not
much of the peacock, and of the turkey has nothing, to his old
friends. All which is very naive and transparent; natural and even
pretty, on the part of M. de Voltaire as the weaker vessel.--
For the rest, it is certain Maupertuis is getting under way at
Paris towards the Cleve rendezvous. Brussels, too, is so near
these Cleve Countries; within two days' good driving:--if only the
times and routes would rightly intersect?
Friedrich's intention is by no means for a straight journey
towards Cleve: he intends for Baireuth first, then back from
Baireuth to Cleve,--making a huge southward elbow on the map, with
Baireuth for apex or turning-point:--in this manner he will make
the times suit, and have a convergence at Cleve. To Baireuth;--who
knows if not farther? All summer there has gone fitfully a rumor,
that he wished to see France; perhaps Paris itself incognito?
The rumor, which was heard even at Petersburg, [Raumer's
Beitrage (English Translation, London, 1837), p. 15
(Finch's Despatch, 24th June, 1740).] is now sunk dead again;
but privately, there is no doubt, a glimpse of the sublime French
Nation would be welcome to Friedrich. He could never get to
Travelling in his young time; missed his Grand Tour altogether,
"DANTZIG" deliberately print all the Editors, careful Preuss among
them; overturning the terrestrial azimuths for us, and making day
night!]--for Leipzig, and reckon on being at Frankfurt on the 22d.
In case you could be there, I expect, on my passage, to give you
lodging! At Cleve or in Holland, I depend for certain on embracing
you." [Preuss,
pp. 5, 19-21; Voltaire,
&c. (not worth citing, in comparison).]
Intrinsically the Friedrich correspondence at this time, with
Voltaire especially, among many friends now on the wing towards
Berlin and sending letters, has,--if you are forced into
struggling for some understanding of it, and do get to read parts
of it with the eyes of Friedrich and Voltaire,--has a certain
amiability; and is nothing like so waste and dreary as it looks in
the chaotic or sacked-city condition. Friedrich writes with
brevity, oftenest on practicalities (the ANTI-MACHIAVEL, the
coming Interview, and the like), evidently no time to spare;
writes always with considerable sincerity; with friendliness,
much admiration, and an ingenuous vivacity, to M. de Voltaire.
Voltaire, at his leisure in Brussels or the Old Palace and its
spider-webs, writes much more expansively; not with insincerity,
he either;--with endless airy graciosities, and ingenious twirls,
and touches of flattering unction, which latter, he is aware, must
not be laid on too thick. As thus:--
In regard to the ANTI-MACHIAVEL,--Sire, deign to give me your
permissions as to the scoundrel of a Van Duren; well worth while,
Sire,--"IT is a monument for the latest posterity; the only Book
worthy of a King for these fifteen hundred years."
This is a strongish trowelful, thrown on direct, with adroitness;
and even this has a kind of sincerity. Safer, however, to do it in
the oblique or reflex way,--by Ambassador Cumas, for example:--
"I will tell you boldly, Sir [you M. de Camas], I put more value
on this Book (ANTI-MACHIAVEL) than on the Emperor Julian's CAESAR,
or on the MAXIMS of Marcus Aurelius,"--I do indeed, having a kind
of property in it withal! [Voltaire,
In fact, Voltaire too is beautiful, in this part of the
Correspondence; but much in a twitter,--the Queen of Sheba, not
the sedate Solomon, in prospect of what is coming. He plumes
himself a little, we perceive, to his d'Argentals and French
Correspondents, on this sublime intercourse he has got into with a
Crowned Head, the cynosure of mankind:---Perhaps even you, my best
friend, did not quite know me, and what merits I had!
Plumes himself a little; but studies to be modest withal; has not
much of the peacock, and of the turkey has nothing, to his old
friends. All which is very naive and transparent; natural and even
pretty, on the part of M. de Voltaire as the weaker vessel.--
For the rest, it is certain Maupertuis is getting under way at
Paris towards the Cleve rendezvous. Brussels, too, is so near
these Cleve Countries; within two days' good driving:--if only the
times and routes would rightly intersect?
Friedrich's intention is by no means for a straight journey
towards Cleve: he intends for Baireuth first, then back from
Baireuth to Cleve,--making a huge southward elbow on the map, with
Baireuth for apex or turning-point:--in this manner he will make
the times suit, and have a convergence at Cleve. To Baireuth;--who
knows if not farther? All summer there has gone fitfully a rumor,
that he wished to see France; perhaps Paris itself incognito?
The rumor, which was heard even at Petersburg, [Raumer's
Beitrage
(Finch's Despatch, 24th June, 1740).] is now sunk dead again;
but privately, there is no doubt, a glimpse of the sublime French
Nation would be welcome to Friedrich. He could never get to
Travelling in his young time; missed his Grand Tour altogether,