History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 11 [41]
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 Mars 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! [Duvernet
(2d FORM of him,--that is, Vie de Voltaire
par T. J. D. V.), p. 117.]
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 state), there is direct testimony by
Voltaire himself. Voltaire himself, twenty years after, in far
other humor, 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 PRIVEE above
spoken of, a most sad Document; and this is the passage referring
to "the little Place in the neighborhood 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, Voltaire 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 DE 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, accordingly, 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 4th),--"presented 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 September, 1740; world all bathed in moonshine;
and mortals mostly shrunk into their huts, out of the raw air.
"He" Rambonet "wore big linen ruffles at his wrists, very dirty
[visibly so in the moonlight? ERROR 5th extends AD LIBITUM over
all the following details]; a holed hat; an old official
periwig,"--ruined into a totally unsymmetric state, as would
seem,--"one side of which hung down into one of his pockets, and
the other scarcely crossed his shoulder. I was told, this man was
now intrusted with an affair of importance here; and that proved
true,"--the Herstal Affair.
"I was led into his Majesty's apartment. Nothing but four bare
walls there. By the light of a candle, I perceived, in a closet, a
little truckle-bed two feet and a half broad, on which lay a man
muffled up in a dressing-gown of coarse blue duffel: this was the
King, sweating and shivering under a wretched blanket there, in a
violent fit of fever. I made my reverence, and began the
acquaintance by feeling his pulse, as if I had been his chief
physician. The fit over, he dressed himself, and took his place at
table. Algarotti, Keyserling, Maupertuis, and the King's Envoy to
the States-General"--one Rasfeld (skilled in HERSTAL matters, I
could guess),--"we were of this supper, and discussed, naturally
in a profound manner, the Immortality of the Soul, Liberty, Fate,
the Androgynes of Plato [the ANDROGYNOI, or Men-Women, in Plato's
CONVIVIUM; by no means the finest
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 Mars 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! [Duvernet
(2d FORM of him,--that is,
par T. J. D. V.), p. 117.]
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 state), there is direct testimony by
Voltaire himself. Voltaire himself, twenty years after, in far
other humor, 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 PRIVEE above
spoken of, a most sad Document; and this is the passage referring
to "the little Place in the neighborhood 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, Voltaire 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 DE 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, accordingly, 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 4th),--"presented 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 September, 1740; world all bathed in moonshine;
and mortals mostly shrunk into their huts, out of the raw air.
"He" Rambonet "wore big linen ruffles at his wrists, very dirty
[visibly so in the moonlight? ERROR 5th extends AD LIBITUM over
all the following details]; a holed hat; an old official
periwig,"--ruined into a totally unsymmetric state, as would
seem,--"one side of which hung down into one of his pockets, and
the other scarcely crossed his shoulder. I was told, this man was
now intrusted with an affair of importance here; and that proved
true,"--the Herstal Affair.
"I was led into his Majesty's apartment. Nothing but four bare
walls there. By the light of a candle, I perceived, in a closet, a
little truckle-bed two feet and a half broad, on which lay a man
muffled up in a dressing-gown of coarse blue duffel: this was the
King, sweating and shivering under a wretched blanket there, in a
violent fit of fever. I made my reverence, and began the
acquaintance by feeling his pulse, as if I had been his chief
physician. The fit over, he dressed himself, and took his place at
table. Algarotti, Keyserling, Maupertuis, and the King's Envoy to
the States-General"--one Rasfeld (skilled in HERSTAL matters, I
could guess),--"we were of this supper, and discussed, naturally
in a profound manner, the Immortality of the Soul, Liberty, Fate,
the Androgynes of Plato [the ANDROGYNOI, or Men-Women, in Plato's
CONVIVIUM; by no means the finest