Here, in the history of Duelling, or challenging to mortal combat, is a unique article! At which the whole world haha'd again;perhaps King Friedrich himself; though he was dreadfully provoked at it, too: "No mending of that fellow!"--and took a resolution in consequence, as will be seen.
Dresden and Leipzig done with, Voltaire accepted an invitation to the Court of Sachsen-Gotha (most polite Serene Highnesses there, and especially a charming Duchess,--who set him upon doing the ANNALES DE L'EMPIRE, decidedly his worst Book). "About April 2lst"Voltaire arrived, stayed till the last days of May; [
OEuvres de Voltaire, lxxv. 182 n. Clogenson's Note).]
and had, for five weeks, a beautiful time at Gotha;--Wilhelmina's Daughter there (young Duchess of Wurtemberg, on visit, as it chanced), [Wilhelmina-Friedrich Correspondence ( OEuvres de Frederic, xxvii. iii. 258, 249).] and all manner of graces, melodies and beneficences; a little working, too, at the ANNALES, in the big Library, between whiles. Five decidedly melodious weeks. Beautiful interlude, or half-hour of orchestral fiddling in this Voltaire Drama; half-hour which could not last!
On the heel of which there unhappily followed an Afterpiece or codicil to the Berlin Visit; which, so to speak, set the whole theatre on fire, and finished by explosion worse than AKAKIAitself. A thing still famous to mankind;--of which some intelligible notion must be left with readers.
The essence of the story is briefly this. Voltaire, by his fine deportment in parting with Friedrich, had been allowed to retain his Decorations, his Letter of Agreement, his Royal BOOK OF POESIES(one of those "Twelve Copies," printed AU DONJON DU CHATEAU, in happier times!)--and in short, to go his ways as a friend, not as a runaway or one dismissed. But now, by his late procedures at Leipzig, and "firings out of port-holes" in that manner, he had awakened Friedrich's indignation again,--Friedrich's regret at allowing him to take those articles with him; and produced a resolution in Friedrich to have them back. They are not generally articles of much moment; but as marks of friendship, they are now all falsities. One of the articles might be of frightful importance: that Book of Poesies; thrice-private OEUVRE DE POESIES, in which are satirical spurts affecting more than one crowned head:
one shudders to think what fires a spiteful Voltaire might cause by publishing these! This was Friedrich's idea;--and by no means a chimerical one, as the Fact proved; said OEUVRE being actually reprinted upon him, at Paris afterwards (not by Voltaire), in the crisis of the Seven-Years War, to put him out with his Uncle of England, whom it quizzed in passages. [Title of it is,
OEuvres du Philosophe de Sans-Souci (Paris, pretending to be "Potsdam," 1760), 1 vol. 12mo: at Paris, "in January" this;whereupon, at Berlin, with despatch, "April 9th," "the real edition" (properly castrated) was sent forth, under title, POESIESDIVERSES, 1 vol. big 8vo (Preuss, in OEuvres de Frederic, x. Preface, p. x. See Formey, ii. 255, under date misprinted "1763").] "We will have those articles back," thinks Friedrich; "that OEUVRE most especially! No difficulty: wait for him at Frankfurt, as he passes home; demand them of him there."And has (directly on those new "firings through port-holes" at Leipzig) bidden Fredersdorf take measures accordingly. ["Friedrich to Wilhelmina, 12th April, 1753" ( OEuvres,
xxvii. iii. 227).]
Fredersdorf did so; early in April and onward had his Official Person waiting at Frankfurt (one Freytag, our Prussian Resident there, very celebrated ever since), vigilant in the extreme for Voltaire's arrival,--and who did not miss that event.
Voltaire, arriving at last (May 31st), did, with Freytag's hand laid gently on his sleeve, at once give up what of the articles he had about him;--the OEUVRE, unluckily, not one of them; and agreed to be under mild arrest ("PAROLE D'HONNEUR; in the LION-D'OR Hotel here!") till said OEUVRE should come up. Under Fredersdorf's guidance, all this, and what follows; King Friedrich, after the general Order given, had nothing more to do with it, and was gone upon his Reviews.
In the course of two weeks or more the OEUVRE DE POESIE did come.
Voltaire was impatient to go. And he might perhaps have at once gone, had Freytag been clearly instructed, so as to know the essential from the unessential here. But he was not;--poor subaltern Freytag had to say, on Voltaire's urgencies: "I will at once report to Berlin; if the answer be (as we hope), 'All right,'
you are that moment at liberty!" This was a thing unexpected, astonishing to Voltaire; a thing demanding patience, silence:
in three days more, with silence, as turns out, it would have been all beautifully over,--but he was not strong in those qualities!
Voltaire's arrest hitherto had been merely on his word of honor, "I promise, on my honor, not to go beyond the Garden of this Inn."But he now, without warning anybody, privately revoked said word of honor; and Collini and he, next morning, whisked shiftily into a hackney-coach, and were on the edge of being clear off.
To Freytag's terror and horror; who, however, caught them in time:
and was rigorous enough now, and loud enough;--street-mob gathering round the transaction; Voltaire very loud, and Freytag too,--the matter taking fire here; and scenes occurring, which Voltaire has painted in a highly flagrant manner!
On the third day, Answer from Berlin had come, as expected; answer (as to the old score): "All right; let him go!" But to punctual Freytag's mind, here is now a new considerable item of sundries: