46 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

audience of Ms countrymen, when such were the tokenshe received of triumph.

The king of Prussia, meanwhile, having exhaustedhis finances by war, and gained two provinces, found iteligible to conclude a peace with Maria Theresa ; apeace, detrimental to the interests of France , which wasthus left to carry on the war single-handed. It becamematter of policy to induce Frederic to infringe a treatyscarcely signed. The duke de Kichelieu requested Vol-taire to be the negotiator. Again his mission wassecret. He pretended to renounce his country, dis-gusted by the cabal carried on by Boyer against him,and he had the appearance of applying to Frederic forrefuge and defence against the injustice he met in hisnative country. Voltaire ’s own account of this nego-tiation is written in his usual jesting, sarcastic style ; hemade a joke of the bishop, his successful rival; andwhen Frederic answered by a deluge of pleasantries onthe subject, he took care to make his letters public.The bishop of Mirepoix complained to the king that hewas made to pass for a fool at foreign courts ; butLouis XV . replied that it was a thing agreed upon, andthat he must not mind it. Voltaire remarks that thisreply was opposed to Louis ’s usual character, and that itappeared extraordinary. But the king probably spokein the innocence of his heart, announcing a "mere fact,that the bishop’s reputation for talent was to be sacri-ficed for the good of the state. Indeed, there is a letterfrom Voltaire to his immediate employer, Amelot,secretary for foreign affairs, which shows that he by nomeans felt easy with regard to the light in which Louis might view his conduct, and excuses the style of hiscorrespondence with Frederic. “ There are in his notesand in mine,” he writes, “ some bold rhymes, whichcannot hurt a king, though they may an individual. Hehopes that I may he forced to accept his offers, whichhitherto I have refused, and take up my abode at thecourt of Prussia. He hopes to gain me by losing mein France ; but I swear to you I would rather live in a