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however, between him and Maupertuis , long sown,sprung up and flourished with vigour. Maupertuis contrived to excite a disreputable person of the name ofLa Beaumelle to attack the poet. His calumnies ought tohave met with contempt only ; but Voltaire was irritated,and his dislike to Maupertuis increased. The pre-sident published a book full of philosophical follies,which Voltaire satirised unsparingly. He wrote adiatribe called “Akakia,” and read it to the king ; Mau-pertuis was the butt of a thousand witticisms, and theroyal suppers rang with laughter at his expense. ButVoltaire was not content to make a jest of Maupertuis only in the royal presence, and Frederic, beginning tothink that to attack his president was to attack hisacademy and also himself, published two pamphletsagainst Koenig, which also inculpated Voltaire . Thepoet was indignant. “ I see,” he writes to his niece,“ that the orange is squeezed ; I must now try to savethe rind. I am going to write a small dictionary forthe use of kings, in which it will be shown that myfriend, means my slave ; my dear friend, you are be-coming indifferent to me ; I will make you happy, I willendure while I need you ; sup with me this evening, youshall be my butt to-night. Seriously, my heart is wounded.Speak to a man with tenderness, and write pamphletsagainst him — and what pamphlets ! Tear a man fromhis country by the most solemn promises, and treat himwith the blackest malignity. What a contrast! ”

Voltaire was not a man to suffer these attacks with-out punishing them with a visitation of his unbridledwit. Fearful of attacking Frederic, he revenged him-self on Maupertuis , and published “ Akakia.”

He belonged to the republic of letters, and did notunderstand that it should be ruled by the will of oneman. And then, while he vehemently reprehendedthose authors who had made their literary enemies theobjects of public satire, he, himself, indulged in themost bitter attacks. Frederic considered “ Akakia” asa satire, deserved by Maupertuis , and thus a blameless