70 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

of it; so, now, a bookseller of the Hague, whom Voltaire had employed, many years ago, to print the “ Anti-Machiavel ” of Frederic, brought forward a balance oftwenty crowns with interest and compound interest,which the poet was forced to pay. At last, after a dis-agreeable and strict imprisonment of nearly a month’sduration, Voltaire and his niece were allowed to depart.

Thus ended the treaty of equal friendship betweenking and poet. The pettiness of the details is striking.We find neither the magnanimity of a hero in one, northe calmness of a philosopher in the other. Voltaire had the excuse that he avenged his injured friendKoenig in his satire on Maupertuis . He had dreamedof independence in a palace; and from the momenthe discovered his mistake he was eager to be free.Frederic, meanwhile, was taught by his enemies toregard him as a restless, intriguing Frenchman. Hehad written to him, at the beginning of their quarrel:“ I was glad to receive you. I esteemed your under-standing, your talents, your acquirements ; and Ibelieved that a man of your age, weary of skirmishingwith authors and exposing himself to the storm, wouldtake refuge here as in a tranquil port. First, youexacted from me, in a singular manner, that I shouldnot engage Freron to correspond with me, and 1 hadthe weakness to yield. You visited the Russian mi-nister, and talked to him of affairs in which you hadno right to interfere ; and it was believed that I com-missioned you. You had a dirty transaction with aJew, and filled the city with clamour. I preservedpeace in my house till you arrived; and I warn you,that if you have a passion for intrigue and cabal, youhave addressed yourself very ill. I like quiet people ;and if you can resolve to live like a philosopher, I shallbe glad to see you; but if you give way to yourpassions, and quarrel with everybody, you had betterremain at Berlin . * * * * I write this letter

with unpolished German good sense, which says whatit thinks, and without adopting equivocal terms and