Generated for (University of
Chicago)
on 2014-11-14 09:31 GMT / http://hdl.
Thomas Carlyle
), "Voltaire went to a Lieutenant-Colonel in the King's
"service; and asked him to send for me. "* This is Chasot;
who knows these jewels well. Duvernet, -- who had talked
a good deal withD'Arget, in latter years, and alone of Frenchmen sometimes yields a true particle of feature in things
Prussian,--Duvernet tells us, these Jewels were once Chasot's
own: given him by a fond Duchess of Mecklenburg, -- musical
old Duchess, verging towards sixty; honi soit, my friend!
What Hirsch gave Chasot for these Jewels is not a doubtful
quantity; and may throw conviction into Hirsch, hopes
Voltaire.
December 25th, 1750. The interview at Chasot's was not
lengthy, but it was decisive. Hirsch never brings that Paris
Bill; privately fixed, on that point. Hirsch's claims, as we
gradually unravel the intricate mule mind of him, rise very high
indeed. "And as to the value of those Jewels, and what I
allowed you for them, Monsieur Chasot; that is no rule: trade-
profits, you know" -- Nay, the mule intimates, as a last shift,
That perhaps they are not the same Jewels; that perhaps
M. de Voltaire has changed some of them! Whereupon the
matter catches fire, irretrievably explodes. M. de Voltaire's
patience flies quite done; and, fire-eyed fury now guiding, he
springs upon the throat of Hirsch like a cat-o-mountain;
clutches Hirsch by the windpipe; tumbles him about the
room: "Infamous canaille, do you know whom you have got
to do with? That it is in my power to stick you into a hole
* Duvernet (Second), p. 172; Hirsch's Narrative (in Tanlale, p. 344).
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? CHAP. vn. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 39
30th Dec. 1750.
underground for the rest of your life? Sirrah, I will ruin and
annihilate you! " -- and "tossed me about the room with his
"fist on my throat," says Hirsch; "offering to have pity
"nevertheless, if 1 would take back the Jewels, and return all
"writings. "* Eyes glancing like a rattlesnake's, as we
perceive; and such a phenomenon as Hirsch had not expected,
this Christmas! In short, the matter has here fairly exploded,
and is blazing aloft, as a mass of intricate fuliginous ruin,
not to be deciphered henceforth. Such a scene for Chasot on
the Christmas Day at Berlin! And we have got to
Part II. , The Lawsuit itself (30th December 1750--18th and
26th February 1751).
Hirsch slunk hurriedly home, uncertain whether dead or
alive. Old Hirsch, hearing of such explosion, considered his
house and family ruined; and, being old and feeble, took to
bed upon it, threatening to break his heart. Voltaire writes
to Niece Denis, on the morrow; not hinting at the Hirsch
matter, far from that; but in uncommonly dreary humour:
"My splendour here, my glory, never was the like of it; mais,
mais," but, and ever again but, at each new item, -- in fact, the
humour of a glorious Phoenix-Peacock suddenly douched and
drenched in dirty water, and feeling frost at hand! ** Humour
intelligible enough, when dates are compared.
Better than that, Voltaire is applying, on all points of the
compass, to Legal and Influential Persons, for help in a Court
of Law. To Chancellor Cocceji; to Jarriges (eminentPrussian
Frenchman), President of Court; to Maupertuis, who knows
Jarriges, but "will not meddle in a bad business;" -- at last,
even to dull reverend Formey, whom he had not called on
hitherto. Cocceji seems to have answered, to the effect,
"Most certainly: the Courts are wide open;" --but as to
"help"! December 30th, the Suit, Voltaire versus Hirsch,
"comes to Protocol," -- that is, Cocceji, Jarriges, Loper,
three eminent men, have been named to try it; and Herr
HofrathBell, Advocate for Voltaire Plaintiff, hands-in his First
Statement that day. Berlin resounds, we may fancy how!
* Narrative (in Tantale).
? * "To Madame Denis" (lxxiv. 279, "Berlin Palace, 26th December
1750;" --and ib. 249, 257, &c. of other dates).
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? 40 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1st Jan. --18tliFeb. 1751.
Kumour, laughter and wonder are in all polite quarters; and
continue, more or less vivid, for above two months coming.
Here is one direct glimpse of Plaintiff, in this interim; which
we will give,, though the eyes are none of the best: "The first
visitl," Formey, "had from Voltaire was in the afternoon of
"January 8th, 1751" (Suit begun, ten days ago). "I had, at
"the time, a large party of friends. Voltaire walked across
"the Apartment, without looking at anybody; and, taking me
"by the hand, made me lead him to a cabinet adjoining. His
"Lawsuit with a Jew was the matter on hand. He talked to
"me at large about his Lawsuit, and with the greatest vehe-
"mence; he wound up by asking me to speak to Law-Presi-
"dent M. de Jarriges (since Chancellor): I answered what was
"suitable;" -- probably did speak to Jarriges, but might as
well have held my tongue. "Voltaire then took his leave:
"stepping athwart the former Apartment with some precipita-
"tion, he noticed my eldest little girl, then in her fourth year,
"who was gazing at the diamonds on his Cross of the Order of
"Merit. 'Bagatelles, bagatelles, mon enfant! ' said he, and
"disappeared. "*
On New-year's-day, Friday 1st January 1751, Voltaire had
legally applied to Herr Minister von Bismark, for Warrant to
arrest Hirsch, as a person that will not give up Papers not be-
longing to him. Warrant was granted, and Hirsch lodged in
Limbo. Which worsens the state of poor old Father Hirsch;
threatening now really to die, of heartbreak and other causes.
Hirsch Son, from the interior of Limbo, appeals to Bismark,
"Lord Chancellor Cocceji is seized of my Plea, your gracious
Lordship! "-- "All the same," answers Bismark; "produce
caution, or you can't get out. " Hirsch produces caution; and
fets out, after a day or two; -- and nas been "brought to
rotocol, January 4th. " No delay in this Court: both parties,
through their Advocates, are now brought to booli; the
points they agree in will be sifted out, and laid on this
side as truth j what they differ in, left lying on that side, as a
mixture of lies to be operated on by further processes and
protocols.
We will not detail the Lawsuit; -- what I chiefly admire in
it is its brevity. Cocceji has not reformed in vain. Good
Advocates, none other allowed; and no Advocate talks; he
* Formey, i. 232.
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? CHAP. vn. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW LAWSUIT. 41
1st Jan. --18th Feb. 1751.
merely endeavours to think, see and discover; holds his tongue
if he can discover nothing: that doubtless is one source of the
brevity! -- Many lies are stated by Hirsch, many by Voltaire:
but the Judges, without difficulty, shovel these aside; and
come step by step upon the truth. Hirsch says plainly, He
was sent to buySteuer-Scheine at35per cent discount; Voltaire
entirely denies the Steuer-Notes; says, It was an affair of Peltries and Jewelries, originating in loans of money to this
ungrateful Jew. Which necessitates much wriggling on the
Eart of M. de Voltaire; -- but he has himself written in a
lawyer's Office, in his young days, and (knows how to twist a
turn of expression. The Judges are not there to judge about
Steuer-Notes; but they give you to understand that Voltaire's
Peltry-and-Jewelry story is moonshine. Hirsch produces the
Voltaire Scraps of Writing, already known to our readers;
Voltaire says, "Mere extinct jottings; which Hirsch has fur-
tively picked out of the grate," -- or may be said to have
picked; Papers annihilated by our Bargain of December 16th,
and which should have been in the grate, if they were not;
this felon never having kept his word in that respect. Peltries
and Jewelries, I say: he will not give me back that Paris Bill
which was protested; pays me the other 3,000crowns (Draft of
6501. ) in Jewels overvalued by half. -- "Jewels furtively
changed since Plaintiff had them of me! " answers Hirsch; --
and the steady Judges keep their sieves going.
The only Documents produced by Voltaire are Two; of
19th December, and oi24th December; -- which the reader has
not yet seen, but ought now to gain some notion of, if possible.
They affect once more, as that of December 16th had done, to
be "Final Settlements" (or Final Settlement of 19th, with
Codicil of 24th); and turn on confused Lists of Jewels, bought,
returned, re-bought (that "Topaz-ring" torn from one's hand,
a conspicuous item), which no reader would have patience to
understand, except in the succinct form. Let all readers note
them, however, -- at least the first of them, that of December
19th; especially the words we mark in Italics, which have
merited a sad place for it in the history of human sin and
misery. Klein has given both Documents in engraved fac-
simile; we must help ourselves by simpler methods. Berlin,
December 18th, 1750; Voltaire writes, Hirsch signs; -- and
the Italics are believed to be words foisted in by M. de
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? 42 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
ls. t Jan. --18th Feb. 1751.
Voltaire, weeks after, while theHirsch pleadings were getting
stringent! Read, -- a very sad memorial of M. de Voltaire, --
Document Fifth (in Voltaire's hand, written at two times;
and the old writing mended in parts, to suit the newK --
"For payment of 3,000 dialers by medue, I have sold to M. de
"Voltaire, at the price costing by estimation and tax, with
"2 per cent for my commission" ("or gratification," written
above), "the following Diamonds, taxed" (blotted into "tax-
able"), "as here adjoined; viz. " -- seven pieces of jewelry,
pendeloques, &c. , with price affixed, among which is the vio-
lated Topaz, -- "the whole estimated by him" ("him" crossed
out, and "me" written over it), "being 3,640 thalers. Where-
"upon, received from Monsieur de Voltaire (what is very
strange; not intelligible without study! ) "the sum of 2,940
"thalers, and he has given me back the Topaz, with 60 crowns
"for my trouble. -- Berlin, 19th December 1750. " (Hitherto
in Voltaire's hand; after which Hirsch writes:) "Aprouvi, A.
Hirschel. "* And between these two lines (". . . 1750" and
"Approved. . . "), there is crushed in, as afterthought, "valued
by myself (Hirsch's self), "2,940, add 60, is 3,000. " And, in
fine, below the Hirsch signature, on what may be called the
bottom margin, there is,--1 think, avowedly Voltaire's and
subsequent, -- this: UN. b. that Hirsch's valuing of all the
"jewels"(present lot and former lot), "is, by real estimation,
"between twice and thrice too high:" of which, it is hoped,
your Lordships will take notice!
Was there ever seen such a Paper; one end of it contra-
dicting the other? Payment to M. de Voltaire, and payment
byM. . de Voltaire; with other blottings and foistings, which
print and italics will not represent! Hirsch denies he ever
signed this Paper. Is not that your writing, then: "Aprouvi,
A. Hirschel"? -- "No! " and they convict him of falsity in that
respect: the signature is his, but the Paper has been altered
since he signed it. That is what the poor dark mortal meant
to express; and in his mulish way, he has expressed into a
falsity what was in itself a truth. There is not, on candid
examination of Klein's Facsimiles and the other evidence, the
smallest doubt but Voltaire altered, added and intercalated,
* Sic: that is always his signature; "Abraham Hirschc/," so given by
Klein, while Klein and everybody call him Hirsch {Stan) , as we have done,
-- if only to save a syllable on the bad bargain.
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? CHAP. VII. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 43
18th Feb. 1751.
in his own privacy, those words which we have printed in
italics; taxes, changed into taxables ("estimated at" into
"estimable at"), him for me, and so on: and above all, the now
first line of the Paper, For paymentof 3,000 thalers by me due,
and in last line, the words valued by myself, &c. , are palpable
interpolations, sheer falsifications, which Hirsch is made to
continue signing after his back is turned!
No fact is more certain; and few are sadder in the history
of M. de Voltaire. To that length has he been driven by
stress of Fortune. Nay, when the Judges, not hiding their
surprise at the form of this Document, asked, Will you swear
it is all genuine? Voltaire answered, "Yes, certainly! " --
for what will a poor man not do, in extreme stress of Fortune?
Hirsch, as a Jew, is not permitted to make oath, where a
Quasi-Christian will swear to the contrary, or he gladly would;
and might justly. The Judges, willing to prevent chance of
perjury, did not bring Voltaire to swearing, but contrived a
way to justice without that.
February 18th, 1751, The Court arrives at a conclusion.
Hirsch's Diamonds, whatever may have been written or
forged, are not, nor were, worth more than their value, think
the Judges. The Paris Bill is admitted to be Voltaire's, not
Hirsch's, continue they; -- and if Hirsch can prove that Vol-
taire has changed the Diamonds, not a likely fact, let him do
so. The rest does not concern us. And to that effect, on the
above day, runs their Sentence: "You Hirsch, shall restore
"the Paris Bill; mutual Papers to be all restored, or legally
"annihilated. Jewels to be valued by sworn Experts, and
"paid for at that price. Hirsch, if he can prove that the
"Jewels were changed, has liberty to try it, in a new Action.
"Hirsch, for falsely denying his Signature, is fined 10 thalers
"(thirty shillings), such lie being a contempt of court, what-
ever more. "
"Ha, fined, you Jew Villain! " hysterically shrieks
Voltaire: "in the wrong, weren't you, then; and fined
thirty shillings? " hysterically trying to believe, and
make others believe, that he has come off triumphant.
'Beaten my Jew, haven't I? " says he to everybody,
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? 44 THE TEN TEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
20th. Feb. 1751.
though inwardly well enough aware how it stands, and
that he is a Phoenix douched, and has a tremor in the
bones! Chancellor Cocceji was far from thinking it
triumphant to him. Here is a small Note of Cocceji's,
addressed to his two colleagues, Jarriges and Loper,
which has been found among the Law Papers:
"Berlin, 20th February 1751. The Herr President von
"Jarriges and Privy-Councillor Loper are hereby officially
"requested to bring the remainder of the Voltaire Sentence
"to its fulfilment: lam myself not well, and can employ my
"time much better. The Herr von Voltaire has given in a
"desperate Memorial (ein desperates Memorial) to this pur-
"port: 'I swear that what is charged to me' (believed of me)
'"in the Sentence is true; and now request to have the Jewels
"' valued. ' I have returned him this Paper, with notice that
''it must be signed by an Advocate. -- Cocceji. "*
So wrote Chancellor Cocceji, on the Saturday,
washing his hands of this sorry business. Voltaire is
ready to make desperate oath, if needful. We said
once, M. de Voltaire was not given to lying; far the
reverse. But yet, see, if you drive him into a corner
with a sword at his throat, -- alas, yes, he will lie a
little! Forgery lay still less in his habits; but he can
do a stroke that way, too (one stroke, unique in his
life, I do believe), if a wild boar, with frothy tusks, is
upon him. Tell it not in Gath, -- except for scientific
purposes! And be judicial, arithmetical, in passing
sentence on it; not shrieky, mobbish, and flying off
into the Infinite!
Berlin, of course, is loud on these matters. "The
man whom the King delighted to honour, this is he,
* Klein, 256.
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? CHAP, vn. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 45
26th Feb. 1751.
then! " King Friedrich has quitted Town, some while
ago; returned to Potsdam, "January 30th. " Glad
enough, I suppose, to be out of all this unmusical
blowing of catcalls, and indecent exposure. To Voltaire
he has taken no notice; silently leaves Voltaire, in his
nook of the Berlin Schloss, till the foul business get
done. "Voltaire filoute les Juifs (picks Jew pockets),"
writes he once to Wilhelmina: "will get out of it by
some gambade (summerset)," writes he another time;
"but" * -- And takes the matter, with boundless con-
tempt, doubtless with some vexation, but with the
minimum of noise, as a Royal gentleman might. Jew
Hirsch is busy preparing for his new desperate Action;
getting together proof that the Jewels have been
changed. In proof, Jew Hirsch will be weak; but in
pleading, in public pamphlets, and keeping a winged
Apollo fluttering disastrously in such a mud-bath, Jew
Hirsch will be strong. Voltaire, "out of magnanimous
pity to him," consents next week to an Agreement.
Agreement is signed on Thursday, 26th February
1751: -- Papers all to be returned, Jewels nearly all,
except one or two, paid at Hirsch's own price. Where-
by, on the whole, as Klein computes, Voltaire lost
about 150/. ; -- elsewhere I have seen it computed at
187/. : not the least matter which. Old Hirsch has
died in the interim ("Of broken heart! " blubbers the
Son); day not known.
And, on these terms, Voltaire gets out of the busi-
ness; glad to close the intolerable rumour, at some cost
of money. For all tongues were wagging; and, in de-
fect of a Times Newspaper, it appears, there had Pam-
>> "31st December 1750" (CEuvres lie Frederk, xxvn. i. 198); "3d Feb-
ruary 1751" (id. 201). .
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? 46 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
March 1751.
phlets come out; printed Satires, bound or in broad-
side; -- sapid, exhilarative, for a season, and inter-
esting to the idle mind. Of which, Tantale en Proces
may still, for the sake of that Preface to it, be con-
sidered to have an obscure existence. And such, re-
duced to its authenticities, was the Adventure of the
Steuer-Notes. A very bad Adventure indeed; unspeak-
ably the worst that Voltaire ever tried, who had such
talent in the finance line. On which poor History is
really ashamed to have spent so much time; sorting it
into clearness, in the disgust and sorrow of her soul.
But perhaps it needed to be done. Let us hope, at
least, it may not now need to be done again. *
This is the First Act of Voltaire's Tragic-Farce at
the Court of Berlin: readers may conceive to what a
bleared frost-bitten condition it has reduced the first
Favonian efflorescence there. He considerably recovered
in the Second Act, such the indelible charm of the
Voltaire genius to Friedrich. But it is well known,
the First Act rules all the others; and here, accord-
ingly, the Third Act failed not to prove tragical. Out
of First Act into Second the following Extracts of Cor-
respondence will guide the reader, without commentary
of ours.
Voltaire, left languishing at Berlin, has fallen sick,
now that all is over; -- no doubt, in part really sick,
the unfortunate Phoenix-Peafowl, with such a tremor
* Besides the Klein, the Tantale en Proces, and the Voltaire Letters
cited above, there is (in (Euvres de Voltaire, lxiv. pp. 61-106, as Supplement
there written offhand, in the very thick of the Hirsch Affair, a considerable
set of Notes D'Arget, which might have been still more elucidative; but
are, in their present dateless topsy-turvied condition, a very wonder of
confusion to the studious reader!
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? CHAP. vn. J VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 47
March 1751.
in his bones; -- and would fain be near Friedrich and
warmth again; fain persuade the outside world that all
is sunshine with him. Voltaire's Letters to Friedrich,
if he wrote any, in this Jew time, are lost; here are
Friedrich's Answers to Two, -- one lost, which had
been written from Berlin after the Jew Affair was out
of Court; and to another (not lost) after the Jew affair
was done.
1". King Friedrich to Voltaire at Berlin.
"Potsdam, 24th February 1751.
"I was glad to receive you in my house; I esteemed your
"genius, your talents and acquirements; and I had reason to
"think that a man of your age, wearied with fencing against
"Authors, and exposing himself to the storm, came hither to
"take refuge as in a safe harbour.
"But, on arriving, you exacted of me, in a rather singular
"manner, Not to takeFrdron to write me news from Paris;
"and I had the weakness, or the complaisance, to grant you
"this', though it is not for you to decide what persons I shall
"take into my service. D'Arnaud had faults towards you;
"a generous man would have pardoned them; a vindictive
"man hunts down those whom he takes to hating. In a
"word, though to me D'Arnaud had done nothing, it was on
"your account that he had to go. You were with theRussian
"Minister, speaking of things you had no concern with"
(RussianExcellency Gross, off home lately, in sudden dudgeon,
like an angry skyrocket, nobody can guess why! *) -- "and
"it was thought I had given you Commission. "You have
"had the most villanous affair in the world with a Jew. It
"has made a frightful scandal all over Town. And that
"Steuer-Schein business is so well known in Saxony, that
"they have made grievous complaints of it to me.
"For my own share, I have preserved peace in my house
"till your arrival: and I warn you, that if you have the pas-
"sion of intriguing and caballing, you have applied to the
? Adelung, vn. 133 (about 1st December 1750).
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? 48 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
March 1751.
"wrong hand. I like peaceable composed people; who do
"not put into their conduct the violent passions of Tragedy.
"In case you can resolve to live like a Philosopher, I shall be
"glad to see you: but if you abandon yourself to all the
"violences of your passions, and get into quarrels with all the
"world, you will do me no good T>y coming hither, and you
"may as well stay in Berlin. * -- F.
To which Voltaire sighing pathetically in response,
"Wrong, ah yes, your Majesty; and sick to death"
(see farther down), -- here is Friedrich's Second in
Answer:
2? . Friedrich to Voltaire again.
"Potsdam, 28th February 1751. "If you wish to come hither, you can do so. I hear nothing
"of Lawsuits, not even of yours. Since you have gained it,
"I congratulate you; and 1 am glad that this scurvy affair is
"done. I hope you will have no more quarrels, neither with
"the Old nor with the New Testament. Such worryings (ces
"sortes de compromis) leave their mark on a man; and with
"the talents of the finest genius in France, you will not cover
"the stains which this conduct would fasten on your reputa-
tion in the long-run. A Bookseller Gosse" -- (read Jore,
your Majesty? Nobody ever heard of Gosse as an extant
quantity: Jore, of Rouen, you mean, and his celebrated Law-
suit, about printing the Henriade, or I know not what, long
since** -- "a Bookseller Jore, an Opera Fiddler" (poor
Travenol, wrong dog pincered by the ear), "and a Jeweller
"Jew, these are, of a surety, names which in no sort of busi-
"ness ought to appear by the side of yours. I write this
"Letter with the rough common-sense of a German, who
"speaks what he thinks, without employing equivocal terms,
* Preuss, xxn. 262 (wanting in the French Editions).
** Unbounded details on the Jore Case, and from 1731 to 1738, continual
Letters on it, in (Euvres de Voltaire; -- came to a head in 1736 (ib. lxix.
375); Jore penitent, 1738 [ib. I. 262), &c. &c.
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? CHAP. vn. ] VOLTAIRE IIAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 49
March 1751.
"andloose assuagements which disfigure the truth: it is for
"you to profit by it. -- F. " *
So that Voltaire will have to languish: "Wrong,
yes; -- and sick, nigh dead, your Majesty! Ah, could
not one get to some Country Lodge near you, 'the
Marquisat,' for instance? Live silent there, and see
your face sometimes? "** Languishing very much; --
gives cosy little dinners, however. Here are two other
Excerpts; and these will suffice:
Voltaire to Formey ("Berlin Palace;" datable, first days of
March ): "Will you, Monsieur, come and eat the King's roast
"meat (rot du Roi), to-day, Thursday, at two o'clock, in a
"philosophic, warm, and comfortable manner (philosophique-
"ment, et chaudement, et doucement). A couple of philosophers,
"without being courtiers, may dine in the Palace of aPhilo-
"sopher-King: I should even take the liberty of sending one
"of his Majesty's Carriages for you, -- at two precise. After
"dinner, you would be at hand for your Academy meet-
"ing. "*** -- V. How cosy! --And King Friedrich has re-
lented, too; grants me the Marquisat; can refuse me no-
thing!
Voltaire to D'Argental (Potsdam, 15th March 1751"). * *
"I could not accompany our Chamberlain" (Von Ammon,
gone as Envoy to Paris, on a small matter j-), "through the
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 265.
** In (Euvres de Frederic, (xxu. 259-261, 263-266) are Four lamenting
and repenting, wheedling and ultimately whining, Letters from Voltaire,
none of them dated, which have much about "my dreadful state of health,"
my passion "for reposing in that Marquisat" &c. ; -- to one of which Four,
or perhaps to the whole together, the above No. 2 of Friedrich seems to
have been Answer. Of that indisputable "Marquisat" no Nicolai says a
word; even careful Preuss passes " Gosse" and it with shut lips.
**? Formey, i. 234. f "Commercial Treaty;" which he got done. See Longchamp, if any
one is curious otherwise about this Gentleman: "D'Hamon," they call
Carlyle, Frederick the Great, IX. 4
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? 50 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
March 1751.
"muds and the snows, -- where I should have been buried;
"I was ill," and had to go to the Marquisat. "D'Arnaudand
"the pack of Scribblers would have been too glad. D'Arnaud,
"animated with the true love of glory, and not yet grown
"sufficiently illustrious by his own immortal Works, has done
"one of that kind," -- by his behaviour here. Has behaved
to me -- oh, like a miserable, envious, intriguing, lying little
scoundrel; and made Berlin too hot for him: seduced Tinois
my Clerk, stole bits of the Pucelle (brief sight of bits, for
Prince Henri's sake) to ruin me.
"D'Arnaud sent his lies to Fre'ron for the Paris meridian"
(that is his real crime); "delightful news from canaille to
"canaille: 'How Voltaire had lost a great Lawsuit, respect-
"' able Jew Banker cheated by Voltaire; that Voltaire was
'"disgraced by the King,' who of course loves Jews; 'that
'"Voltaire was ruined; was ill; nay at last, that Voltaire
"'was dead.
"service; and asked him to send for me. "* This is Chasot;
who knows these jewels well. Duvernet, -- who had talked
a good deal withD'Arget, in latter years, and alone of Frenchmen sometimes yields a true particle of feature in things
Prussian,--Duvernet tells us, these Jewels were once Chasot's
own: given him by a fond Duchess of Mecklenburg, -- musical
old Duchess, verging towards sixty; honi soit, my friend!
What Hirsch gave Chasot for these Jewels is not a doubtful
quantity; and may throw conviction into Hirsch, hopes
Voltaire.
December 25th, 1750. The interview at Chasot's was not
lengthy, but it was decisive. Hirsch never brings that Paris
Bill; privately fixed, on that point. Hirsch's claims, as we
gradually unravel the intricate mule mind of him, rise very high
indeed. "And as to the value of those Jewels, and what I
allowed you for them, Monsieur Chasot; that is no rule: trade-
profits, you know" -- Nay, the mule intimates, as a last shift,
That perhaps they are not the same Jewels; that perhaps
M. de Voltaire has changed some of them! Whereupon the
matter catches fire, irretrievably explodes. M. de Voltaire's
patience flies quite done; and, fire-eyed fury now guiding, he
springs upon the throat of Hirsch like a cat-o-mountain;
clutches Hirsch by the windpipe; tumbles him about the
room: "Infamous canaille, do you know whom you have got
to do with? That it is in my power to stick you into a hole
* Duvernet (Second), p. 172; Hirsch's Narrative (in Tanlale, p. 344).
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? CHAP. vn. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 39
30th Dec. 1750.
underground for the rest of your life? Sirrah, I will ruin and
annihilate you! " -- and "tossed me about the room with his
"fist on my throat," says Hirsch; "offering to have pity
"nevertheless, if 1 would take back the Jewels, and return all
"writings. "* Eyes glancing like a rattlesnake's, as we
perceive; and such a phenomenon as Hirsch had not expected,
this Christmas! In short, the matter has here fairly exploded,
and is blazing aloft, as a mass of intricate fuliginous ruin,
not to be deciphered henceforth. Such a scene for Chasot on
the Christmas Day at Berlin! And we have got to
Part II. , The Lawsuit itself (30th December 1750--18th and
26th February 1751).
Hirsch slunk hurriedly home, uncertain whether dead or
alive. Old Hirsch, hearing of such explosion, considered his
house and family ruined; and, being old and feeble, took to
bed upon it, threatening to break his heart. Voltaire writes
to Niece Denis, on the morrow; not hinting at the Hirsch
matter, far from that; but in uncommonly dreary humour:
"My splendour here, my glory, never was the like of it; mais,
mais," but, and ever again but, at each new item, -- in fact, the
humour of a glorious Phoenix-Peacock suddenly douched and
drenched in dirty water, and feeling frost at hand! ** Humour
intelligible enough, when dates are compared.
Better than that, Voltaire is applying, on all points of the
compass, to Legal and Influential Persons, for help in a Court
of Law. To Chancellor Cocceji; to Jarriges (eminentPrussian
Frenchman), President of Court; to Maupertuis, who knows
Jarriges, but "will not meddle in a bad business;" -- at last,
even to dull reverend Formey, whom he had not called on
hitherto. Cocceji seems to have answered, to the effect,
"Most certainly: the Courts are wide open;" --but as to
"help"! December 30th, the Suit, Voltaire versus Hirsch,
"comes to Protocol," -- that is, Cocceji, Jarriges, Loper,
three eminent men, have been named to try it; and Herr
HofrathBell, Advocate for Voltaire Plaintiff, hands-in his First
Statement that day. Berlin resounds, we may fancy how!
* Narrative (in Tantale).
? * "To Madame Denis" (lxxiv. 279, "Berlin Palace, 26th December
1750;" --and ib. 249, 257, &c. of other dates).
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? 40 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
1st Jan. --18tliFeb. 1751.
Kumour, laughter and wonder are in all polite quarters; and
continue, more or less vivid, for above two months coming.
Here is one direct glimpse of Plaintiff, in this interim; which
we will give,, though the eyes are none of the best: "The first
visitl," Formey, "had from Voltaire was in the afternoon of
"January 8th, 1751" (Suit begun, ten days ago). "I had, at
"the time, a large party of friends. Voltaire walked across
"the Apartment, without looking at anybody; and, taking me
"by the hand, made me lead him to a cabinet adjoining. His
"Lawsuit with a Jew was the matter on hand. He talked to
"me at large about his Lawsuit, and with the greatest vehe-
"mence; he wound up by asking me to speak to Law-Presi-
"dent M. de Jarriges (since Chancellor): I answered what was
"suitable;" -- probably did speak to Jarriges, but might as
well have held my tongue. "Voltaire then took his leave:
"stepping athwart the former Apartment with some precipita-
"tion, he noticed my eldest little girl, then in her fourth year,
"who was gazing at the diamonds on his Cross of the Order of
"Merit. 'Bagatelles, bagatelles, mon enfant! ' said he, and
"disappeared. "*
On New-year's-day, Friday 1st January 1751, Voltaire had
legally applied to Herr Minister von Bismark, for Warrant to
arrest Hirsch, as a person that will not give up Papers not be-
longing to him. Warrant was granted, and Hirsch lodged in
Limbo. Which worsens the state of poor old Father Hirsch;
threatening now really to die, of heartbreak and other causes.
Hirsch Son, from the interior of Limbo, appeals to Bismark,
"Lord Chancellor Cocceji is seized of my Plea, your gracious
Lordship! "-- "All the same," answers Bismark; "produce
caution, or you can't get out. " Hirsch produces caution; and
fets out, after a day or two; -- and nas been "brought to
rotocol, January 4th. " No delay in this Court: both parties,
through their Advocates, are now brought to booli; the
points they agree in will be sifted out, and laid on this
side as truth j what they differ in, left lying on that side, as a
mixture of lies to be operated on by further processes and
protocols.
We will not detail the Lawsuit; -- what I chiefly admire in
it is its brevity. Cocceji has not reformed in vain. Good
Advocates, none other allowed; and no Advocate talks; he
* Formey, i. 232.
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? CHAP. vn. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW LAWSUIT. 41
1st Jan. --18th Feb. 1751.
merely endeavours to think, see and discover; holds his tongue
if he can discover nothing: that doubtless is one source of the
brevity! -- Many lies are stated by Hirsch, many by Voltaire:
but the Judges, without difficulty, shovel these aside; and
come step by step upon the truth. Hirsch says plainly, He
was sent to buySteuer-Scheine at35per cent discount; Voltaire
entirely denies the Steuer-Notes; says, It was an affair of Peltries and Jewelries, originating in loans of money to this
ungrateful Jew. Which necessitates much wriggling on the
Eart of M. de Voltaire; -- but he has himself written in a
lawyer's Office, in his young days, and (knows how to twist a
turn of expression. The Judges are not there to judge about
Steuer-Notes; but they give you to understand that Voltaire's
Peltry-and-Jewelry story is moonshine. Hirsch produces the
Voltaire Scraps of Writing, already known to our readers;
Voltaire says, "Mere extinct jottings; which Hirsch has fur-
tively picked out of the grate," -- or may be said to have
picked; Papers annihilated by our Bargain of December 16th,
and which should have been in the grate, if they were not;
this felon never having kept his word in that respect. Peltries
and Jewelries, I say: he will not give me back that Paris Bill
which was protested; pays me the other 3,000crowns (Draft of
6501. ) in Jewels overvalued by half. -- "Jewels furtively
changed since Plaintiff had them of me! " answers Hirsch; --
and the steady Judges keep their sieves going.
The only Documents produced by Voltaire are Two; of
19th December, and oi24th December; -- which the reader has
not yet seen, but ought now to gain some notion of, if possible.
They affect once more, as that of December 16th had done, to
be "Final Settlements" (or Final Settlement of 19th, with
Codicil of 24th); and turn on confused Lists of Jewels, bought,
returned, re-bought (that "Topaz-ring" torn from one's hand,
a conspicuous item), which no reader would have patience to
understand, except in the succinct form. Let all readers note
them, however, -- at least the first of them, that of December
19th; especially the words we mark in Italics, which have
merited a sad place for it in the history of human sin and
misery. Klein has given both Documents in engraved fac-
simile; we must help ourselves by simpler methods. Berlin,
December 18th, 1750; Voltaire writes, Hirsch signs; -- and
the Italics are believed to be words foisted in by M. de
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? 42 THE TEN YEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
ls. t Jan. --18th Feb. 1751.
Voltaire, weeks after, while theHirsch pleadings were getting
stringent! Read, -- a very sad memorial of M. de Voltaire, --
Document Fifth (in Voltaire's hand, written at two times;
and the old writing mended in parts, to suit the newK --
"For payment of 3,000 dialers by medue, I have sold to M. de
"Voltaire, at the price costing by estimation and tax, with
"2 per cent for my commission" ("or gratification," written
above), "the following Diamonds, taxed" (blotted into "tax-
able"), "as here adjoined; viz. " -- seven pieces of jewelry,
pendeloques, &c. , with price affixed, among which is the vio-
lated Topaz, -- "the whole estimated by him" ("him" crossed
out, and "me" written over it), "being 3,640 thalers. Where-
"upon, received from Monsieur de Voltaire (what is very
strange; not intelligible without study! ) "the sum of 2,940
"thalers, and he has given me back the Topaz, with 60 crowns
"for my trouble. -- Berlin, 19th December 1750. " (Hitherto
in Voltaire's hand; after which Hirsch writes:) "Aprouvi, A.
Hirschel. "* And between these two lines (". . . 1750" and
"Approved. . . "), there is crushed in, as afterthought, "valued
by myself (Hirsch's self), "2,940, add 60, is 3,000. " And, in
fine, below the Hirsch signature, on what may be called the
bottom margin, there is,--1 think, avowedly Voltaire's and
subsequent, -- this: UN. b. that Hirsch's valuing of all the
"jewels"(present lot and former lot), "is, by real estimation,
"between twice and thrice too high:" of which, it is hoped,
your Lordships will take notice!
Was there ever seen such a Paper; one end of it contra-
dicting the other? Payment to M. de Voltaire, and payment
byM. . de Voltaire; with other blottings and foistings, which
print and italics will not represent! Hirsch denies he ever
signed this Paper. Is not that your writing, then: "Aprouvi,
A. Hirschel"? -- "No! " and they convict him of falsity in that
respect: the signature is his, but the Paper has been altered
since he signed it. That is what the poor dark mortal meant
to express; and in his mulish way, he has expressed into a
falsity what was in itself a truth. There is not, on candid
examination of Klein's Facsimiles and the other evidence, the
smallest doubt but Voltaire altered, added and intercalated,
* Sic: that is always his signature; "Abraham Hirschc/," so given by
Klein, while Klein and everybody call him Hirsch {Stan) , as we have done,
-- if only to save a syllable on the bad bargain.
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? CHAP. VII. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 43
18th Feb. 1751.
in his own privacy, those words which we have printed in
italics; taxes, changed into taxables ("estimated at" into
"estimable at"), him for me, and so on: and above all, the now
first line of the Paper, For paymentof 3,000 thalers by me due,
and in last line, the words valued by myself, &c. , are palpable
interpolations, sheer falsifications, which Hirsch is made to
continue signing after his back is turned!
No fact is more certain; and few are sadder in the history
of M. de Voltaire. To that length has he been driven by
stress of Fortune. Nay, when the Judges, not hiding their
surprise at the form of this Document, asked, Will you swear
it is all genuine? Voltaire answered, "Yes, certainly! " --
for what will a poor man not do, in extreme stress of Fortune?
Hirsch, as a Jew, is not permitted to make oath, where a
Quasi-Christian will swear to the contrary, or he gladly would;
and might justly. The Judges, willing to prevent chance of
perjury, did not bring Voltaire to swearing, but contrived a
way to justice without that.
February 18th, 1751, The Court arrives at a conclusion.
Hirsch's Diamonds, whatever may have been written or
forged, are not, nor were, worth more than their value, think
the Judges. The Paris Bill is admitted to be Voltaire's, not
Hirsch's, continue they; -- and if Hirsch can prove that Vol-
taire has changed the Diamonds, not a likely fact, let him do
so. The rest does not concern us. And to that effect, on the
above day, runs their Sentence: "You Hirsch, shall restore
"the Paris Bill; mutual Papers to be all restored, or legally
"annihilated. Jewels to be valued by sworn Experts, and
"paid for at that price. Hirsch, if he can prove that the
"Jewels were changed, has liberty to try it, in a new Action.
"Hirsch, for falsely denying his Signature, is fined 10 thalers
"(thirty shillings), such lie being a contempt of court, what-
ever more. "
"Ha, fined, you Jew Villain! " hysterically shrieks
Voltaire: "in the wrong, weren't you, then; and fined
thirty shillings? " hysterically trying to believe, and
make others believe, that he has come off triumphant.
'Beaten my Jew, haven't I? " says he to everybody,
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? 44 THE TEN TEARS OP PEACE. [book XVI.
20th. Feb. 1751.
though inwardly well enough aware how it stands, and
that he is a Phoenix douched, and has a tremor in the
bones! Chancellor Cocceji was far from thinking it
triumphant to him. Here is a small Note of Cocceji's,
addressed to his two colleagues, Jarriges and Loper,
which has been found among the Law Papers:
"Berlin, 20th February 1751. The Herr President von
"Jarriges and Privy-Councillor Loper are hereby officially
"requested to bring the remainder of the Voltaire Sentence
"to its fulfilment: lam myself not well, and can employ my
"time much better. The Herr von Voltaire has given in a
"desperate Memorial (ein desperates Memorial) to this pur-
"port: 'I swear that what is charged to me' (believed of me)
'"in the Sentence is true; and now request to have the Jewels
"' valued. ' I have returned him this Paper, with notice that
''it must be signed by an Advocate. -- Cocceji. "*
So wrote Chancellor Cocceji, on the Saturday,
washing his hands of this sorry business. Voltaire is
ready to make desperate oath, if needful. We said
once, M. de Voltaire was not given to lying; far the
reverse. But yet, see, if you drive him into a corner
with a sword at his throat, -- alas, yes, he will lie a
little! Forgery lay still less in his habits; but he can
do a stroke that way, too (one stroke, unique in his
life, I do believe), if a wild boar, with frothy tusks, is
upon him. Tell it not in Gath, -- except for scientific
purposes! And be judicial, arithmetical, in passing
sentence on it; not shrieky, mobbish, and flying off
into the Infinite!
Berlin, of course, is loud on these matters. "The
man whom the King delighted to honour, this is he,
* Klein, 256.
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? CHAP, vn. ] VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 45
26th Feb. 1751.
then! " King Friedrich has quitted Town, some while
ago; returned to Potsdam, "January 30th. " Glad
enough, I suppose, to be out of all this unmusical
blowing of catcalls, and indecent exposure. To Voltaire
he has taken no notice; silently leaves Voltaire, in his
nook of the Berlin Schloss, till the foul business get
done. "Voltaire filoute les Juifs (picks Jew pockets),"
writes he once to Wilhelmina: "will get out of it by
some gambade (summerset)," writes he another time;
"but" * -- And takes the matter, with boundless con-
tempt, doubtless with some vexation, but with the
minimum of noise, as a Royal gentleman might. Jew
Hirsch is busy preparing for his new desperate Action;
getting together proof that the Jewels have been
changed. In proof, Jew Hirsch will be weak; but in
pleading, in public pamphlets, and keeping a winged
Apollo fluttering disastrously in such a mud-bath, Jew
Hirsch will be strong. Voltaire, "out of magnanimous
pity to him," consents next week to an Agreement.
Agreement is signed on Thursday, 26th February
1751: -- Papers all to be returned, Jewels nearly all,
except one or two, paid at Hirsch's own price. Where-
by, on the whole, as Klein computes, Voltaire lost
about 150/. ; -- elsewhere I have seen it computed at
187/. : not the least matter which. Old Hirsch has
died in the interim ("Of broken heart! " blubbers the
Son); day not known.
And, on these terms, Voltaire gets out of the busi-
ness; glad to close the intolerable rumour, at some cost
of money. For all tongues were wagging; and, in de-
fect of a Times Newspaper, it appears, there had Pam-
>> "31st December 1750" (CEuvres lie Frederk, xxvn. i. 198); "3d Feb-
ruary 1751" (id. 201). .
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? 46 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
March 1751.
phlets come out; printed Satires, bound or in broad-
side; -- sapid, exhilarative, for a season, and inter-
esting to the idle mind. Of which, Tantale en Proces
may still, for the sake of that Preface to it, be con-
sidered to have an obscure existence. And such, re-
duced to its authenticities, was the Adventure of the
Steuer-Notes. A very bad Adventure indeed; unspeak-
ably the worst that Voltaire ever tried, who had such
talent in the finance line. On which poor History is
really ashamed to have spent so much time; sorting it
into clearness, in the disgust and sorrow of her soul.
But perhaps it needed to be done. Let us hope, at
least, it may not now need to be done again. *
This is the First Act of Voltaire's Tragic-Farce at
the Court of Berlin: readers may conceive to what a
bleared frost-bitten condition it has reduced the first
Favonian efflorescence there. He considerably recovered
in the Second Act, such the indelible charm of the
Voltaire genius to Friedrich. But it is well known,
the First Act rules all the others; and here, accord-
ingly, the Third Act failed not to prove tragical. Out
of First Act into Second the following Extracts of Cor-
respondence will guide the reader, without commentary
of ours.
Voltaire, left languishing at Berlin, has fallen sick,
now that all is over; -- no doubt, in part really sick,
the unfortunate Phoenix-Peafowl, with such a tremor
* Besides the Klein, the Tantale en Proces, and the Voltaire Letters
cited above, there is (in (Euvres de Voltaire, lxiv. pp. 61-106, as Supplement
there written offhand, in the very thick of the Hirsch Affair, a considerable
set of Notes D'Arget, which might have been still more elucidative; but
are, in their present dateless topsy-turvied condition, a very wonder of
confusion to the studious reader!
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? CHAP. vn. J VOLTAIRE HAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 47
March 1751.
in his bones; -- and would fain be near Friedrich and
warmth again; fain persuade the outside world that all
is sunshine with him. Voltaire's Letters to Friedrich,
if he wrote any, in this Jew time, are lost; here are
Friedrich's Answers to Two, -- one lost, which had
been written from Berlin after the Jew Affair was out
of Court; and to another (not lost) after the Jew affair
was done.
1". King Friedrich to Voltaire at Berlin.
"Potsdam, 24th February 1751.
"I was glad to receive you in my house; I esteemed your
"genius, your talents and acquirements; and I had reason to
"think that a man of your age, wearied with fencing against
"Authors, and exposing himself to the storm, came hither to
"take refuge as in a safe harbour.
"But, on arriving, you exacted of me, in a rather singular
"manner, Not to takeFrdron to write me news from Paris;
"and I had the weakness, or the complaisance, to grant you
"this', though it is not for you to decide what persons I shall
"take into my service. D'Arnaud had faults towards you;
"a generous man would have pardoned them; a vindictive
"man hunts down those whom he takes to hating. In a
"word, though to me D'Arnaud had done nothing, it was on
"your account that he had to go. You were with theRussian
"Minister, speaking of things you had no concern with"
(RussianExcellency Gross, off home lately, in sudden dudgeon,
like an angry skyrocket, nobody can guess why! *) -- "and
"it was thought I had given you Commission. "You have
"had the most villanous affair in the world with a Jew. It
"has made a frightful scandal all over Town. And that
"Steuer-Schein business is so well known in Saxony, that
"they have made grievous complaints of it to me.
"For my own share, I have preserved peace in my house
"till your arrival: and I warn you, that if you have the pas-
"sion of intriguing and caballing, you have applied to the
? Adelung, vn. 133 (about 1st December 1750).
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? 48 THE TEN TEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
March 1751.
"wrong hand. I like peaceable composed people; who do
"not put into their conduct the violent passions of Tragedy.
"In case you can resolve to live like a Philosopher, I shall be
"glad to see you: but if you abandon yourself to all the
"violences of your passions, and get into quarrels with all the
"world, you will do me no good T>y coming hither, and you
"may as well stay in Berlin. * -- F.
To which Voltaire sighing pathetically in response,
"Wrong, ah yes, your Majesty; and sick to death"
(see farther down), -- here is Friedrich's Second in
Answer:
2? . Friedrich to Voltaire again.
"Potsdam, 28th February 1751. "If you wish to come hither, you can do so. I hear nothing
"of Lawsuits, not even of yours. Since you have gained it,
"I congratulate you; and 1 am glad that this scurvy affair is
"done. I hope you will have no more quarrels, neither with
"the Old nor with the New Testament. Such worryings (ces
"sortes de compromis) leave their mark on a man; and with
"the talents of the finest genius in France, you will not cover
"the stains which this conduct would fasten on your reputa-
tion in the long-run. A Bookseller Gosse" -- (read Jore,
your Majesty? Nobody ever heard of Gosse as an extant
quantity: Jore, of Rouen, you mean, and his celebrated Law-
suit, about printing the Henriade, or I know not what, long
since** -- "a Bookseller Jore, an Opera Fiddler" (poor
Travenol, wrong dog pincered by the ear), "and a Jeweller
"Jew, these are, of a surety, names which in no sort of busi-
"ness ought to appear by the side of yours. I write this
"Letter with the rough common-sense of a German, who
"speaks what he thinks, without employing equivocal terms,
* Preuss, xxn. 262 (wanting in the French Editions).
** Unbounded details on the Jore Case, and from 1731 to 1738, continual
Letters on it, in (Euvres de Voltaire; -- came to a head in 1736 (ib. lxix.
375); Jore penitent, 1738 [ib. I. 262), &c. &c.
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? CHAP. vn. ] VOLTAIRE IIAS A PAINFUL JEW-LAWSUIT. 49
March 1751.
"andloose assuagements which disfigure the truth: it is for
"you to profit by it. -- F. " *
So that Voltaire will have to languish: "Wrong,
yes; -- and sick, nigh dead, your Majesty! Ah, could
not one get to some Country Lodge near you, 'the
Marquisat,' for instance? Live silent there, and see
your face sometimes? "** Languishing very much; --
gives cosy little dinners, however. Here are two other
Excerpts; and these will suffice:
Voltaire to Formey ("Berlin Palace;" datable, first days of
March ): "Will you, Monsieur, come and eat the King's roast
"meat (rot du Roi), to-day, Thursday, at two o'clock, in a
"philosophic, warm, and comfortable manner (philosophique-
"ment, et chaudement, et doucement). A couple of philosophers,
"without being courtiers, may dine in the Palace of aPhilo-
"sopher-King: I should even take the liberty of sending one
"of his Majesty's Carriages for you, -- at two precise. After
"dinner, you would be at hand for your Academy meet-
"ing. "*** -- V. How cosy! --And King Friedrich has re-
lented, too; grants me the Marquisat; can refuse me no-
thing!
Voltaire to D'Argental (Potsdam, 15th March 1751"). * *
"I could not accompany our Chamberlain" (Von Ammon,
gone as Envoy to Paris, on a small matter j-), "through the
* (Euvres de Frederic, xxn. 265.
** In (Euvres de Frederic, (xxu. 259-261, 263-266) are Four lamenting
and repenting, wheedling and ultimately whining, Letters from Voltaire,
none of them dated, which have much about "my dreadful state of health,"
my passion "for reposing in that Marquisat" &c. ; -- to one of which Four,
or perhaps to the whole together, the above No. 2 of Friedrich seems to
have been Answer. Of that indisputable "Marquisat" no Nicolai says a
word; even careful Preuss passes " Gosse" and it with shut lips.
**? Formey, i. 234. f "Commercial Treaty;" which he got done. See Longchamp, if any
one is curious otherwise about this Gentleman: "D'Hamon," they call
Carlyle, Frederick the Great, IX. 4
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? 50 THE TEN YEARS OF PEACE. [book XVI.
March 1751.
"muds and the snows, -- where I should have been buried;
"I was ill," and had to go to the Marquisat. "D'Arnaudand
"the pack of Scribblers would have been too glad. D'Arnaud,
"animated with the true love of glory, and not yet grown
"sufficiently illustrious by his own immortal Works, has done
"one of that kind," -- by his behaviour here. Has behaved
to me -- oh, like a miserable, envious, intriguing, lying little
scoundrel; and made Berlin too hot for him: seduced Tinois
my Clerk, stole bits of the Pucelle (brief sight of bits, for
Prince Henri's sake) to ruin me.
"D'Arnaud sent his lies to Fre'ron for the Paris meridian"
(that is his real crime); "delightful news from canaille to
"canaille: 'How Voltaire had lost a great Lawsuit, respect-
"' able Jew Banker cheated by Voltaire; that Voltaire was
'"disgraced by the King,' who of course loves Jews; 'that
'"Voltaire was ruined; was ill; nay at last, that Voltaire
"'was dead.
