ld you,
even when you deserve it....

"As to your Niece, let her burn me or roast me, I care little. Nor are
you to think me so sensitive to what your Bishops in IC or in AC may
say of me. I have the lot of all actors who play in public; applauded
by some, despised by others. One must prepare oneself for satires,
for calumnies, for a multitude of lies, which will be sent abroad into
currency against one: but need that trouble my tranquillity? I go my
road; I do nothing against the interior voice of my conscience; and I
concern myself very little in what way my actions paint themselves in
the brain of beings, not always very thinking, with two legs and without
feathers." ["Schmottseifen, 18th July, 1759;" _OEuvres de Frederic,_
xxiii. 55, 56.]

AT WILSDRUF, JUST BEFORE MAXEN (an exultant exuberant curious Letter;
too long for insertion,--part of it given above).... "For your Tragedy
of SOCRATE, thanks. At Paris they are going to burn it, the wretched
fools,--not aware that absurd fanaticism is their dominant vice. Better
burn the dose of medicine, however, than the useful Doctor. I, can I
join myself to that set? If I bite you, as you complain, it is without
my knowledge. But I am surrounded with enemies, one hitting me, another
pricking me, another daubing me with mud;--patience at last yields, and
one flies abroad into a general rage, too indiscriminate perhaps."

You talk of my Verses on Rossbach (my ADIEU TO THE HOOPERS on finding
their Bridge burnt [Supra, p. 21.]). "This Campaign I have had no
beatific vision, in the style of Moses. The barbarous Cossacks and
Tartars, infamous to look at on any side, have burnt and ravaged
countries, and committed atrocious inhumanities. This is all I saw of
THEM. Such melancholy spectacles don't tend to raise one's spirits.
[Breaks off into metre:] LA FORTUNE INCONSTANTE ET FIERE, Fortune
inconstant and proud. Does not treat her suitors Always in an equal
manner. Those fools called heroes, who run the country,

Ces fous nommes heros, et qui courent les champs,
Couverts de sang et de poussiere,
Voltaire, n'ont pas tous les ans
La faceur de voir le derriere
De leurs ennemis insolents.

Can't expect that pleasure every year"!...

Maupertuis, say you? "Don't trouble the ashes of the dead; let the grave
at least put an end to your unjust hatreds. Reflect that even Kings make
peace after long battling; cannot you ever make it? I think you would
be capab