ike a
marplot, rather than as the guest of a king. Quarrel succeeded
quarrel. Most of his embroilments with the king were of less credit to
Voltaire than to Frederick. The former was as full of tricks as Puck,
and impish in his mischief. Frederick was overbearing and tyrannical.
Having a rude sense of justice, being German, he would grant no
license to the stinging, envious satires of the jealous, envious
Frenchman. They managed to get on with each other for about three
years. Voltaire disgusted Frederick by getting into a lawsuit with a
Jewish banker named Hirsch about a discreditable speculation in
Saxony money. Finally he began a violent controversy with Maupertuis,
president of the Berlin Academy. He libelled this boorish but able
scholar, who held his office by appointment of Frederick. He lied to
the king concerning one of the most cutting satires in literature,
which was aimed at the president. He tricked the king in the shabbiest
manner. He had succeeded in getting into difficulty with his usual
facility.

He asked for permission to leave the court of Frederick, pleading
business at Paris, and also that his health required him to visit
Plombieres, in order to drink of its waters. Frederick gave him leave
to go. On the eve of going, in utter disregard of his promise to the
king, he fired a parting shot at Maupertuis, in the shape of a
supplement to the attack he had already made, then travelled leisurely
on his way. Frederick waited until he reached Frankfort; there he was
detained by order of the king on the charge of having some verses
written by Frederick in his possession. The resident at Frankfort was
as stupid and clumsy as a German official can be, and managed the
affair in a most rude and indelicate manner. Exasperated at the delay,
Voltaire committed the folly of undertaking to steal away. He and his
niece were arrested and imprisoned in an inn, where they were
subjected to very unpleasant treatment. The action of Frederick was
unworthy of a king. Its meanness was intensified by the bungling
stupidity of the resident. The people of Frankfort grew indignant, and
the burgomaster began to show resentment, for Frankfort was a free
city and the King of Prussia had no right to trespass upon its
privileges. It was mean in a monarch to strike this foul blow because
he had been pricked with a sharp pin.

From this time forth Voltaire entered upon a life of complete
independence, free from all incumbrances of m