Voltaire lives in Ferney. Jean
Jacques Rousseau, whom I admire but do not love, lives in Geneva,
where he has been obliged to take refuge. I have also been told that
the pension which, in a favorable moment, was granted to D'Alembert,
has been withdrawn. Have I been falsely informed? has my friend
D'Alembert not fallen into disgrace? is not my friend the
encyclopaedian, regarded as a transgressor, and a high traitor
because he uses the undoubted right of free thought, does not
blindly believe, but looks abroad with open eyes and a clear
intellect?"
The duke replied by a few confused and disconnected words, and a
shadow fell upon his clear countenance; three times had Frederick
interrupted him when he sought to speak of the King of France and
his friendship for his brother of Prussia. The duke did not dare
choose this theme for the fourth time, which was so evidently
distasteful to the king; he must, therefore, submit and follow the
lead of his majesty, and in lieu of alliances and state questions
discuss philosophy and the arts. So soon as the duke came to this
conclusion, he smoothed his brow, and, with all his amiability,
animation, and intelligence, he replied to the questions of the
king, and the conversation was carried on in an unbroken stream of
wit and gayety.
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