e and
the Empresses Elizabeth and Maria Theresa. Similarly, he sometimes
caressed, sometimes scolded and scratched his poetical ideal,
Voltaire; but he also proceeded in this way with people whom he really
esteemed highly, in whom he put the greatest confidence, and whom he
took into the circle of his intimate friends. He brought the Marquis
d'Argens to his court, made him chamberlain, member of the Academy,
and one of his nearest and dearest friends. The letters which he wrote
to him from the camps of the Seven Years' War are among the most
beautiful and touching records that the King has left us. When
Frederick came home from the war it was his fond hope that the marquis
would live with him in his palace at Sans Souci. And a few years later
this charming relation was broken up in the most painful manner. How
was that possible! The marquis was perhaps the best Frenchman that the
King had brought into his circle, a man of honor, with fine feelings,
fine education, and really devoted to the King; but he was neither a
great character nor an especially strong man. For years the King had
admired in him a scholar--which he was not--a wise, clear-sighted,
assured philosopher with pleasing wit and fresh humor; he had in short
set up an extremely pleasing, fanciful image of him. Now, in daily
intercourse, Frederick found himself mistaken. A lack of robustness on
the part of the Frenchman, causing him to dwell with hypochondriac
exaggeration on his poor health, annoyed the King, who began to
realize that the aging marquis was neither a great genius nor an
intellectual giant. The ideal which he had formed of him was
destroyed. Now the King began to make fun of him on account of his
weaknesses. The sensitive Frenchman thereupon asked for leave of
absence, that a sojourn of a few months in France might restore his
health. The King was offended by this ill-humored attitude, and
continued his raillery in friendly letters which he sent him. He said
that it was rumored that a werewolf had appeared in France. This was
undoubtedly the marquis, in the disguise of a Prussian and a sick man,
and he asked if he had begun to eat little children. He had not
formerly had that bad habit, but people change a good deal in
traveling. The marquis, instead of a few months, stayed two winters.
When he was about to return, he sent certificates from his physicians.
Probably the worthy man had really been ill, but the King was
deeply offended by this awk