or worming out Edelsheim's
secrets, if he had any,--for which reason he finally threw Edelsheim
into the Bastille for a few days. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 38-41,
detailed account of the Affair.]

About the end of March I guess it to have been that Choiseul, by way of
worming out poor Edelsheim's secrets, flung him into the Bastille for
a day or two. Already in December foregoing, we have seen Choiseul's
Black-Artist busy upon the Stolen EDITION of Friedrich's Verses. A
Choiseul full of intrigues; adroit enough, ambitious enough; restlessly
industrious in making mischief, if there were nothing else to be made;
who greatly disgusted Friedrich, now and afterwards.

And this was what the grand Voltaire Pacification came to, though
it filled the world with temporary noise, and was so interesting to
Voltaire and another. What a heart-affecting generosity, humility and
dulcet pathos in that of the poor Mouse gnawing asunder a mesh of the
Lion's net! There is a good deal of that throughout, on the Voltaire
side,--that is to say, while writing to Friedrich. But while writing of
him, to third parties, sometimes almost simultaneously, the contrast
of styles is not a little startling; and the beautiful affectionately
chirping Mouse is seen suddenly to be an injured Wild-cat with its fur
up. All readers of Voltaire are aware of this; and how Voltaire handles
his "LUC" (mysterious nickname for KING FRIEDRICH ), when Luc's back is
turned. For alas, there is no man or thing but has its wrong side too;
least of all, a Voltaire,--doing TREBLE voice withal, if you consider
it, in such a Duet of estranged Lovers! Suppose we give these few
Specimens,--treble mostly, and a few of bass as well,--to illustrate
the nature of this Duet, and of the noises that went on round it, in a
war-convulsed world? And first of all, concerning the enigma "What is
Luc?"

What the LUC in Voltaire is? Shocking explanations have been hit
upon: but Wagniere (WAGNER, an intelligent Swiss man), Voltaire's old
Secretary, gives this plain reading of the riddle: "M. de Voltaire had,
at The Delices [near by Ferney, till the Chateau got built], a big
Ape, of excessively mischievous turn; who used to throw stones at the
passers-by, and sometimes would attack with its teeth friend or foe
alike. One day it thrice over bit M. de Voltaire's own leg. He had
called it LUC (Luke); and in conversation with select friends, as also
in Letters to such, he sometimes designated