Eckartsberg, eagerly manoeuvring with the Austrians, in hopes of getting
battle out of them,--which he cannot. Friedrich, while he wrote that
Note to Voltaire, and instead of sand-box shook the ink-bottle over it,
was just going out on that errand.

VOLTAIRE, 12th SEPTEMBER (to a Lady whose Son is in the D'Estrees wars).
[Ib. lxxii. 55. 56.]--"Here are mighty revolutions, Madame; and we are
not at the end yet. They say there have 18,000 Hanoverians been disposed
of at Stade [Convention of Kloster-Zeven]. That is no small matter. I
can hope M. Richelieu [who is "MON HEROS," when I write to himself] will
adorn his head with the laurels they have stuck in his pocket. I wish
Monsieur your Son abundance of honor and glory without wounds, and to
you, Madame, unalterable health. The King of Prussia has written me a
very touching Letter [one line of which we have read]; but I have always
Madame Denis's adventure on my heart," at Frankfurt yonder. "If I were
well, I would take a run to Frankfurt myself on the business,"--now
that Soubise's reserves are in those parts, and could give Freytag and
Schmidt such a dusting for me, if they liked! Shall I write to Collini
on it? Does write, and again write, the second year hence, as still
better chances rise. [Collini, pp. 208-211 ("January-May, 1759").]

3. WILHELMINA TO VOLTAIRE AGAIN, WITH ANSWER (Second of the Prose
Pieces).--Not a very zealous friend of Friedrich's, after all, this
Voltaire! Poor Wilhelmina, terrified by that EPITRE of her Brother's,
and his fixed purpose of seeking Death, has, in her despair (though
her Letter is lost), been urging Voltaire to write dissuading him;--as
Voltaire does. Of which presently. Her Letter to Voltaire on this
thrice-important subject is lost. But in the very hours while Voltaire
sat writing what we have just read, "always with Madame Denis's
adventure on my heart," Wilhelmina, at Baireuth, is again writing to him
as follows:--

BAIREUTH, 12th SEPTEMBER, 1757 (TO VOLTAIRE).--"Your Letter has sensibly
touched me; that which you addressed to me for the King [both Letters
lost to us] has produced the same effect on him. I hope you will be
satisfied with his Answer as to what concerns yourself; but you will be
as little so as I am with the resolutions he has formed. I had flattered
myself that your reflections would make some impression on his mind.
You will see the contrary by the Letter adjoined. "To me there remains
nothing but to follow