Berlin." Surely,--but also this:--

"I am unwell, I am a sick man born. And withal I am obliged to work,
almost as much as your Majesty. I pass the whole day alone. If you would
permit that I might shift to the Apartment next the one I have,--to
that where General Bredow slept last winter,--I should work more
commodiously. My Secretary (Collini) and I could work together there. I
should have a little more sun, which is a great point for me.--Only the
whim of a sick man, perhaps! Well, even so, your Majesty will have pity
on it. You promised to make me happy." [--OEuvres de Frederic,--xxii.
277.]

I SUSPECT THAT I AM SUSPECTED (No date).--"Sire, if I am not brief,
forgive me. Yesterday the faithful D'Arget told me with sorrow that in
Paris people were talking of your Poem." Horrible; but, O Sire,--me?--"I
showed him the eighteen Letters that I received yesterday. They are from
Cadiz," all about Finance, no blabbing there! "Permit me to send you now
the last six from my Niece, numbered by her own hand [no forgery, no
suppression]; deign to cast your eyes on the places I have underlined,
where she speaks of your Majesty, of D'Argens, of Potsdam, of D'Ammon"
(to whom she can't be Phyllis, innocent being)!-MON CHER VOLTAIRE, must
I again do some NICHE upon you, then? Tie some tin-canister to your
too-sensitive tail? What an element you inhabit within that poor skin of
yours! [Ib. 269.]

MAJESTY INVITES US TO A LITERARY CHRISTENING, POTSDAM (No date. These
"Six Twins" are the "ART DE LA GUERRE," in Six Chants; part of that
revised Edition which is getting printed "AU DONJON DU CHATEAU;" time
must be, well on in 1751). Friedrich writes to Voltaire:--

"I have just been brought to bed of Six Twins; which require to be
baptized, in the name of Apollo, in the waters of Hippocrene. LA
HENRIADE is requested to become godmother: you will have the goodness
to bring her, this evening at five, to the Father's Apartment. D'Arget
LUCINA will be there; and the Imagination of MAN-A-MACHINE will hold the
poor infants over the Font." [Ib. 266.]

DEIGN TO SAY IF I HAVE OFFENDED.--... "As they write to me from Paris
that I am in disgrace with you, I dare to beg very earnestly that you
will deign to say if I have displeased in anything! May go wrong by
ignorance or from over-zeal; but with my heart never! I live in the
profoundest retreat; giving to study my whole"--"Your assurances once
vouchsafed [famous Document of August 23d]. I write