sundries: insult to his
Majesty, to wit; breaking his Majesty's arrest, in such insolent loud
manner:--and Freytag finds that he must write anew. Post is very slow;
and, though Fredersdorf answers constantly, from Berlin, "Let him go,
let him go," there have to be writings and re-writings; and it is not
till July 7th (after a detention, not of nearly three weeks, as it might
and would have been, but of five and a day) that Voltaire gets off, and
then too at full gallop, and in a very unseemly way.

This is authentically the world-famous Frankfurt Affair;--done by
Fredersdorf, as we say; Friedrich, absent in Silesia, or in Preussen
even, having no hand in it, except the original Order left with
Fredersdorf. Voltaire has used his flamingest colors on this occasion,
being indeed dreadfully provoked and chagrined; painting the thing in
a very flagrant manner,--known to all readers. Voltaire's flagrant
Narrative had the round of the world to itself, for a hundred years; and
did its share of execution against Friedrich. Till at length, recently,
a precise impartial hand, the Herr Varnhagen, thought of looking into
the Archives; and has, in a distinct, minute and entertaining way,
explained the truth of it to everybody;--leaving the Voltaire Narrative
in rather sad condition. [Varnhagen von Ense,--Voltaire in Frankfurt
am Mayn,--1753 (separate, as here, 12mo, pp. 92; or in--Berliner
Kalender--for 1846).] We have little room; but must give, compressed,
from Varnhagen and the other evidences, a few of the characteristic
points. The story falls into two Parts.

PART I. FREDERSDORF SENDS INSTRUCTIONS; THE "OEUVRE DE POESIE" IS GOT;
BUT--

APRIL 11th, 1753 (few days after that of Maupertuis's Cartel, Voltaire
having set to firing through port-holes again, and the King being swift
in his resolution on it), Factotum Fredersdorf, who has a free-flowing
yet a steady and compact pen, directs Herr Freytag, our Resident at
Frankfurt-on-Mayn, To procure from the Authorities there, on Majesty's
request, the necessary powers; then vigilantly to look out for
Voltaire's arrival; to detain the said Voltaire, and, if necessary,
arrest him, till he deliver certain articles belonging to his Majesty:
Cross of Merit, Gold Key, printed OEUVRE DE POESIES and Writings
(SKRIPTUREN) of his Majesty's; in short, various articles,--the
specification of which is somewhat indistinct. In Fredersdorf's writing,
all this; not so mathematically luminous