He had been there before on the occasion of his
sister's marriage, in November, 1731, the poor girl gladly accepting
marriage to a prince she had never seen as a means of escape from a king
of whom she had seen too much. With this our story ends. Father and son
were reconciled, and lived to all appearance as good friends until 1740,
when the old despot died, and Frederick succeeded him as king.
_VOLTAIRE AND FREDERICK THE GREAT._
Voltaire, who was an adept in the art of making France too hot to hold
him, had gone to Prussia, as a place of rest for his perturbed spirit,
and, in response to the repeated invitations of his ardent admirer,
Frederick the Great. It was a blunder on both sides. If they had wished
to continue friends, they should have kept apart. Frederick was
autocratic in his ways and thoughts; Voltaire embodied the spirit of
independence in thought and speech. The two men could no more meet
without striking fire than flint and steel. Moreover, Voltaire was
normally satirical, restless, inclined to vanity and jealousy, and that
terrible pen of his could never be brought to respect persons and
places.
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