To such a degree had I at heart the
letters and writing of the king."
The too trusty agent did not feel so self-satisfied on receiving the
opinion of the king.
"I gave you no such orders as that," wrote Frederick. "You should never
make more noise than a thing deserves. I wanted Voltaire to give you up
the key, the cross, and the volume of poems I had intrusted to him; as
soon as all that was given up to you I can't see what earthly reason
could have induced you to make this uproar."
It is very probable, however, that Frederick wished to humiliate
Voltaire, and the latter did not fail to revenge himself with that
weapon which he knew so well how to wield. In his poem of "La Loi
naturelle" he drew a bitter but truthful portrait of Frederick which
must have made that arbitrary gentleman wince. He was, says the poet,--
"Of incongruities a monstrous pile,
Calling men brothers, crushing them the while;
With air humane, a misanthropic brute;
Ofttimes impulsive, sometimes over-'cute;
Weak 'midst his choler, modest in his pride;
Yearning for virtue, lust personified;
Statesman and author, of the slippery crew;
My patron, pupil, persecutor too.
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