What now lent a double sharpness to disappointment was Voltaire's consciousness that he had stooped to flatter this semblance of a king. Even his friend Madame de Pompadour was estranged by the enmity of the men of letters who could gain her ear; and his old schoolfellow D'Argenson,[1] now Minister, had refused, what Voltaire thought he ought to have offered, admission to the Academies of Science and Belles Lettres.
While he experienced these mortifications in his own country, his friend the King of Prussia had persistently pressed on him the most flattering tokens of appreciation, in the offers by which he tried to persuade the poet to take up his abode at the Court of Berlin, These Voltaire had hitherto steadfastly declined, pleading his obligations to Madame du Châtelet. That tie was now dissolved, and Frederick not only repeated his invitation, but reinforced it with the promise of a pension of £850 a-year, the gold key of chamberlain, an Order of Merit, and apartments in the palace close to his Majesty's own. Voltaire no longer hesitated, but went to demand the king's permission to quit France, Louis is said to have graciously responded that he was welcome to go when he pleased, and turned the royal back upon him. Madame de Pompadour took a cold leave of him, and desired him to present her compliments to the King of Prussia. The message being duly delivered, Frederick replied, "I don't know her," and passed to something else—which did not, however, prevent the discreet poet from writing some of his little classical verses to the Marquise, in which he
- ↑ There were two D'Argensons, schoolfellows of Voltaire—the elder, the Marquis, was always friendly to him; the younger was the Minister.
