Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 02.djvu/161

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The Atheist and the Sage.
137


Chapter IV.

John returns to London and is led into bad company.

While our worthy philosopher Freind was enlightening the priests of Barcelona, and his son John delighted the ladies, Lord Peterborough lost all favor with the queen and archduke for seizing Barcelona for them. The courtiers censured him for taking the city contrary to all rule, with an army less strong by half than the garrison. At first the archduke was highly incensed, and our friend was obliged to print an apology for the general. Yet this archduke, who had come to conquer Spain, had not the wherewith to pay for his chocolate. All Queen Anne had given him was squandered.

Montecuculi, in his "Memoirs," says three things are necessary to maintain a war: First, money; second, money; and third, money. The archduke wrote from Guadalajara, where he was on the 11th of August, 1706, to Lord Peterborough, a long letter signed "Yo el Rey," in which he begged him to hasten to Genoa and raise on credit ₤100,000. So our Sertorius, from general of an army, thus became a Genoese banker. He communicated his distress to our friend Freind. They started for Genoa. I went with them, for you know my heart leads me thither. I admired the skill and spirit of conciliation my friend displayed in this delicate