History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16 — John Shaqi
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16Carlyle, Thomas
History
History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16
Carlyle, Thomas
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick II, 1740-1786; Social problems
"And mistakes were made in the Affair Travenol,--old FATHER Travenol
haled to prison, instead of Son,--by the Lieutenant of Police and
his people. And Voltaire took the high-hand method (being well at
Court):--and thereupon hungry Advocates took up Dog Travenol and his
pincered ears: 'Serene Judges of the Chatelet, Most Christian Populace
of Paris, did you ever see a Dog so pincered by an Academical Gentleman
before, merely for being hungry?' And Voltaire, getting madder and
madder, appealed to the Academy (which would not interfere); filed
Criminal Informations; appealed to the Chatelet, to the Courts above
and to the Courts below; and, for almost a year, there went on the
'PROCES-TRAVENOL:' [About Mayday, 1746, Seizure of Travenol; Pleadings
are in vigor August, 1746; not done April, 1747. _In--Voltairiana,--_ii.
141-206, Pleadings, &c., copiously given; and most of the original
Libels, in different parts of that sad Book (compiled by Travenol's
Advocate, a very sad fellow himself): see also--OEuvres de
Voltaire,--lxxiii. 355 n., 385 n.; IB. i. 97; BARBIER, ii. 487. All in a
very jumbled, dateless, vague and incorrect condition.] Olympian Jove
in distressed circumstances VERSUS a hungry Dog who had eaten dirty
puddings. Paris, in all its Saloons and Literary Coffee-houses (figure
the ANTRE DE PROCOPE, on Publication nights!), had, monthly or so,
the exquisite malign banquet; and grinned over the Law Pleadings: what
Magazine Serial of our day can be so interesting to the emptiest mind!
"Lasted, I find, for above a year. From Spring, 1746, till towards
Autumn, 1747: Voltaire's feelings being--Haha, so exquisite, all the
while!--Well, reader, I can judge how amusing it was to high and low.
And yet Phoebus Apollo going about as mere Cowherd of Admetus, and
exposed to amuse the populace by his duels with dogs that have bitten
him? It is certain Voltaire was a fool, not to be more cautious of
getting into gutter-quarrels; not to have a thicker skin, in fact."
PROCES-TRAVENOL escorting one's Triumphal Entry; what an adjunct! Always
so: always in your utmost radiance of sunshine a shadow; and in your
softest outburst of Lydian or Spheral symphonies something of eating
Care! Then too, in the Court-circle itself, "is Trajan pleased," or are
all things well? Readers have heard of that "TRAJAN EST-IL CONTENT?" It
occurred Winter, 1745 (27th November, 1745, a date worth marking), while
things were still in the flush of early hope. That evening, our TEMPLE
DE LA GLOIRE (Temple of Glory) had just been acted for the first time,
in honor of him we may call "Trajan," returning from a "Fontenoy
and Seven Cities captured:" [Seven of them; or even eight of a kind:
Tournay, Ghent, Bruges, Nieuport, Dendermond, Ath, Ostend; and nothing
lost but Cape Breton and one's Codfishery.]--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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