patriarch of their encyclopædic church, only praying him not to think her too importunate. Christian VII. of Denmark apologises for not being able at a stroke to remove all the obstacles that lie in the way of the civil liberty of his subjects. Gustavus III. of Sweden is elated by the thought that Voltaire sometimes casts a glance on what is going on in the North, and protests that this is their greatest encouragement to do as well as they can in all ways.[274] Joseph II. would fain have called at Ferney while travelling incognito through France, but fear of his mother’s displeasure held him back, the high and devout nature of Maria Theresa always finding Voltaire’s mockery of sacred things deeply repugnant, as we may easily believe. Beside sovereigns who wrote to him as to an equal, every young aspirant to literary distinction, however unknown and obscure, sought a criticism from Ferney. Twenty years before he settled down here, Voltaire had been consulted by Vauvenargues, and had replied with words of painstaking and generous counsel. It was always the same with him. No young author ever solicited advice in vain, and he was never sparing either of trouble or praise. The Marquis of Chastellux sent him a copy of his Félicité Publique, and was raised to the seventh heaven by a letter of thanks, in which Voltaire tells him: ‘I covered the margin of my copy with notes, as I always do when a book charms and instructs me; I even took the liberty of not always sharing the author’s opinion. I am very old and very feeble, but such reading makes me young again.’ And the letter contains a large number of points where he thinks the author in error.[275] Besides kings and the writers of books, plain men also besought his dictum on high matters. ‘A burgomaster of Middleburg,’ he informs Madame du Deffand, ‘whom I do not know, wrote to me a little while since, to ask me in confidence whether there is a God or not; whether, in case there be one, he takes any heed of us; whether matter is eternal; whether it can think; whether the soul is immortal; and begging me to answer by return of post.’[276] One may suspect that a little colouring is added here by the master hand, but the substantial facts are probable enough. He corresponded with cardinals, marshals of France, and bishops, and he corresponded with Helvétius and with Diderot, who, greatly to the indignation of the business-like patriarch, had a bad habit of leaving letters to answer themselves.[277] If two cavalry officers fell to disputing over the mess-table as to the propriety of using some bit of old French, it was to Ferney that the reference was instantly made.[278]