Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One VolumeVoltaire
Philosophy
Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume
Voltaire
French fiction -- Translations into English
While our worthy philosopher Freind was enlightening the priests of
Barcelona, and his son John delighting the ladies, Lord Peterborough
lost all favor with the queen and arch-duke 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
arch-duke was highly incensed; and our friend was obliged to print an
apology for the general. Yet this arch-duke, who had come to conquer
Spain, had not the worth of his chocolate. All Queen Anne had given him
was squandered.
Montecuculi, in his _Memoirs_, says three things are necessary to
maintain a war; 1st, money, 2nd, money, and 3rd, money. The arch-duke
wrote from Guadalaxara, 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 Sartorius,
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 business. I
saw at once that intelligence may meet every exigency. Our great Locke
was a physician; he became the first metaphysician in Europe, and
restored the value of the British coinage. In three days Freind raised
the £100,000; but the court of Charles the VI. contrived to squander it
in three weeks. After this, the general, accompanied by his theologian,
was obliged to repair to London to justify himself before the parliament
for conquering Catalonia against all rule, and for ruining himself in
the common cause. The affair was protracted and vexatious, as are all
party disputes.
You know that Mr. Freind was a member of parliament before he became a
priest; and he is the only person who has been allowed to combine
functions so opposed. One day, when Freind was thinking over a speech he
intended to deliver in the house (of which he was a most respectable
member), a Spanish lady was announced as desirous of seeing him on
particular business. It was Donna Boca Vermeja herself, and in tears.
Our good friend ordered a luncheon. She took some refreshment, dried her
eyes, and thus began:
"You will remember, sir, when you went to Genoa, you ordered your son
John to leave Barcelona for London, and to commence his duties as a
clerk in the exchequer, a post which your influence had obtained for
him. He embarked in the Triton with a young bachelor of arts, Don Papa
Dexando, and others whom you had converted. You may well suppose that I,
with my dear friend Las Nalgas, accompanied them."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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