Voltaire (1694-1778). 8 L.A.S. "V" and 1 L.A., July-August [1758], to his niece …
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Voltaire (1694-1778).

8 L.A.S. "V" and 1 L.A., July-August [1758], to his niece Mrs. Marie-Louise DENIS, at Les Délices, Geneva; 20 pages in-4, 7 pages in-8, 4 addresses (small split in one letter). Beautiful correspondence to his niece Mrs. Denis, partly unpublished, during his trip and his stay in Schwetzingen with the Elector Palatine; he will write Candide there. Morat July 4. "Always wet and shivering with cold in the month of July I have recourse my dear child to the great maxim of taking the time as it comes". He learns that "the Count of Clermont lost a great battle [Krefeld] on June 24. [...] It is a marvelous thing that the cordiality with which they want us to be beaten here, while there are four or five Swiss regiments in the army. It seems that one fears less here for his parents than one likes to see the French humiliated"... He will go to Bern, then ... "It is my hell in this world that the cold and the rain. I can't stand it anymore. I will go to be burned in Lisbon to be warm"... He sends a note to the Countess of BENTINCK, if she comes to the Delights. Schwetzingen near Manheim July 17. He mentions the operation of Mr. d'Hermenches [David-Louis Constant de Rebecque] and worries about his convalescence... "We have here a young Russian of sixteen years of age, he lives alone without a tutor, with his servants, and he would serve as tutor and tutor to our lords of twenty years. He is the nephew of the great chancellor [Veselovsky]. He speaks French as if he had been born in Versailles, he knows all the governments as if he had lived a long time in all the courts. I am confused. I have never seen anything like it. All the memoirs that Mr. de Schvallov [SCHOUVALOV], this favorite of the Empress, has sent me are from the hand of this favorite himself. He is only twenty-five years old, and he is prodigiously learned. Petersburg is thus the home of premature minds! By what good fortune have we deserved that these people speak our language and want to learn here. This young boy of sixteen was going to Geneva to see me. I received his visit here"... Yesterday they had Ninette at court, and the day after tomorrow they will have Mahomet... News of the war : "The prince of Soubise is in Hesse, the king of Prussia in Bohemia. Everyone is running away from home. No news yet that the Russians are in Frankfurt on the Oder. But they are in Pomerania. It is very likely that the King of Prussia will find himself between fifty thousand Russians and fifty thousand Austrians"... His voyage was essential: "The Elector received with a sensitive pleasure the testimony of the recognition which I owed him. He is an assured protector for my life. He is the most honest man who is among the princes"... Schwetzingen July 19. The Prince de Beauvau and Mme de Boufflers offer him the castle of Craon near Lunéville to rent or to sell, and "the King of Poland offers me a lodging in the one of his houses that I will want to choose. Thus you see that we will not be like the son of the man who did not have where to rest his poor head"... He recognizes, however, the advantages of the land of Champigneulles, near Nancy, and he waits for the details concerning Fontenoy: "Let us always enjoy our delights and not spend much money on them, until we have made up our minds. It is always very pleasant that a king makes us advances, which the Genevans thought they were doing us a favor by selling us eighty thousand francs which is worth forty. Business on the Rhine is taking a favorable turn. Five to six hundred Hanoverians have been taken prisoner; the soldiers show a singular rage of good will, and they await Marshal d'Etrée [Estrées] as their messiah. The King of Prussia is still losing people in his retreat. The Russians are certainly advancing. Business can be repaired more easily than our glory"... Schwetzingen July 22. He bought some porcelain objects in Mannheim: it was wrong to proscribe the factory in Strasbourg. The one in Mannheim "will give everything at half the price of the one in Vincennes, and just as beautiful. This is not the only foolishness that one makes in France. I also bought a small damask service and you will tell me if it is cheap, and if I have been caught. I swear to you that in spite of the Hanoverians the Palatinate is a good country. They feed twelve horses there for less than half what it costs us for six in our Switzerland. In spite of all that I will leave as soon as the weather is good and I will bring you the sedan I bought in Strasbourg. But I warn you that I will not leave until you have written to me. The more I love you, the more I love your letters. [...] The Rhine is overflowing. It was said yesterday that Luke [FEDERIC II] was in a great hurry. But in the deluge where we are, only the fish can fight"... Schwetzingen July 24. "Finally the light troops of the Russians are

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voltaire (1694-1778).

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