VOLTAIRE. 95 



he addressed to M. d'Argens, then in his employ. He 

 became more resigned after this, and resolved to brave 

 all dangers. He says, in one of his poems addressed to 

 Voltaire, 9th October, 



" Je dois, en affrontant 1'orage, 

 Penser, ecrire, et mourir en Roi." 



Immediately after (5th November) he gained the battle 

 of Rosbach, in which the French army under Soubise 

 were seized with a panic and fled disgracefully. But 

 aware of his difficulties, he wished to renew the nego- 

 tiations for peace which he had two months before in 

 vain attempted to open with the Due de Richelieu, 

 then commanding in Westphalia. The Cardinal 

 Tencin, still a minister, though superseded in active 

 influence by the Abbe, afterwards Cardinal Bernis, 

 had always been averse to the Austrian alliance, which 

 Madame Pompadour, from personal resentment towards 

 Frederick, mainly aided in bringing about ; and he 

 employed Voltaire's intimacy with the Margravine of 

 Baireuth, Frederick's sister, to open a negotiation. The 

 letters passed through Voltaire and that princess. 

 Frederick readily acceded to the suggestion. The 

 letter from the margravine on her brother's part was 

 sent in this manner to the cardinal, who wrote, en- 

 closing it, to the king of France. He received a dry 

 answer, that the Secretary for Foreign Affairs would 

 communicate his intentions. That secretary, the Abbe 

 Bernis, did so ; he dictated to the cardinal an answer 

 to the margravine, refusing to negotiate, and the car- 

 dinal is represented by Voltaire (Mem., CEuv., i. 295) 

 as having died of mortification in a fortnight. The 

 sudden change of tone in Frederick towards Voltaire, 



