VOLTAIRE. 81 



ness under a sovereign who protected letters, cultivated 

 them himself, refused all countenance to persecutions 

 of any sort, and had long expressed for him the 

 warmest friendship. He believed he should at length 

 be able to lead a tranquil life of literary occupation ; 

 he hoped to enjoy the otium and forgot the dignitas ; 

 and he set out for Berlin, where he arrived about 

 the end of July, 1750. 



The arrangements which Frederick II., enchanted 

 with this splendid acquisition, immediately made, were 

 of a sufficiently liberal kind. A pension of 20,000 

 francs a year, with 4000 for his niece should she join 

 him and then survive him ; the rank of chamberlain ; 

 the higher order of knighthood, and apartments at the 

 palace of Potsdam, where the monarch lived ten 

 months in the year seemed an ample establishment, 

 especially when added to an income already larger by a 

 great deal than any other literary man ever enjoyed, for 

 he possessed from his own funds 80,000 francs, or above 

 3000/., a year. The work to be done for this remune- 

 ration was to read and correct the king's writings, to be 

 his companion at his leisure hours, and, above all, to 

 attend his suppers, the meal at which he chiefly loved 

 to take his relaxation after the fatigues of the day. 

 That the society of this singularly gifted prince was 

 captivating we cannot have any doubt. He had a 

 great variety of information, abounded in playful and 

 original wit, somewhat of Voltaire's own kind, was 

 of the most easy and unceremonious manners, and 

 had such equal spirits as cast an air of gaiety over his 

 whole society. It is not a matter of wonder that the 

 man whom he chiefly delighted to honour should have 



G 



