Se a : ¥ Aen 
4 : * : 4 
1799] 
dd than its being intended te throw fome dirt 
6n Voltaire. I will tell you this truth, 
becaufe I venerate truth, and becaufe it 
involves a rely extraordinary, circumftance 
§ in the hiftory of princes. ~ .) 
In the tender intercourfe of letters be- 
tween the Prince of Pruffia, in 1739 (his 
father, the king, being then alive), the 
prince writes to Voltaire, Auguft 15th, 
2739— It has been told me, that Machia-. 
vel’s defeat may be found in the political 
notes of Amelot de la Houffaie, and in the 
tranflation of Gordon. I have feen both 
thefe works—judicious and excellent in 
their kind, and rejoiced to find that my 
plan is totally different from theirs: you 
fhall be the firft to fee it when I finifh it, 
but the public never,, unlefs you fhall re- 
commend it: I have worked as hard as 
the interruptions of ajourney will admit.” 
On the 6th of November, the prince 
writes irom Remerfberg, that the ** Axtz~ 
Machiavel” is complete, and fends the firft 
_five chapters to Voltaire, together with 
fome powders proper for his cholics:.<« I 
‘quit you to go on with polifhing my work, 
and blacken the infamous and villainous 
character of the advocate for vice. 
‘As you {peak of my feeble productions, 
neglecting your own immortal works, I 
ought to give you an account of my ftu- 
dies ; the approbation you beftow on the 
firit five chapters, encourages me to finith 
as quickly as I can; if I had leifure you 
fhould have had it all before now, with ad- 
ditions and corrections, but interruptions 
prevent me.” 
On the 23d of Feb. 1740, Voltaire 
fends the prince fome ftrictures on his 
manner of writing, and a preface. ‘‘I am 
continually expecting your laft orders con- 
cerning Machiavel; I fuppofe you will 
order La Houflaie’s tranflation to be print- 
ed by the fide of your refutation. *The 
more you refute Machiavel by your con- 
dué, the more you will be difpofed to 
pubdlith the antidote you have prepared.” 
Qn the 6th of June, 1740, ke writes 
from Chariottenberg as king, his father 
being dead, a very fenfible and philofophi- 
cal letter, which does him great honour. 
InJune 1740, Voltaire writes—*“‘ If you 
did but know, Sire, how much your work 
is above that of Machiavel, were it only 
for ftyle, you would not have the cruelty 
to fuppreis it.” 
* \t mutt be noted that this refeétion burft 
from Voltaire’s heart, then fwelling with the 
pride of thinking himtelf the friend of'a prince, 
another Titus or Antoninus, the friendly and 
Virtuous incenfe, foon wore the {everity of 
fatire, f 
Voltaire and the Baok{eller. 
ve 
iS Hague, 20th Fulys 1740+ 
' Voltaire writes—‘* The firft thing I did 
after coming here, was to go to the moft 
cunning and impudent bookfellers in this 
country, who had undertaken the thing in 
queftion; I-repeat it again to your ma- 
jetty, that L had not left one word in the 
manufcript that any perfon in Europe 
could complain of ; but in fpite of all that, 
as your majefty has it at heart to withdraw 
the edition, I had ne longer any other will 
or defire. ; 
<‘T had this impudent rafeal, John Van- 
duren, founded by a man I fent, to pro- 
cure, under plaufible pretext, fome fheets 
of the manufcript, which was not half 
printed, for I knew that my Dutchman 
would not liften to any propoiition. 
<< [ arrived in good time ; the rafcal had 
already refufed to give up even one page of 
the manufcript : I fent for him, and found- 
ed him, and turned him about in every 
fenfe: he gave me to underiftand, that 
being mafter of the manufcript, he never 
would give:it up on any advantage what- 
ever, that he had began the impreifion and 
would finifh it. 
“When I faw that I had todo witha 
Dutchman, who made an improper ufe of 
the liberty of nis country, and with a 
book{eller, who pufhed his right of per- 
fecuting authors to excefs, not daring to 
truft any one with my fecret, nor implore 
the help of authority, I remembered what 
your majefty fays in one of the chapters of 
the ** Anti-Machiavel,’”’ that it is right to 
employ decent finefle in the way of nego- 
tiation. I told John Vanduren, ‘then, 
that I came only to corre&t fome pages of 
the manufeript; “© With all my heart, 
Sir,”’ fays he, “ if you will come into my 
houfe, I will truft you generoufly leaf by: 
leat; you fhall correét it as you like beft, 
fhut up in my chamber, in the prefence of 
my family and fervants. 
<¢ T accepted his cordial! offer,and went to 
his houfe and correéted fome leaves, wich 
he retook and read them to fee that I did 
not deceive him ; having, by thefe means, 
infpired him with lefs miftruft, I return- 
ed this day into the fame prifon where he 
fhut me up as before, and having obtained 
hx chapters at a time to confront them, I 
erafed them in fuch a way, and wrote in- 
the interlineations fuch horrible nonfen{e, 
and ridiculous ftuff, that it no longer re- 
{embled the original work ; this is what 
may be called blowing up one’s fhip to 
prevent being taken by the enemy ; I was 
in deipair at the facrifice of {uch.a work ; 
but, in fine, I obeyed the king, whom I 
idolize, and anfwer for it to you that it 
was 
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