Aad 
was done with all my heart; my rafcal 
Row was confounded and aitonifhed, I 
hepe to-morrow to make a handfome bar- 
gain with him, and make him give the 
whole up, both what is printed and the 
manufcript, of which I will give an ac- 
count to your majeity.”’ 
By theie means the ‘* Antt-Machiavel” 
of the Prince of Pruffia did never appear, 
which would have taken place if his fa- 
ther had lived a few weeks longer. It is 
curious to cbferve how foon his fituation 
made him think it unneceffary to clog his 
purfuits in life, with the moral refutation 
oi this advocate for vice. 
Thirty years ago it was common to 
hear ftories of Voltaire’s meannefs, and 
cheating his bookfellers. 
The world is naturally averfe 
To all the truth it fees and hears ; 
_ But fwallows nonfenfe and a lie, 
With greedinefs and gluttony. 
It was faid, that befides his printing in 
France and Geneva, he fold the copy in 
Germany, then in Helland, and finally in 
London; and yet the truth is authenti- 
cated fo as to fatisty the mof incredulous, 
that he is, perhaps, the only initance in 
the wide hiftory of literature, of an author 
of any note, who never raifed a fhilling by 
his writings. Mr. Pope created a hand- 
fome independance, reputably, by his 
publications, and if Voltaire had wifhed 
to have availed himielf, (uppofe at three 
different eras of his lite, he might have 
received many thoulands of pounds more 
for his works than any man that ever 
dived, which he always refuied to all book- 
fellers, and other applications. 
Poetry and poverry are fo generally al- 
Hed, that. the difficulty to many is to be- 
lieve that they are ever feparate. Voltaire 
had a decent income from early time, and 
was never in diftrets. When I was in 
France in 1770, he was reputed worth 
40,0001, was hofpitable and generous, 
and elegantly entertained the firft quality 
in Europe, in feveral houfes. . 
Dnce the flander was, that he had pur- 
Joined from the vaft fubfeription ke pro- 
eured tor an eftablifhment of Corneille’s 
Piece ;—he had no temptation to a deed fo 
mean and horrid ;—he got her a hufband, 
to whom of courfe he rendered a faithtul 
account. 
His plays he generally gave to the 
players, but often to any young man re- 
commended to him as fond of literature, to 
help him in his income; all bis fmall 
works were dilpoied of in the {ame way, 
for he was rich and liberal, even to his 
calummniators. 
Veltaire....Feaft of Fools. 
July 
The ‘‘Henriade”” was publifhed in Lon- 
don by Thiriot, an humble friend, who had 
the profits. 
It is not unaccountable that he was rich, 
he conteffes that he was a dealer in the 
funds ; whether he began in the time of the ~ 
regent is not eafy to know, but it is unne- 
ceffary to feck further than that he was 
well with Madame Pompadour, and was 
fometimes employed in confidential cabals 
in foreign courts by Louis XV. 
No man ever faw his name to give 
countenance to any publication of his 
works. eb. J: 
! a ade 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
HE following pieces are tranflated 
it froma work, entitled,‘* Memoires pour 
fervir & P Hifteire de la Féte des Fous, qut 
ce fatfort autres Fois dans plufieurs Eghjes, 
par M. du Tilliot, a Laufanne et 4 Genéve, 
quarto, 1741." ‘They relate toa fubje& 
which has excited confiderable enquiry 
among men of literature and antiquariansy 
and-may therefore afford fatisfaétion to 
various perfons who may not have hap- 
pened to have feen the work from which 
they are taken. Indeed it appears from 
many ancient records, that, though dur- 
ing the barbarous ages the dramatic art 
was funken and degraded to the moft vul- 
gar, ignorant, and offeniive buffooneries, 
it never was entirely loft. 
The Featt of Affes; a folemn piece of 
buffoonery, confiiting of a proceffion of the 
prophets and perfons, facred and profane, 
who had foretold the coming of Chriit.— 
Balaam rode firtt on his afs ; after him the 
prophets, Iiaiah, Zachariah, and the holy 
Elizabeth, John the Baptift, Simeon, the 
Erythrean Sybil, Virgil, Nebuchadnezzar, 
with Shadrach, Mefhach, and Abednego, 
and the fiery furnace. Quitting the cloif- 
ter, the proceffion entered the church, and 
{topped between two rows of people, fup- 
poied to be one Jews, the other Gentiles, 
to whom the chanters addreffed themfelves. 
They then called forth the prophets who 
had mentioned the Meffiah. Queftions and 
an{wers were repeated, confifting of verfes 
from the old ‘Teitament on this fabje& ; 
the fiery furnace was exhibited; Nebu- 
chadnezzar made a fpeech; the Sybil af- 
terward did the fame; then came the 
prophets, and all in chorus fung a mottet, 
which ended the ceremony. 
The teaft of Fools ; or in fome places 
called the feaft of innocents ; or the feaft 
of drunken deacons, deans, and prietts, is 
fuppoied to have been in imitation of the 
faturnalia of the ancients, and of great 
antiquity. 
~. 
tens a ee 
