1800. | 
ACCOUNT of a VISIT PAID by BETTI- 
NELLI the ITALIAN POET. to VOL- 
TAIRE, 
¢s] pouND the converfation of Voltaire,” 
faid Bettinelli, ** likehis writings. The 
foul of epigram dwelled on his hps and 
fparkled in his eyes. They were two 
flambeaux ; in which, as in his difcourfe, 
I faw, as it were, wit and malice beaming. 
He had a ftyle peculiar to himfelf; and 
every fentence had either a pleafant or a 
hilofophic turn, 
‘© When [ arrived at Les Délices, he 
was inhis garden. I approached, and 
told him my name. 
6¢ What !”? exclaimed he, ‘* an Italian ! 
A Jefvit! A Bettinelli! The honour is 
too great for my cottage. I ama mere 
peafant, as you fee, fhewing me his gar- 
den-tool; which was a hoeat oneend, and 
a pruning knife at the other. - With thefe 
I trim and hoe my garden, plant by plant ; 
and my produce is much greater, than 
that of all the feed I have fcattered through 
books for the good of humanity.” 
‘* His fingular and grotefque figure 
made avery unexpected impreffion on me. 
Under a black velvet cap, defcending as 
low as his eyes, he wore a large wig, 
that’ covered three fourths of his face; 
which rendered his nofe and chin more 
pointed and proje&ted. His body was 
wrapped in a pelifle, from head to foot. 
His look and imile were abundantly ex- 
preffive. 
<© f teftified the pleafure I felt at find- 
ing him in fuch good health; and thus 
able to brave the rigour of the feafon. 
<* On, you Italians,”’ replied he, ‘‘ima- 
gine we ought to bury ourfelves in holes, 
like the rats that inhabit the fummit of 
thefe mountains, covered with ice and 
fnow ; but your Alps are to us no more 
than a beautiful perfpeCtive view. On the 
banks of my lake Leman here, defended 
as I am fromthe north winds, I envy you 
not your lakes of Coma and Guarda. In 
this folitary abode, I live like Catullus 
in his little ifle of Sirmio. He produced 
charming elegies, and I good georgics.”’ 
*¢ Voltaire could never mention Italy, 
“on which he beftowed the moft lavith 
praife, without fome fatirical remarks on 
Italian flavery, the inquifition, &c. 
*¢ The converfation frequently turned 
en the king of Pruffia. Information was 
. brought him that, after a battle loft, he 
had beaten the duke Deux-ponts, had raif- 
ed the fiexes of Niceand Leipfic, and had 
driven the Anftrians intoBohemia. ‘* Is 
it poffible!"’ exclaimed Voitaire. « That 
man aftonithes me contiavally. Tam forry 
From the Port-Folio of a Man of Letters. 
. 259 
IT have quarrelled with him.”? He admired 
in the king the rapidity of Cafar; but 
his admiration always finifhed with fome 
epigram ‘on Crfar. He had a monkey 
that he called Luc, and he diverted hime 
felf with frequently giving this name to 
the king of Pruffia. I expreffed fome fur- 
prife at this; and he anfwered, <* Do you- 
not fee how my monkey bites every body, 
and then laughs ?”” 
“* In 1760, at his own requeft, I fent 
him my remarks on fome miftakes that 
had efcaped him in his Univerfal Hiftory, 
relative to Italy and Italian literature. 
He returned me thanks, in a letter; but, 
as ufual, launching his thunder againft 
the inquifition, Italian flavery, Englith 
freedom, andthe hypocrify of the miniftry 
of Geneva. His letter concluded with 
this paflage : 
‘Have you heard of the poems of.the 
king of Pruffia? He, you will find, is no 
hypocrite. He fpeaks of the Chriftians as | 
Julian once fpoke. It fhould feem that 
the Latin and Greek churches, headed by 
Soltikow and Daun, will immediately ex- 
communicate him with cannon balls; but 
he will fight like a devil in his de- 
fence. You and I know he will be damn- 
ed; but we are not quite fo fure that he 
willbe beaten.” | 
‘¢ T was frequently led to refleé&t on the 
fruitfulnefs of his mind, contrafted with 
the meagrenefs of his body. It is trues 
he often repeats what he had faid before 5 
but this is occafioned by the extreme faci- 
lity with which he writes. What au 
thor ever produced fo many original 
things ; many of them profoundly medita- 
ted, and all of them happily exprefled ? 
‘‘ J have fometimes thought, that his 
flow and interrupted manner of fpeaking 
was to gain time, till he could recollect 
fomething which pleafed him to fay ; for 
this manner was become habitual; fo 
that, hearing him fpeak, we might ima 
gine he was reading one of his own works. 
«© When converfing, he frequently min- 
gled Italian phrafes, and quotations from 
‘Taflo, and Ariofto; but he never could 
forget his French accent. I one day teftifi- 
ed my aftonifhment at the ill treatment he 
had beftowed, in his Effay on Epic Poetry, 
on Ariofto, whofe mind appeared fo con- 
genial with that of Voltaire. ‘This pro- 
duced a difcuffion, in which it- was not 
difficult to prove, that the author of Or- 
lando Furiofo was a great poets that he 
did not deferve to be treated as a mere jJo-~ 
cofe fantaftic writer, and that his faults 
were the faults of his age, and not of his 
genius. Voltaire promiled to read Ariofto 
Liz again 5 



