Part 32 (2/2)

I made every effort to excite the zeal and co in favor of the poor captive, and succeeded to my wishes

She went to Versailles on purpose to speak to M de St Florentin, and this journey shortened the residence at Monted to quit at the saovernor of Norovern wroteletter the day after her departure:

VERSAILLES, Wednesday

”M de Luxe at six o'clock I do not yet know that I shall follow him I wait until he writes to me, as he is not yet certain of the stay it will be necessary for him to make I have seen M de St Florentin, who is as favorably disposed as possible towards the Abbe Morrellet; but he finds some obstacles to his wishes which however, he is in hopes of re, which will be next week I have also desired as a favor that he ht not be exiled, because this was intended; he was to be sent to Nancy This, sir, is what I have been able to obtain; but I promise you I will not let M de St Florentin rest until the affair is terminated in the manner you desire Letobliged to leave you so soon, of which I flatter myself you have not the least doubt I love you with all my heart, and shall do so for my whole life”

A few days afterwards I received the following note froust 1st

”Thanks to your cares, my dear philosopher, the abbe has left the Bastile, and his i off for the country, and, as well as myself, returns you a thousand thanks and compliments 'Vale et me ama'”

The abbe also wrote to me a few days afterwards a letter of thanks, which did not, in my opinion, seem to breathe a certain effusion of the heart, and in which he seemed in some measure to extenuate the service I had rendered him Some time afterwards, I found that he and D'Aleree, I will not say supplanted, but succeeded , and that I Had lost in the the Abbe Morrellet of having contributed to race; I have too much esteem for him to harbor any such suspicion With respect to D'Alembert, I shall at present leave him out of the question, and hereafter say of him what may seem necessary

I had, at the same time, another affair which occasioned the last letter I wrote to Voltaire; a letter against which he veheh he never showed it to any person I will here supply the want of that which he refused to do

The Abbe Trublet, hoht acquaintance, but whom I had but seldo me that M Formey, his friend and correspondent, had printed in his journal my letter to Voltaire upon the disaster at Lisbon The abbe wished to kno the letter came to be printed, and in his jesuiticalit

As I em, I returned such thanks as were proper, but in a h this did not prevent hi athered all he wished to know

I clearly understood that, not withstanding all Trublet could say, Formey had not found the letter printed, and that the first impression of it came from himself I knew him to be an impudent pilferer, ithout cereh he had not yet had the incredible effrontery to take from a book already published the name of the author, to put his own in the place of it, and to sell the book for his own profit

[In this manner he afterwards appropriated to himself Emilius]

But by what means had this manuscript fallen into his hands? That was a question not easy to resolve, but by which I had the weakness to be eh Voltaire was excessively honored by the letter, as in fact, notwithstanding his rude proceedings, he would have had a right to complain had I had it printed without his consent, I resolved to write to him upon the subject The second letter was as follows, to which he returned no answer, and giving greater scope to his brutality, he feigned to be irritated to fury

MONTMORENCY, 17th June, 1760

”I did not think, sir, I should ever have occasion to correspond with you But learning the letter I wrote to you in 1756 had been printed at Berlin, I owe you an account of my conduct in that respect, and will fulfil this duty with truth and si really been addressed to you was not intended to be printed I communicated the contents of it, on certain conditions, to three persons, to whoht of friendshi+p did not perhts still less per their prohter-in-law to Madam Dupin, the Comtesse d'Houdetot, and a German of the name of Grimm Madam de Chenonceaux was desirous the letter should be printed, and asked my consent I told her that depended upon yours This was asked of you which you refused, and the matter dropped

”However, the Abbe Trublet, hom I have not the least connection, has just written toreceived the papers of the journal of M Formey, he found in them this same letter with an advertisement, dated on the 23d of October, 1759, in which the editor states that he had a feeeks before found it in the shops of the booksellers of Berlin, and, as it is one of those loose sheets which shortly disappear, he thought proper to give it a place in his journal

”This, sir, is all I know of the matter It is certain the letter had not until lately been heard of at Paris It is also as certain that the copy, either in manuscript or print, fallen into the hands of M de Formey, could never have reached them except by your means (which is not probable) or of those of one of the three persons I have mentioned

Finally, it is well known the two ladies are incapable of such a perfidy

I cannot, in my retirement learn more relative to the affair You have a correspondence by o back to the source and verify the fact

”In the same letter the Abbe' Trublet informs me that he keeps the paper in reserve, and will not lend it without ive But it is possible this copy may not be the only one in Paris I wish, sir, the letter may not be printed there, and I will do all in ; but if I cannot succeed, and that, ti it, I can have the preference, I will not then hesitate to have it immediately printed This to me appears just and natural

”With respect to your answer to the same letter, it has not been communicated to anyone, and you may be assured it shall not be printed without your consent, which I certainly shall not be indiscreet enough to ask of you, well knowing that what one man writes to another is not written to the public But should you choose to write one you wish to have published, and address it to me, I promise you faithfully to add to it le word of reply

”I love you not, sir; you have done ht have caused me the most exquisite pain