Note 33 — Chapter X · THE ACCESSION OF FREDERICK THE SECOND.

Voltaire, after he had quarreled with Frederick, gave the following amusing account of a gift he received from the king soon after his accession to the throne: “He began his reign by sending an embassador extraordinary to France, one Camas, who had lost an arm. He said that, as there was a minister from the French court at Berlin who had but one hand, he, that he might acquit himself of all obligation toward the most Christian king, had sent him an embassador with one arm. Camas, as soon as he arrived safe at his inn, dispatched a lad to tell me that he was too much fatigued to come to my house, and therefore begged that I would come to him instantly, he having the finest, greatest, and most magnificent present that was ever presented to make me on the part of the king his master. ‘Run, run, as fast as you can,’ said Madame Du Châtelet; ‘he has assuredly sent you the diamonds of the crown.’ Away I ran, and found my embassador, whose only baggage was a small keg of wine, tied behind his chaise, sent from the cellar of the late king by the reigning monarch, with a royal command for me to drink. I emptied myself in protestations of astonishment and gratitude for these liquid marks of his majesty’s bounty, instead of the solid ones I had been taught to expect, and divided my keg with Camas.”—Memoirs, p. 34.