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History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 10 by Thomas Carlyle
page 41 of 156 (26%)
robbers and Armidas all about him; himself lonely, friendless
under the stars:--one could pity him withal, though that is not
the feeling he solicits; nor gets hitherto, even at this impartial
distance.

"One of the beautiful creatures of Quality,--we hope, not an
Armida,--who came athwart Voltaire, in these times, was a Madame
du Chatelet; distinguished from all the others by a love of
mathematics and the pure sciences, were it nothing else. She was
still young, under thirty; the literary man still under forty.
With her Husband, to whom she had brought a child, or couple of
children, there was no formal quarrel; but they were living apart,
neither much heeding the other, as was by no means a case without
example at that time; Monsieur soldiering, and philandering about,
in garrison or elsewhere; Madame, in a like humor, doing the best
for herself in the high circles of society, to which he and she
belonged. Most wearisome barren circles to a person of thought, as
both she and M. de Voltaire emphatically admitted to one another,
on first making acquaintance. But is there no help?

"Madame had tried the pure sciences and philosophies, in Books:
but how much more charming, when they come to you as a Human
Philosopher; handsome, magnanimous, and the wittiest man in the
world! Young Madame was not regularly beautiful; but she was very
piquant, radiant, adventurous; understood other things than the
pure sciences, and could be abundantly coquettish and engaging.
I have known her scuttle off, on an evening, with a couple of
adventurous young wives of Quality, to the remote lodging of the
witty M. de Voltaire, and make his dim evening radiant to him.
[One of Voltaire's Letters.] Then again, in public crowds, I have
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