which will indicate his way of thinking and feeling. When I spoke
to him [at Geldern, probably, on our first meeting] of the glory he
had acquired, he answered, with the greatest simplicity, That there
was a furious discount to be deducted from said glory; that chance
came in for almost the whole of it; and that he would far rather
have done Ratine's ATHALIE than all this War:--ATHALIE is the work
he likes, and rereads oftenest; I believe you won't disapprove his
taste there. The other trait I have to give you is, That on the day
[15th February last] of concluding this Peace, which is so glorious
to him, some one saying, 'It is the finest day of your Majesty's
life:' 'The finest day of life,' answered he, 'is the day on which
one quits it.' ...--Adieu, Madame." [ "OEuvres Posthumes de
D'Alembert (Paris, 1799). i. 197:" cited in PREUSS,
ii. 348.]

The meeting in Cleve Country was, no doubt, a very pretty passage,
with Two pretty Months following;--and if it be true that HELVETIUS
was a consequence, the 11th of June, 1763, may almost claim to be a
kind of epoch in Friedrich's later history. The opulent and
ingenious M. Helvetius, who wrote DE L'ESPRIT, and has got banished
for that feat (lost in the gloom of London in those months), had
been a mighty Tax-gatherer as well; D'Alembert, as brother
Philosophe, was familiar with Helvetius. It is certain, also, King
Friedrich, at this time, found he would require annually two
million thalers more;--where to get them, seemed the impossibility.
A General Krockow, who had long been in French Service, and is much
about the King, was often recommending the French Excise system;--
he is the Krockow of DOMSTADTL, and that SIEGE OF OLMUTZ, memorable
to some of us:--"A wonderful Excise system," Krockow is often
saying, in this time of straits. "Who completely understands it?"