) Our Round
Table, which hitherto only consisted of men of talent, Maupertuis,
La Mettrie, Algarotti, D'Argens, and their like, is now recruited by
guardsmen from Potsdam, and is in course of degenerating into a
tobacco-club. Ziethen and his Dessauers wear greasy leather boots,
and brag of their 'five victories.' The day before yesterday they
took liberties, silenced all intelligent conversation, and finally
tried to make me the butt of their jests. What annoyed me the most
was that _he_ could not hide his pleasure at it. Altogether, the
procession of the leather boots means war--as might be expected
--against the lady Maria Teresa. The other lady, the Empress
Elizabeth of Russia, he denotes by another uglier name.... He has
become a women's hero, the nasty woman-hater. His wife, Elizabeth
Christine, is still confined in Schonhausen."
A head looked in at the window, and the King greeted him, "Good
evening, Monsieur; so busy?"
Like a boy surprised in cribbing, the writer threw his papers into
disorder, and drew half a sheet of Dutch vellum over them.
"Yes, sire, I have just finished a poem to the Emperor Kian-Loung,
which is an answer to his 'Eloge de Mukden.'"
"To the Emperor of China! You have grander acquaintances than I."
"But you have me, sire.
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