"Ah, sir," interrupted the king, "it is just and beautiful that the
Academy is a free republic, which will not yield to the power and
influence of the king. Art and science need for their blossom and
growth freedom of thought and speech. Fate ordained that I should be
born a king, but when alone in my study, alone with my books, I am
fully content to be republican in the kingdom of letters. I confess
the truth to you when, as a wise republican, I read thoughtfully in
the pages of history, I sometimes come to the conclusion that kings
and princes are unnecessary articles of luxury, and I shrug my
shoulders at them rather contemptuously."

"And yet, sire, the arts need the protection of princes; that the
republic of letters blooms and flourishes in a monarchy is shown in
Prussia, where a royal republican and a republican king governs his
people, and at the same time gives freedom of thought and speech to
science. France should be proud and happy that your majesty has
adopted so many of her sons into your republic of letters; we dare,
therefore, come to the conclusion that your majesty will not confine
your interest wholly to them, but that this alliance between France
and Prussia, which my king so earnestly desires and--"

"Unhappily," said the king, interrupting him eagerly, "the
distinguished Frenchmen who have become my allies, are exactly those
whom their strong-minded, fanatical mother, La France, has cast out
from her bosom as dishonored sons. Voltaire lives in Ferney. Jean
Jacques Rousseau, whom I admire but do not love, lives in Geneva,
where he has been obliged to take refuge. I have also been told that
the pension which, in a favorable moment, was granted to D'Alembert,
has been withdrawn. Have I been falsely informed? has my friend