voltaire (1694-1778). L.A.S. "Vre", at Les Délices October 28 [1758], to Pastor Elijah BERTRAND in Bern; 1 page in-4, address with red wax seal of arms (light stains). "My dear friend I read neither partial nor impartial newspaper and rarely the gazettes, which however content that the Pirrus of the North [FRÉDÉRIC II] was completely defeated [at Hochkirch]. This news is more important than the new books on the spirit [HELVETIUS, De l'esprit], on the comedy of Geneva [Jean-Jacues ROUSSEAU, Lettre sur les spectacles] and on the other comedy of the French-Swiss pastors. Madame de BENTINCK, who thinks she is a great Austrian because she pleads in Vienna, is very happy with Berne and not very happy with the rest of your Helvetia, but I am happy with everything and so happy that I am in fact on the market for the seigneury of Fernex. But there are so many rights to pay, so many things to discuss, business is so long, and life so short, that I could well stay in my little hermitage of Les Délices". And he quotes Horace : "Di melius fecere : bene est nihil amplius opto", adding : "My great desire is to see you again"... Correspondence (Pléiade), t. V, n° 5254.