Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: that, with you, the world will fee the laft of that nurfery of great men, men remarkable for their genius, by whom the age of Louis XIV. was lignalized. On which I pray God to take you into his holy keeping. FREDERIC. LETTER CCXCV. From the King Sans-Souci, Oftober 24, 1765. THOUGH I want the art to reftore you to youth, I never want the wifh to fee you long continue to live the ornament and the preceptor of our age. What would become of the belles-lettres, were they to lofe you ? You have no fuccelTor; live, therefore, as long as you poffibly can. I fee you have the eftablifhment of the little colony, of which you have fpoken to me, at heart . I find a difficulty in anfwering yon, on feveral articles. That houfe at Mailan, A colony of French philofophers, who were to have fettled at Cleves; and who might there freely have publifhed ruth, without fear f minifters, priefts, or parliaments. which which you mention, near Cleves, has beeh ruined by the French; and, as well as I can recollect, has been beftowed on fome perfon, who has undertaken to rebuild it, for his own ufe. The farms which I poflefs, in that country, are let on leafe; nor can I enter into a con- tracc t with any other farmer till the term of fuch leafes fhall be expired. This need not prevent the fettlement of your colony; and, in my opinion, the moft fimple means would be for thefe people to fend fome perfon to Cleves, there to examine what might fuit them beft, and in what it will be in my power to favour them. This would be the Ihorteft method; and would abridge all the mif- underftandings to which diftance, and ignorance of local fituation, might give place. I congratulate you on your good opinion of mankind. For my part, being by the duties of my ftation neceflarily well acqu...