He even charged me to work at a Manifesto; and I made one, good or bad; not doubting but a King with whom I supped, and who called me his friend, must be in the right.

The affair soon settled itself by means of a million of ducats,"-- nothing like the sum, as we shall see,--"which he exacted by weight, to clear the costs of the Tour to Strasburg, which, according to his complaint in that Poetic Letter [Doggerel above given], were so heavy." That is Voltaire's view; grown very corrosive after Twenty Years.

He admits, with all the satire: "I naturally felt myself attached to him; for he had wit, graces; and moreover he was a King, which always forms a potent seduction, so weak is human nature.

Usually it is we of the writing sort that flatter Kings: but this King praised me from head to foot, while the Abbe Desfontaines and other scoundrels (GREDINS) were busy defaming me in Paris at least once a week." WHAT VOLTAIRE THOUGHT OF THE INTERVIEW AT THE TIME.
But let us take the contemporary account, which also we have at first hand; which is almost pathetic to read; such a contrast between ruddy morning and the storms of the afternoon! Here are two Letters from Voltaire; fine transparent human Letters, as his generally are: the first of them written directly on getting back to the Hague, and to the feeling of his eclipsed condition.
VOLTAIRE TO M.DE MAUPERTUIS (with the King).

"THE HAGUE, 18th September, 1740.
"I serve you, Monsieur, sooner than I promised; and that is the way you ought to be served.