And there was such a bellowing and such a shrieking, judicious Fleury, or Maurepas under him, had to suggest, "Let an actor fall sick; let M.de Voltaire volunteer to withdraw his Piece; otherwise--!" And so it had to be: Actor fell sick on the 14th (Playbills sorry to retract their MAHOMET on the 14th); and--in fact, it was not for nine years coming, and after Dedication to the Pope, and other exquisite manoeuvres and unexpected turns of fate, that MAHOMET could be acted a fourth time in Paris, and thereafter AD LIBITUM down to this day.

[_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ ii.

137 n.; &c.

&c.] Such tempest in a teapot is not unexampled, nay rather is very frequent, in that Anarchic Republic called of Letters.

Confess, reader, that you too would have needed some patience in M.de Voltaire's place; with such a Heaven's own Inspiration of a MAHOMET in your hands, and such a terrestrial Doggery at your heels.