I see that all men are but the sport of Destiny.

And that, if there do exist some Gloomy and Inexorable Being, who allows a despised herd of creatures to go on multiplying here, he values them as nothing; looks down on a Phalaris crowned, on a Socrates in chains; on our virtues, our misdeeds, on the horrors of war, and all the cruel plagues which ravage Earth, as a thing indifferent to him.
Wherefore, my sole refuge and only haven, loved Sister, is in the arms of Death:-- Ainsi mon seul asile et mon unique port Se trouve, chere soeur, dans les bras de la mort." [OEuvres, xii.

36-42; is sent off to Wilhelmina 24th August.] 2.

WILHELMINA TO VOLTAIRE, WITH SOMETHING OF ANSWER (First of certain intercalary Prose Pieces) .-- Wilhelmina has been writing to Voltaire before, and getting consolations since Kolin; but her Letters are lost, till this the earliest that is left us:-- BAIREUTH, 19th AUGUST, 1757 (TO VOLTAIRE).--"One first knows one's friends when misfortunes arrive.

The Letter you have written does honor to your way of thinking.