Keyword: Maupertuis

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Samuel König begins by denyng that he has had any role in inciting attacks against Maupertuis, adding that Maupertuis has only himself to blame for them. He states that he has seen almost nothing in Germany which attacks Maupertuis, and has not requested that anyone produce anything to that effect. König then turns to Voltaire and Émilie Du Châtelet, saying that he did not know that they were on poor terms with Maupertuis before the publication of Voltaire’s Diatribe du docteur Akakia. He concludes with reference to Leonhard Euler and mocks his writings in defence of Maupertuis.

Repository: The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, US
CMV: cmv34697

Du Châtelet thanks Thiériot for the trouble he has taken in order that she may have the finest house in Paris and notes that she has received an answer from the crown prince about her Essai sur le feu. She writes that she hopes to inspire him with a taste for physics and make him give up his mania for verse because ‘one can very well be a mediocre physicist, but it is not permitted to be a bad poet.’ Du Châtelet writes that since Thiériot left her, she has developed an interest in lawsuits and then turns to literary and artistic news, mentioning among others Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, Francesco Algarotti, Roland Desalleurs, John Hervey, Jean-Henri Castéra, Jean-Nicolas Formont, and Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Repository: Voltaire Foundation
Date: [9 December 1738]
CMV: cmv33771