NOTE ON FREDERICK THE GREAT’S EULOGY.
This translation is made from the third volume, pp. 159 ff. of “Œuvres de Fréderic II., Roi de Prusse, Publiées du vivant de l’Auteur,” Berlin, 1789.
La Mettrie was received at the court of Frederick the Great, when he had been driven from Holland on account of the heretical teaching of “L’Homme Machine,” The “Eloge” was read by Darget, the secretary of the king, at a public meeting of the Academy of Berlin, to which, at the initiative of Frederick, La Mettrie had been admitted.
The careful reader will not fail to note that Frederick’s arithmetic is at fault, and that La Mettrie died at the age of forty-one, not forty-three, years.
At a few points, perhaps, the Eloge demands elucidation. Coutances, like Caen, is a Norman town. St. Malo lies, just over the border, in Brittany. La Mettrie’s military service was with the French in the Silesian wars against Maria Theresa. The battle of Dettingen was fought in Bavaria and was won by the Austrians through the aid given by George II of England to Maria Theresa. The battle of Fontenoy in the Netherlands was the only victory of the French in this war.
Other accounts of the life of La Mettrie are:
J. Assézat, Introduction to “L’Homme Machine,” Paris, 1865.
F. A. Lange, “History of Materialism.”
Ph. Damiron, “Histoire de la philosophie du dix-huitième siècle,” Paris, 1858.
N. Quépat, “La philosophie matérialiste au XVIIIe siècle. Essai sur La Mettrie, sa vie, et ses œuvres.” Paris, 1873.