Frederick at last yielded; he was on the parade, Voltaire appeared there.

"Ah! Monsieur Voltaire," said the king, "so you really intend to go away ?" "Sir, urgent private affairs, and especially my health, leave me no alternative." "Monsieur, I wish you a pleasant journey." Voltaire jumped into his carriage, and hurried to Leipsic; he thought himself free forever from the exactions and tyrannies of the King of Prussia.
The poet, according to his custom, had tarried on the way.

He had passed more than a month at Gotha, being overwhelmed with attentions by the duke, and by the duchess, for whom he wrote the dry chronicle entitled _Les Annales de L'Empire_.

He arrived at Frankfort on the 31st of May only: the king's orders had arrived before him.
"Here is how this fine adventure came to pass," says Voltaire.

"There was at Frankfort one Freytag, who had been banished from Dresden, and had become an agent for the King of Prussia.