THREE:At Wesel the king met Maupertuis, to whom we have already alluded, who was then one of the greatest of European celebrities. His discovery of the flattening of the earth at the poles had given him such renown that the kings of Russia, France, and Prussia were all lavishing honors upon him. It was a great gratification to Frederick that he had secured his services in organizing the Berlin Academy. While at Wesel the king was seized by a fever, which shut him up for a time in the small chateau of Moyland. He had never yet met Voltaire, and being very anxious to see him, wrote to him as follows, under date of September 6th, 1740:59 While the king was thus suffering the pangs of the gout, his irascibility vented itself upon his wife and children. ��We were obliged,�� says Wilhelmina, ��to appear at nine o��clock in the morning in his room. We dined there, and did not dare to leave it even for a moment. Every day was passed by the king in invectives against my brother and myself. He no longer called me any thing but ��the English blackguard.�� My brother was named the ��rascal Fritz.�� He obliged us to eat and drink the things for which we had an aversion. Every day was marked by some sinister event. It was impossible to raise one��s eyes without seeing some unhappy people tormented in one way or other. The king��s restlessness did not allow him to remain in bed. He had himself placed in a chair on rollers, and was thus dragged all over the palace. His two arms rested upon crutches, which supported them. We always followed this triumphal car, like unhappy captives who are about to undergo their sentence.��