Also, lol about the redecorating of Voltaire's room after he already departed from it. Must have been around the time Fritz had this exchange with Wilhelmine (writing from France):
Wilhelmine (literal quote from letter): "I don't think my beautiful eyes are why Voltaire wanted to see me." (end literal quote). It's all about you! He's realllllly sorry and says to send lots of love! He still wants you!
Fritz: He's faking it, sis! He wants my money, that's what he wants. He's made the mistake of lending your son-in-law Carl Eugen some and now Carl Eugen refuses to pay him back. Well, if he thinks I'm going to call in that debt for him he's got another think coming. Why oh why must such a genius be such a jerk!
(Voltaire: The Margravine stopped by and I was gracious enough to let her. I mean, she's nice. Why oh why must her brother be such a jerk!)
Re: Wolff - the English version of the wiki article is pretty informative, cahn, though I can make it even shorter and excerpt the Hohenzollern relevant bits for you: "His enemies had gained the ear of the king Frederick William I and told him that, if Wolff's determinism were recognized, no soldier who deserted could be punished, since he would only have acted as it was necessarily predetermined that he should. This so enraged the king that he immediately deprived Wolff of his office, and commanded him to leave Prussian territory within 48 hours or be hanged. (...)The Prussian crown prince Frederick defended Wolff against Joachim Lange and ordered the Berlin minister Jean Deschamps, a former pupil of Wolff, to translate Vernünftige Gedanken von Gott, der Welt und der Seele des Menschen, auch allen Dingen überhaupt into French. Frederick proposed to send a copy of Logique ou réflexions sur les forces de l'entendement humain to Voltaire in his first letter to the philosopher from 8 August 1736. In 1737 Wolff's Metafysica was translated into French by Ulrich Friedrich von Suhm (1691–1740). Voltaire got the impression Frederick had translated the book himself.
In 1738 Frederick William begun the hard labour of trying to read Wolff. In 1740 Frederick William died, and one of the first acts of his son and successor, Frederick the Great, was to acquire him for the Prussian Academy. Wolff refused.(...)
(Who can blame him? Better to stay away from Hohenzollerns.) (However, he did lecture elswhere, for: When Wolff died on 9 April 1754, he was a very wealthy man, almost entirely due to his income from lecture-fees, salaries, and royalties. He was also a member of many academies and probably the first scholar to have been created hereditary Baron of the Holy Roman Empire on the basis of his academic work.
Re: Monkey see, monkey do
Also, lol about the redecorating of Voltaire's room after he already departed from it. Must have been around the time Fritz had this exchange with Wilhelmine (writing from France):
Wilhelmine (literal quote from letter): "I don't think my beautiful eyes are why Voltaire wanted to see me." (end literal quote). It's all about you! He's realllllly sorry and says to send lots of love! He still wants you!
Fritz: He's faking it, sis! He wants my money, that's what he wants. He's made the mistake of lending your son-in-law Carl Eugen some and now Carl Eugen refuses to pay him back. Well, if he thinks I'm going to call in that debt for him he's got another think coming. Why oh why must such a genius be such a jerk!
(Voltaire: The Margravine stopped by and I was gracious enough to let her. I mean, she's nice. Why oh why must her brother be such a jerk!)
Re: Wolff - the English version of the wiki article is pretty informative,
"His enemies had gained the ear of the king Frederick William I and told him that, if Wolff's determinism were recognized, no soldier who deserted could be punished, since he would only have acted as it was necessarily predetermined that he should. This so enraged the king that he immediately deprived Wolff of his office, and commanded him to leave Prussian territory within 48 hours or be hanged. (...)The Prussian crown prince Frederick defended Wolff against Joachim Lange and ordered the Berlin minister Jean Deschamps, a former pupil of Wolff, to translate Vernünftige Gedanken von Gott, der Welt und der Seele des Menschen, auch allen Dingen überhaupt into French. Frederick proposed to send a copy of Logique ou réflexions sur les forces de l'entendement humain to Voltaire in his first letter to the philosopher from 8 August 1736. In 1737 Wolff's Metafysica was translated into French by Ulrich Friedrich von Suhm (1691–1740). Voltaire got the impression Frederick had translated the book himself.
In 1738 Frederick William begun the hard labour of trying to read Wolff. In 1740 Frederick William died, and one of the first acts of his son and successor, Frederick the Great, was to acquire him for the Prussian Academy. Wolff refused.(...)
(Who can blame him? Better to stay away from Hohenzollerns.) (However, he did lecture elswhere, for:
When Wolff died on 9 April 1754, he was a very wealthy man, almost entirely due to his income from lecture-fees, salaries, and royalties. He was also a member of many academies and probably the first scholar to have been created hereditary Baron of the Holy Roman Empire on the basis of his academic work.