I don't have my audio with me, but I recalled the dates of some letters, and so:
The "Want to commit suicide with me?" letter. Explanation: Wilhelmine had made the mistake of sending a depressed letter earlier because she was already very sick. This was a mistake, because:
Erfurt, 17 September 1757: Your dear letters, dearest sister, are my only consolation. Could heaven reward you for so much nobleness and heroic spirit! Since my last letter, misfortune has been piling up on misfortune. It seems that fate wants to unload all its angry indignation on to my poor state. I still would bless heaven for its goodness if he only gives me the favor of falling with the blade in my fist. If this hope deceives me, then, you'll admit to me, it would be too hard, I would have to crawl in the dust of this gang of traitors, who are now able to dictate their will to me through their successful crimes. Dearest, incomparable sister, how can I help feelings of revenge and bitterness against all my neighbors, among whom is not one who would not have helped to speed up my fall and did not take his share of the robbery and rejoiced? Can a prince survive his state, the glory of his nation, the honor of his own name? No, dear sister, you are of too noble a mind to reccommend such cowardice to me. Should the precious privilege of freedom be less dear to the crowned heads of the eighteenth century than it once was to Roman patricians? And where is it written that Brutus and Cato would pre-empt princes and kings in high spirits? (...) Gratitude, my intimate attachment to you, our tried and tested friendship, which never denies itself, all these oblige me to be completely frank to you. No, splendid sister, I do not want to keep any of my steps secret from you, I want to inform you of everything. My thoughts, the heart of my heart, my resolutions, everything. You will find out in good time. I will not rush anything, but on the other hand it will also be impossible for me to change my mind. After the Battle of Prague, the situation of the Queen of Hungary seemed to be of concern to her, but she has powerful allies and still significant sources of aid; I have neither. An accident alone would not throw me to the ground, I have already survived so many: the defeats at Kolin and Jägersdorf in East Prussia; the unfortunate withdrawal of my brother - that would be AW getting court martialed - and the loss of the magazine of Zittau, the loss of all my Westphalian provinces, the misfortune and death of Winterfeldt, the burglary in Pomerania, the Magdeburg and Halberstadt, the infidelity of my allies. And in spite of all these blows, I rise up against the misfortune, so that I can believe that my attitude is still free of any weakness to this day. I am determined to fight against the calamity, but at the same time I am determined never to subject my name and that of my house to shame. Now you know everything, dear sister, which is basically what is going on in my soul; there you have my general confession. As far as you are concerned, incomparable sister, I do not have the heart to dissuade you from your resolutions. Our way of thinking is quite the same; impossible to condemn feelings that I myself have every day. Life was given to us by nature as a boon; as soon as it is no longer such, the contract expires, every person becomes masters of putting an end to their misfortune at the moment they think it is advisable. An actor who stays on stage when he has nothing more to say is whistled out. The unhappy is pitied by the world only in the first moments; soon it becomes tired of its compassion; then the invective of men sits in judgment, and finds that all that has happened to the unfortunate happened due to their own fault. They are condemned, and finally despised. If I also leave myself to the ordinary course of nature, the sorrow and my poor health will shorten my days in a few years. That would mean surviving myself and cowardly condoning what is in my hands to avoid. Except for you, there is no one left in the wide world who still ties me to this world; my friends, my dearest relatives rest in the grave – in a word: I have lost everything. If your decision is the same as mine, we end together our misfortune, our miserable fate. Those who remain in the world may then come to terms with the worries that will weigh on them, and take on all the heaviness that has been pushing our shoulders for so long.
This caused a prompt reply:
For God's sake, calm down, dearest brother! Your military situation is desperate, but there is a prospect of peace. For heaven's sake, banish all dark thoughts. Do you want to kill so many subjects who place their only hope in your person?
(She also wrote to Voltaire and told him he needed to write some philosophical Fritz-cheering up letters poste haste.) Nearly a year later:
Camp at Skalitz, 4. August 1758. (After he got Heinrich's letter About how she's likely to die and the news about AW will finish any hope she has):
As I hear, dear sister, you are in a very bad state. You can imagine how great my concern, my sorrow, my despair is. If I have ever demanded a proof of friendship from you, if you have ever felt love for me, so I now ask you to put it to the test. Keep yourself alive, and if it is not for your own sake, think: it happens for a brother who worships you, who sees you as the friend of his heart, as his sole comfort. Remember that of all my surviving relatives, you are the one most dear to me. I will find ways and means to get rid of all my enemies; I will, if heaven pleases, save the state from danger; but if I lose you, it is irreparable, and you yourself thrust the dagger into my heart. Everything in the world can change, but the loss of a person like you is an incurable devastation. By all that you hold dear: seek to overcome your own great sorrow, and also to overcome the one we share; but above all, keep yourself alive! My life is tied to yours; without you it becomes unbearable to me. You are my consolation, only to you alone I can open my heart wholeheartedly. Yes, dear sister, either you know me badly, or if you know me, you will gather all your strength to recover. You will appease your worries, you will defeat your body and do everything for your health. Don't you worry for my sake. You know that business never goes smoothly; but I assure you, you shall receive good news about our war operations. I'm fine and will be fine if I only hear about your improvement. But if I receive bad news from Bayreuth, I will be crushed by my sins.
Re: One admiring reader comments
The "Want to commit suicide with me?" letter. Explanation: Wilhelmine had made the mistake of sending a depressed letter earlier because she was already very sick. This was a mistake, because:
Erfurt, 17 September 1757:
Your dear letters, dearest sister, are my only consolation. Could heaven reward you for so much nobleness and heroic spirit! Since my last letter, misfortune has been piling up on misfortune. It seems that fate wants to unload all its angry indignation on to my poor state.
I still would bless heaven for its goodness if he only gives me the favor of falling with the blade in my fist. If this hope deceives me, then, you'll admit to me, it would be too hard, I would have to crawl in the dust of this gang of traitors, who are now able to dictate their will to me through their successful crimes. Dearest, incomparable sister, how can I help feelings of revenge and bitterness against all my neighbors, among whom is not one who would not have helped to speed up my fall and did not take his share of the robbery and rejoiced? Can a prince survive his state, the glory of his nation, the honor of his own name? No, dear sister, you are of too noble a mind to reccommend such cowardice to me. Should the precious privilege of freedom be less dear to the crowned heads of the eighteenth century than it once was to Roman patricians? And where is it written that Brutus and Cato would pre-empt princes and kings in high spirits? (...)
Gratitude, my intimate attachment to you, our tried and tested friendship, which never denies itself, all these oblige me to be completely frank to you. No, splendid sister, I do not want to keep any of my steps secret from you, I want to inform you of everything. My thoughts, the heart of my heart, my resolutions, everything. You will find out in good time. I will not rush anything, but on the other hand it will also be impossible for me to change my mind. After the Battle of Prague, the situation of the Queen of Hungary seemed to be of concern to her, but she has powerful allies and still significant sources of aid; I have neither. An accident alone would not throw me to the ground, I have already survived so many: the defeats at Kolin and Jägersdorf in East Prussia; the unfortunate withdrawal of my brother - that would be AW getting court martialed - and the loss of the magazine of Zittau, the loss of all my Westphalian provinces, the misfortune and death of Winterfeldt, the burglary in Pomerania, the Magdeburg and Halberstadt, the infidelity of my allies. And in spite of all these blows, I rise up against the misfortune, so that I can believe that my attitude is still free of any weakness to this day. I am determined to fight against the calamity, but at the same time I am determined never to subject my name and that of my house to shame.
Now you know everything, dear sister, which is basically what is going on in my soul; there you have my general confession. As far as you are concerned, incomparable sister, I do not have the heart to dissuade you from your resolutions. Our way of thinking is quite the same; impossible to condemn feelings that I myself have every day. Life was given to us by nature as a boon; as soon as it is no longer such, the contract expires, every person becomes masters of putting an end to their misfortune at the moment they think it is advisable. An actor who stays on stage when he has nothing more to say is whistled out. The unhappy is pitied by the world only in the first moments; soon it becomes tired of its compassion; then the invective of men sits in judgment, and finds that all that has happened to the unfortunate happened due to their own fault. They are condemned, and finally despised. If I also leave myself to the ordinary course of nature, the sorrow and my poor health will shorten my days in a few years. That would mean surviving myself and cowardly condoning what is in my hands to avoid. Except for you, there is no one left in the wide world who still ties me to this world; my friends, my dearest relatives rest in the grave – in a word: I have lost everything. If your decision is the same as mine, we end together our misfortune, our miserable fate. Those who remain in the world may then come to terms with the worries that will weigh on them, and take on all the heaviness that has been pushing our shoulders for so long.
This caused a prompt reply:
For God's sake, calm down, dearest brother! Your military situation is desperate, but there is a prospect of peace. For heaven's sake, banish all dark thoughts. Do you want to kill so many subjects who place their only hope in your person?
(She also wrote to Voltaire and told him he needed to write some philosophical Fritz-cheering up letters poste haste.) Nearly a year later:
Camp at Skalitz, 4. August 1758. (After he got Heinrich's letter About how she's likely to die and the news about AW will finish any hope she has):
As I hear, dear sister, you are in a very bad state. You can imagine how great my concern, my sorrow, my despair is. If I have ever demanded a proof of friendship from you, if you have ever felt love for me, so I now ask you to put it to the test. Keep yourself alive, and if it is not for your own sake, think: it happens for a brother who worships you, who sees you as the friend of his heart, as his sole comfort. Remember that of all my surviving relatives, you are the one most dear to me. I will find ways and means to get rid of all my enemies; I will, if heaven pleases, save the state from danger; but if I lose you, it is irreparable, and you yourself thrust the dagger into my heart. Everything in the world can change, but the loss of a person like you is an incurable devastation. By all that you hold dear: seek to overcome your own great sorrow, and also to overcome the one we share; but above all, keep yourself alive! My life is tied to yours; without you it becomes unbearable to me. You are my consolation, only to you alone I can open my heart wholeheartedly. Yes, dear sister, either you know me badly, or if you know me, you will gather all your strength to recover. You will appease your worries, you will defeat your body and do everything for your health.
Don't you worry for my sake. You know that business never goes smoothly; but I assure you, you shall receive good news about our war operations. I'm fine and will be fine if I only hear about your improvement. But if I receive bad news from Bayreuth, I will be crushed by my sins.