Home remedies Like the Fredersdorf correspondence--like much of Fritz's correspondence--significant page time is devoted to discussions of health. Not quite as much as Fredersdorf's, is my impression, but still noticeable amounts here and there.
Fritz does his usual "Let me teach you medicine; I know all about it, seeing as how I am 1) constantly sick, 2) smarter than everyone else." Suhm, ever the diplomat, responds to that one with, "I'm sure that remedy works great for you, but fortunately for me, my problems are not nearly as bad as yours [what Fritz wants to hear], so I will not be doing that at all. But good for you!"
Fritz is immediately reassured and not at all offended and just says, "Thank goodness! I wouldn't want you to have problems as bad as mine."
Suhm's life expectancy at this point: 1 year. Fritz's: 47 years.
Suhm, like Fredersdorf, clearly knows how to manage Fritz.
Colic At one point, Fritz has a bad colic, and Suhm sends sympathies, and then shortly thereafter, Suhm is attacked by a bad colic. And he writes the very sweet, "I wish that my colic could have been in place of yours, because that would totally be worth it. It doesn't seem fair that both of us have to suffer, when I would gladly suffer for you. But then I tell myself that if great kings and princes aren't spared, how could a lowly mortal such as myself expect to be spared. And the thought of being united in suffering with you does make me feel better, so that's something, at least."
Sleep Very early on in the correspondence, when Fritz gets his first installment of Wolff, he and Suhm have this exchange:
Fritz: I'm so busy with my regiment you wouldn't believe it, ugh. And then I've been sick, so my doctor says I need to get some exercise, get the blood moving. So now I don't have any time for study. But never fear! I have a solution. I will give up sleep!
Suhm: I love how excited you are about my translation. Maybe not do without sleep, though?
Fritz: Give up learning?? Never! What a dastardly suggestion.
Suhm: No! Not give up learning! Keep learning. Just...look after your health while you do? Only because I love you so much!
Fritz: It's so sweet that you care about my health, but don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing.
I...have often wondered what year Fritz did his "can I do without sleep altogether?" experiment. I still don't know, but I kinda feel like it might've been right around this time (1736).
Kids Part way through their correspondence, Suhm has an acute episode of bad health and is convinced he's on his deathbed. He makes up his will and takes the liberty of naming Fritz as he one the wants to take care of his kids. Not King Fritz, Crown Prince Fritz, who has no money except what he's getting from foreign courts. He must've heard what a good job 19-yo Fritz did of raising 22-yo Fredersdorf.
He recovers, but a few years later, when he is actually on his deathbed, he again asks Fritz to take care of the kids, this time King Fritz. Who does.
Till death do us part When Fritz invites Suhm to Berlin at the end of June, one month after he becomes king, Suhm asks for permission to be relieved from his duties as Saxon ambassador. He gets permission, and he sets out some time in late August or early September.
It's a slow trip, during which he has to stop and rest, and write letters explaining what's taking so long. Fritz is wonderful and understanding and all "I can't wait to see you, but please take care of yourself."
He arrives in Warsaw at the end of September or early October. He writes to Fritz that he got suddenly much sicker right before leaving St. Petersburg, and knew an arduous journey might be a really bad idea, but he wanted to see Fritz so much that he couldn't wait, and he was sure that actually seeing him in person would cure all his ills.
Then we get a series of letters giving updates on how he's trying to get better but it's not working. One particularly touching note says, "I'm afraid that you're going to tell me to take it slow and arrive when I can, but I want to see you so badly that I would give up half my life if it meant I could spend the other half with you."
Fritz, right on cue: I think it might be a good idea to travel slowly!
Finally, on November 3, Suhm writes that he's been holding out as long as he could, among other things not wanting to break bad news to Fritz, but he also knows that wasn't fair to Fritz, so here he is. He has only a few days, maybe only hours to live, and it's not fair because they were just about to be reunited, Fritz was king and everything was going to be great, and he almost made it, but the will of Heaven was against their happiness. Suhm describes himself as "ship-wrecked at port."
He asks Fritz to take care of the kids, and to treat his sister, who's been acting as the kids' mother in the absence of their mother, as he would Suhm's widow. [Fritz does, as we know.]
Then religious consolation, and finally, The hour is approaching, I already feel that my strength is abandoning me; I have to depart. Farewell. Another tear, it wets your feet. Oh! deign to look at it, great king, as a pledge of the tender and unalterable attachment with which your faithful Diaphane was devoted to you until his last sigh.
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The Suhm Letters: In Sickness and in Health
Date: 2020-01-09 11:29 pm (UTC)Like the Fredersdorf correspondence--like much of Fritz's correspondence--significant page time is devoted to discussions of health. Not quite as much as Fredersdorf's, is my impression, but still noticeable amounts here and there.
Fritz does his usual "Let me teach you medicine; I know all about it, seeing as how I am 1) constantly sick, 2) smarter than everyone else." Suhm, ever the diplomat, responds to that one with, "I'm sure that remedy works great for you, but fortunately for me, my problems are not nearly as bad as yours [what Fritz wants to hear], so I will not be doing that at all. But good for you!"
Fritz is immediately reassured and not at all offended and just says, "Thank goodness! I wouldn't want you to have problems as bad as mine."
Suhm's life expectancy at this point: 1 year.
Fritz's: 47 years.
Suhm, like Fredersdorf, clearly knows how to manage Fritz.
Colic
At one point, Fritz has a bad colic, and Suhm sends sympathies, and then shortly thereafter, Suhm is attacked by a bad colic. And he writes the very sweet, "I wish that my colic could have been in place of yours, because that would totally be worth it. It doesn't seem fair that both of us have to suffer, when I would gladly suffer for you. But then I tell myself that if great kings and princes aren't spared, how could a lowly mortal such as myself expect to be spared. And the thought of being united in suffering with you does make me feel better, so that's something, at least."
Sleep
Very early on in the correspondence, when Fritz gets his first installment of Wolff, he and Suhm have this exchange:
Fritz: I'm so busy with my regiment you wouldn't believe it, ugh. And then I've been sick, so my doctor says I need to get some exercise, get the blood moving. So now I don't have any time for study. But never fear! I have a solution. I will give up sleep!
Suhm: I love how excited you are about my translation. Maybe not do without sleep, though?
Fritz: Give up learning?? Never! What a dastardly suggestion.
Suhm: No! Not give up learning! Keep learning. Just...look after your health while you do? Only because I love you so much!
Fritz: It's so sweet that you care about my health, but don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing.
I...have often wondered what year Fritz did his "can I do without sleep altogether?" experiment. I still don't know, but I kinda feel like it might've been right around this time (1736).
Kids
Part way through their correspondence, Suhm has an acute episode of bad health and is convinced he's on his deathbed. He makes up his will and takes the liberty of naming Fritz as he one the wants to take care of his kids. Not King Fritz, Crown Prince Fritz, who has no money except what he's getting from foreign courts.
He must've heard what a good job 19-yo Fritz did of raising 22-yo Fredersdorf.He recovers, but a few years later, when he is actually on his deathbed, he again asks Fritz to take care of the kids, this time King Fritz. Who does.
Till death do us part
When Fritz invites Suhm to Berlin at the end of June, one month after he becomes king, Suhm asks for permission to be relieved from his duties as Saxon ambassador. He gets permission, and he sets out some time in late August or early September.
It's a slow trip, during which he has to stop and rest, and write letters explaining what's taking so long. Fritz is wonderful and understanding and all "I can't wait to see you, but please take care of yourself."
He arrives in Warsaw at the end of September or early October. He writes to Fritz that he got suddenly much sicker right before leaving St. Petersburg, and knew an arduous journey might be a really bad idea, but he wanted to see Fritz so much that he couldn't wait, and he was sure that actually seeing him in person would cure all his ills.
Then we get a series of letters giving updates on how he's trying to get better but it's not working. One particularly touching note says, "I'm afraid that you're going to tell me to take it slow and arrive when I can, but I want to see you so badly that I would give up half my life if it meant I could spend the other half with you."
Fritz, right on cue: I think it might be a good idea to travel slowly!
Finally, on November 3, Suhm writes that he's been holding out as long as he could, among other things not wanting to break bad news to Fritz, but he also knows that wasn't fair to Fritz, so here he is. He has only a few days, maybe only hours to live, and it's not fair because they were just about to be reunited, Fritz was king and everything was going to be great, and he almost made it, but the will of Heaven was against their happiness. Suhm describes himself as "ship-wrecked at port."
He asks Fritz to take care of the kids, and to treat his sister, who's been acting as the kids' mother in the absence of their mother, as he would Suhm's widow. [Fritz does, as we know.]
Then religious consolation, and finally, The hour is approaching, I already feel that my strength is abandoning me; I have to depart. Farewell. Another tear, it wets your feet. Oh! deign to look at it, great king, as a pledge of the tender and unalterable attachment with which your faithful Diaphane was devoted to you until his last sigh.
He dies five days later, age 49.