1) So in looking back through old comments for Rheinsberg material, I noticed selenak quoting a letter from Fritz to Voltaire about Algarotti's 1739 visit to Rheinsberg: "Young Algarotti, whom you know, has endeared himself to me above and beyond. He has promised me to return as soon as possible. We talked a lot about you, about geometry, poetry, all the sciences, also about God and the world. "
Okay, fair, Fritz and Algarotti talked a lot about Voltaire, who's super famous and whom Algarotti has met and stayed at his house.
But then I was like, "Wasn't that quote from the Suhm letters?" And sure enough, Fritz writes to Suhm,
"We have had here Mylord Baltimore and the young Algarotti, both men who, by their knowledge, must reconcile the esteem and consideration of all who see them. We talked a lot about you, about philosophy, about science, about the arts, finally about everything that must be understood in the taste of honest people."
And I had been wondering why "a lot" about Suhm and if that was maybe a mere politeness for "you came up when we talked about Wolff." Because Suhm is just not that famous.
But I just checked the chronology, and yes, Algarotti was on his way back from St. Petersburg to England when he hit Rheinsberg. I knew they were both 1739, couldn't remember if it went St. Petersburg - Rheinsberg, or Rheinsberg - St. Petersburg.
So when Fritz met Algarotti, Algarotti must have just met Suhm at court in St. Petersburg and had him fresh on his mind during their conversation.
I'm also struck by the parallels in the two passages, written about 10 days apart.
2) This hilarious anecdote from Lavisse about tiny terror FW.
From the age of four, he was a formidable youngster. One day, while they were dressing him, he tore a buckle from his shoe, and put it into his mouth. When they wished to take it away from him, he swallowed it. His mother uttered cries that would have "melted rocks"; his father, majestic as he was, came near losing his senses. The physicians, however, prescribed a purgative and the buckle is on exhibition in a glass case, at the Hohenzollern Museum, in Berlin. (Lavisse is writing in 1891.)
Never doing things by halves indeed.
Lavisse also says in this paragraph that it wasn't just George that FW beat up while staying with his grandparents, but the "Prince of Courlande" he had to be pried away from because he had him by the hair and wouldn't let go. Now I have to wonder which prince of Courlande. Future (in)famous de facto ruler of Russia who was 2 years younger than FW? Or some other one?
Random things
Okay, fair, Fritz and Algarotti talked a lot about Voltaire, who's super famous and whom Algarotti has met and stayed at his house.
But then I was like, "Wasn't that quote from the Suhm letters?" And sure enough, Fritz writes to Suhm,
"We have had here Mylord Baltimore and the young Algarotti, both men who, by their knowledge, must reconcile the esteem and consideration of all who see them. We talked a lot about you, about philosophy, about science, about the arts, finally about everything that must be understood in the taste of honest people."
And I had been wondering why "a lot" about Suhm and if that was maybe a mere politeness for "you came up when we talked about Wolff." Because Suhm is just not that famous.
But I just checked the chronology, and yes, Algarotti was on his way back from St. Petersburg to England when he hit Rheinsberg. I knew they were both 1739, couldn't remember if it went St. Petersburg - Rheinsberg, or Rheinsberg - St. Petersburg.
So when Fritz met Algarotti, Algarotti must have just met Suhm at court in St. Petersburg and had him fresh on his mind during their conversation.
I'm also struck by the parallels in the two passages, written about 10 days apart.
2) This hilarious anecdote from Lavisse about tiny terror FW.
From the age of four, he was a formidable youngster. One day, while they were dressing him, he tore a buckle from his shoe, and put it into his mouth. When they wished to take it away from him, he swallowed it. His mother uttered cries that would have "melted rocks"; his father, majestic as he was, came near losing his senses. The physicians, however, prescribed a purgative and the buckle is on exhibition in a glass case, at the Hohenzollern Museum, in Berlin. (Lavisse is writing in 1891.)
Never doing things by halves indeed.
Lavisse also says in this paragraph that it wasn't just George that FW beat up while staying with his grandparents, but the "Prince of Courlande" he had to be pried away from because he had him by the hair and wouldn't let go. Now I have to wonder which prince of Courlande. Future (in)famous de facto ruler of Russia who was 2 years younger than FW? Or some other one?