This is the same Rottembourg who was friends with Katte, right?
No, different one. I told you they were confusing! Katte's Count Rottembourg is the French Count Rottembourg, who died in 1735 in Paris, having not been in Prussia (to my knowledge) since he obtained his much sought-after release from FW in 1728 and sent to Madrid as envoy instead. This is his cousin (I've seen nephew, but I think that's a mistake) Prussian Count Rottembourg who was beloved by Fritz and died in 1752.
I had this passage about Rottembourg's death in mind when I was telling cahn that Fritz absolutely does not refrain from talking about his griefs, Katte being a possible (but not certain) exception, and also when I was wondering why on earth Fritz can write this about Rottembourg to Wilhelmine and what he wrote about Suhm to Algarotti but nothing about Fredersdorf to anyone.
About Biche, I keep seeing references to a letter from Fritz to Wilhelmine on her death, that goes,
I have had a domestic loss which has completely upset my philosophy. I confide all my frailties in you: I have lost Biche, and her death has reawoken in me the loss of all my friends, particularly of him who gave her to me. I was ashamed that a dog could so deeply affect my soul; but the sedentary life I lead and the faithfulness of this poor creature had so strongly attached me to her, her suffering so moved me, that, I confess, I am sad and afflicted. Does one have to be hard? Must one be insensitive? I believe that anyone capable of indifference towards a faithful animal is unable to be grateful towards an equal, and that, if one must choose, it is best to be too sensitive than too hard.
But I'm not seeing this letter in our library.
On the other hand, I just found yet another error in the Wilhelmine letters, in the form of a letter that didn't get rendered by my script, so sigh. Before you assume Trier/Preuss didn't include something just because it's not in the file I uploaded, always double check the website.
Wow, there is definitely a major bug in the script that generates these letters. This is the second time where I found the entry for a letter duplicated an earlier letter instead of having its own proper text. Very strange.
Anyway, sure enough, the letter where he tells Wilhelmine about Biche's death in late 1751 is in the archive but not in the uploaded file. I'm going to have to dig into this bug and see how many other missing letters I can find.
Meanwhile, I've manually fixed this one and uploaded the revised file to the Fritzian library, so check letters 207ff for the Biche/Folichon letters, and 233 for the death of Biche.
I was advised to smoke certain herbs, which first relieved me; but as I had to repeat the same remedy several times, my ladies kept me company, and we all smoked like dragons.
Haha. I often wonder what these people were smoking, but now I literally wonder what they were smoking! Medicinal cannabis wasn't a thing in Europe yet, or was it?
Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version III - Three Funerals and a Wedding
No, different one. I told you they were confusing! Katte's Count Rottembourg is the French Count Rottembourg, who died in 1735 in Paris, having not been in Prussia (to my knowledge) since he obtained his much sought-after release from FW in 1728 and sent to Madrid as envoy instead. This is his cousin (I've seen nephew, but I think that's a mistake) Prussian Count Rottembourg who was beloved by Fritz and died in 1752.
I had this passage about Rottembourg's death in mind when I was telling
About Biche, I keep seeing references to a letter from Fritz to Wilhelmine on her death, that goes,
I have had a domestic loss which has completely upset my philosophy. I confide all my frailties in you: I have lost Biche, and her death has reawoken in me the loss of all my friends, particularly of him who gave her to me. I was ashamed that a dog could so deeply affect my soul; but the sedentary life I lead and the faithfulness of this poor creature had so strongly attached me to her, her suffering so moved me, that, I confess, I am sad and afflicted. Does one have to be hard? Must one be insensitive? I believe that anyone capable of indifference towards a faithful animal is unable to be grateful towards an equal, and that, if one must choose, it is best to be too sensitive than too hard.
But I'm not seeing this letter in our library.
On the other hand, I just found yet another error in the Wilhelmine letters, in the form of a letter that didn't get rendered by my script, so sigh. Before you assume Trier/Preuss didn't include something just because it's not in the file I uploaded, always double check the website.
Wow, there is definitely a major bug in the script that generates these letters. This is the second time where I found the entry for a letter duplicated an earlier letter instead of having its own proper text. Very strange.
Anyway, sure enough, the letter where he tells Wilhelmine about Biche's death in late 1751 is in the archive but not in the uploaded file. I'm going to have to dig into this bug and see how many other missing letters I can find.
Meanwhile, I've manually fixed this one and uploaded the revised file to the Fritzian library, so check letters 207ff for the Biche/Folichon letters, and 233 for the death of Biche.
I was advised to smoke certain herbs, which first relieved me; but as I had to repeat the same remedy several times, my ladies kept me company, and we all smoked like dragons.
Haha. I often wonder what these people were smoking, but now I literally wonder what they were smoking! Medicinal cannabis wasn't a thing in Europe yet, or was it?