AW had a positive feedback loop with FW, but this being used from early days (read: toddler made to ask for soldier not to be hanged seems to have left him with the conviction it was his job and responsibility to achieve family harmony.
This is an excellent point. As you point out, the position was open!
We don't suppose Fritz had Algarotti's personal mail read, do we? (Because of the "the worst road: the road back to Prussia" remark in 1747.)
Oooh. I mean, it was quite normal for mail to be opened and read by several royal spies on its way to its recipient, is my impression of the 18th century. Voltaire complains that when he gets Fritz's poem on the Rossbach disaster, he can tell it's been opened, and he's furious at Fritz because people are going to think that he, Voltaire, had something to do with this poem.
Crackfic Fredersdorf: I can see how you might accidentally end up in bed with Voltaire thinking he was your boss. :P
But did Fritz have Algarotti's mail read? I don't know. While Fritz of course had spies at foreign courts (and I swear I read somewhere that he was spying on his own court), I never got the impression he had a particularly impressive spy network and he was often caught off guard by events. Largely, if you ask me, because his MO was always "isolate, entrench, and fight" not "take other people into account."
Maybe Ulrike had Algarotti's mail read, though, you think?
I also can't help but observe that Theseus eventually makes it out of the underworld. Pirithous remains trapped. Fritz the Galley slave again?
:-(
Oh, Fritz. (The only one enslaving you is you! Come on, you can do it. Cast off those chains!)
Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version - I: Greek myths and living Italians
This is an excellent point. As you point out, the position was open!
We don't suppose Fritz had Algarotti's personal mail read, do we? (Because of the "the worst road: the road back to Prussia" remark in 1747.)
Oooh. I mean, it was quite normal for mail to be opened and read by several royal spies on its way to its recipient, is my impression of the 18th century. Voltaire complains that when he gets Fritz's poem on the Rossbach disaster, he can tell it's been opened, and he's furious at Fritz because people are going to think that he, Voltaire, had something to do with this poem.
Crackfic Fredersdorf: I can see how you might accidentally end up in bed with Voltaire thinking he was your boss. :P
But did Fritz have Algarotti's mail read? I don't know. While Fritz of course had spies at foreign courts (and I swear I read somewhere that he was spying on his own court), I never got the impression he had a particularly impressive spy network and he was often caught off guard by events. Largely, if you ask me, because his MO was always "isolate, entrench, and fight" not "take other people into account."
Maybe Ulrike had Algarotti's mail read, though, you think?
I also can't help but observe that Theseus eventually makes it out of the underworld. Pirithous remains trapped. Fritz the Galley slave again?
:-(
Oh, Fritz. (The only one enslaving you is you! Come on, you can do it. Cast off those chains!)