Because I'm interested in the question of whether Catt wrote/edited his memoirs after reading Voltaire's (man, I wish I could get my hands on that 1752 anti-Fritz pamphlet that Voltaire self-plagiarized for the memoirs), I present to you the following passages.
Voltaire Il était dans sa nature de faire toujours tout le contraire de ce qu'il disait de ce qu'il ecrivait, non par dissimulation, mais parce qu'il écrivait & parlait avec une espèce d'enthousiasme, & agissait ensuite avec un autre.
But it was constitutional with him to do the direct Contrary of what he said or writ; not from dissimulation; but because he spoke and writ with one kind of enthusiasm, and afterwards acted with another.
Catt C'est que parfois on parlait avec une espèce d'enthousiasme et qu'on agissait ensuite avec un autre bien contraire au premier... ces disparates étaient plutôt la suite de cet enthousiasme que d'un manque de franchise.
Sometimes the King spoke with a kind of enthusiasm, and acted afterwards with an enthusiasm very different from the first...These discrepancies were rather the consequence of this enthusiasm than of a lack of sincerity.
Independent observation or plagiarism? You tell me.
Some points to consider: - Everybody who knows about the developments of September - November 1740 can independently arrive at the conclusion that Fritz wrote/said one thing and proceeded to do the opposite. Even cahn probably knows what I'm talking about just from the dates! - Not everybody has felt the need to observe that he was sincere about what he wrote; in fact, some antis have believed the opposite. - The word "enthousiasme" occurs nowhere in the diary, although a few places in the memoirs.
Side note: I notice the translator has taken Catt's impersonal and given it a subject.
Catt is also nicer than Voltaire and says "sometimes" instead of "always." As you'd expect given the general tone of their memoirs.
Totally unrelated except for tracking down sources: Catt tells a story about how FW accidentally knocked over a young woman, laughed, then realized she might really be hurt and gave her some money. I swear I've seen this before in a list of FW anecdotes, and recently. I seem to remember encountering it in old-fashioned English. I thought it was Voltaire, but it's not. Also doesn't seem to be Lavisse. Anyone remember if it's in Wilhelmine? Or otherwise recognize the source?
ETA: Ignore me; what I was remembering was just someone quoting Catt. Btw, it's in both the diary and the memoirs, but in Fritz's mouth in the memoirs, of course.
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Catt and Voltaire
Date: 2020-02-10 01:34 am (UTC)Voltaire
Il était dans sa nature de faire toujours tout le contraire de ce qu'il disait de ce qu'il ecrivait, non par dissimulation, mais parce qu'il écrivait & parlait avec une espèce d'enthousiasme, & agissait ensuite avec un autre.
But it was constitutional with him to do the direct Contrary of what he said or writ; not from dissimulation; but because he spoke and writ with one kind of enthusiasm, and afterwards acted with another.
Catt
C'est que parfois on parlait avec une espèce d'enthousiasme et qu'on agissait ensuite avec un autre bien contraire au premier... ces disparates étaient plutôt la suite de cet enthousiasme que d'un manque de franchise.
Sometimes the King spoke with a kind of enthusiasm, and acted afterwards with an enthusiasm very different from the first...These discrepancies were rather the consequence of this enthusiasm than of a lack of sincerity.
Independent observation or plagiarism? You tell me.
Some points to consider:
- Everybody who knows about the developments of September - November 1740 can independently arrive at the conclusion that Fritz wrote/said one thing and proceeded to do the opposite. Even
- Not everybody has felt the need to observe that he was sincere about what he wrote; in fact, some antis have believed the opposite.
- The word "enthousiasme" occurs nowhere in the diary, although a few places in the memoirs.
Side note: I notice the translator has taken Catt's impersonal and given it a subject.
Catt is also nicer than Voltaire and says "sometimes" instead of "always." As you'd expect given the general tone of their memoirs.
Totally unrelated except for tracking down sources: Catt tells a story about how FW accidentally knocked over a young woman, laughed, then realized she might really be hurt and gave her some money. I swear I've seen this before in a list of FW anecdotes, and recently. I seem to remember encountering it in old-fashioned English. I thought it was Voltaire, but it's not. Also doesn't seem to be Lavisse. Anyone remember if it's in Wilhelmine? Or otherwise recognize the source?
ETA: Ignore me; what I was remembering was just someone quoting Catt. Btw, it's in both the diary and the memoirs, but in Fritz's mouth in the memoirs, of course.