re: sickbed first meeting, true or not, it occurs to me that Fritz or Algarotti (if he was still around for the meeting) might have mentioned how that went down in their letters to third parties, ditto for Voltaire writing home to Émilie or Parisian friends, since this was a big event in their mutual lives and advertised to all and sundry.
Mind you, given their rethoric at the time, the descriptions could just say "I met the Apollo from Prussia, the Salomon of the North" and "The Sage of the Ages, the Greatest Star of the Enlightenment, I met him at last!" with no useful details like sick bed and pulse taking mentioned.
On the side of "at least plausible": Voltaire in 1740 is already a tried and true hypochondriac knowing all the illnesses. He meets the guy who spent the last four years courting him via letter in the most glowing terms, and whom he thinks might be the philosopher king he's hoping for, with him in the flattering role of pacifist Aristoteles. At any rate, he's a potentially very useful royal patron and protector. And the man is sick. Pulse checking would be a psychologically plausible gesture for Voltaire.
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
Mind you, given their rethoric at the time, the descriptions could just say "I met the Apollo from Prussia, the Salomon of the North" and "The Sage of the Ages, the Greatest Star of the Enlightenment, I met him at last!" with no useful details like sick bed and pulse taking mentioned.
On the side of "at least plausible": Voltaire in 1740 is already a tried and true hypochondriac knowing all the illnesses. He meets the guy who spent the last four years courting him via letter in the most glowing terms, and whom he thinks might be the philosopher king he's hoping for, with him in the flattering role of pacifist Aristoteles. At any rate, he's a potentially very useful royal patron and protector. And the man is sick. Pulse checking would be a psychologically plausible gesture for Voltaire.