Will keep my eye out for other mentions in correspondence. Anyone with access to E-Enlightenment is encouraged to do so as well (as time permits), hint hint! :)
Friedrich writes to Jordan about Voltaire's visit. No useful descriptions here, but lots of Jordan worship, on the 24th of September 1740:
Very respectable inspector of the poor, disabled, orphans, madmen, and small houses, I read with ripe meditation, the very deep Jordanian letter which I have just received, and I resolved to bring in [Google Translate is struggling here] your scholar stuffed with Greek, Syriac and Hebrew. Write to Voltaire that although I had refused, I changed my mind, and that I wanted his little Fourmont [referring to Etienne Fourmont, a librarian/reader Voltaire had recommended to Fritz during his stay]. I saw this Voltaire whom I was so curious to know, but I saw him having a quartan fever and my mind was as confused as my body was weakened. Finally with people of his kind you must not be sick, you must even be very well, and be better than usual if you can. He has the eloquence of Cicero, the sweetness of Pliny, and the wisdom of Agrippa. In a word, he brings together what it takes to combine the virtues and talents of three of the greatest men of antiquity. His mind is constantly working, each drop of ink is a stroke of esprit from his pen.
He proclaimed Muhammad I to us, an admirable tragedy he did. He transported us out of ourselves, and I could only admire him and remain silent.
La du Châtelet is very happy to have him, because of the good things which escape him, a person who does not think, and who has only memory, could compose a brilliant work of [his table talks].
[He snarks about Emile's writing and then...]
I'm waiting for my fever tomorrow. I am a little exhausted from the trip, without having lost the desire to chat. You will find me very talkative on my return, but remember that I saw two things that have always been very close to my heart, namely Voltaire, and French troops. If I had not had a fever, I would have been in Antwerp & in Brussels, I would have seen Brabant, this Emilie so amiable and so learned. We spoke highly of her, and what I say, not looking at her book, which she could have spared.
Write the time of my arrival. Friend, I appreciate it, because I worked, and I will still work as a Turk, or as a Jordan.
Farewell, very educated, very learned, very deep Jordan, or rather very gallant, very kind & very jovial Jordan. I greet you by assuring you of all these old feelings that you know how to inspire in all those who know you like me. Vale.
Voltaire mentions that he's seen the King of Prussia to Nicolas Claude Thieriot, and laments that his recommended librarian lad wasn't accepted (but Fritz changed his mind), but that's pretty much it.
Voltaire briefly mentions the first visit to Wilhelmine, after having visited Friedrich another time, in a letter dated the 26th of September 1742:
The King, your most august and most amusing brother, ordered me not long ago to pay him court in Aachen. I saw him, madame, carrying himself like a hero, making fun of the doctors and taking baths for his amusement. I found nothing changed in him except his face which I had seen, two years ago, made thinner by the quartan fever, and which has now grown quite round, which well becomes a crown of laurels; two more victories have made him neither less human nor less affable.
Those are the only mentions I can find. No info, except Friedrich was thinner in 1740 than he was in 1742.
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Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
Date: 2020-03-07 03:27 am (UTC)Friedrich writes to Jordan about Voltaire's visit. No useful descriptions here, but lots of Jordan worship, on the 24th of September 1740:
Very respectable inspector of the poor, disabled, orphans, madmen, and small houses, I read with ripe meditation, the very deep Jordanian letter which I have just received, and I resolved to bring in [Google Translate is struggling here] your scholar stuffed with Greek, Syriac and Hebrew. Write to Voltaire that although I had refused, I changed my mind, and that I wanted his little Fourmont [referring to Etienne Fourmont, a librarian/reader Voltaire had recommended to Fritz during his stay]. I saw this Voltaire whom I was so curious to know, but I saw him having a quartan fever and my mind was as confused as my body was weakened. Finally with people of his kind you must not be sick, you must even be very well, and be better than usual if you can. He has the eloquence of Cicero, the sweetness of Pliny, and the wisdom of Agrippa. In a word, he brings together what it takes to combine the virtues and talents of three of the greatest men of antiquity. His mind is constantly working, each drop of ink is a stroke of esprit from his pen.
He proclaimed Muhammad I to us, an admirable tragedy he did. He transported us out of ourselves, and I could only admire him and remain silent.
La du Châtelet is very happy to have him, because of the good things which escape him, a person who does not think, and who has only memory, could compose a brilliant work of [his table talks].
[He snarks about Emile's writing and then...]
I'm waiting for my fever tomorrow. I am a little exhausted from the trip, without having lost the desire to chat. You will find me very talkative on my return, but remember that I saw two things that have always been very close to my heart, namely Voltaire, and French troops. If I had not had a fever, I would have been in Antwerp & in Brussels, I would have seen Brabant, this Emilie so amiable and so learned. We spoke highly of her, and what I say, not looking at her book, which she could have spared.
Write the time of my arrival. Friend, I appreciate it, because I worked, and I will still work as a Turk, or as a Jordan.
Farewell, very educated, very learned, very deep Jordan, or rather very gallant, very kind & very jovial Jordan. I greet you by assuring you of all these old feelings that you know how to inspire in all those who know you like me. Vale.
Voltaire mentions that he's seen the King of Prussia to Nicolas Claude Thieriot, and laments that his recommended librarian lad wasn't accepted (but Fritz changed his mind), but that's pretty much it.
Voltaire briefly mentions the first visit to Wilhelmine, after having visited Friedrich another time, in a letter dated the 26th of September 1742:
The King, your most august and most amusing brother, ordered me not long ago to pay him court in Aachen. I saw him, madame, carrying himself like a hero, making fun of the doctors and taking baths for his amusement. I found nothing changed in him except his face which I had seen, two years ago, made thinner by the quartan fever, and which has now grown quite round, which well becomes a crown of laurels; two more victories have made him neither less human nor less affable.
Those are the only mentions I can find. No info, except Friedrich was thinner in 1740 than he was in 1742.