what did Voltaire know about this, and when did he know it? :
Voltaire: Look. I was busy during my years in Prussia. I mean, I had to wash the King's dirty laundry, write my own immortal masterpieces, do shady business deals with Hirschel and then go to trial with him, and I was feuding with Maupertuis. I simply did not have the time to read some guy named Gessler's anonymous pamphlets about what Fritz did wrong in the Silesian Wars! Especially since these didn't contain any spicy gossip about his sex life. I'd definitely would have found the time oterwise.
I.e. if he noticed, Orieux does not mention it. (Mind you, Oriexu as we've seen has zilch idea about what Fritz' brothers were like and only mentions them in the plural anyway.) Then again, the Voltaire, excuse, some guy's anonomouy "Vie Secrete de le roi de Prusse" pamphlet from the early 1750s goes easy on Heinrich (other than classifying him as a Potsdamite and commiserating with his new wife on that front). While poor AW gets dissed ("not being able to read or write in his father's life time", "just as military minded as his brother"), and good old Ferdinand dismissed as dull, Heinrich gets described as clever, cultured and generous. Which may or may not have to do with the fact he acted in not one but two court performances of Voltaire's plays in the de facto leading roles and got Voltaire's stamp of approval for his performance in his letters. So it's also possible Voltaire had some mild fondness for Heinrich and didn't want to get him into trouble with Fritz by pointing out who "Gessler" had to be. I mean, Voltaire knew he himself could leave. But Heinrich couldn't.
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Re: The Heinrich discussion thread
Date: 2020-05-01 06:15 am (UTC)Voltaire: Look. I was busy during my years in Prussia. I mean, I had to wash the King's dirty laundry, write my own immortal masterpieces, do shady business deals with Hirschel and then go to trial with him, and I was feuding with Maupertuis. I simply did not have the time to read some guy named Gessler's anonymous pamphlets about what Fritz did wrong in the Silesian Wars! Especially since these didn't contain any spicy gossip about his sex life. I'd definitely would have found the time oterwise.
I.e. if he noticed, Orieux does not mention it. (Mind you, Oriexu as we've seen has zilch idea about what Fritz' brothers were like and only mentions them in the plural anyway.) Then again, the Voltaire, excuse, some guy's anonomouy "Vie Secrete de le roi de Prusse" pamphlet from the early 1750s goes easy on Heinrich (other than classifying him as a Potsdamite and commiserating with his new wife on that front). While poor AW gets dissed ("not being able to read or write in his father's life time", "just as military minded as his brother"), and good old Ferdinand dismissed as dull, Heinrich gets described as clever, cultured and generous. Which may or may not have to do with the fact he acted in not one but two court performances of Voltaire's plays in the de facto leading roles and got Voltaire's stamp of approval for his performance in his letters. So it's also possible Voltaire had some mild fondness for Heinrich and didn't want to get him into trouble with Fritz by pointing out who "Gessler" had to be. I mean, Voltaire knew he himself could leave. But Heinrich couldn't.