"His presently reigning majesty was kind enough to remember me, and to call me back; I hastened to go and find a Master, to whom I was born, and whom my heart had chosen, as soon as it was able to feel."
AWWWWWW.
<333 I really hope that by the end of his life, Peter felt at least somewhat appreciated by Fritz, because he really deserved it. If not, yeah, he said the wife and kids made up for everything. (Friiitz!)
I don't know why I find this so charming, but I totally do!
:) I should point out, for the sake of scholarly rigor, that I don't know to what extent they were literally best friends forever; eulogy writer goes on about how meaningful the friendship was to both of them, but let's not forget, this is one Academy member (Formey) writing a eulogy about another Academy member (Peter) and talking about the importance of the relationship with the Academy president (Maupertuis). It may merely have been a congenial working relationship. But at least it appears to have been a positive and supportive one that paid dividends for Peter's intellectual career.
It sucks he died at age 45 (...I'm not too far off that age myself) but... I guess we already knew that, and 18th century etc.
Yeah. We did know his age, and so, while I knew it was unlikely, my headcanon/hope was that he went to sleep one night and didn't wake up. Especially after we discovered he missed seeing Fritz by a week. So I was disappointed by the six weeks of paralysis and difficulty talking. But it does sound like he suffered much less, or at least for a shorter period of time, than poor Fredersdorf, and various other people we know, so I'll be grateful for that small mercy, I guess.
<3 Peter.
(I still want to know what Suhm died of. Somewhere out there, if it didn't get destroyed between Preuss not seeing fit to include it and the present day, there's a letter from Suhm's brother to Fritz with "all the details" of his death. Preuss!!)
Hey, good coworkers are gold! :) But I am still surprised by how charming I find it, having never thought that much of Maupertuis before (Maupertuis not being super cool like, oh, say, Émilie). But I think I really like the idea of Maupertuis, who isn't a genius himself, being friends with Peter, who loves learning but would never have even aspired to be a genius.
But it does sound like he suffered much less, or at least for a shorter period of time, than poor Fredersdorf, and various other people we know, so I'll be grateful for that small mercy, I guess.
And also I don;t know how religious it was, but as selenak pointed out, for religious people in those days a fast death wasn't actually a good thing either the way it would be for us, soooooo.... maybe that was the best he could hope for?
Maupertuis not being super cool like, oh, say, Émilie
Very few people are cool like Émilie, that's a high bar. ;) But Maupertuis led an expedition to Lapland to take measurements to support his theory about the shape of the planet, which is pretty cool in my book. (Algarotti, you should have gone!)
for religious people in those days a fast death wasn't actually a good thing either the way it would be for us, soooooo.... maybe that was the best he could hope for?
Hmm. For Catholics, who need to receive last rites and die shriven, that's definitely true. I have no idea whether, in Peter's Protestant denomination, a quick death would have been perceived as a bad thing by his wife. MT was unusually pious, after all, and I have no idea about Ariane. At any rate, he did get to say goodbye and receive some religious consolation of the sort he wanted (at least according to the theologian writing his eulogy--always consider the source here: Wikipedia tells me Formey was accused* of claiming in a pamphlet that Fritz--Fritz!--was actually very devout), so, yes, there's something to be said for getting the chance to make final arrangements, especially since he was so young and it was so unexpected.
* Apparently he denied it, but somebody must have thought it was plausible. We've also seen evidence he was putting a positive spin on everything in this eulogy, so given that he was religious, he may have overstressed Peter's commitment to religion, who knows.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Peter Keith eulogy
Date: 2020-06-02 03:44 pm (UTC)AWWWWWW.
<333 I really hope that by the end of his life, Peter felt at least somewhat appreciated by Fritz, because he really deserved it. If not, yeah, he said the wife and kids made up for everything. (Friiitz!)
I don't know why I find this so charming, but I totally do!
:) I should point out, for the sake of scholarly rigor, that I don't know to what extent they were literally best friends forever; eulogy writer goes on about how meaningful the friendship was to both of them, but let's not forget, this is one Academy member (Formey) writing a eulogy about another Academy member (Peter) and talking about the importance of the relationship with the Academy president (Maupertuis). It may merely have been a congenial working relationship. But at least it appears to have been a positive and supportive one that paid dividends for Peter's intellectual career.
It sucks he died at age 45 (...I'm not too far off that age myself) but... I guess we already knew that, and 18th century etc.
Yeah. We did know his age, and so, while I knew it was unlikely, my headcanon/hope was that he went to sleep one night and didn't wake up. Especially after we discovered he missed seeing Fritz by a week. So I was disappointed by the six weeks of paralysis and difficulty talking. But it does sound like he suffered much less, or at least for a shorter period of time, than poor Fredersdorf, and various other people we know, so I'll be grateful for that small mercy, I guess.
<3 Peter.
(I still want to know what Suhm died of. Somewhere out there, if it didn't get destroyed between Preuss not seeing fit to include it and the present day, there's a letter from Suhm's brother to Fritz with "all the details" of his death. Preuss!!)
Re: Peter Keith eulogy
Date: 2020-06-04 04:36 am (UTC)But it does sound like he suffered much less, or at least for a shorter period of time, than poor Fredersdorf, and various other people we know, so I'll be grateful for that small mercy, I guess.
And also I don;t know how religious it was, but as
Re: Peter Keith eulogy
Date: 2020-06-04 09:00 am (UTC)Very few people are cool like Émilie, that's a high bar. ;) But Maupertuis led an expedition to Lapland to take measurements to support his theory about the shape of the planet, which is pretty cool in my book. (Algarotti, you should have gone!)
for religious people in those days a fast death wasn't actually a good thing either the way it would be for us, soooooo.... maybe that was the best he could hope for?
Hmm. For Catholics, who need to receive last rites and die shriven, that's definitely true. I have no idea whether, in Peter's Protestant denomination, a quick death would have been perceived as a bad thing by his wife. MT was unusually pious, after all, and I have no idea about Ariane. At any rate, he did get to say goodbye and receive some religious consolation of the sort he wanted (at least according to the theologian writing his eulogy--always consider the source here: Wikipedia tells me Formey was accused* of claiming in a pamphlet that Fritz--Fritz!--was actually very devout), so, yes, there's something to be said for getting the chance to make final arrangements, especially since he was so young and it was so unexpected.
* Apparently he denied it, but somebody must have thought it was plausible. We've also seen evidence he was putting a positive spin on everything in this eulogy, so given that he was religious, he may have overstressed Peter's commitment to religion, who knows.