The 18th Century: When "over the top" was just normal and understatement had not been invented yet. :)

Seriously though: if you put, say, the Marwitz letters side by side with Lady Mary's love letters to Algarotti, Lord Hervey's fumings about Fritz of Wales and just about any letter from Voltaire to Fritz and vice versa, the over the topness becomes just a matter of perspective.

I'm still standing on my explanation as to why 19th and early 20th historians left them out of the Fritz correspondance, though. :)