Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 19

[cahn]

Yuletide nominations:

18th Century CE Federician RPF
Maria Theresia | Maria Theresa of Austria
Voltaire
Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Ernst Ahasverus von Lehndorff
Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Anna Amalie von Preußen | Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723-1787)
Catherine II of Russia
Hans Hermann von Katte
Peter Karl Christoph von Keith
Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf
August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)

Circle of Voltaire RPF
Emilie du Chatelet
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (Madame de Pompadour)
John Hervey (1696-1743)
Marie Louise Mignot Denis
Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu (1696-1788)
Francesco Algarotti

Comments

Re: Random things

[cahn]

Catherine: I did all that at 65 and had a vivid sex life, too, Monsieur le Cardinal.

I loved all of these, but this was the one that I found most hilarious :D Go Catherine!

And Boswell is willing to present himself as the punchline to Johnson‘s joke in order to given an impression of Johnson’s conversation in a way few writers then or now would be willing to, from their first meeting („Dr. Johnson, indeed I am from Scotland, but I cannot help it“/ „That, Sir, is what I find a great many of your countrymen cannot help“) onwards.

Ah! Yes, this makes a lot of sense (and is really cool).

(he keeps writing memos to himself to be more dignified, more like his father or Johnson; it never works, but unaware, he was not).

This is also super endearing :D

And I see what you're saying about how Johnson as a character is so important.