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: Andrew Mitchell: The Return

[felis]

I've quoted this before, but now seems a good time to remind everyone that when Keith was dying,

He summoned the British envoy, Elliot, on 23 May 1778: "I called you, because I find pleasure in emitting the last sighs of a Jacobite to a minister of King George."

As I said when I first quoted this, I can see why he and Fritz were friends for so long. :D

Oh, nice, all new to me, and very much appreciated, because the Fritz - G. Keith friendship is rather interesting. May I ask where the quote is from?

Re: Andrew Mitchell: The Return

[mildred_of_midgard]

Oh, right, we have new people! Then I should definitely repeat myself when the opportunity arises. :D

As for the quote, I have to admit it may be apocryphal: the source is anonymous. It appears in "A Fragment of a Memoir of Field-Marshal James Keith, Written By Himself, 1714-1734." That volume was published in 1843 along with a 5-page summary of the life of George Keith, in which the quote in question appears. That 5-page summary of George Keith is anonymously written, but the 1843 editor says that, although it has many mistakes, it bears the stamp of being written by one personally acquainted with the Earl Marischal, and though the anecdotes it records are mostly well known, the notice may be regarded with some favour, if, as is believed, it be the composition of Sir Robert Strange, formerly known for his attachment to the party which the Keith brothers supported*, and now better remembered as the first of English engravers.

* The Jacobites.

The James Keith memoir is very short, heavy on marches and military maneuvers, and doesn't include Fritz, but it's in the library if anyone wants it.