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Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 20
Yuletide signups so far:
3 requests for Frederician RPF, 2 offers
2 requests for Circle of Voltaire RPF, 3 offers !! :D :D
(I am so curious as to who the third person is!)
3 requests for Frederician RPF, 2 offers
2 requests for Circle of Voltaire RPF, 3 offers !! :D :D
(I am so curious as to who the third person is!)
Re: Fritz/Voltaire
See also: The lovely lion/rat bit in 1759 - did you guys' bring that up in the context of the "would Voltaire save Fritz?" scenario? or the Disney one? I know I read about it before - with a Maupertuis cameo as the bulldog who totally recanted AND loved Fritz less than Voltaire himself did, so there.
We've brought it up several times, so take your pick!
during the Seven Years War, Fritz writes that he gave himself a diet that seemed very severe to everyone around him - are there details on what exactly that entailed
Two pieces of evidence that I know of, from Trier:
1) October 4, 1756: D'Argens says he's heard that Fritz is skipping meals, that he's "cavalierly" going 36 hours at a time without food, and that he didn't eat all the day before the recent battle. Which would be Lobositz (October 1, 1756). D'Argens is appalled and tries to convince him that eating food is important. (Remember when Suhm tried to convince him that sleep was important? I feel like this was part of being friends with Fritz. :P)
Interestingly, this would lend support to one thing that's in the memoirs but not the diary of Catt: Fritz noticeably losing weight between when he met Catt in 1755 and when he saw him again in 1758. It's one of the first things Catt remarks on in the memoirs.
2) January 27, 1762: Fritz writes to Madame de Camas:
For four years I have given up suppers, as incompatible with the profession I am obliged to follow; and on marching days my dinner consists of a cup of chocolate.
Seems severe to me!
Oh, and finally, re: Fritz and dogs - in 1775, Fritz is revising his old memoirs and describes it to Voltaire as Je lèche mes petits. :D
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Re: Fritz/Voltaire
... and now I'm curious about his hot chocolate recipe, given how he took his coffee.
--
In other news, I posted some autumn pictures of the Sanssouci grounds in my journal earlier, if that's of interest - all from years ago, lots of autumn, less of Sanssouci (but not nothing at least ;))
Re: Fritz/Voltaire
People around Fritz: we weren't overreacting!
Certainly in line with "I think one should be content with one meal per day" to Voltaire in 1776.
Certainly in line with how freaking *gaunt* his death mask was in 1786! Final illness notwithstanding.
... and now I'm curious about his hot chocolate recipe, given how he took his coffee.
Lol! Worcestershire sauce (which no, had not been invented yet) and ginger. :P
You know, considering he made his pages take a drink of his coffee (as an anti-poisoning measure) before he would accept it, let's hope he put the mustard and peppercorns in after that step. Otherwise, it would behoove him to consider that there might be other reasons beyond regicide why they might hesitate to drink it!
In other news, I posted some autumn pictures of the Sanssouci grounds in my journal earlier, if that's of interest - all from years ago, lots of autumn, less of Sanssouci (but not nothing at least ;))
Extremely of interest! I love not only Sanssouci but also nature pics. I was so sad when Pixdaus.com went away--I used to collect nature pics for my laptop background from it. My current laptop background is, of course, this pic.
Re: Fritz/Voltaire
Re: diets and being hard on himself to do his job, see also this pithy line from another 1776 letter to Voltaire: Il n'est pas nécessaire que je vive, mais bien que j'agisse. That seemed like a very Fritz way of looking at things to me.
Worcestershire sauce (which no, had not been invented yet)
*cringe*
and ginger
Ohh, chocolate with ginger is quite nice, though! And thinking about it, the pepper would have been much more at home in chocolate instead of coffee as well...
Re: Fritz/Voltaire
Yep. I'm reading Krockow and I literally just got to this line when the notification of your comment came in:
In almost half a century he didn't miss a single day of carrying out his official duties; the human right to vacation and recreation, which statesmen all over the world take for granted today, would have been incomprehensible to him.
The sentence immediately before this goes:
Like his father, he took care of everything and everything, down to the really trivial: the marriage license or rather the non-license for a Rittmeister [captain], the appointment or transfer of a pastor, the grant of money for the repair of a street or its refusal.
So that's why he has to be dead to be "sans souci."
Ohh, chocolate with ginger is quite nice, though!
I hesitated because I was thinking that, but then I decided the Worcestershire sauce would ruin the effect. Mind you, I'm not inclined to try. ;)
Open to alternate suggestions, though!
Fritzian recipes: a new type of crackfic.