felis, I'm so sorry I was heads-down on my ridiculously long Yuletide fic when you turned up the Gröben letters and I wasn't able to comment! What a great detective job. You would make Amalie, Fredersdorf, and Wilhelmine proud. :D
I agree whole-heartedly with Selena's comment that this is locker room talk (the exact phrase I thought of even before she wrote that) and not proof of a sexual relationship. However, I see that Gröben made into in "Time-Travelling Valet" as our culprit for Fritz's alleged STD in the late 1730s/early 1740s , which I thought was hilarious. :D And entirely possible!
Hypothesis/wanton speculation: The reason Fritz isn't upset when he learns Algarotti has an STD in late 1740 isn't because their relationship is purely platonic (and thus he's neither upset that they have to stop having sex nor worried that he got an STD from Algarotti), but because they *have* been having sex, and Fritz is where Algarotti got the STD from. :P
selenak: Fritz uses "petit-maitre" for "fop". Which stood out to me because that's what FW keeps calling him in his rants, including in the August 1731 submission protocol.
What this reminded me of was Bielfeld's "hot or not" report on Fritz from 1738, where he writes, "A petit maître of Paris would not perhaps admire his frisure; his hair however is of a bright brown, carelessly curled, but well adapted to his countenance."
Speaking of Bielfeld, if anyone is thinking of writing the Strasbourg episode that I didn't write for Yuletide, or otherwise just curious, I noticed while hunting for the petit-maître passage that Bielfeld writes a several-page account with numerous trivial details of interest to fanfiction writers. One minor detail he leaves out is the arrest/detainment. :P Which makes sense if he had his account from his friend Fritz.
I enjoyed his opening line: I much doubt if [Fritz] will ever obtain the title of Saint, but I am certain he will deserve that of Great, if Providence shall prolong his days.
Now, this letter is dated to September 2, 1740, but I have read that this is a collection of material that mixes real letters with material written after the fact and framed as letters, so that line may have been written with the benefit of hindsight, I don't know.
Gröben; Bielfeld; Strasbourg
I agree whole-heartedly with Selena's comment that this is locker room talk (the exact phrase I thought of even before she wrote that) and not proof of a sexual relationship. However, I see that Gröben made into in "Time-Travelling Valet" as our culprit for Fritz's alleged STD in the late 1730s/early 1740s , which I thought was hilarious. :D And entirely possible!
Hypothesis/wanton speculation: The reason Fritz isn't upset when he learns Algarotti has an STD in late 1740 isn't because their relationship is purely platonic (and thus he's neither upset that they have to stop having sex nor worried that he got an STD from Algarotti), but because they *have* been having sex, and Fritz is where Algarotti got the STD from. :P
What this reminded me of was Bielfeld's "hot or not" report on Fritz from 1738, where he writes, "A petit maître of Paris would not perhaps admire his frisure; his hair however is of a bright brown, carelessly curled, but well adapted to his countenance."
Speaking of Bielfeld, if anyone is thinking of writing the Strasbourg episode that I didn't write for Yuletide, or otherwise just curious, I noticed while hunting for the petit-maître passage that Bielfeld writes a several-page account with numerous trivial details of interest to fanfiction writers. One minor detail he leaves out is the arrest/detainment. :P Which makes sense if he had his account from his friend Fritz.
I enjoyed his opening line: I much doubt if [Fritz] will ever obtain the title of Saint, but I am certain he will deserve that of Great, if Providence shall prolong his days.
Now, this letter is dated to September 2, 1740, but I have read that this is a collection of material that mixes real letters with material written after the fact and framed as letters, so that line may have been written with the benefit of hindsight, I don't know.