New thread for the Countess, split in three parts. There are only 28 letters at Trier - 23 written by Fritz and 5 by her (plus two little footnote excerpts from unpublished ones *sideeyes Preuss*) - but they are a truly fascinating read. They date from August 1744 to November 1765, with a big gap between 1745 and 1760.
The very first one made me scratch my head a bit:
(Potsdam) August 2nd, 1744: Ma bonne maman, I give you a thousand thanks for wanting to share the cares of friendship with me. I love you a thousand times more for it. You will know what happened here. I never got out of a greater mess/distress/embarassment [? - embarras]. Poor Rottembourg thought he was dying of inflammation of the kidneys; but I believe today it is out of the question. Farewell, my good maman; don't forget a friend with whom one plays stripped king [jouer au roi dépouillé]. Federic.
As you can see, some of it is unclear to me, because I'm not sure if the entire note is about Rottembourg's illness, or if that's just a "this is also happening" info and there is something else going on that I don't understand for lack of context. I initally thought it might be war-related somehow (which starts a couple days later) - not least because when I googled "jouer au roi dépouillé" I found this definition game where one undresses dress after dress the king of the game and, figuratively, a saying when several people unite to ruin another (see also: the title of this French Revolution Louis Le Dernier Caricature) - but I really don't know.
Speaking of the Second Silesian War: Early on, Schwedt cousin Wilhelm dies of an errant cannon shot at Prague and Fritz is worried how SD is going to take that, so he asks Countess Camas to consult with Podewils and to break it to her gently and without details. The two relevant letters from September 1744 were written by his secretary, but he added postscripts by hand, which basically repeat the message in a more casual and personal manner:
I tremble that one does not give my mother a report which would disturb her peace. I implore you, by all that I can conjure, to remove any sinister idea from her mind, so that I will see her again happy and in good health. My brothers, thank God, and I are doing very well, and the city will be taken in two days.
Follow-up: Ma bonne maman Camas, you are the best person in the world. I embrace you with all my heart for the care you take of my dear mother; I beg you to continue in the same way, and not to worry about the fate of an individual who has no other merit than to be entirely attached to you.
Further on, he gives short updates on war developments and deaths, and repeatedly praises her common sense, see for example this letter from July 27th, 1745:
If everyone wore [as much] common sense on their backs as you have under your hair, we wouldn't see as much madness happening in the world as we do. I know Madame de B ... too well not to do justice to her merits, blaming the lightness of her resolutions. Alas! you tell me more flattering things than I deserve. I beg you to send me all your wisdom by first mail, because I really need it in the situation in which I find myself, and perhaps it is not for me to find a fault in Madame de B... of which I can be guilty myself. [No footnote to tell me who Madame de B... is supposed to be, so I'm stumped.] We are looking at each other like fools here, and I assure you, madame, that if you saw it, you would have pity for the ridiculous figure that two great armies make vis-a-vis each other. We scrap dealers turn our eyes to Berlin, like the Jews to Holy Zion. For myself, I pleasantly flatter my imagination by letting the sweet idea of my relatives, my friends, and so many people dear to me in Berlin reign in my mind. Now is the time to make ourselves worthy of enjoying ourselves with them wholeheartedly this winter, and to give us all the peace of mind so necessary to taste pleasure.
Farewell, ma chère maman; keep us all a mother [mère] you know we adore very much, [is he talking about her, or is he talking about the fact that she's taking care of SD? I'm leaning towards the latter, because the maman vs. mère showed up in the 1744 exchange as well] and, when you tie your knots during the silence of your parrots, the quiet of the Academy, and the slumber of your dogs, give a few of your lost thoughts to your absent friends, counting me, I pray, as the first of them.
Then Keyserlingk dies in August 1745 (after Jordan did earlier during the year) and Fritz shares his grief with her and asks her to take care of Keyserlingk's young daughter Adelaide (he also switches from "maman" to "madame" as the opening address for these, and these only, no idea why - possibly dictated?):
August 30th: The last time I wrote to you, my soul was very quiet, and I did not foresee the misfortune that was going to overwhelm me. I lost, in less than three months, my two most faithful friends, people with whom I have always lived, and whose gentle companionship, the quality of honest men, together with the true friendship that I had for them, has often helped me to overcome sorrows and to endure illnesses. You can imagine that it is difficult for a heart born sensitive like mine to stifle the deep pain that this loss causes me. On my return to Berlin, I will find myself almost a stranger in my own homeland and, so to speak, isolated in my own home. I am talking to a person who has shown remarkable strength, also losing, almost suddenly, so many people who were dear to her; but, madame, I confess that I admire your courage without being able to imitate it yet. I only put my hope in time, which overcomes everything there is in nature, and which begins by weakening the impressions in our brain, in the end destroying us ourselves. I looked forward to my return as an object of joy; now I fear Berlin, Charlottenburg, Potsdam, in short, all the places which will bring me fatal memories of friends whom I have lost forever. Rest easy in Berlin; barring great setbacks, which it is impossible to foresee, I do not see the shadow of danger, and if fate has not resolved to destroy us, I do not see what there is to fear.
September 10th: You know that I lost a friend whom I loved as much as myself, and whose memory I still revere. I beg you, for all the reasons I have to esteem you, to serve, with Knobelsdorff, as tutor to poor Adelaide, to take care of her health and her young age as well as of her education when the time is right. You know the grandmother, and know that she is not capable of raising a daughter. As I want this one to be worthy of her father, I ask, for the friendship you have always shown me, that you take this remnant of my dear Keyserlingk under your protection, and that, now and in a more mature age, you assist the mother with your advice and the daughter with your care. I will look at this attention as if you had it for myself, and if anything can add to the esteem I have for you, be sure that this choice which I ask of you, and the assurance that I have that you will accept it, will make me look at you with more consideration than ever. As you have almost no relatives left, I hope your good heart will not refuse my request, something that can truly relieve me in my affliction.
And that's basically it for the early period. The published correspondence resumes in 1760 - which means it skips all the catastrophes and deaths during the first half of the Seven Years War - at which point we finally get some letters from her as well.
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Camas Letters II - Countess Camas Part One (1744/45)
Date: 2021-01-21 10:55 am (UTC)The very first one made me scratch my head a bit:
(Potsdam) August 2nd, 1744:
Ma bonne maman,
I give you a thousand thanks for wanting to share the cares of friendship with me. I love you a thousand times more for it. You will know what happened here. I never got out of a greater mess/distress/embarassment [? - embarras]. Poor Rottembourg thought he was dying of inflammation of the kidneys; but I believe today it is out of the question. Farewell, my good maman; don't forget a friend with whom one plays stripped king [jouer au roi dépouillé]. Federic.
As you can see, some of it is unclear to me, because I'm not sure if the entire note is about Rottembourg's illness, or if that's just a "this is also happening" info and there is something else going on that I don't understand for lack of context. I initally thought it might be war-related somehow (which starts a couple days later) - not least because when I googled "jouer au roi dépouillé" I found this definition game where one undresses dress after dress the king of the game and, figuratively, a saying when several people unite to ruin another (see also: the title of this French Revolution Louis Le Dernier Caricature) - but I really don't know.
Speaking of the Second Silesian War: Early on, Schwedt cousin Wilhelm dies of an errant cannon shot at Prague and Fritz is worried how SD is going to take that, so he asks Countess Camas to consult with Podewils and to break it to her gently and without details. The two relevant letters from September 1744 were written by his secretary, but he added postscripts by hand, which basically repeat the message in a more casual and personal manner:
I tremble that one does not give my mother a report which would disturb her peace. I implore you, by all that I can conjure, to remove any sinister idea from her mind, so that I will see her again happy and in good health. My brothers, thank God, and I are doing very well, and the city will be taken in two days.
Follow-up: Ma bonne maman Camas, you are the best person in the world. I embrace you with all my heart for the care you take of my dear mother; I beg you to continue in the same way, and not to worry about the fate of an individual who has no other merit than to be entirely attached to you.
Further on, he gives short updates on war developments and deaths, and repeatedly praises her common sense, see for example this letter from July 27th, 1745:
If everyone wore [as much] common sense on their backs as you have under your hair, we wouldn't see as much madness happening in the world as we do. I know Madame de B ... too well not to do justice to her merits, blaming the lightness of her resolutions. Alas! you tell me more flattering things than I deserve. I beg you to send me all your wisdom by first mail, because I really need it in the situation in which I find myself, and perhaps it is not for me to find a fault in Madame de B... of which I can be guilty myself. [No footnote to tell me who Madame de B... is supposed to be, so I'm stumped.] We are looking at each other like fools here, and I assure you, madame, that if you saw it, you would have pity for the ridiculous figure that two great armies make vis-a-vis each other. We scrap dealers turn our eyes to Berlin, like the Jews to Holy Zion. For myself, I pleasantly flatter my imagination by letting the sweet idea of my relatives, my friends, and so many people dear to me in Berlin reign in my mind. Now is the time to make ourselves worthy of enjoying ourselves with them wholeheartedly this winter, and to give us all the peace of mind so necessary to taste pleasure.
Farewell, ma chère maman; keep us all a mother [mère] you know we adore very much, [is he talking about her, or is he talking about the fact that she's taking care of SD? I'm leaning towards the latter, because the maman vs. mère showed up in the 1744 exchange as well] and, when you tie your knots during the silence of your parrots, the quiet of the Academy, and the slumber of your dogs, give a few of your lost thoughts to your absent friends, counting me, I pray, as the first of them.
Then Keyserlingk dies in August 1745 (after Jordan did earlier during the year) and Fritz shares his grief with her and asks her to take care of Keyserlingk's young daughter Adelaide (he also switches from "maman" to "madame" as the opening address for these, and these only, no idea why - possibly dictated?):
August 30th:
The last time I wrote to you, my soul was very quiet, and I did not foresee the misfortune that was going to overwhelm me. I lost, in less than three months, my two most faithful friends, people with whom I have always lived, and whose gentle companionship, the quality of honest men, together with the true friendship that I had for them, has often helped me to overcome sorrows and to endure illnesses. You can imagine that it is difficult for a heart born sensitive like mine to stifle the deep pain that this loss causes me. On my return to Berlin, I will find myself almost a stranger in my own homeland and, so to speak, isolated in my own home. I am talking to a person who has shown remarkable strength, also losing, almost suddenly, so many people who were dear to her; but, madame, I confess that I admire your courage without being able to imitate it yet. I only put my hope in time, which overcomes everything there is in nature, and which begins by weakening the impressions in our brain, in the end destroying us ourselves.
I looked forward to my return as an object of joy; now I fear Berlin, Charlottenburg, Potsdam, in short, all the places which will bring me fatal memories of friends whom I have lost forever. Rest easy in Berlin; barring great setbacks, which it is impossible to foresee, I do not see the shadow of danger, and if fate has not resolved to destroy us, I do not see what there is to fear.
September 10th:
You know that I lost a friend whom I loved as much as myself, and whose memory I still revere. I beg you, for all the reasons I have to esteem you, to serve, with Knobelsdorff, as tutor to poor Adelaide, to take care of her health and her young age as well as of her education when the time is right. You know the grandmother, and know that she is not capable of raising a daughter. As I want this one to be worthy of her father, I ask, for the friendship you have always shown me, that you take this remnant of my dear Keyserlingk under your protection, and that, now and in a more mature age, you assist the mother with your advice and the daughter with your care. I will look at this attention as if you had it for myself, and if anything can add to the esteem I have for you, be sure that this choice which I ask of you, and the assurance that I have that you will accept it, will make me look at you with more consideration than ever. As you have almost no relatives left, I hope your good heart will not refuse my request, something that can truly relieve me in my affliction.
And that's basically it for the early period. The published correspondence resumes in 1760 - which means it skips all the catastrophes and deaths during the first half of the Seven Years War - at which point we finally get some letters from her as well.