I didn't quite realize how intertwined the mentions of EC and Keyserlingk are here, ha.
Same here. But this time around it did stand out how much it's a "do not want her, do want him".
undercover Saxon envoy in 1740 (how many of those did they have?)
Brühl: Clearly not enough, otherwise the Scouring of Saxony to come would have been avoided.
he writes now German, now French verses
He does? Did he show the German ones to Fritz, too?
Anyway, it's clear why Keyserlingk was such an attractive fellow to Fritz, but also why Émilie took one look at him and decided there was no way she'd allow Voltaire to hand over incriminating Pucelle to this guy. I mean, if his idea of discretion is showing Fritz "most tender letters" to the undercover Saxon envoy.... Reminds me of Katte showing everyone the Fritz and Wilhelmine double portrait, though. And is yet another example of why if Katte had been imprisoned instead of beheaded I think King Fritz would have handled him similarly (i.e. would not have let him anywhere near politics) - Fredersdorf really was the big exception there among the boyfriends.
Another thing, though: when did Keyserlingk marry again? Wasn't that in 1740 (since his wedding party saw the premiere of the Fritz written play where Des Champs is made fun of)? Given Fritz was usually less than thrilled when his favourites did that, it's all the more interesting this doesn't seem to have happened here.
says that Fritz is "in good hands" with him (also in terms of Saxon prospects).
I want to know whether Manteuffel ever got to read this report and if so, what his comment to this point was...
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
He does? Did he show the German ones to Fritz, too?
Heh, exactly my reaction! No mention of it one way or the other, but the fact that he wrote and liked German poetry is mentioned repeatedly, and König himself, according to Volz' footnote, was a poet as well - which might be one of the reasons why he and Keyserlingk became good friends, and also why Keyserlingk showed him Fritz' poetry (he wasn't allowed to copy anything, though).
when did Keyserlingk marry again?
1742! No idea why Fritz didn't object (that we know of) but maybe it was one of those rare instances where he liked the woman, or Keyserlingk managed to reassure him, given this line in his eulogy (written by Mauptertuis by the way, not by Fritz):
It was not a tranquil feeling that he had for the King, it was a real passion in which he found himself. He wanted everyone to see him, know him, and love him. So what care did he not take, as soon as a foreigner appeared at court, to put him within reach of contemplating this monarch! To this love for his Prince was added another motive which was no less noble, the pleasure of rendering service; a pleasure so powerful in M. de Keyserlingk that one can say that he indulged in it without reserve; & that if one can reproach him, it is to have made of it too universal a habit.
(This might also explain why he showed König the letters and repeatedly praised Fritz' virtues and good heart.)
On his marriage: Such a character is assumed [to have] a sensitive heart, and his heart was. He was touched by the charms of the young Countess of Schlieben, daughter of M. le Grand Veneur, & Lady of honor to the Queen; & married her in 1742. It takes all that he found in her, virtue, beauty, talents, to excuse a Philosopher who sacrifices his freedom.
ETA: Guess how I spent my evening? I read some Fritz poetry. :P Because unlike the letters, a couple of odes survived.
There's a lament after Keyserlingk's death, Aux Manes de Césarion, which includes a "our two hearts became one heart" line. (I remember that he also wrote in a letter that they had one soul - I'll have to find that again. I know he also used that expression for Wilhelmine, but I haven't come across any other instance of it besides those two.)
Then there's a pretty lighthearted Epitre from 1741, during the war, where he's looking forward to enjoying the pure freedom of "the intoxication of friendship" at Charlottenburg after his return.
There's a Keyserlingk section as the culmination of the Ode against Flattery, which he sent to Voltaire (among other people) in January 1740, and which is kind of interesting for its take on friendship:
Caesarion, faithful friend, More tender than Pirithous, I find in you the model Of the first of the virtues. [= friendship I assume] May our friendship without weakness Unveil us with boldness our mistakes and our faults, so that the gold that fire prepares purifies, and is separated from lead and the basest metals.
And finally, there's A Césarion, from June 1738 (which unlike the others doesn't have a German translation). It's a looong anti-Berlin/court/religion piece and has things to say about his separation from Keyserlingk, which seem to support König's report that even after 1736, FW kept a lid on their relationship - see the bolded part, where I'm not sure if the demon is a poetic expression or if he means FW. Thoughts?
[...] My mind free from the bonds with which the court chained my hands, [...] Finally escaped from the palace Where the bondage of oppression Held, with its inhuman hand, My freedom in its nets, [...] I can, dear friend, without fear, free and sole master of myself, confide in you how much I love you. For the lively feelings of my heart your heart will serve as an interpreter; [...] But after the pleasure, when I think about it, Pain soon follows: Of a demon jealous of happiness, I feel his malicious influence, It is he who causes your absence, makes it even worse by its length. When this demon full of fury Calms his unwelcome ardor, Will he have the gallantry To leave to your protector, your tutelary seraph, [?] the pleasure, the glory, and the honor to lead you, full of vigor, to find your polar star and inhale the divine odor, the perfumes of our meadow?
Come quickly, for my happiness, to see again this flowery shore, your true and your only country, where, without you, the source of good humor is dried up forever. The iron drawn to the magnet feels a less intense impulse than the impatient desire for a tender and fearful friendship. A thousand evils threaten your days; Slow and painful gout with a homicidal hand digs your grave, accelerating their course. Alas! should the life in my arms be taken away from you? Should you suffer death? No, it is only for common souls To languish in misfortunes; Heaven must watch over your steps. [...]
The ending then sounds like Fritz was preparing to comfort Keyserlingk over a bad love affair - at least that's how I'm reading the final verses, what with the "cruel love" and all:
Come back to taste in my retreat The pleasures that my hand is preparing for you, Come back to pour out in my bosom The sorrow of your secret pain, The laments of your fate; And in the arms of a tender friend, Your heart will be able at least to wait That the ungrateful and cruel love, More flexible, wants to listen to you And to testify to you of the return.
(I also seem to remember a letter he wrote during the journey to Königsberg in 1740, where he mentions that Algarotti is entertaining them and Keyserlingk is talking about marriage or something? ... ah, yes, to AW. He writes that Keyserlingk is thinking about marrying a rich heiress and Fritz and Algarotti are discussing the pros and cons - so a Keyserlingk marriage seems to have been a topic for a while and Fritz didn't seem to mind indeed.)
Edited 2021-07-03 10:51 (UTC)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Guess how I spent my evening? I read some Fritz poetry.
You are a truly noble, self-sacrificial soul. The demon does sound like FW, but it might also just be a metaphor, especially if it's not FW but a love/proposed marriage affair which is been keeping Keyserlingk away. Maybe his first choice of wife didn't want him? (Or her parents didn't.)
Incidentally, Algarotti discussing the pros and cons of marrying a rich heiress with Keyserlingk reminds me that it's interesting Algarotti never took this way out of his job problems. Now granted, given people like Hervey, Hervey's wife and Lady Mary were ready to sponsor him without marriage, he probably saw more cons than pros - he'd have had to support a wife, after all, once her dowry was used up, and possibly children, whereas if he remained single his lovers would always be the ones supporting him - but it's still a road not taken.
The idea of friendship being a true friend not as a flatterer, but as a truth teller: well, that's hardly unique to Fritz and pretty much standard to the period. FW is beating the same drum when claiming all of Fritz' self chosen friends weren't true friends in that sense. And of course Fritz railing, in poetry or prose, against flattery is rich given he ate it up. For understandable reasons given FW's constant battery on his self esteem, but he did, whether from Suhm or Voltaire or, the way it sounds, Keysleringk, because we haven't heard yet an example of Keyserlingk saying something Fritz-critical. (Manteuffel in a more tactful way than FW also made the point when telling his anecdote about Augustus and Maecenas during a trial, and Manteuffel did at least give some non-applauding advice in the conversation about EC (i.e. that AW remains the next in line and thus a potential rallying point and alternate candidate as long as Fritz doesn't reproduce, and that he doesn't have to love EC to reproduce, if people had only sex with each other if they were in love the world would not be populated), but Manteuffel didn't remain a friend. Andrew Mitchell was slightly critical with the poetry when asked and could banter (see jest about God not demanding subsidies), but I don't believe he voiced his more serious critique of Fritz towards Fritz. (And he definitely thought Fritz was way too needy for flattery in his friends.)
Trying to think of friends who did critisize him (that we know of) and remained friends: post Silesian War Voltaire, I guess (with the first definite criticism being that remark during Silesia 1 or 2 on how during his recent illness he had one foot in the Styx and saw all the dead people Fritz and his opponents were sending there); D'Argens in how Fritz acted towards Moses Mendelssohn. Others?
Of course, it's entirely possible friends like, say, George Keith Earl Marischal were critical out of everyone's earshot and without ever mentioning this to people afterwards because they were both tactful and trustworthy and didn't boast, and since there aren't letters documenting it preserved, we don't know. But in general, I suspect that like many a monarch or powerful person, Fritz was aware that flattery was the default but needed to believe he could discern real from faked compliments and valued truth tellers, when what he really valued were people able to make him believe both that they really cared and able to make himself feel good about himself. Which is not exactly the same thing.
Back to Keyserlingk; "do not ask your Dad for him as a companion if you know what's good for you, especially not when you simultanously diss your Dad-chosen bride" was probably good advice on Hille's part, though it has to be said FW's distrust alone isn't really a reliable criterium. I mean, given FW's unerring tendency to pick teachers for his sons, plural, who were teaching just the opposite of what he thought they would.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
The demon does sound like FW, but it might also just be a metaphor, especially if it's not FW but a love/proposed marriage affair which is been keeping Keyserlingk away.
Yeah, having looked at the poem, I can read it either way. Fritz and Suhm were definitely capable of doing the "you know who I mean" thing when dissing FW, but it also sounds like a very Fritzian metaphor. I'm not sure.
Incidentally, Algarotti discussing the pros and cons of marrying a rich heiress with Keyserlingk reminds me that it's interesting Algarotti never took this way out of his job problems. Now granted, given people like Hervey, Hervey's wife and Lady Mary were ready to sponsor him without marriage, he probably saw more cons than pros - he'd have had to support a wife, after all, once her dowry was used up, and possibly children, whereas if he remained single his lovers would always be the ones supporting him - but it's still a road not taken.
Yeah, especially since, as I recall from the dissertation, older brother Bonomo was constantly trying to pressure him into marrying for the family's sake. Algarotti held out against the pressure his whole life.
But in general, I suspect that like many a monarch or powerful person, Fritz was aware that flattery was the default but needed to believe he could discern real from faked compliments and valued truth tellers, when what he really valued were people able to make him believe both that they really cared and able to make himself feel good about himself.
Yep, agreed. Also see FW needing to believe he could read minds when he really, really couldn't.
Trying to think of friends who did critisize him (that we know of) and remained friends
There was *one* time Suhm did a veeeery diplomatic and carefully couched "That was stupidly indiscreet, Fritz," and Fritz went, "You're right, my bad!" without a hint of defensiveness. But it does not seem to have been the norm, to say the least. :P
But yeah, positive reinforcement, reassurance, and downright flattery were the way to make headway with him. Thanks, FW!
(Also, "thanks, Fritz!" on behalf of FW2.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Heee. I admit, it is remarkably hard not to let your eyes glaze over after a couple of lines.
D'Argens in how Fritz acted towards Moses Mendelssohn
Since I've recently read some excerpts of their correspondence, I can add that there are a couple other times where he's somewhat critical. Not big picture things - he is very supportive of the Seven Years War for example, dissing the French left and right - but stuff like advising Fritz to maybe stop writing pamphlets during the war (he helped him publish the early ones), because there's no way people aren't going to guess who wrote them and this will only be detrimental to him. Advice Fritz seems to have taken, too, because there are no documented pamphlets written after that letter from D'Argens.
As for others, not sure. I haven't read that much of Jordan's letters, so I can't say anything about him and as you said, if the people Fritz valued for their discretion had some critical remarks in private, we'll never know. (I guess we aren't counting family here?)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
LOL, well, Heinrich the Anti who publishes anoymous "To Fritz: What you did wrong in the Silesian Wars" pamphlets and writes seething letters is his own category. :) Wilhelmine's Fritz critique in the memoirs wasn't meant to ever be read by Fritz, and in her letters to him even during the enstrangement she's way more restrained. Never mind the non-argument years. (I mean, it's telling that when she tries to fix things between him and AW, her opening argument is "yes, he made mistakes, but none of us are perfect, except you, and you can't expect others to share your degree of awesome perfection".) Otoh Wilhelmine is actually according to Fritz himself the family member whose criticism he took to heart and changed his ways for in one regard, to wit, starting to read outside of school lessons and for fun when they were children and she (gently) chided him for never bothering with books. (And you can see him trying to do that same thing for AW years later.)
He also seems to have not just minded but liked it that SD bossed him a bit about wearing decent shirts when visiting her and letting her send some to him, making the effort to clean up for her as he didn't anymore post 7 Years War. But of course that kind of mothering (and big sistering) isn't criticism comparable to someone saying "Fritz, for God's sake, accept that some of the military defeats are your fault, not your generals" or "maybe try not to piss off Uncle George by your choice of Versailles envoy? You might need him soon?"
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Wilhelmine's Fritz critique in the memoirs wasn't meant to ever be read by Fritz, and in her letters to him even during the enstrangement she's way more restrained. Never mind the non-argument years.
I was thinking of Wilhelmine too, though, before felis brought family up, because if you take her memoirs at face value, she did a *lot* of criticism of young!Fritz. To his face. Now, did she actually, or did she rewrite history as part of her therapy? I don't know. But she certainly claims that she did.
But of course that kind of mothering (and big sistering) isn't criticism comparable to someone saying "Fritz, for God's sake, accept that some of the military defeats are your fault, not your generals" or "maybe try not to piss off Uncle George by your choice of Versailles envoy? You might need him soon?"
Truth.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
There's a lament after Keyserlingk's death, Aux Manes de Césarion, which includes a "our two hearts became one heart" line. (I remember that he also wrote in a letter that they had one soul - I'll have to find that again. I know he also used that expression for Wilhelmine, but I haven't come across any other instance of it besides those two.)
Awww, that *is* interesting! I'll keep an eye out for other examples as well. I'm also reminded of this:
Think how unfortunate I am to have lost, almost at the same time, my poor Jordan and my dear Keyserlingk. They were my family, and I think I am now a widower, an orphan
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Oh, yes, I certainly remember that letter and the soul quote was from around the same time ... let me go and find it ... okay, so, surprisingly, next to Countess Camas and Duhan, who got the quote above, it was Maupertuis who got multiple letters in a row in which Fritz shared his grief. (Maupertuis had just returned from France and was about to marry.) The quote is from October 6th: I am obliged, my dear Maupertuis, for your good morals; it is not the precepts that embarrass me, but the practice. Keyserling and I had only one soul, it seemed to me that we should die together; all of a sudden I learn that he is no more. [...] (In another letter he also says that while he somewhat expected Jordan's death, Keyserlingk's caught him completely unawares.)
Also, because we were talking about Fritz and friendship, D'Argens got this letter on August 31:
Unfortunately, I am not of your opinion on friendship. I think a true friend is a godsend. Alas! I lost two that I will regret all my life, and whose memory will only end with my duration. You make many eloquent paralogisms. You say that a Carthusian can be happy; I dare to tell you affirmatively that it is not so. A man who cultivates the sciences, and who lives without friends, is a learned werewolf. In short, according to my way of thinking, friendship is essential to our happiness. Whether one thinks the same way or differently, whether one is lively, the other melancholy, it all does not matter to friendship. But the honest man is the first quality which unites souls, and without which there is no intimate union. It seems to me that we have to find our interest in these tight knots that we form, interest of pleasure, of knowledge, of consolation, of utility, etc. This is my feeling.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
You say that a Carthusian can be happy; I dare to tell you affirmatively that it is not so. A man who cultivates the sciences, and who lives without friends, is a learned werewolf
Ah, thank you for this! I had seen this quote, but I either didn't know where it was from, or had forgotten. Excellent.
(Do you want to compile your Keyserlingk findings into a post for rheinsberg? It's not an obligation, but it certainly saves me time.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
My Rheinsberg backlog keeps growing, so any contributions you can make are very helpful. If you don't get to it, I will eventually, though I can't say when. Trying to focus on German now after slacking off for RMSE, and then I need to get back to that Peter Keith essay. (Which, okay, is also for Rheinsberg, but needs to be researched and written, not just copy-pasted and cleaned up.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Brühl: Clearly not enough, otherwise the Scouring of Saxony to come would have been avoided.
Ahahahaaa.
Anyway, it's clear why Keyserlingk was such an attractive fellow to Fritz, but also why Émilie took one look at him and decided there was no way she'd allow Voltaire to hand over incriminating Pucelle to this guy.
Ah, yes, that does make sense. Honestly, based on the descriptions we've seen of Keyserlingk, I wouldn't let him anywhere near my secrets either!
Reminds me of Katte showing everyone the Fritz and Wilhelmine double portrait, though.
I was exactly thinking of Katte! Though specifically of the "charming but giddy" description that Prussian Countess Rothenburg gave him while he was alive. For all that Wilhelmine said that Katte's facial features seemed to forebode his gloomy fate, I think he was probably leaning toward extraverted and cheerful, although probably not as over-the-top as Keyserlingk.
And is yet another example of why if Katte had been imprisoned instead of beheaded I think King Fritz would have handled him similarly (i.e. would not have let him anywhere near politics) - Fredersdorf really was the big exception there among the boyfriends.
Yuup. In my AUs where Katte lives and Fritz becomes king, Fritz gives him literary/artistic/musical responsibilities and keeps him away from politics.
Interestingly, Suhm was apparently going to get the same treatment. New King Fritz, writing to ask Suhm if he wants to leave Saxon service, writes, "So please, my dear Suhm, write to me if you are the man to give up the ministry to lead the thoughtful life of a sage, and if you can find something in my company that compensates you for politics."
No politics for you either, Saxon envoy of conflicting interests.
Another thing, though: when did Keyserlingk marry again? Wasn't that in 1740 (since his wedding party saw the premiere of the Fritz written play where Des Champs is made fun of)? Given Fritz was usually less than thrilled when his favourites did that, it's all the more interesting this doesn't seem to have happened here.
Maybe, if he married in 1742 and died in 1745, he needed a nurse? :P
Also interesting, according to Wikipedia, given how indulgent Fritz would later be:
Their daughter Adelaide Friederike von Keyserling, later Baroness von Alvensleben, was born in 1744. Frederick II not only became her godfather, he is even said to have carried the child in his arms during the baptism.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Maybe, if he married in 1742 and died in 1745, he needed a nurse? :P
LOL. Maybe!
he is even said to have carried the child in his arms during the baptism.
The operative word here being "is said", Wikipedia. I remember one book pointing out that this doesn't work, date wise, since in 1744, he was surely busy fighting Silesia 2 and not in Berlin to carry the baby?
(Reminder: royals were usually absent godfathers and godmothers even when there wasn't war, with someone acting in their stead at the actual ceremony. Usually from the family, which is why Wilhelmine carried baby AW at his baptism and Fritz carried baby Heinrich despite neither of them being the official godparents of their siblings.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
since in 1744, he was surely busy fighting Silesia 2 and not in Berlin to carry the baby?
I thought of that (and noted the "is said"), but I don't have a birth month for her, and the war didn't start until August. Rödenbeck has him not leaving until August 15. In fact, I see Fritz did the same thing that he did right before the Seven Years' War, which was spend August 9 and 10 with SD at Monbijou before heading off to war. I checked AW's birthday, and it is indeed August 9.
So until I have a birth month for her, there's a decent chance he actually was in Berlin/Potsdam/Spandau at the time.
Looking at the fanvid I put together (which turns out to be an excellent, if imperfect, reference work), he was in Silesia for part of March, and taking the waters in Pyrmont in May, but otherwise in the vicinity of Berlin from January to August 15.
Maybe, if he married in 1742 and died in 1745, he needed a nurse? :P
LOL. Maybe!
That reminds me, when Whitworth was in bad health in the last few years of his life, he wrote that he felt bad about how this was affecting his wife, but that she had accepted this 'in the handsomest manner possible, and talks as if a Nurse & a Wife were onely different terms for the same thing.'
Some would say they are, Whitworth, or at least they would say so in Fritz's presence. :P
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
For what it's worth, Preuss in his "Friends and Family" volume says that "der König sie den 15. Juli aus der Taufe hob". No further source for it, but it's a data point.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Aha! Well, Preuss is definitely an improvement on Wikipedia as a source, even if not a primary documentary source. Thanks for sharing!
ETA: Now that I have an exact date, Rödenbeck reminds me that Ulrike was married by proxy (with AW as the bridgegroom) on July 17, 1744, and Fritz had been in Berlin since July 13 (Potsdam before that).
Edited 2021-07-03 18:36 (UTC)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Same here. But this time around it did stand out how much it's a "do not want her, do want him".
undercover Saxon envoy in 1740 (how many of those did they have?)
Brühl: Clearly not enough, otherwise the Scouring of Saxony to come would have been avoided.
he writes now German, now French verses
He does? Did he show the German ones to Fritz, too?
Anyway, it's clear why Keyserlingk was such an attractive fellow to Fritz, but also why Émilie took one look at him and decided there was no way she'd allow Voltaire to hand over incriminating Pucelle to this guy. I mean, if his idea of discretion is showing Fritz "most tender letters" to the undercover Saxon envoy.... Reminds me of Katte showing everyone the Fritz and Wilhelmine double portrait, though. And is yet another example of why if Katte had been imprisoned instead of beheaded I think King Fritz would have handled him similarly (i.e. would not have let him anywhere near politics) - Fredersdorf really was the big exception there among the boyfriends.
Another thing, though: when did Keyserlingk marry again? Wasn't that in 1740 (since his wedding party saw the premiere of the Fritz written play where Des Champs is made fun of)? Given Fritz was usually less than thrilled when his favourites did that, it's all the more interesting this doesn't seem to have happened here.
says that Fritz is "in good hands" with him (also in terms of Saxon prospects).
I want to know whether Manteuffel ever got to read this report and if so, what his comment to this point was...
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Heh, exactly my reaction! No mention of it one way or the other, but the fact that he wrote and liked German poetry is mentioned repeatedly, and König himself, according to Volz' footnote, was a poet as well - which might be one of the reasons why he and Keyserlingk became good friends, and also why Keyserlingk showed him Fritz' poetry (he wasn't allowed to copy anything, though).
when did Keyserlingk marry again?
1742! No idea why Fritz didn't object (that we know of) but maybe it was one of those rare instances where he liked the woman, or Keyserlingk managed to reassure him, given this line in his eulogy (written by Mauptertuis by the way, not by Fritz):
It was not a tranquil feeling that he had for the King, it was a real passion in which he found himself. He wanted everyone to see him, know him, and love him. So what care did he not take, as soon as a foreigner appeared at court, to put him within reach of contemplating this monarch! To this love for his Prince was added another motive which was no less noble, the pleasure of rendering service; a pleasure so powerful in M. de Keyserlingk that one can say that he indulged in it without reserve; & that if one can reproach him, it is to have made of it too universal a habit.
(This might also explain why he showed König the letters and repeatedly praised Fritz' virtues and good heart.)
On his marriage: Such a character is assumed [to have] a sensitive heart, and his heart was. He was touched by the charms of the young Countess of Schlieben, daughter of M. le Grand Veneur, & Lady of honor to the Queen; & married her in 1742. It takes all that he found in her, virtue, beauty, talents, to excuse a Philosopher who sacrifices his freedom.
ETA: Guess how I spent my evening? I read some Fritz poetry. :P Because unlike the letters, a couple of odes survived.
There's a lament after Keyserlingk's death, Aux Manes de Césarion, which includes a "our two hearts became one heart" line. (I remember that he also wrote in a letter that they had one soul - I'll have to find that again. I know he also used that expression for Wilhelmine, but I haven't come across any other instance of it besides those two.)
Then there's a pretty lighthearted Epitre from 1741, during the war, where he's looking forward to enjoying the pure freedom of "the intoxication of friendship" at Charlottenburg after his return.
There's a Keyserlingk section as the culmination of the Ode against Flattery, which he sent to Voltaire (among other people) in January 1740, and which is kind of interesting for its take on friendship:
Caesarion, faithful friend,
More tender than Pirithous,
I find in you the model
Of the first of the virtues. [= friendship I assume]
May our friendship without weakness
Unveil us with boldness
our mistakes and our faults,
so that the gold that fire prepares
purifies, and is separated
from lead and the basest metals.
And finally, there's A Césarion, from June 1738 (which unlike the others doesn't have a German translation). It's a looong anti-Berlin/court/religion piece and has things to say about his separation from Keyserlingk, which seem to support König's report that even after 1736, FW kept a lid on their relationship - see the bolded part, where I'm not sure if the demon is a poetic expression or if he means FW. Thoughts?
[...]
My mind free from the bonds with
which the court chained my hands,
[...]
Finally escaped from the palace
Where the bondage of oppression
Held, with its inhuman hand,
My freedom in its nets,
[...]
I can, dear friend, without fear,
free and sole master of myself,
confide in you how much I love you.
For the lively feelings of my heart
your heart will serve as an interpreter;
[...]
But after the pleasure, when I think about it,
Pain soon follows:
Of a demon jealous of happiness,
I feel his malicious influence,
It is he who causes your absence,
makes it even worse by its length.
When this demon full of fury
Calms his unwelcome ardor,
Will he have the gallantry
To leave to your protector,
your tutelary seraph, [?]
the pleasure, the glory, and the honor
to lead you, full of vigor,
to find your polar star
and inhale the divine odor,
the perfumes of our meadow?
Come quickly, for my happiness,
to see again this flowery shore,
your true and your only country,
where, without you, the source of
good humor is dried up forever.
The iron drawn to the magnet
feels a less intense impulse
than the impatient desire
for a tender and fearful friendship.
A thousand evils threaten your days;
Slow and painful gout
with a homicidal hand digs
your grave, accelerating their course.
Alas! should the life
in my arms be taken away from you?
Should you suffer death?
No, it is only for common souls
To languish in misfortunes;
Heaven must watch over your steps.
[...]
The ending then sounds like Fritz was preparing to comfort Keyserlingk over a bad love affair - at least that's how I'm reading the final verses, what with the "cruel love" and all:
Come back to taste in my retreat
The pleasures that my hand is preparing for you,
Come back to pour out in my bosom
The sorrow of your secret pain,
The laments of your fate;
And in the arms of a tender friend,
Your heart will be able at least to wait
That the ungrateful and cruel love,
More flexible, wants to listen to you
And to testify to you of the return.
(I also seem to remember a letter he wrote during the journey to Königsberg in 1740, where he mentions that Algarotti is entertaining them and Keyserlingk is talking about marriage or something? ... ah, yes, to AW. He writes that Keyserlingk is thinking about marrying a rich heiress and Fritz and Algarotti are discussing the pros and cons - so a Keyserlingk marriage seems to have been a topic for a while and Fritz didn't seem to mind indeed.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
You are a truly noble, self-sacrificial soul. The demon does sound like FW, but it might also just be a metaphor, especially if it's not FW but a love/proposed marriage affair which is been keeping Keyserlingk away. Maybe his first choice of wife didn't want him? (Or her parents didn't.)
Incidentally, Algarotti discussing the pros and cons of marrying a rich heiress with Keyserlingk reminds me that it's interesting Algarotti never took this way out of his job problems. Now granted, given people like Hervey, Hervey's wife and Lady Mary were ready to sponsor him without marriage, he probably saw more cons than pros - he'd have had to support a wife, after all, once her dowry was used up, and possibly children, whereas if he remained single his lovers would always be the ones supporting him - but it's still a road not taken.
The idea of friendship being a true friend not as a flatterer, but as a truth teller: well, that's hardly unique to Fritz and pretty much standard to the period. FW is beating the same drum when claiming all of Fritz' self chosen friends weren't true friends in that sense. And of course Fritz railing, in poetry or prose, against flattery is rich given he ate it up. For understandable reasons given FW's constant battery on his self esteem, but he did, whether from Suhm or Voltaire or, the way it sounds, Keysleringk, because we haven't heard yet an example of Keyserlingk saying something Fritz-critical. (Manteuffel in a more tactful way than FW also made the point when telling his anecdote about Augustus and Maecenas during a trial, and Manteuffel did at least give some non-applauding advice in the conversation about EC (i.e. that AW remains the next in line and thus a potential rallying point and alternate candidate as long as Fritz doesn't reproduce, and that he doesn't have to love EC to reproduce, if people had only sex with each other if they were in love the world would not be populated), but Manteuffel didn't remain a friend. Andrew Mitchell was slightly critical with the poetry when asked and could banter (see jest about God not demanding subsidies), but I don't believe he voiced his more serious critique of Fritz towards Fritz. (And he definitely thought Fritz was way too needy for flattery in his friends.)
Trying to think of friends who did critisize him (that we know of) and remained friends: post Silesian War Voltaire, I guess (with the first definite criticism being that remark during Silesia 1 or 2 on how during his recent illness he had one foot in the Styx and saw all the dead people Fritz and his opponents were sending there); D'Argens in how Fritz acted towards Moses Mendelssohn. Others?
Of course, it's entirely possible friends like, say, George Keith Earl Marischal were critical out of everyone's earshot and without ever mentioning this to people afterwards because they were both tactful and trustworthy and didn't boast, and since there aren't letters documenting it preserved, we don't know. But in general, I suspect that like many a monarch or powerful person, Fritz was aware that flattery was the default but needed to believe he could discern real from faked compliments and valued truth tellers, when what he really valued were people able to make him believe both that they really cared and able to make himself feel good about himself. Which is not exactly the same thing.
Back to Keyserlingk; "do not ask your Dad for him as a companion if you know what's good for you, especially not when you simultanously diss your Dad-chosen bride" was probably good advice on Hille's part, though it has to be said FW's distrust alone isn't really a reliable criterium. I mean, given FW's unerring tendency to pick teachers for his sons, plural, who were teaching just the opposite of what he thought they would.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Indeed! :D
The demon does sound like FW, but it might also just be a metaphor, especially if it's not FW but a love/proposed marriage affair which is been keeping Keyserlingk away.
Yeah, having looked at the poem, I can read it either way. Fritz and Suhm were definitely capable of doing the "you know who I mean" thing when dissing FW, but it also sounds like a very Fritzian metaphor. I'm not sure.
Incidentally, Algarotti discussing the pros and cons of marrying a rich heiress with Keyserlingk reminds me that it's interesting Algarotti never took this way out of his job problems. Now granted, given people like Hervey, Hervey's wife and Lady Mary were ready to sponsor him without marriage, he probably saw more cons than pros - he'd have had to support a wife, after all, once her dowry was used up, and possibly children, whereas if he remained single his lovers would always be the ones supporting him - but it's still a road not taken.
Yeah, especially since, as I recall from the dissertation, older brother Bonomo was constantly trying to pressure him into marrying for the family's sake. Algarotti held out against the pressure his whole life.
But in general, I suspect that like many a monarch or powerful person, Fritz was aware that flattery was the default but needed to believe he could discern real from faked compliments and valued truth tellers, when what he really valued were people able to make him believe both that they really cared and able to make himself feel good about himself.
Yep, agreed. Also see FW needing to believe he could read minds when he really, really couldn't.
Trying to think of friends who did critisize him (that we know of) and remained friends
There was *one* time Suhm did a veeeery diplomatic and carefully couched "That was stupidly indiscreet, Fritz," and Fritz went, "You're right, my bad!" without a hint of defensiveness. But it does not seem to have been the norm, to say the least. :P
But yeah, positive reinforcement, reassurance, and downright flattery were the way to make headway with him. Thanks, FW!
(Also, "thanks, Fritz!" on behalf of FW2.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Heee. I admit, it is remarkably hard not to let your eyes glaze over after a couple of lines.
D'Argens in how Fritz acted towards Moses Mendelssohn
Since I've recently read some excerpts of their correspondence, I can add that there are a couple other times where he's somewhat critical. Not big picture things - he is very supportive of the Seven Years War for example, dissing the French left and right - but stuff like advising Fritz to maybe stop writing pamphlets during the war (he helped him publish the early ones), because there's no way people aren't going to guess who wrote them and this will only be detrimental to him. Advice Fritz seems to have taken, too, because there are no documented pamphlets written after that letter from D'Argens.
As for others, not sure. I haven't read that much of Jordan's letters, so I can't say anything about him and as you said, if the people Fritz valued for their discretion had some critical remarks in private, we'll never know. (I guess we aren't counting family here?)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
LOL, well, Heinrich the Anti who publishes anoymous "To Fritz: What you did wrong in the Silesian Wars" pamphlets and writes seething letters is his own category. :) Wilhelmine's Fritz critique in the memoirs wasn't meant to ever be read by Fritz, and in her letters to him even during the enstrangement she's way more restrained. Never mind the non-argument years. (I mean, it's telling that when she tries to fix things between him and AW, her opening argument is "yes, he made mistakes, but none of us are perfect, except you, and you can't expect others to share your degree of awesome perfection".) Otoh Wilhelmine is actually according to Fritz himself the family member whose criticism he took to heart and changed his ways for in one regard, to wit, starting to read outside of school lessons and for fun when they were children and she (gently) chided him for never bothering with books. (And you can see him trying to do that same thing for AW years later.)
He also seems to have not just minded but liked it that SD bossed him a bit about wearing decent shirts when visiting her and letting her send some to him, making the effort to clean up for her as he didn't anymore post 7 Years War. But of course that kind of mothering (and big sistering) isn't criticism comparable to someone saying "Fritz, for God's sake, accept that some of the military defeats are your fault, not your generals" or "maybe try not to piss off Uncle George by your choice of Versailles envoy? You might need him soon?"
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
I was thinking of Wilhelmine too, though, before
But of course that kind of mothering (and big sistering) isn't criticism comparable to someone saying "Fritz, for God's sake, accept that some of the military defeats are your fault, not your generals" or "maybe try not to piss off Uncle George by your choice of Versailles envoy? You might need him soon?"
Truth.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
You are a truly noble, self-sacrificial soul.
I have just been reading all of this with delight, but haven't had much to say -- except I feel that I should echo these sentiments :)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Awww, that *is* interesting! I'll keep an eye out for other examples as well. I'm also reminded of this:
Think how unfortunate I am to have lost, almost at the same time, my poor Jordan and my dear Keyserlingk. They were my family, and I think I am now a widower, an orphan
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Also, because we were talking about Fritz and friendship, D'Argens got this letter on August 31:
Unfortunately, I am not of your opinion on friendship. I think a true friend is a godsend. Alas! I lost two that I will regret all my life, and whose memory will only end with my duration. You make many eloquent paralogisms. You say that a Carthusian can be happy; I dare to tell you affirmatively that it is not so. A man who cultivates the sciences, and who lives without friends, is a learned werewolf. In short, according to my way of thinking, friendship is essential to our happiness. Whether one thinks the same way or differently, whether one is lively, the other melancholy, it all does not matter to friendship. But the honest man is the first quality which unites souls, and without which there is no intimate union. It seems to me that we have to find our interest in these tight knots that we form, interest of pleasure, of knowledge, of consolation, of utility, etc. This is my feeling.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Ah, thank you for this! I had seen this quote, but I either didn't know where it was from, or had forgotten. Excellent.
(Do you want to compile your Keyserlingk findings into a post for
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
My Rheinsberg backlog keeps growing, so any contributions you can make are very helpful. If you don't get to it, I will eventually, though I can't say when. Trying to focus on German now after slacking off for RMSE, and then I need to get back to that Peter Keith essay. (Which, okay, is also for Rheinsberg, but needs to be researched and written, not just copy-pasted and cleaned up.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Ahahahaaa.
Anyway, it's clear why Keyserlingk was such an attractive fellow to Fritz, but also why Émilie took one look at him and decided there was no way she'd allow Voltaire to hand over incriminating Pucelle to this guy.
Ah, yes, that does make sense. Honestly, based on the descriptions we've seen of Keyserlingk, I wouldn't let him anywhere near my secrets either!
Reminds me of Katte showing everyone the Fritz and Wilhelmine double portrait, though.
I was exactly thinking of Katte! Though specifically of the "charming but giddy" description that Prussian Countess Rothenburg gave him while he was alive. For all that Wilhelmine said that Katte's facial features seemed to forebode his gloomy fate, I think he was probably leaning toward extraverted and cheerful, although probably not as over-the-top as Keyserlingk.
And is yet another example of why if Katte had been imprisoned instead of beheaded I think King Fritz would have handled him similarly (i.e. would not have let him anywhere near politics) - Fredersdorf really was the big exception there among the boyfriends.
Yuup. In my AUs where Katte lives and Fritz becomes king, Fritz gives him literary/artistic/musical responsibilities and keeps him away from politics.
Interestingly, Suhm was apparently going to get the same treatment. New King Fritz, writing to ask Suhm if he wants to leave Saxon service, writes, "So please, my dear Suhm, write to me if you are the man to give up the ministry to lead the thoughtful life of a sage, and if you can find something in my company that compensates you for politics."
No politics for you either, Saxon envoy of conflicting interests.
Another thing, though: when did Keyserlingk marry again? Wasn't that in 1740 (since his wedding party saw the premiere of the Fritz written play where Des Champs is made fun of)? Given Fritz was usually less than thrilled when his favourites did that, it's all the more interesting this doesn't seem to have happened here.
Maybe, if he married in 1742 and died in 1745, he needed a nurse? :P
Also interesting, according to Wikipedia, given how indulgent Fritz would later be:
Their daughter Adelaide Friederike von Keyserling, later Baroness von Alvensleben, was born in 1744. Frederick II not only became her godfather, he is even said to have carried the child in his arms during the baptism.
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
LOL. Maybe!
he is even said to have carried the child in his arms during the baptism.
The operative word here being "is said", Wikipedia. I remember one book pointing out that this doesn't work, date wise, since in 1744, he was surely busy fighting Silesia 2 and not in Berlin to carry the baby?
(Reminder: royals were usually absent godfathers and godmothers even when there wasn't war, with someone acting in their stead at the actual ceremony. Usually from the family, which is why Wilhelmine carried baby AW at his baptism and Fritz carried baby Heinrich despite neither of them being the official godparents of their siblings.)
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
I thought of that (and noted the "is said"), but I don't have a birth month for her, and the war didn't start until August. Rödenbeck has him not leaving until August 15. In fact, I see Fritz did the same thing that he did right before the Seven Years' War, which was spend August 9 and 10 with SD at Monbijou before heading off to war. I checked AW's birthday, and it is indeed August 9.
So until I have a birth month for her, there's a decent chance he actually was in Berlin/Potsdam/Spandau at the time.
Looking at the fanvid I put together (which turns out to be an excellent, if imperfect, reference work), he was in Silesia for part of March, and taking the waters in Pyrmont in May, but otherwise in the vicinity of Berlin from January to August 15.
Maybe, if he married in 1742 and died in 1745, he needed a nurse? :P
LOL. Maybe!
That reminds me, when Whitworth was in bad health in the last few years of his life, he wrote that he felt bad about how this was affecting his wife, but that she had accepted this 'in the handsomest manner possible, and talks as if a Nurse & a Wife were onely different terms for the same thing.'
Some would say they are, Whitworth, or at least they would say so in Fritz's presence. :P
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request
ETA: Now that I have an exact date, Rödenbeck reminds me that Ulrike was married by proxy (with AW as the bridgegroom) on July 17, 1744, and Fritz had been in Berlin since July 13 (Potsdam before that).
Re: Keyserlingk, sensational gossip, and Royal Reader request