18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 35

[cahn]

In the previous post Charles II found AITA:

Look, I, m, believe in live and let live. (And in not going on my travels again. Had enough of that to last a life time.) Why can't everyone else around me be more chill? Instead, my wife refuses to employ my girlfriend, my girlfriend won't budge and accept another office, my brother is set on a course to piss off everyone (he WILL go on his travels again), and my oldest kid shows signs of wanting my job which is just not on, sorry to say. And don't get me started about Mom (thank God she's living abroad). What am I doing wrong? AITA?

Comments

Re: Agony Aunts (and Uncles)

[mildred_of_midgard]

(And thus we know on one sane wants Fritz as Agony Uncle for their love life.)

Oh god NOOOO loool.

FW2: Fritz is an Agony-Inducing Uncle!!

"Don't do it. Your enemies of which you have deservedly a lot would rejoice and take it as proof they were right and you were wrong. Also, I'd miss you."

Laughing out loud in real life. Never change, Fritz and Voltaire. You deserve each other (and each other's advice).

But "Philosophe" is the perfect name for his column!

Joseph would be as horrible/well suited to the job as Fritz in that they're both know-it-alls prone to sarcasm, BUT there's canon that in one particular case, he was an A plus Agony Aunt and accomplished the mission

Too true. But Fritz wishes to protest:

Fritz: I knew Cocceji was no damn good for Barbarina! And I told the Swedes they'd regret Ulrike, and what did she do but try to stage a coup on them? For that matter, did Heinrich/Marwitz last? It did not. All this proves is that people who don't take my advice live to regret it!

(He probably did have an STD, too. Fritz is an expert in STDs!)

Wilhelmine would think she'd do a good job but regard it as beneath her dignity. In reality, she'd be way too high handed and judgey and thus as hilaribad for it as most of her family.

SO TRUE. Oh, Wilhelmine.

Incredibly readable but also incredibly bitchy: Lord Hervey's Dos and Don'ts for the Enterprising Gentleman. It turns out he has several socks writing extra insulting letters.

This is all very true! I love the title of his column, too!

FW: Oh, god. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. "Pray for your boss"--I died. FW!!

These are all so great, I'm still laughing!

Re: Agony Aunts (and Uncles)

[selenak]

Fritz: I knew Cocceji was no damn good for Barbarina! And I told the Swedes they'd regret Ulrike, and what did she do but try to stage a coup on them? For that matter, did Heinrich/Marwitz last? It did not. All this proves is that people who don't take my advice live to regret it!

Fritz could add he also correctly judged Schmeling/Mara, and for that matter, Heinrich/Mara, as well as Heinrich/Kaphengst - well, Heinrich/anyone in Fritz' lifetime, with one glaring exception, the Heinrich match he had personally arranged, i.e. Heinrich/Mina*. ("Women will do him good", anyone? He did write that to Wilhelmine.)

FW2: Agony-Inducing Uncle Fritz also arranged both my marriages.

Fritz: But I never said they would do you good. That was never the point.

*Fritz would undoubtedly point out that Heinrich chose Mina himself from the (tiny) set of princesses he could choose from after being told to marry. But the fact remains Mina is the one Heinrich partner Fritz was positively enthusiastic about ("We can congratulate ourselves to this acquisition" - again to Wilhelmine), and would not allow Heinrich to leave, as opposed to the various boyfriends.

Re: Agony Aunts (and Uncles)

[mildred_of_midgard]

Well, I have to say, matchmaking judgment aside, Fritz's taste was impeccable when it comes to preferring Mina over any of Heinrich's favorites!

(Of course, in no universe do I believe that Fritz would have approved of a good marriage for Schmeling or Barbarina and only objected on the grounds that their intendeds were good-for-nothings.)

FW2: Agony-Inducing Uncle Fritz also arranged both my marriages.

Fritz: But I never said they would do you good. That was never the point.

HAHAHAHA