Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 40

[cahn]

I'm trying to use my other account at least occasionally so I posted about my Yuletide gifts there, including the salon-relevant 12k fic that features Fritz, Heinrich, Voltaire, Fredersdorf, Saint Germain, Caroline Daum (Fredersdorf's wife), and Groundhog Day tropes! (Don't need to know canon.)

Comments

Re: Fritz's nose

[selenak]

Oh good lord, not even Zimmerman with his big, big crush on Fritz would have described him thusly. And he actually knew him only in his old age, i.e. when he was slender. But yeah, I don't think anyone who knew him before the massive weight loss through the 7 Years War described him thus. Seckendorff the Nephew says "flabby" in one of his reports in 1730s Fritz, I think, and "plumb" (though not fat a la FW) is the general idea. And while every envoy and their sidekick mention the eyes, no one says anything about a pretty face.

(Meanwhile, you know who does get described as handsome in face and figure in the 1730s? FS on his grand tour, by Hervey, Hervey's wife and other English folk who don't have anything to gain by being complimentary about the Duke of Lorraine/ possible future Emperor if married to MT (which he wasn't yet, but which was in the air as a good chance). Especially Hervey, who as a rule is incredibly bitchy about German princes, not only but primarily those who are currently occupying the British throne. And Hervey, who was good looking himself, was, dare I say, a connoiseur of male beauty. (He'd totally mod "Queer Eye for the 18th Century Guy", wouldn't he?)

(So no one has to look it up, here is Hervey's steadfastly improving opinion on visiting FS, from the Hervey biography:


Hervey carefully and dispassionately observed him. 'a pretty figure of a man', he reported to Stephen (Stephen Fox, Hervey's lover), tho low and rather thick, ill made & worse dressed. He wears his own hair, has a very handsome face, like the King of France, but a more sensible, more lively & more good natured countenance. He seems very easy & very well bred.'(...)

Hervey's first favourable impression was strengthened: the more he saw the Duke the more he liked him. 'He is very well bred, with more nicety, more ease and more more constant presence of Mind than any Body I ever met & has the most beautiful, most sweet & most sensible Countenance I ever beheld.'

(...) The day before leaving, (Franz Stephan) walked in Kensington Gardens in the morning with the Queen and her suite (including Hervey) until it began to rain. They all returned to St. James at full gallop in open chaises, wet to the skin and bespattered with mud like stage-coached postillons. On 8 December he boarded his yacht at Greenwich, 'regretting and regretted'. Hervey, who too easily observed the flaws of everyone he met, could find none in this paragon: he still thought him handsome, cheerful, sensible, well bred and obliging: 'Never any Body had the good Fortune of pleasing to universally.' The Duke's departure, he told Lord Bateman, had 'put the town in universal mourning: it is the Fashion for the Women to cry.' He was not exaggarating, for he had evidence close at hand. 'The Duke of Lorraine has carried the hearts of all our fine ladies away with him', Lady Stratford wrote (more than two weeks later); 'Lady Hervey has cried every day since his departure and says she can't enjoy anybody's company now that agreeable creature is gone.

Now that is a reliable contemporary "he's hot!" report. :)

Re: Fritz's nose

[mildred_of_midgard]

Oh good lord, not even Zimmerman with his big, big crush on Fritz would have described him thusly.

Well, to be fair, a plump 28-yo probably *is* better-looking than an underweight 74-year-old in terrible health, but still!

He'd totally mod "Queer Eye for the 18th Century Guy", wouldn't he?

Totally!

Thank you for the FS write-up. Looks like he was the opposite of Heinrich: figure not that impressive at first glance, but handsome face.