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Last post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.

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From:

selenak

What I remember from their letters shortly before FW's death in 1740 is the debate whether or not she should come to visit to see FW before his death, and Fritz strongly advising her against it. Whether or not he included something about his own feelings, I'm not sure. Of course, on previous occasions when FW looked like he might day, he was somewhat more direct.

*checks the letters available at our library*

Okay, this particular quote isn't in them. Some others are which convey a similar sentiment, though. The letter from April 10th 1740 says:

I do not understand how it is possible to have such a strong desire to come here under the current circumstances. The King, in truth, is very bad; but, my very dear sister, it is a life in Berlin which in no way suits you. You will do as you please, but if you come and repent, don't take it out on me. I warn you of everything, I could not do more. It has been eight years since you have been in this country, and that perhaps has erased from your memory the thousand trifles which two days in Berlin would bring back to you, at your expense. I say like the scripture: Happy are the absent, or those who do not know what is going on, because often we cry: Oh mountains, fall on our head! Oh rocks, crush us! To this, I add a reason which seems to me to suffice for you to delay your trip; it is that the disease drags on, and if you have such a great desire to see me, you will always be satisfied on that account. I leave the day after tomorrow to return to the galley. Do not fear anything, neither for the constancy of the Queen, nor for my stoicism; we will not deny each other, and you will see what will happen.

In the next letter, dated May 3rd, he says: The symptoms are getting worse, and we are only counting by the month, or to put it more precisely, by the weeks. With gusto, I inhale liberty; it might be a very long time until I get to exhale it again.

Then there's just one more brief letter from Trier, and then there's the death announcement saying FW died "with angelic firmness and without too much pain".

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Thank you, I have passed it on! Along with this quote,

What you say about death is very true. One can hardly think with joy of the complete destruction of his being, and whoever says he does, feels the secret contradiction in his heart. All one can do is use the time and, when the last hour has come, die in a good manner.

I am also here to pass on an exchange from my emails with Prinzsorgenfrei:

Mildred: I don't really do tumblr, but I was looking through yours recently and saw something about a letter that shows our Katte had an interest in Karl XII of Sweden?? Tell me/salon more? :D

Prinzsorgenfrei: The Karl XII thing is from the Martin von Katte text on Katte's time in Glaucha! I can't quote it verbatim, but it said that Katte was very interested in Karl from maybe around age 10 and got a miniature painting of him in his teens that he kept (possibly around his neck??) until his death. I have NO clue what the source for that is, but the image of 14-year-old Katte finding out about the early death of his Idol (who was on the opposing side in the current war, but shhh) while at school is incredibly funny to me. What a nerd. He also played the flute in a quartet while in Glaucha! And shared his room with Ingersleben and some Scot called Carmichael. And may have lost a chunk of his money to being bad at Latin (at first, he got pretty good later, apparently).

Mildred: OMG that's awesome! I wonder what Hans Heinrich thought of all this...I do remember 3-year-old Fritz saying he wanted to go to war with Dad and kill the king of Sweden with a big cannon. Did not know that was the same time as Katte was carrying around a painting of the king of Sweden!

*

This is all reminding me that amongst my many things to do is finish reading Voltaire's life of Karl XII, read Fritz's essay on Karl XII, and read what Catt says Fritz said about Karl XII, because I remember Catt talking about it, only Karl XII was only a name to me back when I read Catt, and I should reread it now!

So much to read (preferably in French), so little time...