I knew that when Fritz didn't let him go to England with his beloved Hotham, he cried and cried, but I don't remember Selena telling us this, omg:
I feel so lonely in a city where I have lived for ten years. All those I once called my friends, now that I've experienced this English friendship, seem so heartless that I can no longer put my trust in anyone. The only consolation I have is my books.
He no longer trusts his Prussian friends!!
[Peter: I lived in England! I have English manners! You can still trust me.]
The next day, Lehndorff's only consolation is writing to his dear Hotham.
I am *so* glad I decided to read Lehndorff rather than asking Selena the simple question* to which I wanted to know the answer for my Peter Keith paper, because even just in 1756, I am finding *so* many things, including two things I put in my paper that are wrong.
* I imagined Selena asking, "Why don't you read Lehndorff yourself, Mildred?" and I thought, "...Why *don't* I read Lehndorff myself? It's the easiest German there is, I need the practice, and I've been meaning to for years."
For one, it reads to me like Lehndorff just wanted to take a trip to England, not emigrate. He uses "Reise", says all the obstacles had been cleared away so Fritz had no reason to object, and says the trip would have been so beneficial. Which makes it sound like he's coming back, Fritz doesn't have to worry about finding a new chamberlain or property passing out of the country, and like Fritz is supposed to see the advantages to Lehndorff as advantages to *him*, like a professional development argument.
Now, maybe Fritz was worried that Lehndorff would never come back, and then he would have to find a new chamberlain and potentially lose any property Lehndorff inherited (he still had a living older brother at this point, but there are no guarantees).
Speaking of not wanting to come back, Lehndorff goes to dinner a week before this and realizes everyone's from a different country:
My dear Hotham is an Englishman, Masin an Italian, Wulfenstjerna a Swede, I unhappily a Prussian, and our host a Pole.
Lehndorff, if talk like that got back to Fritz, I can see why he didn't grant you permission! "Suuure you're coming back. Why would you? *I* wouldn't have!"
Also, I was thinking Fontane was our only source for Fritz being involved in redirecting Mlle. du Rosey from Lehndorff to evil bride-stealing Ludolf von Katte, since Lehndorff's ire in those passages I read from 1751-2 was only directed at the girl's parents and at his Katte nemesis. But right after Fritz tells Lehndorff he can't go to England, when Lehndorff is recounting all the ways Fritz wronged him and thinking, "I could have loved him like a father! But he's determined not to let me!" he includes a bit about Fritz putting up resistance to a very advantageous marriage. So I think Fontane was right.
Lehndorff also says that Fritz employed ("angestellt") him against his will at the queen's court. Now, I know he wanted a transfer and could never get one, but this makes it sound like he never wanted this job in the first place? Am I misreading?
I still haven't gotten to the part I originally set out to find, but it's clear I'm going to have to read volume 1 and probably volume 2! The Peter Keith draft has gotten to the point where I can do some reading again, which is good. More tidbits to come!
Lehndorff also says that Fritz employed ("angestellt") him against his will at the queen's court. Now, I know he wanted a transfer and could never get one, but this makes it sound like he never wanted this job in the first place? Am I misreading?
Yes and no. I mean, the way he presents it in later years, including the 1756 one, is Fritz inflicting the job on him, but I don't think there's anything about this at the start of the preserved diaries. Also, I very much suspect what happened was that Lehndorff wanted a job near Fritz, it was 1749, he was young and naive and from East Prussia, i.e. not current with gossip, and hadn't deduced yet that working for EC was guaranteed not to bring him into Fritz' orbit. So I bet when the job was originally offered, he want for it.
I mean, Lehndorff isn't above rewriting the past to a certain extent as we all do with hindsight. Even decades later, when we got our hands on the 1780s diaries, for all his words about being happy in retirement, he seems to have believed that FW2 would offer him a job, and not a ceremonial one, a political one, and was much offended when that didn't happen, since he thought FW2 had really liked him as Crown Prince. (Now, I can understand why Heinrich was kidding himself on a similar note about expecting a good political job in a post Fritzian future and was rudely disappointed, but Lehndorff expecting it really took me by surprise.)
You should definitely check Volume 2 about 1756, btw, I remember there being even more emo about the whole Hotham matter.
Incidentally, if you're looking for Lehndorff's James Keith and Eva passage, that's under October 1758 in Volume 1. (Where he writes that Eva had a great figure, wit and manners, but lived in a spendthrift way, and that James gave her neaerly all his money so she could use his carriage and his cook while he used a the 18th century equivalent of a taxi and ate fast food.)
I mean, Lehndorff isn't above rewriting the past to a certain extent as we all do with hindsight.
Yeah, fair.
You should definitely check Volume 2 about 1756, btw, I remember there being even more emo about the whole Hotham matter.
Incidentally, if you're looking for Lehndorff's James Keith and Eva passage, that's under October 1758 in Volume 1.
Nice, thanks! Yeah, it's becoming increasingly clear I need to read at least the first two volumes, there's too much good stuff in here.
For example: Remember when Fritz decided to leave Swiss Michell, who'd never been to Prussia and possibly hadn't taken the oath of loyalty, as legation secretary in London, rather than send Peter as envoy or promote Michell to envoy? And I said that that means Michell did *not* beat Peter in direct competition? Well, that's true for 1747, but at the beginning of 1756, when Fritz is negotiating with the Brits but before he realizes that instead of preventing a war, he's started one, Lehndorff reports that Michell got promoted to envoy. Now, Lehndorff may be reporting an inaccurate rumor, I'd have to do more research, but if he heard that rumor, Peter presumably heard it too. Ouch.
The thing I specifically picked up Lehndorff to find and went to 1756 is a memory that you said something about Lehndorff having not entirely positive feelings about being left behind because of his disability, when everyone went to war without him, even though he was not super gung ho about war. And that is so entirely relevant to Peter "I'd rather be reading books! But I can't stomach the humilation!" Keith that I need to find exactly what he said for comparison. (So much of my research is turning out to be not information about Peter directly, but the world and the people around him, for context.)
Ha, I was going to read Lehndorff with you, and then life got in the way. Maybe again someday -- it was definitely very good practice for me, often (like you say) very easy :D
[Peter: I lived in England! I have English manners! You can still trust me.]
<3
My dear Hotham is an Englishman, Masin an Italian, Wulfenstjerna a Swede, I unhappily a Prussian, and our host a Pole.
Ha, I was going to read Lehndorff with you, and then life got in the way. Maybe again someday -- it was definitely very good practice for me, often (like you say) very easy :D
Yeah, it's definitely easy and I'm trying again, but I have to say that it's also boring if you try to read every entry and you're a relatively slow reader. The really interesting parts are sprinkled throughout, which is why I'm still on page 200 of the first of 3 volumes, 5 years later. ;) I'm toying with the idea of skimming and looking for the interesting stuff, instead of trying to actually *read*.
The other thing we were going to do was Massie's Peter the Great (you in English, me in German), but I have to say that I *do not* have the time right now.
Also, looking upthread where I talked about Lehndorff not being allowed to travel to England, and the time luzula asked "Why didn't he just go?" a while back, we debated to what extent Prussia was representative in not allowing people to go abroad without permission. I've been turning up more and more examples, including a statement that it was the norm in Germany to for subjects to require permission, plus we found Russia and France as examples...and the only counterexample I could find was Blackstone saying you could travel freely as an English subject, unlike in the Middle Ages where you couldn't.
Well, during my December reading I found a book--it may have been the Englishness Identified--that said that English people prided themselves on being the only nation where you could just up and leave if you wanted to; pretty much everyone else required permission to travel or emigrate abroad.
Speaking of Lehndorff: stay tuned! An interesting write-up is coming soon (sooner if I can get past the insomnia, later otherwise).
See, my German is still so bad that I'm at the point where every time there's a boring part it's fun for me because I'm like "look, I recognize all those words, those are the same ones he used yesterday and the day before!" :P
I know, I keep poking at Massie. Maybe when you have the time I will too!
See, my German is still so bad that I'm at the point where every time there's a boring part it's fun for me because I'm like "look, I recognize all those words, those are the same ones he used yesterday and the day before!" :P
Yeah, if it were an audiobook, it would be perfect for me!
As it is, I've determined that I need to read/skim at least the first two volumes this year. Every 50-100 pages I find something critical to my research. Most recently, page 210, this evening! And I don't want to try to publish if there's still critical unread information lurking in Lehndorff, because there's no excuse for not having read Lehndorff.
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Lehndorff is so emo
I feel so lonely in a city where I have lived for ten years. All those I once called my friends, now that I've experienced this English friendship, seem so heartless that I can no longer put my trust in anyone. The only consolation I have is my books.
He no longer trusts his Prussian friends!!
[Peter: I lived in England! I have English manners! You can still trust me.]
The next day, Lehndorff's only consolation is writing to his dear Hotham.
I am *so* glad I decided to read Lehndorff rather than asking Selena the simple question* to which I wanted to know the answer for my Peter Keith paper, because even just in 1756, I am finding *so* many things, including two things I put in my paper that are wrong.
* I imagined Selena asking, "Why don't you read Lehndorff yourself, Mildred?" and I thought, "...Why *don't* I read Lehndorff myself? It's the easiest German there is, I need the practice, and I've been meaning to for years."
For one, it reads to me like Lehndorff just wanted to take a trip to England, not emigrate. He uses "Reise", says all the obstacles had been cleared away so Fritz had no reason to object, and says the trip would have been so beneficial. Which makes it sound like he's coming back, Fritz doesn't have to worry about finding a new chamberlain or property passing out of the country, and like Fritz is supposed to see the advantages to Lehndorff as advantages to *him*, like a professional development argument.
Now, maybe Fritz was worried that Lehndorff would never come back, and then he would have to find a new chamberlain and potentially lose any property Lehndorff inherited (he still had a living older brother at this point, but there are no guarantees).
Speaking of not wanting to come back, Lehndorff goes to dinner a week before this and realizes everyone's from a different country:
My dear Hotham is an Englishman, Masin an Italian, Wulfenstjerna a Swede, I unhappily a Prussian, and our host a Pole.
Lehndorff, if talk like that got back to Fritz, I can see why he didn't grant you permission! "Suuure you're coming back. Why would you? *I* wouldn't have!"
Also, I was thinking Fontane was our only source for Fritz being involved in redirecting Mlle. du Rosey from Lehndorff to evil bride-stealing Ludolf von Katte, since Lehndorff's ire in those passages I read from 1751-2 was only directed at the girl's parents and at his Katte nemesis. But right after Fritz tells Lehndorff he can't go to England, when Lehndorff is recounting all the ways Fritz wronged him and thinking, "I could have loved him like a father! But he's determined not to let me!" he includes a bit about Fritz putting up resistance to a very advantageous marriage. So I think Fontane was right.
Lehndorff also says that Fritz employed ("angestellt") him against his will at the queen's court. Now, I know he wanted a transfer and could never get one, but this makes it sound like he never wanted this job in the first place? Am I misreading?
I still haven't gotten to the part I originally set out to find, but it's clear I'm going to have to read volume 1 and probably volume 2! The Peter Keith draft has gotten to the point where I can do some reading again, which is good. More tidbits to come!
Re: Lehndorff is so emo
Yes and no. I mean, the way he presents it in later years, including the 1756 one, is Fritz inflicting the job on him, but I don't think there's anything about this at the start of the preserved diaries. Also, I very much suspect what happened was that Lehndorff wanted a job near Fritz, it was 1749, he was young and naive and from East Prussia, i.e. not current with gossip, and hadn't deduced yet that working for EC was guaranteed not to bring him into Fritz' orbit. So I bet when the job was originally offered, he want for it.
I mean, Lehndorff isn't above rewriting the past to a certain extent as we all do with hindsight. Even decades later, when we got our hands on the 1780s diaries, for all his words about being happy in retirement, he seems to have believed that FW2 would offer him a job, and not a ceremonial one, a political one, and was much offended when that didn't happen, since he thought FW2 had really liked him as Crown Prince. (Now, I can understand why Heinrich was kidding himself on a similar note about expecting a good political job in a post Fritzian future and was rudely disappointed, but Lehndorff expecting it really took me by surprise.)
You should definitely check Volume 2 about 1756, btw, I remember there being even more emo about the whole Hotham matter.
Incidentally, if you're looking for Lehndorff's James Keith and Eva passage, that's under October 1758 in Volume 1. (Where he writes that Eva had a great figure, wit and manners, but lived in a spendthrift way, and that James gave her neaerly all his money so she could use his carriage and his cook while he used a the 18th century equivalent of a taxi and ate fast food.)
Re: Lehndorff is so emo
Yeah, fair.
You should definitely check Volume 2 about 1756, btw, I remember there being even more emo about the whole Hotham matter.
Incidentally, if you're looking for Lehndorff's James Keith and Eva passage, that's under October 1758 in Volume 1.
Nice, thanks! Yeah, it's becoming increasingly clear I need to read at least the first two volumes, there's too much good stuff in here.
For example: Remember when Fritz decided to leave Swiss Michell, who'd never been to Prussia and possibly hadn't taken the oath of loyalty, as legation secretary in London, rather than send Peter as envoy or promote Michell to envoy? And I said that that means Michell did *not* beat Peter in direct competition? Well, that's true for 1747, but at the beginning of 1756, when Fritz is negotiating with the Brits but before he realizes that instead of preventing a war, he's started one, Lehndorff reports that Michell got promoted to envoy. Now, Lehndorff may be reporting an inaccurate rumor, I'd have to do more research, but if he heard that rumor, Peter presumably heard it too. Ouch.
The thing I specifically picked up Lehndorff to find and went to 1756 is a memory that you said something about Lehndorff having not entirely positive feelings about being left behind because of his disability, when everyone went to war without him, even though he was not super gung ho about war. And that is so entirely relevant to Peter "I'd rather be reading books! But I can't stomach the humilation!" Keith that I need to find exactly what he said for comparison. (So much of my research is turning out to be not information about Peter directly, but the world and the people around him, for context.)
Re: Lehndorff is so emo
[Peter: I lived in England! I have English manners! You can still trust me.]
<3
My dear Hotham is an Englishman, Masin an Italian, Wulfenstjerna a Swede, I unhappily a Prussian, and our host a Pole.
Aw, Lehndorff!
Re: Lehndorff is so emo
Yeah, it's definitely easy and I'm trying again, but I have to say that it's also boring if you try to read every entry and you're a relatively slow reader. The really interesting parts are sprinkled throughout, which is why I'm still on page 200 of the first of 3 volumes, 5 years later. ;) I'm toying with the idea of skimming and looking for the interesting stuff, instead of trying to actually *read*.
The other thing we were going to do was Massie's Peter the Great (you in English, me in German), but I have to say that I *do not* have the time right now.
Also, looking upthread where I talked about Lehndorff not being allowed to travel to England, and the time
Well, during my December reading I found a book--it may have been the Englishness Identified--that said that English people prided themselves on being the only nation where you could just up and leave if you wanted to; pretty much everyone else required permission to travel or emigrate abroad.
Speaking of Lehndorff: stay tuned! An interesting write-up is coming soon (sooner if I can get past the insomnia, later otherwise).
Re: Lehndorff is so emo
I know, I keep poking at Massie. Maybe when you have the time I will too!
Re: Lehndorff is so emo
Yeah, if it were an audiobook, it would be perfect for me!
As it is, I've determined that I need to read/skim at least the first two volumes this year. Every 50-100 pages I find something critical to my research. Most recently, page 210, this evening! And I don't want to try to publish if there's still critical unread information lurking in Lehndorff, because there's no excuse for not having read Lehndorff.