Boswell in Prussia (and Saxony, and Switzerland)

[selenak]

James Boswell, 18th century diarist, biographer, and tireless celebrity gatecrasher extraordinaire provides us with some terrific glimpses on the German states in 1764, directly after the Seven Years War, starring various Fredericians, which I've collected and am sharing in this post.

First, a note on the source material.

( The edition(s) of Boswell's journal I used )

The preface - always useful, prefaces! - also contains information on just how - i.e. by which transport means - Boswell travelled through the German principalities. This is highly useful in case anyone wants to write other 18th century people hitting the road, so, check it out:

( Cheap and expensive ways of travelling through the German states )

Amusingly the editors also point out that Boswell by managing to get himself invited a lot in the various towns and residences he visited saved a considerable sum of money for meals. (He also promoted himself to "Baron von Boswell" in order to score all these invites, though not when gatecrashing chez Rousseau and Voltaire.

I tried to order the quotes by subject, starting with George Keith, Lord Marischal, whom Boswell brings to life in a way the various Fritz biographies I've read don't.

( George Keith, Lord Marischal: Travelling with Frederick's BFF )

( All Things Fritz: of parades and STDS )

Naturally, Boswell visits the British envoy and his father's old pal in Berlin.

( Meeting Mr. Mitchell, Envoy Extraordinaire )

Boswell doesn't just meet exiled Scots and German nobility, though. He befriends a couple of families which I had to skip, and also, being a good tourist, checks out more than palaces and parades.

( If I ever laugh at Germans, I am a villain! )

With his talent for structuring his life like a novel, Boswell reserved the two most famous celebrities for the last (before moving on to Italy, that is): in Switzerland, he managed to talk his way into not one but several meetings (each) with both Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire.

( Talking about sex with Rousseau )

Boswell did go to Corsica – and wrote a book about the cause of the Corsicans as a result – but went to visit the other greatest philosopher of the age and arch-rival of Rousseau first, to wit, Voltaire. Unlike Rousseau, Voltaire was fluent in English, so most of the transcripts here are in English, and they give a great, vivid impression of what Voltaire was like in his 70s.

( He said the King of Prussia wrote like your footboy )

Farewell indeed. While it's a shame Boswell didn't manage an audience with Fritz himself, this hands-down most vivacious of English language diarists of the 18th century provided us with more than enough gems.