Pachtod, Michel Marie (1764–1830): French military officer who saw considerable service in action during the 1790s and the early 19th century, though an incident in Marseille involving Napoleon’s Corsican family thwarted his advancement for several years, and during the Hundred Days he declined to take Napoleon’s side, an act for which he was later rewarded.
Palm, Christian Heinrich von (4 June 1736–23 April 1819): Wealthy cultural and educational benefactor and philanthropist in Kirchheim unter Teck; among other projects, contributed considerably to an enhancement of the library at the Tübinger Stift and to stipendia for students from Württemberg.
Pape, Georg Wilhelm August von (ca. 1765–1837): 1790–1803 legal civil servant in Hannover, eventually consistory director and finance administrator; an acquaintance of Friedrich and Wilhelm Schlegel.
Pappenheimer (Pappenheim), Heymann (Chaim) Salomon (after 29 April 1817: Heinrich Sigmund Friedrich Pappenheim, Nobleman von Kerstorf [Kersdorf]) (12 April 1769–night of July 2/3 1832): Munich banker who put an apartment at the Schellings’ disposal from late 1807 till April 1808. From 1802 married to Fanni, née Seligmann, von Eichthal (after 29 April 1817: Franziska Louise) (1777–1854). Also delivered a manuscript of the Nibelungenlied to Wilhelm Schlegel from Munich. Extremely well-educated in the spirit of the Enlightenment, an admirer of Moses Mendelssohn, supporter of the French Revolution, member of Christian-Jewish Freemason lodge in Hamburg, supported the emancipation and assimilation of Jews. Made several trips to Paris, where he became friends with Friedrich and Dorothea Schlegel while they were there. Moved to Munich in 1803 with his father-in-law and became a banker there, where he was also closely acquainted with the anatomist Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring and with Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. His house became one of the intellectual meetings places in Munich.
Pappenheimer, Fanni, née Seligmann, von Eichthal (after 29 April 1817: Franziska Louise) (1777–1854): From 1802 married to Heymann Pappenheimer in Munich.
Paradis (Paradies), Maria Theresia (1759–1824): Viennese singer. Lost her sight when she was four but received instruction in singing from the best teachers in Vienna. Debuted early in church concerts, also playing the organ, impressing Viennese society to the point that Empress Maria Theresia granted her a pension for life. From 1784 on tour throughout Europe, also impressing audiences with her piano playing, allegedly being able to play any requested song by ear. Mozart took an interest in her and offered her considerable encouragement, she also being a composer, though not publishing any of her compositions to avoid the appearance of seeking to compete with male composers. The twelve songs that did appear (including Bürger’s poem “Lenore”) she considered insufficiently mature. Returned to Vienna in 1786, studying under, among others, Antonio Salieri but rarely appearing publicly, preferring performances in private circles. Opened a successful music institute for young girls and also had several of her operas performed in Vienna, though the latter with little success. (Portrait: wax bust made during the period of her tour in Germany; photo allegedly from the inventory of the Viennese museum Magazin.)
Parker, Hyde (1739–1807): Admiral in the British Royal Navy. Served in the West Indies, off the coast of North America, and in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. During 1796–1800 he was in Jamaica, but in 1801 was assigned with Horatio Nelson to break the northern armed neutrality coalition during the spring, though his decisions during the Battle of Copenhagen (2 April 1801) were later criticized.
Paul I of Russia (1754–March 23, 1801): Emperor of Russia 1796–1801. Son of the grand duchess, later empress, Catherine, there being some question, however, about his father and therefore about his legitimacy; his relationship with his mother was complicated and uneasy, rumors alleging that she was not fond of him. After his first wife died in childbirth, he married Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg (Maria Feodorovna) in 1776, who bore him ten children, though at this time he also began to be involved in palace intrigues and to fear assassination. He became emperor in 1796 after Catherine suffered a stroke in November of that year and did not recover. Since her testament was rumored to have intended to exclude him from succession, he promulgated laws establishing the strict principle of primogeniture in the House of Romanov. Paul reversed many of the policies of his mother and has variously been accused of extreme eccentricity in his rule, seeking to reestablish a code of chivalry among what he thought was a corrupt noble class. His policies brought Russia into the War of the Second Coalition against France in 1798, though Paul then changed his mind and sought armed neutrality against Britain in 1801. Many of his reforms angered the nobility, and he was assassinated on 23 March 1801 in his bedroom. (Portrait: Stepan Schukin.)
Paul Friedrich Karl August, Prince of Württemberg (19 January 1785–16 April 1852): Son of Friedrich I, King of Württemberg (1754–1816). From 28 September 1805 married to the Ernestine princess Charlotte von Sachsen-Hildburghausen (1787–1847), though they separated in 1818. Fought against Napoleon 1806–8 against his father’s wishes, reconciled with his father in 1808 but still refused to participate in Napoleon’s Russian campaign in 1812. From 1813 in the service of the Russian Czar Alexander in the Wars of Liberation. From 1817 lived in Paris. Converted late to Catholicism. [Portrait by unknown artist.]
Pauli, Theodor (29 August 1762–15 December 1829): Personal physician of the Prince Elector of Mainz. A native of Mainz, where he studied medicine before continuing his training in Vienna. Made a name for himself in professional circles with his Geschichte der Ruhrepidemie zu Mainz im Sommer des Jahres 1793 (1795). He became the personal physician of the prince elector Friedrich Carl von Erthal after treating him during a serious illness, also accompanying the latter—who was already elderly—into exile in Aschaffenburg during the Revolution. After Erthal’s death, Pauli did not expect to be retained, since his successor, Dalberg, considered himself healthy enough not to need a personal physician and was rather skeptical of the medical profession in any case. But Dalberg was impressed by Pauli’s comprehensive erudition and appointed him head of education and instruction, in which capacity he also had a hand in later university reforms.
Paulsen, Friedrich Wilhelm (1772–1840): Otherwise unidentified merchant in Jena. (KFSA 25:524.)
Paulus, August Wilhelm (3 May 1802–28 August 1819): Son of H. E. G. and Karoline Paulus. Karoline Paulus went through a difficult pregnancy with the boy. Caroline and Clemens Brentano both suspected that Adalbert Friedrich Marcus rather than Paulus was the boy’s father. His father’s biographer (Reichlin-Meldegg 2:208) describes him as flighty, lively, and overly active, so much so that his mother, Karoline Paulus, was unable to control him. The boy’s education, though he was instructed by his father for two hours daily, suffered from the family’s constant change of households (from Jena to Würzburg, Bamberg, Nürnberg, Ansbach, Heidelberg), and he seems never to have attended the Volksschule, resulting in his failing miserably when his father finally enrolled him in a secondary school. He was sent to live with a preceptor in Vaihingen near Stuttgart, but became discouraged having to attend school with such younger classmates who were nonetheless so far ahead of him. In any event, in 1814 Goethe found in him the model for the character of the cupbearer in his West-Östlicher Divan (1819). August Wilhelm died of nervous fever and other complications after relapsing following a bout with scarlet fever in Stuttgart, having been transported back home to Heidelberg apparently too soon.
Paulus, Elisabeth Friederike Karoline (Caroline), née Paulus (14 September 1767–11 March 1844): Writer (pseudonym Eleutheria Holberg, though she also published under her own name), from 1789 wife of Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus, her cousin. Born in Schorndorf in Württemberg. Wrote several novels, including Wilhelm Dümont (1805), which Goethe favorably reviewed in 1806, and Adolf und Virginie. Oder Liebe und Kunst (1811). In Jena she was well received because of her sociability and musical and artistic interests, not least by Goethe, who was a frequent visitor to their home there, even bringing her poems still in manuscript form. Lost her only son in 1819, and her daughter entered into an extraordinarily ill-fated marriage with Wilhelm Schlegel in 1818.
Paulus, Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob (1 September 1761–10 August 1851): Rationalist theologian and scholar of Near Eastern studies. Born in the same parsonage in Leonberg, Württemberg (outside Stuttgart), as Schelling (though Paulus’s father was dismissed by the Stuttgart consistory in 1771 ob absurdas phantasmagoricas visions). From 1779 studied at the Tübingen Stift (seminary), earning his philosophical doctorate in 1781, his theological doctorate in 1784, acquiring an introduction and inclination for a rationalist approach to theology from his reading of, among other authors, Johann David Michaelis, Caroline’s father. After attaining his degrees, he turned down a position with the Society of Christianity in Bern because he no longer considered himself enough of a true believer. From 1786 vicar at the Latin grammar school in Schorndorf. In 1787 and 1788 he undertook educational journeys to northern Germany, Holland, England, and France. Married his cousin Karoline Paulus, daughter of a magistrate in Schorndorf, on June 2, 1798. From 1789 to 1803 professor of Near Eastern languages and philosophy in Jena (as Eichhorn’s successor, who went to Göttingen), from 1793 (after Johann Christoph Döderlein’s death) also of biblical exegesis. Published prolifically, including an edition of Johann David Michaelis’s shorter writings and an edition of Spinoza. Was well acquainted especially not only with his Swabian countrymen Schiller, Christoph Martin Wieland, and Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer, but also with Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder, Karl Leonhard Reinhold, and Fichte. Although Paulus was formally accused of undermining the Christian religion at the university, Herder spoke on his behalf and convinced the Duke of Weimar to desist from any formal charges. Paulus, as prorector of the university, was unable to thwart Fichte’s dismissal during the latter’s atheism dispute in 1799. From 1803 consistory councilor and professor of theology in Würzburg; Maximilian Joseph Montgelas was seeking to introduce elements of Enlightenment thinking to the formerly Catholic university; but because there were so few Protestant students, Paulus ended up lecturing to Catholic students until the bishop forbid them from attending his lectures. Trouble with other Catholic colleagues, for whom the Protestant Paulus was a persona non gratis, as well as with with the Schellings, made the situation less than attractive to him. After Würzburg was ceded to the archduke of Toscana in 1806, and Paulus did not receive an anticipated appointment in Altdorf, he was from 1807 district educational councilor in Bamberg, from 1808 in Nürnberg, from 1810 in Ansbach, and finally from 1811 professor of theology in Heidelberg. Tutored Goethe in Arabic for a time. In his Das Leben Jesu als Grundlage einer reinen Geschichte des Urchristentums (2 vols., 1802/3), he tried to reconcile the accuracy of the Gospels with a skeptical view of miracles and the supernatural, arguments David Friedrich Strauss later refuted. Became involved in a bitter legal dispute and quarrel with Schelling after the latter’s appointment in Berlin in 1841, whose philosophy Paulus considered an “assault on the healthy faculty of reason.” (Portrait: 1838, by Conrad LʹAllemand and Antoine Maurin; Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, UB Graphische Sammlung.)
Paulus, Karl Christian Ludwig (19 May 1775–16 January 1833): Physician, brother of Karoline Paulus. Born in Schorndorf in Baden-Württemberg, as was his sister; studied medicine in Jena, receiving his degree in 1797. Thereafter worked as a general practitioner, for a time (from 1804) also as a private lecturer in medicine in Würzburg, where he moved into an apartment above his sister. He later worked in Schorndorf, then from 1808 in Stuttgart, and finally as senior magistrate physician in Besigheim. Married to Anna Margaretha Hirschmann (20 January 1783–18 March 1829), a native of Mittelschlechtbach in Baden-Württemberg.
Paulus, Sophie Karoline Eleutherie (3 September 1791–5 May 1847): Daughter of H. E. G. and Karoline Paulus; second wife (1818) of Wilhelm Schlegel (they never divorced but also never lived together). Her parents initially called her Karoline (see letters 277a; 319); she later more commonly came to be called Sophie (Reichlin-Meldegg 1:344).
Pauly (Pauli), August Friedrich (1756–1818): Theologian in Württemberg, native of Ludwigsburg, just north of Stuttgart. From 1791 pastor in Benningen am Neckar, 1801–13 professor in Maulbronn (till 1812 under Schelling’s father), from 1813 pastor in Mössingen. Married to Regine Justine, née Kapff (1764–1809), whose father was a seminary professor in Denkendorf, which Hölderlin attended. She seems to have died of the same dysentery (or typhus) epidemic in the autumn of 1809 as did Caroline. Their son was the famous classical philologist, historiographical topographer, and lexicographer Gottlieb Wilhelm August (also August Friedrich) Pauly (1796–1845) (e.g., the famous encyclopedia of classical scholarship Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vols. 1–6, continued after Pauly’s death in 1845 by W. Teuffel and C. Walz [1839–52]; new ed. ed. by G. Wissowa et al., 84 vols. [1894–1980], known as “der große Pauly” or “Pauly-Wissowa), who, incidentally, married into the extended Württemberg Paulus family in 1825.
Pauly (Pauli), Regine Justine, née Kapff (1764–1809): Daughter of a professor at the seminary in Denkendorf, which Hölderlin attended. Married to August Friedrich Pauly, who from 1801–13 was a professor in Maulbronn (till 1812 under Schelling’s father). She seems to have died of the same epidemic of dysentery (or typhus) during the autumn of 1809 as did Caroline.
Pázmándi (Pázmándy), Anton von (dates unknown): from Böng in Hungary, member of the Mineralogical Society in Jena, apparently also an acquaintance of Friedrich Schlegel and Fichte.
Pechmöller, Sophie Mathilde Cornelie: From December 1841 wife of Rudolph Waldemar Wiedemann, hence daughter-in-law of Luise Wiedemann, née Michaelis.
Peerz, Georg Heinrich (1795–1876): Historian, at the time of Luise Wiedemann’s contact with him at the university centennial in Göttingen in 1837, he was a library and archivist in Hannover.
Percy (Piercy), Thomas (1729–1811): From 1782 Bishop of Dromore, a man of varied intellectual tastes and activity, publishing translations and poetry that, among other things, influenced the study of ancient Norse and older English poetry (Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 3 vols. [London 1765]).
Perthes, Friedrich Christoph (1772–1843): Hamburg publisher. From 1787 an apprentice in Leipzig, from 1793 employed by B. G. Hoffmann in Hamburg. From 1796 owned his own bookstore, aided by his acquainted with numerous respected authors and scholars. After the death of his wife in 1822 moved his publishing company to Gotha. Active in initiating legal stipulations governing reprints in Germany. (Portrait: Zweihundert deutsche Männer in Bildnissen und Lebensbeschreibungen, ed. Ludwig Bechstein [Leipzig 1854], unpaginated [alphabetical] entry on Christoph Friedrich Perthes.)
Perthes, Johann Georg Justus (1749–1816): Bookseller, publisher. In 1778 Perthes, whose father was the royal physician in Rudolstadt, founded a company with C. W. Ettinger and J. F. Dürfeld to continue the Ettinger bookstore in Gotha. In 1785 he founded his own publishing company in Gotha, the Geographische Verlagsanstalt Justus Perthes, which acquired renown through its publication of geographical and cartographical works. He also published the important biographical reference Nekrolog, enthaltend Nachrichten von dem Leben merkwürdiger verstorbener Deutscher (28 vols., 1791–1806), often referred to simply as “Schlichtegroll” after the name of its editor.
Petrarch (Petrarca), Francesco (1304–74): Italian jurist, philologist, poet, and early Renaissance humanist (often called the “father of humanism”), credited with perfecting the sonnet form. Spent his early childhood near Florence, then in Avignon after his father was expelled from Florence by the Black Guelfs. Studied in Montpellier 1319–23, then moved to Bologna, where he studied law 1323–25. Returned to Avignon in 1326, the turning point in his life coming in 1327, when he saw the “Laura” of his later poetry. Acquired renown as a scholar and poet, editing and reviving interest in the Latin classics and manuscripts he discovered during his travels. From ca. 1367 in Padua, where he lived the rest of his life. Caroline and Schelling translated several of his poems.
Petzold, Johann Nathanael (1739–1813): From 1766 physician in Dresden, treated Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis).
Pfaff, Christoph Heinrich (1773–1852): A native of Stuttgart, 1782–93 pupil at the Karlsakademie in Stuttgart, where he eventually concentrated on medicine, became friends with fellow student George Cuvier, and wrote his dissertation, inspired by the discoveries of Galvani and Volta, on animal electricity. He then a studied in Göttingen esp. under Georg Christoph Lichtenberg and Friedrich Benjamin Osiander. From 1794 to Copenhagen, where he worked till late summer 1795 in the clinical institutes, then accompanying Count Reventlow to Italy (1795–97). He eventually accepted a professorial appointment in Kiel, beginning in the spring of 1798, but spent a year studying yet again in Paris from 1801 to prepare for a Kiel professorship in chemistry, which began in 1802. Luise Wiedemann and her husband seem to have known him just as he was to begin his professorship in Kiel.
Pfeffel, Gottfried Konrad (1736–1809): Writer, pedagogue. From 1751 studied law in Halle, being forced to break off his studies in 1758 because of the onset of blindness. He returned home to Colmar in 1754, where in 1773 he founded the Protestant École militaire (from 1782 Académie militaire) on Rousseauist principles; the school had to close in 1792 under threat from the Colmar Jacobin Club, after which Pfeffel worked as a freelance writer until receiving a pension from Napoleon in 1806. Member of Prussian Academy of the Arts (1788) and Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (1808). His works include plays, pedagogical writings in the spirit of the Enlightenment, fables, and poems. (Portrait: Gustav Könnecke, Bilderatlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur, 2nd ed. [Marburg 1895], 333.)
Pfister, Johann Christian von (1772–1835): German historian.
Philipp of Swabia (1177–1208): From 1198 Roman German King after the death of his brother Heinrich VII, whose son (the later Friedrich II) was not yet of age. During the course of his attempts to assert his rights to the kingship against Otto of Braunschweig, Philipp tried to curry the favor of Otto of Wittelsbach by engaging his daughter Kunigunde to Otto; he broke the engagement in 1207, however, and engaged her to the son of another king with the same goal of currying favor and a military alliance. After the wedding of Philipp’s daughter Beatrix in Bamberg in 1208, however, Otto assassinated Philipp, allegedly in the Altenburg Castle, though doubts about the location arose as early as 1835.
Philipp of Württemberg (1838–1917): Duke of Württemberg, son of Alexander of Württemberg and Marie d’Orléans (who married in 1837), she the daughter of King Louis-Philippe of France; she died of tuberculosis in January 1839, whence Luise Wiedemann can refer to the prince as a “motherless young boy” in connection with Emma Michaelis having become his governess in Paris.
Philippine Charlotte von Braunschweig (1716–17 February 1801): Prussian princess (sister of Friedrich the Great) and, through marriage, Duchess of Braunschweig und Lüneburg as well as Princess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. From 1733 married to Duke Karl I of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1713–1780). Mother of Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, who from 1780 (hence during both of Caroline’s stays in Braunschweig) was the Prince of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg. Mother of Anna Amalie, dowager Duchess of Weimar during Caroline’s period in Jena and mother of Duke Carl August of Weimar. Philippine Charlotte maintained an interest in German intellectual life in part through the influence of Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Jerusalem, whose son, Karl Wilhelm, attained posthumous fame as the model for the protagonist in Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. She died during Caroline’s second stay in Braunschweig, and Caroline twice mentions the accompanying period of official court mourning. (Portrait: by A.R. de Gasc; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum.)
Pichegru, Jean-Charles (1761–1804): French general during the years of the French Revolution, commander of the Army of the Rhine, from 1793 of the Rhine and Moselle, from February 1794 of the Army of the North. After a series of successful battles in 1794 (when Caroline mentions him), in October he crossed the Meuse River and drove the Austrians beyond the Rhine, thereafter also engaging in a winter campaign to take the island of Bommel, cross the Waal River, and take Utrecht from the British on January 19 and Amsterdam on January 20, soon occupying the entire Netherlands. Later, however, he conspired with George Cadoudal against Napoleon to restore the monarchy (1803), though the plot was discovered and the conspirators condemned to death, Pichegru dying in prison probably of suicide. (Portrait: Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universel [1793] 145 [Saturday, 25 May 1793], in: Réimpression de l’ancien moniteur, vol. 16 [Paris 1840], plate following p. 664.)
Pickel, Georg (1751–1838) Professor of chemistry in Würzburg. Earned his doctorate in the natural sciences in 1778, after which he spent time in Vienna and Göttingen. From 1782 professor of chemistry and pharmacy and adjunct professor of experimental physics in Würzburg, where he also founded an institute for surgical instruments and a factory for pharmaceutical preparations. (Portrait: Deutsches Museum, München, Archiv; Inventar-Nr. 69944 [alt]; PT 02866/01 [Bestand-Signatur]; 1952 Pt A 67 [Altsignatur]; 37610 [Bildstellen-Nummer].)
Pigault-Lebrun, Charles-Antoine-Guillaume Pigault de l’Épinoy (1753–1835): French novelist, popular especially around 1800, also as a playwright (comedies). Changed his name to Pigault-Lebrun after a falling out with his father, who, after his son’s prolonged absence, published a notice of his death.
Pindar (ca. 515–446 BCE): Generally acknowledged as the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece. Famous throughout Greece, he composed majestically rhythmic choral songs for special occasions, including those celebrating victors in sporting events, and was viewed, with Simonides, as a Greek national poet.
Pitt, William (1759–1806): British politician, from 1783 youngest prime minister, inclined to reform and generally opposed to a strict partisan political system. Led Britain during the wars against France and Napoleon.
Pius VI (Giovanni Angelo Braschi) (1717–99): From 1775 pope, his papacy being marked by the struggle against emergent atheism and secularism, including Febronianism in Germany, an eighteenth-century movement against the claims of the papacy, especially in the temporal sphere, advocating instead that church affairs be kept in episcopal and civil hands. Made a humiliating journey to Vienna in 1782 to combat the reforms of Emperor Joseph II.
Planck, Gottlieb Jakob (1751–1833): Theologian, church historian, consistory councilor in Göttingen. Studied 1765–74 at the Tübingen Stift (seminary), working there as a tutor 1775–80 after passing his examinations. In 1781–84 he was a preacher and professor at the Hohe Karlschule in Stuttgart, thereafter professor of church history in Göttingen. Attained his doctorate in 1787, then from 1791 was consistory councilor there, from 1805 general superintendent, from 1830 senior consistory councilor. Generally viewed as the founder of the discipline of modern Protestant history of dogma and of comparative symbolism.
Platen-Hallermund, Louise Philippine Friederike Dorothea, Countess von (1757–1841): Daughter from the first marriage of Georg Hermann Heinrich zu Münster, whereas Ernst Friedrich Herbert zu Münster, with whom Georg Ernst Tatter worked in St. Petersburg, was a son from his second marriage. Louise Philippine Friederike married Ernst Franz von Platen-Hallermund (1739–1818) on 4 October 1775. Heraldisch-Genealogische Blätter: adelige und bürgerliche Geschlechter, vol. 2 (1905) 42.
Platner (Plattner), Ernst (1744–1818): Physician, philosopher. From 1770 associate professor of medicine in Leipzig, from 1780 professor of physiology, from 1801 of philosophy. Initially influenced by Leibniz, Platner took issue with the philosophy of Kant with the aim of establishing a new discipline of “anthropology” drawing on both philosophy and medicine.
Plato (428/427 BCE–348/347 BCE): Greek philosopher, the second of the great trio of ancient Greeks — succeeding Socrates and preceding Aristotle — who between them laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens. His dialogues have historically been used to teach philosophy, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, and other subjects about which he wrote. (Portrait: Raphael, The School of Athens, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City; Caroline refers to a copper engraving of this piece.)
Pliny the Elder (23–79): Roman writer and military officer and administrator, noted for the 37 books of his Historia naturalis, a work of almost universal and encyclopedic breadth. Perished allegedly in connection with the eruption of Vesuvius.
Pliny the Younger (62–ca. 113 CE): Nephew and adoptive son of Pliny the Elder. Roman lawyer, statesman, consul, governor of Bithynia. Best known for his letters, which from the outset were meant for publication and which in the style of literary essays addressing various topics function as a mirror of the age; these include a description of the eruption of Vesuvius and the related death of Pliny the Elder, the only description of this event.
Plitt, Gustav Leopold (1836–80): Theologian and from 1875 professor of church history in Erlangen, published the first collection of Schelling’s letters, Aus Schellings Leben. In Briefen, 3 vols. (Leipzig 1869–70).
Plotinus (ca. 205–270): Philosopher (born in Egypt), widely considered the father of Neoplatonism. His metaphysical writings have inspired pagan, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics. The Romantics were various attracted to the three basic principles of his metaphysics and their interaction, namely, “the One” (or, equivalently, “the Good”), Intellect, and Soul. The first, the supreme, totally transcendent “One” contains no division, multiplicity or distinction and is beyond all categories of being and non-being; it is the source of the world, albeit not through any act of creation, willful or otherwise, since activity cannot be ascribed to the unchangeable, immutable One. Instead, “emanation” confirms the absolute transcendence of the One, making the unfolding of the cosmos purely a consequence of its existence.
Plümicke, Karl Martin (1749–1833[?]): Writer. As part of the Döbbelin theater company in Berlin, he composed sentimental plays and comedies, usually adapting stories by other authors for the stage, including, e.g., A. G. Meissner’s Johann von Schwaben and Der Besuch nach dem Tode (1783), and Schiller’s Die Räuber and Fiesko, Schiller viewing the adaptations as a “botched mess,” though some critics praised them. Professionally he also worked as the traveling secretary to Duke Peter von Kurland on a trip through Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy in 1784–86, thereafter as a municipal administrator in Sagan and as a private citizen in Danzig. Was implicated in the abduction of the princess of Kurland and spent 1800–1801 imprisoned in Brünn. His adaptation of La Veuve du Malabar by Antoine-Marin Lemierre (1770) as Lanassa (1782) enjoyed success especially with the Böhm theater company, which toured for a considerable period of time with the piece using music Mozart had composed for the failed play Thamos (1773).
Plutarch (ca. 45–ca. 125): Greek author during the reigns of Nero and the Flavians, probably dying during the time of Hadran. His best-known work is probably his Lives (see under Plutarch’s edition by Schirach for the translation Caroline probably used), of which forty-six are extant. These biographies alternately deal with one Greek and one Roman with an eye on uncovering universals and on demonstrating the equality of Greek and Roman culture. He chose men whose goals and accomplishments might be considered similar, albeit sometimes only superficially. Examples include Theseus as the founder of Athens and Romulus as the founder of Rome.
Podmanitzky von Aszód und Podmanin, Karl (Karoly Podmaniczky) Baron (13 November 1772–21 September 1833): Geologist and mining director from Schemnitz, modern Banská Štiavnica (Hungarian Selmecbánya, originally a mining town in central Slovakia in which many people are descendants of the Carpathian Germans, a group of German language speakers on the territory of present-day Slovakia who originally settled in Slovakia from the 12th to 15th centuries, mostly after the Mongol invasion of 1241, and usually attracted by kings seeking specialists in various trades, such as craftsmen and miners). Later husband of Julie von Charpentier, whom he met in Freiberg during his studies there, during which he was patronized by Abraham Gottlob Werner. They married on 23 July 1804. One of the leading geologists in Budapest. After Julie von Charpentier’s death, he married Elise (Eliza) Henriette von Nostitz und Jänckendorf in 1812 (1788/90–1853). (Portrait: by Anton Einsle, Evangelisches Museum, Budapest; repr. in Deutsche und ungarische Mineralogen in Jena: Wissenstransfer an der Wende des 18–19. Jahrhunderts im Rahmen der “Societät für die gesammte Mineralogie zu Jena”, ed. Dezső Gurka (Budapest 2015), fig. 10.)
Schelling (see letter 373a) mentions not only the wine Podmanitzky provided, but also his “rare educational and cultural background.” Alexander von Humboldt mentions Podmanitzky in volume 2 of his Equinoctial Regions of America. See the Intelligenzblatt of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung(1806) 27 (Saturday, 15 February 1806) 214:
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria has deigned to appoint the imperial Bergrath Karl Freyherr von Podmanitzky, highly respected in both his fatherland and abroad, to the status of real Thesauriats-Rath (Über-Schatzkammer-Rath) in the Grand Duchy of Siebenbürgen because of his learning and experiences gathered during his journeys to both domestic and foreign mining and smelting works. Earlier, after finishing his journeys abroad, where he married the youngest daughter of the recently deceased, worthy senior mining official von Charpentier, Herr von Podmanitzky was initially engaged as an imperial Hof-Commissar and provisional mining director in Banate, whence he recently was transferred to Siebenbürgen, where he will probably remain for a lengthier period.
Poel, Friederike Elisabeth, née Büsch (23 September 1768–18 October 1821): Daughter of mathematics professor Johann Georg Büsch (1728–1800) and Margarete Augusta, née Schwalb (1739–98), in Hamburg. From 6 January 1787 married to Piter Poel. (Portrait: archives of Hans-Werner Engels, Altona.)
Poel, Piter (17 June 1760–3 October 1837): Of Dutch extraction; godson of Grand Duke Peter, the future Czar Peter III. Grew up in Hamburg. 1776–78 business apprenticeship in Bordeaux 1778–80 in Geneva, 1780–83 student in Göttingen. Married Friederike Elisabeth Büsch (1768–1821) on 6 January 1787 in Hamburg. Settled in Altona in 1789, where he was generally active as a journalist and author. Published the Altona Mercurius and later a lengthy, detailed memoir also recounting his experiences in Göttingen as a student. (Portrait: archives of Hans-Werner Engels, Altona.)
Pombal, Marquis de (Sebastao José de Carvalho e Mello (1699–1782): Portuguese politician, 1750–56 minister of foreign affairs, 1756–77 prime minister, instituting administrative reforms, industrial and commercial development, liberating native slaves in Brazil, ameliorating the power of Jesuits, and reorganizing Portuguese finances and defense.
Pope, Alexander (1688–1744): English poet, known for his satirical verse and his translation of Homer. Began publishing in 1710, with The Rape of the Lock, perhaps his best-known poem, appearing in 1712 (rev. 1714), a mock-heroic epic involving a quarrel in high society concerning the “robbing” (snipping) of a lock of hair of a woman without her permission. His Eloisa to Abelard, of which Caroline speaks, inspired by the twelfth-century story of Eloisa’s [Heloise’s] illicit love for, and secret marriage to, her teacher Pierre Abélard, appeared in his Works in 1717. Pope also published extremely successful translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (between 1715–20 and 1725–26, the success of which made him the first English poet who could live off the sales of his work) and an edition of Shakespeare.
Porsch, August Heinrich (not “Franz,” as in Erich Schmidt, [1913], 2:701, 711) (10 October 1759 in Weimar–September 1823 in Riga): Son of Königsberg actors who worked with the theater in Weimar but who later moved back to Königsberg. His father’s death prompted him to become an actor himself, from 1771 — with his mother — in Riga. He returned to Königsberg, then back to Riga after his mother’s death, then moved briefly to St. Petersburg, and in 1788–89 was in Riga. When that troup was dissolved in 1789, Porsch married a divorced woman, Madam Wersing, née Buchner, a childhood friend of Mozart (see Caroline to Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter from Kronenberg on 15–16 June 1793 [letter 128]), and followed colleagues to the royal theater in Mainz, during which time he also performed in Frankfurt. From 1790 he was the first love interest and chevalier of the Mainz-Frankfurt stage, where he was also an acquaintance of August Wilhelm Iffland. During this time he also received and passed along letters for Caroline during her imprisonment, though it is uncertain how Caroline had made his acquaintance and come to trust him with her letters. Porsch also gave guest performances in Berlin and Danzig, including with Iffland, Fleck, and Friederike Unzelmann, and with curtain calls, a rare occurrence at the time. After the death of his first wife, Porsch returned to Riga in 1796 and in 1799 remarried, a woman née Gantner. He remained in Riga despite offers from Vienna, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. On 21 April 1821 he celebrated his fiftieth artistic jubilee in Riga. (See “August Heinrich Porsch, Schauspieler,” in Rigaische Biographien, vol. 1, 1810–1829 [Riga 1881], 77–81.)
Posselt, Ernst Ludwig (1763–1804): German historian who studied in Göttingen and Strasbourg; from 1784 Gymnasium professor in Karlsruhe, from 1791 magistrate in Gernsbach, resigning the latter position in 1796 because of his sympathies for the French Revolution. Edited the journals Europäische Annalen and Neueste Weltkunde. Committed suicide in Heidelberg.
Praun, Carl von (1732–1808): 1764–66 Senior Vice Mining Administrator, 1781–88 Senior Mining Administrator in Zellerfeld, and from 1785 also Administrative President in Blankenburg.
Praxiteles: Fourth-century Athenian sculptor, during a period when, influenced by the Sophists, belief in the traditional gods had been severely undermined, resulting in depictions of the gods simply as human beings rather than as lofty figures. First to sculpt the nude female form, probably his most famous statue being Aphrodite of Knidos, extant only in inferior copies; that said, she, too, was no longer a “goddess,” but rather a woman, albeit quite beautiful, but also demure. Epigrams have her asking, “But where did Praxiteles see me naked?”
Prévost d’Exiles, Antoine François (1697–1763) (known as Abbé Prévost): French author and novelist. Although intended for an ecclesiastical career, he had reservations and ended up fleeing to Holland and England (returning in 1734), in the latter of which he became well acquainted with English literature, from which he translated or adapted several of Samuel Richardson’s novels; moreover, his literary periodical Le Pour et Contre (from 1733) also brought English authors to the attention of the French reading public. Of his novels, many involving love and adventure, perhaps his best known is L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (1731), which was quite successful even though proscribed for a time
Prévost, Pierre (1751–1839): Swiss physician, professor of physics and philosophy in Berlin and Geneva; worked on magnetism and heat, and in 1792 developed an exchange theory in connection with the laws of radiation.
Preysing (Preissing), Sophie Elisabeth Susanne (1760–1832): Native of Gotha, where from 1776 she was engaged as a ducal chamber singer, also appearing onstage for the first time in 1776 in the role of Hannchen in the play by Christian Gottlob Neefe and Bernard Christoph d’Arien, Heinrich und Lyda (Naumburg 1777). Her voice was described as “incomparable.” A pupil of Georg Benda; the role of Juliet in the singspiel Romeo and Juliet by Benda was written for her when she was seventeen (libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter, first performed on 25 September 1776 at the royal theater in the Friedenstein Castle, Gotha). Later married to the cellist and composer Johann David Scheidler (1748–1802), with whom she occupied a leading position in the court chapel of Gotha. After the dismissal of the the court theater in 1779, she remained as a chamber singer in the ducal chapel.
Prillwitz, Johann Carl Ludwig (1758[59?]–1810): Typefounder, cofounder of the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung with Friedrich Justin Bertuch, also published the Journal des Luxus und der Moden. Produced the initial samples of antiqua (as opposed to Fraktur) Didot font for use in Germany.
Puke, Count (born 1795): Son of Swedish admiral Johan Puke (1751–1816), the latter an member of the Swedish navy and from 1796 its commander, later with the title admiral. The son was an acquaintances of the Wiedemanns in Kiel. See Anton Springer, Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann, 2. vols. (Leipzig 1870) 1:108fn*:
During the winter of 1813, the Wiedemanns, like everyone else in Kiel had to accept lengthy billeting of Swedish soldiers in their home. Among these soldiers was an extremely young cadet sergeant, the son of a high-ranking Swedish navy officer. He was accepted into the Wiedemann family circle, participating in evening activities and listening raptly to Julie’s [Schleiden’s] singing. Suddenly, however, he was ordered to deploy, and had made it only a few hours from Kiel with his comrades when a terrible snowstorm overtook him in a ravine. He lost his sense of direction, sunk ever deeper into the snow, and was on the brink of death, losing consciousness amid the roaring and swirling snow round about him. In the midst of this confusion and noise, he perceived the melody of a folksong Julie had often sung and of which he had grown particularly fond. That melody reawakened his recollection of Kiel, his senses and half-dulled strength returned. He doubled his efforts to escape the fateful ravine and succeeded in making his way back, albeit exhausted and half-dead, to the Wiedemann’s house in Kiel. They warmly received him and conscientiously nursed him back to health, whereupon he was able to thank Julie for rescuing him through her wondrous singing.
Pütter, Johann Stephan (1725–1807): Professor (professor iuris primarius) of political science in Göttingen. Examined imperial law and presented a version of constitutional law based on historical precedents rather than natural law. His constitutional history is still reckoned among the standard presentations for the period following the Thirty Years War. In the context of Caroline’s life, his most important contribution is having initiated a history of the Göttingen university, Versuch einer academischen Gelehrten-Geschichte von der Georg-Augustus-Universität Göttingen, 4 vols. (Göttingen, Hannover 1765–1838), that provides information about not only persons associated with the university, but also events both large and small in the history of the university. (Portrait: by Johann Elias Haid.)
Pyrrho (ca. 360–270 BCE): Greek scholar of antiquity during the time of Alexander. Initially a painter, then, inspired by the writings of Democritus, turned to philosophy. Essentially the founder of skepticism, asserting that nothing was true or false, right or wrong, nor subject to any fixed standard, and that uncertainty and doubt attached to all things. Although he seems to have lived an extremely long life, he left no writings himself.
Quast, Wolf Friedrich Ludwig von (13 February 1769–2 May 1812): Berlin equestrian gendarme, author of a well-received, illustrated book on horsemanship (Das Reitpferd [see below]; reviewed in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung [1811] 83 [Monday, 25 March 1811], 657–62), from 1792 lieutenant, also a Freemason in Berlin. Known in Berlin as “crazy Quast” for his bold behavior. 1804–5 traveled to Rome and Paris. Died after his horse stumbled on Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin after cobblestones had been removed for piping but the area not roped off as required. Quast was the great love of Friederike Unzelmann, though he also had a relationship with the beautiful Berlin singer and actress Henriette Baranius (1768–1853), in whom Mozart allegedly also fell in love. After selling his estate Garz near Ruppin to his cousin in 1795 (he also owned two other estates), Quast purchased the estates of Gross- and Klein-Zieten in the Teltow district. He was considered a fairly affluent man.
See Georg Siegerist, Aus den Tagebüchern des alten Heim: Tagebuch-Aufzeichnungen Ernst Ludwig Heims aus den Jahren 1795 bis 1834, Archiv der Brandenburgia, Gesellschaft für Heimatkunde der Provinz Brandenburg zu Berlin 7 (1901), 92 (see also Caroline’s letter to Julie Gotter on 15 June 1802 [letter 363]):
“Crazy Quast,” the gendarme. Despite his alleged “craziness,” Quast was a gifted, cultivated, well-read officer whose personality concealed an element of true genius. His book Das Reitpferd [Das Reitpferd. Dargestellt und durch 23 Kupfertafeln erläutert], which appeared in [Berlin] 1809 and then in its second printing in 1815, is well known. He died on 2 May 1812, 43 years old, after falling from a horse. — According to her own admission to Friedrich W. Gubitz, Quast was Friederike Unzelmann’s one great love, the only love who completely overwhelmed her. He later separated from her [for reasons of jealousy]. After his sudden death, however, for weeks “one could hardly even speak with Madam Bethmann [Friederike had in the meantime remarried]; during the first few days she simply could not stop weeping.”
Quinault, Philippe (1635–88): French playwright; his tragedies tended to emphasize love, while his comedies are generally more highly regarded. After 1670 devoted himself to opera and libretti.