Sidney Bradshaw Fay

“ Admitting, however, that there is a mixture of Dichtung und Wahrheit in the Memoirs, they nevertheless give a generally veracious, favorable, and intensely human picture of a really great man. They recount his foibles, jokes, hemorrhoids, poems, and persiflage. Often the weary head of the state would exclaim to Catt, "What a dog's life I have to lead!". He even had thoughts of resigning the crown to his brother, in order that he might retire to the literary delights of Sans Souci. Catt gives many amusing anecdotes illustrating Frederick's fondness for practical jokes on other people ”

“ Great men, and even men not great, often have need of such retainers. Johnson had Boswell, Goethe had Eckermann, Byron had Moore, and so forth. Catt was a devoted admirer, but his incense was not of that gross kind, burned by others, which obscures the idol and defiles the worshippers.
During the bitter years 1758–1760, in which Frederick suffered at Olmütz, Hochkirchen, Zorndorf, and Kunersdorf, and in which he was bereft of his beloved mother, brother, and sister, Catt kept a very brief Diary of all conversations and journeys with the king. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1967, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 56 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”