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JOSEPH II (Emperor of Germany 1765 - 1790, Emperor of Austria and Hungary from 1780). Series of nineteen autograph letters signed ('Joseph') to his sister Maria Carolina (Queen of Naples), n.p. [Vienna and (one letter) Hungary], 9 April - 17 November 1768, in French, written when his correspondent is on her way to Naples and during the first six months after her arrival there, advising her on how to conduct herself as Queen ('une reine moderne'), teasing her affectionately, sometimes writing sternly, 'de la fermeté, a la condescendence, laissés vous rechercher et faite vous quelquefois desirer ... Ne prenés d'amis qu'apres que vous les aurés bien epluchés'; advising her on how to deal with the King and remarking on the advantage of her becoming pregnant; approving of her giving up riding, 'en outre le danger auquell une femme s'expose, elle a toujours l'air d'un singe sur un cheval'; giving news of the Court in Vienna and of Maria Theresa, reporting in detail on the inoculation of the royal family against smallpox, and describing his own activities, subscribing himself in all the letters 'Votre serviteur et tendre frere Joseph'; written in brown ink, 29 pages, 4to (integral blank leaves cut away, small hole in one letter touching date).
Maria Carolina (1752 - 1814), the 13th child of the Empress Maria Theresa and sister of Marie Antoinette (Queen of France) was married to Ferdinand, King of Naples, on 7 April 1768, as a replacement for her elder sister Josepha who had died of small pox in 1767, before the wedding could take place. Later becoming the friend of Nelson and Lady Hamilton, she was to dominate her husband and the government of Naples.
Joseph II, co-regent with his mother from 1765, from his youth displayed a hatred of the formality of Court etiquette, and a belief that great leaders should live modestly, views which colour his advice to his sister on circumventing the stuffiness of the Neapolitan court and dealing with the boorish Ferdinand. 'C'est pour diminuer les genantes etiquettes, que les raisonemens sur ce que fait la vraie grandeur, que les comparaisons avec d'autres Coures avec des ridicules donés avec finesse et apropos, que profiter d'un moment de tendresse ou de gene sont les moyens chere Soeure que je conseille. Faite gouter a votre Roi seulement une fois les douceurs de la vie privé et vous n'aurés plus de peine a le detourner des vaines Pompes de la royauté. Faite lui sentir qu'il est homme que cette premiere et plus belle qualité prevale sur tous les autres titres et alors les etiquettes seront evanouies, enfin faite qu'il goute dans le mariage les plaisirs d'une vie bourgeoise, aisé, sans gene et alors sa Reine ne sera plus que sa charmante Compagne'. In one letter he sends by the same courier two hounds for the King, 'enfans legitimes de ma vieille coquine'. In another he urges caution after she has a near-mishap on the sea', while advising her on her wifely duties and on separating Ferdinand from some of his courtiers, and writting of his visits to the Banat and to Bohemia.
After the smallpox epidemic of 1767, Maria Theresa arranged for her children and 65 others to be inoculated by John Ingenhousz, sent out from England with a recommendation from George III. Inoculation had been introduced into England early in the 18th century when it became known chiefly through the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu from Constantinople. The success of this bold experiment was marked by a feast at Schönbrunn (D. Beales. Joseph II, 1987, vol. I, page 158). In six of the present letters, Joseph describes with cautious optimism the progress of the royal patients, 'les apparences paroissent encore bonnes, et ce ne sera que demain qu'ils deviendront malades ... quelques petites incomodités comme male de tete envie de vomir les a un peu tourmentés ... les boutons commencent a sortir. Mon frere Ferdinand en aura le plus', and the latter is soon 'en pleine supuration'. In great relief, he records that a Te Deum has been sung, and public festivities held, while the inoculation of the rest takes place at a castle designated by the Empress. The last letters give news of the court, plans for the marriages of his sisters, and mention his visits to the comédie francaise.
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Maria Carolina (1752 - 1814), the 13th child of the Empress Maria Theresa and sister of Marie Antoinette (Queen of France) was married to Ferdinand, King of Naples, on 7 April 1768, as a replacement for her elder sister Josepha who had died of small pox in 1767, before the wedding could take place. Later becoming the friend of Nelson and Lady Hamilton, she was to dominate her husband and the government of Naples.
Joseph II, co-regent with his mother from 1765, from his youth displayed a hatred of the formality of Court etiquette, and a belief that great leaders should live modestly, views which colour his advice to his sister on circumventing the stuffiness of the Neapolitan court and dealing with the boorish Ferdinand. 'C'est pour diminuer les genantes etiquettes, que les raisonemens sur ce que fait la vraie grandeur, que les comparaisons avec d'autres Coures avec des ridicules donés avec finesse et apropos, que profiter d'un moment de tendresse ou de gene sont les moyens chere Soeure que je conseille. Faite gouter a votre Roi seulement une fois les douceurs de la vie privé et vous n'aurés plus de peine a le detourner des vaines Pompes de la royauté. Faite lui sentir qu'il est homme que cette premiere et plus belle qualité prevale sur tous les autres titres et alors les etiquettes seront evanouies, enfin faite qu'il goute dans le mariage les plaisirs d'une vie bourgeoise, aisé, sans gene et alors sa Reine ne sera plus que sa charmante Compagne'. In one letter he sends by the same courier two hounds for the King, 'enfans legitimes de ma vieille coquine'. In another he urges caution after she has a near-mishap on the sea', while advising her on her wifely duties and on separating Ferdinand from some of his courtiers, and writting of his visits to the Banat and to Bohemia.
After the smallpox epidemic of 1767, Maria Theresa arranged for her children and 65 others to be inoculated by John Ingenhousz, sent out from England with a recommendation from George III. Inoculation had been introduced into England early in the 18th century when it became known chiefly through the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu from Constantinople. The success of this bold experiment was marked by a feast at Schönbrunn (D. Beales. Joseph II, 1987, vol. I, page 158). In six of the present letters, Joseph describes with cautious optimism the progress of the royal patients, 'les apparences paroissent encore bonnes, et ce ne sera que demain qu'ils deviendront malades ... quelques petites incomodités comme male de tete envie de vomir les a un peu tourmentés ... les boutons commencent a sortir. Mon frere Ferdinand en aura le plus', and the latter is soon 'en pleine supuration'. In great relief, he records that a Te Deum has been sung, and public festivities held, while the inoculation of the rest takes place at a castle designated by the Empress. The last letters give news of the court, plans for the marriages of his sisters, and mention his visits to the comédie francaise.
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