sand

[victor steinbok]

Another piece of trivia that might be of interest to quotation hunters
and publishers.

In the same Mudford volume I mentioned earlier (about two seasons),
just a page earlier (p. 198), there is the following passage:

> Frederick II. King of Prussia, during his last illness, called in the assistance of Dr. Zimmermann, then physician to the Duke of York, at Hanover. Discoursing one day on some sandy counties of Prussia, he said, "Zimmermann, men are so proud that they imagine that every thing in the world was made for them, and yet I cannot conceive why God has created sands."

Speaking of Mudford, the first edition of the same volume was printed
in 1803 (I earlier cited the 1808 2nd edition). But there is also an
1802 translation by Francis Blagdon. Blagdon used "Zahara" where
Mudford wrote "Zaara".

As for the Frederick II conversation with Zimmermann, one can hardly
get a more authoritative reference than Zimmermann himself.

1791
Doctor Zimmermann's conversations with the late King of Prussia: when
he attended him in his last illness a little before his death
Johann Georg Zimmermann
p. 151

> Mankind are vain enough to imagine that every thing in the world was created for them ; and yet I cannot conceive why God created sands.

VS-)

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