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Jul. 6th, 2014
I’m leaving the cats outs today. The high is supposed to be 93 degrees, which I suppose is moderate enough. I don’t want the cats to think of me as a tyrant. I’m kind of surprised by how moderate the summer has been. One would have expected one or two 100-degree heatwaves by now. Here we are into the second week of July and it can still seem a little springy. I expect it’s coming, though - hard and brutal.
Talleyrand and the French Revolution
Jul. 6th, 2014 01:35 pmTalleyrand was not quite radical enough for the French revolution and had to leave France in 1792 to England and then was forced to leave there in 1794, from which he ventured to America.
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Of all the French expatriates stranded in Philadelphia, none cut a more memorable figure than a French diplomat of unflappable composure who walked with a clubfoot from a childhood fall and who dissected the world with a sardonic eye: Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, better known as Talleyrand. On the eve of the Revolution, the king had named him bishop of Autun, a reward for managing church finances, not for spiritual spirituality, but he did not allow the appointment to slow down his dissolute life. Gouverneur Morris described Talleyrand as “sly, cool, cunning, and ambitious.” He had an acerbic wit, and given his legions of enemies, he needed it. Mirabeau, the French revolutionary politician, once observed of Talleyrand that he “would sell his soul for money and he would be right, for he would be exchanging dung for gold.” Napoleon expressed the sentiment more concisely, calling Talleyrand “a pile of shit in a silk stocking.”
-- Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”
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Of all the French expatriates stranded in Philadelphia, none cut a more memorable figure than a French diplomat of unflappable composure who walked with a clubfoot from a childhood fall and who dissected the world with a sardonic eye: Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, better known as Talleyrand. On the eve of the Revolution, the king had named him bishop of Autun, a reward for managing church finances, not for spiritual spirituality, but he did not allow the appointment to slow down his dissolute life. Gouverneur Morris described Talleyrand as “sly, cool, cunning, and ambitious.” He had an acerbic wit, and given his legions of enemies, he needed it. Mirabeau, the French revolutionary politician, once observed of Talleyrand that he “would sell his soul for money and he would be right, for he would be exchanging dung for gold.” Napoleon expressed the sentiment more concisely, calling Talleyrand “a pile of shit in a silk stocking.”
-- Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”
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Reading Life
Jul. 6th, 2014 09:57 pmFinishing a chapter of Schmidt’s “Novel: A Biography” just before dinner, I see that I crossed the 400-page mark, and this strikes me as a good time to take a break from my literary binging. Tomorrow I will take up Orwell’s essay on politics and language, and then I think I am going to spend some quality time with Lincoln. This will also open up my evening reading for something light, a little escapist reading. I got the Kindle copy of Thomas Mallon’s novel, “Watergate”. That has been near the top of my ‘wanna read’ stack for a long time.
Sunday Night
Jul. 6th, 2014 10:17 pmWhile Lorie seems to have Pop giving her a tour of the house, showing her the inventory of all his possessions, I take the opportunity to go to the patio to make sure the cats have food. The plate is empty, but neither are there any cats. I think some people might still be popping off some leftover fireworks.