As promised...

[estellacat]

...More from That Book About Le Bas. ^__^ This one is mostly footnotes, I'm afraid.

V

Retrospective notes. - Maximilien Robespierre welcomed into the Duplays’ home. - Who Duplay the cabinetmaker was. - His fortune. - The reasons for his political convictions. - His family. - Robespierre’s “court.” - Duplay’s daughters. - Éléonore and Robespierre;

Comments

[josiana]

The book about Le Bas continues to be lovely.
It has been claimed, at last, that Robespierre exercised an influence on his votes; Philippe Le Bas fils, liked to recount, to reply to this allegation, the scene that has been reported by Louis Blanc, by Hamel, and by others still: One day when Duplay had sat as juror, his lodger asked him vaguely what he had done at the tribunal: “Maximilien,” he replied, “never have I sought to know what you do at the Committee of Public Safety.” Robespierre, without replying, affectionately squeezed his hand.

I like this part especially. ^^; I'm not sure I can explain why, though.

[estellacat]

It does, doesn't it? It's one of the few books I know that are consistently wonderful throughout. (The preface by Sardou aside. >.>)

You probably like it because it's cute. And because of its signification. :D?

[josiana]

Probably. >_>

[trf_chan]

Awww, Duplay was also ♥. I love how, unlike many other periods in history that I'm interested in (see: Me reading a book about the last 100 or so years of the Roman Republic and eventually wanting to beat everyone I read about except Cato because they were such. damn. corrupt. assholes. AAGH), the more I read about the people involved the more I like them. I can't wait to see the rest of the section on the Duplays!

Thanks for translating, as always. :3

[estellacat]

Yes, all the Duplays are awesome like that. ^__^ I know, I love that about the Revolution too; I wish other people would realize how just plain likeable the Robespierristes were. Unfortunately, it seems that at the bare minimum to properly appreciate the Revolution--and thus the Robespierristes--one needs three things:

1. To be willing to shed prejudices and ignore stereotypes (this one seems to be the most difficult for most people--re: "It's even called the Reign of Terror--how can you defend it?")
2. Not to be a complete cynic
3. To actually share its ideals (obviously, if you're a royalist, there's something wrong if you like the Revolution).

One would think think that this last one wouldn't be so complicated, but it seems there are fewer republicans in our "republics" and fewer democrats in our "democracies" than we'd like to believe. -__-;;

(Oh, Ancient Rome. I find it so interesting, but like you I want to strangle 99% of the Romans. Gah. >__>)

You're very welcome. :D