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That didn't pan out too well...

AUGUST 9, 2013

For the Wall Street Journal, about the Marquis de Condorcet, a french nobleman who was well known for his socially progressive views, which initially protected him from prosecution during the French Revolution and even gained him the office of Secretary of the new legislative assembly. He fell out of favour rather quickly though, not being willing to live up to the fanaticism demanded of him by the Jacobites. Hunted by the authorities, he became a refugee and spent moths in hiding in a friends attic. When the authorities finally caught up with him he went on the run again, and after two days in the wild, hunger eventually forced him to seek refuge at an inn. When the inn keeper asked for his order, he replied that he would like an omelet. How many eggs, the inn keeper asked, and Condorcet, not ever having set foot in a kitchen before, replied "twelve". Immediately the entire room was in an uproar over the aristocrat hiding among them, and he was dragged off to prison where he died that same night. On an empty stomach.
© 2024 Thomas Fuchs