An emperor in the hand is worth two peasants in the bush

"Enlighteners hoped for a benevolent despot who would take their advice and enforce enlightened policies from above. Voltaire placed such hopes in Frederick the Great, Diderot in Catherine the Great. It must be said that Joseph II had little interest in the philosophes. Although he met many of them, including Buffon, d'Alembert, Grimm and Turgot in Paris in 1777, it was well known that on his return journey through Switzerland he passed the gates of Ferney without calling on Voltaire, even though the latter was expecting him, had arranged a diner party in his honour, and placed peasants in the trees to provide an ovation. It may well be that in general Enlighteners' hopes of obtaining the prince's ear and influencing policy were more or less fantastic."

Ritchie Robertson, 'Freemasons vs Jesuits: Conspiract theories in Enlightenment Germany', Times Literary Supplement, 12 October 2012

The port of his Quality

At the dawn of the eighteenth century in England there were certainties and proprieties that we can only dream of. John Digby died without issue (despite his second wife’s having ‘possessed his affections entire’) and his titles became extinct, but we may be assured that his qualities survived him and flourished.

Perhaps also we should take heart that more may survive from that golden age than at first appears: great men who achieve little in the holding of public office, and the condescension of the worthy to their inferiors.

Lord John was briefly Member of Parliament (Tory) for Dorset 1675-77, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset 1679-98 and Vice-Admiral of Poole, but he fails to rank an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, and I fancy Rachel, who survived him, was the true office holder. It seems that so busy was she with the utmost proofs of the reality of her late husband’s perfect friendship and confidence, that she had not even the time to look up the exact date of his first wife’s death.

Here Lyes John Lord Digby Baron Digby of Sherborne and Earl of Bristol

Titles to which ye merit of his Grandfather first gave lustre.

And which he himself laid down unsully’d.

He was naturally enclined to avoid the Hurry of a publick Life,

Yet carefull to keep up the port of his Quality.

Was willing to be at ease but scorned obscurity;

And therefore never made his Retirement a pretence to draw

Himself within a narrower compass or to shun such expence

As Charity, Hospitality, & his Honour call’d for.

His Religion was that which by LAW is Established;

And the Conduct of his life shew’d the power of it in his Heart.

His distinction from others never made him forget himself or them.

He was kind & obliging to his Neighbours, generous & condescending

to his inferiors, and just to all Mankind.

Nor had the temptations of honour & pleasure in this world

Strength enough to withdraw his Eyes from that great

Object of his hope, which we reasonably assure ourselves

he now enjoy’s.

He Dyed Sept XII: Ann: Dom: MDCICVIII.

His first wife was ALICE, the daughter and Heir of ROBERT BOURN of BLAKE-HALL in the COUNTY of ESSEX Esquire

She was Marry’d the 26th of May 1656

DY’d in May 1658

His second wife was RACHEL ye Daughter and one of the Coheirs of Sr. HUGH WINDHAM of SILTON in ye COUNTY of DORSET KNIGHT.

Who possess’d his Affection entire.

With whom he lived in perfect friendship and Confidence and to whom he left the utmost proofs of theire reality.

She Dy’d the 16th of Feb. 1708.

Moule

Bill Gates has sold another 5 million Microsoft shares raising about $137,950,000 to fund further his charitable foundation. According to the Guardian, "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is making $42m available for eight universities to develop a toilet that does not need a sewer connection, water or electricity to operate. The aim is to improve people's health in parts of the world where there are few if any flushable toilets."

Perhaps someone should mention to him Henry Moule's dry earth closet, first patented in 1873 and adopted in private houses, in rural districts, in military camps, in many hospitals, and extensively in the British Raj - and also by Thomas Hardy's family, which was related to him. An early example can be seen in an outhouse at Thomas Hardy's cottage.

Moule, educated at Marlborough College and St John's College Cambridge, spent his life as an Anglican curate and then vicar in Dorset. During the cholera epidemics of 1849 and 1854 his exertions were unwearied. Impressed by the insalubrity of the houses, especially in the summer of 1858 (the Great Stink) he turned his attention to sanitary science, and invented what is called the dry earth system. In partnership with James Bannehr, he took out a patent for the process (No. 1316, dated 28 May 1860). Among his works bearing on the subject were: ‘The Advantages of the Dry Earth System,’ 1868; ‘The Impossibility overcome: or the Inoffensive, Safe, and Economical Disposal of the Refuse of Towns and Villages,’ 1870; ‘The Dry Earth System,’ 1871; ‘Town Refuse, the Remedy for Local Taxation,’ 1872, and ‘National Health and Wealth promoted by the general adoption of the Dry Earth System,’ 1873.

The age of enlightenment & the luxury goods trade

The new National Museum of China has opened behind its colonnaded façade overlooking Tiananmen Square. Only the Louvre is bigger. Visitors are restricted to 8000 a day.

The Stalinist building was remodelled by the German architects Gerkan, Mark and Partners, well versed in the design of sports stadia, airports and railway stations. Exhibits have been recruited from museums all over China.

The exhibition entitled The Path to National Resurrection guides the visitor from the nineteenth-century western impositions upon China to the Beijing Olympics. (I’m not sure whether there is an interactive display of Chinese holding of US debt.) There is one picture of a smiling Mao and one of the events of 1989 with Deng Xiaoping congratulating the troops enforcing martial law. There is no room for the Great Famine, the effects of the Cultural Revolution or the protests in Tiananmen Square.

The first loan exhibition was on the Age of Enlightenment with 600 works of eighteenth-century art from Berlin, Munich and Dresden. At the opening the German foreign minister “spoke of the ideals expressed by art, such as respect for human dignity, the rule of law and individual freedoms. Such ideas, he added, led to the fall of the Berlin wall, but the Chinese media made no mention of his comments”.

Future visiting exhibitions from the west are under discussion. The luxury goods group LVMH ("world leader in luxury" - imagine the burden if you had to worry whether or not the luxury you were enjoying were world class - "LVMH carries out a number of initiatives through its commitment to protecting the environment" - how wonderful to have Keith Richards and Annie Leibovitz come to your aid to bestow social and cultural gravitas on a collection of bags, booze and scent) has started talks about an exhibition on the Vuitton brand and travel. It is expected to occupy four rooms and last two or three months, according to the LVMH spokesperson in Shanghai. Rumours that the newly formed British Furniture Designer Makers Association are to hold an exhibition there are unconfirmed.

wooing China?

“With its prestige, ambitious aims and vast exhibition space begging to be filled, museums from all over the world are courting the Chinese mogul. But this may not be a simple task. As one expert said: ‘The editorial line of Chinese museums is not always crystal clear.’"