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Leopold Mozart was eager to win the hearts of the English, and thought he knew just the way to do it.
In 1763-64, Leopold Mozart spent fifteen months in England with his daughter Maria Anna (‘Nannerl’) and son Wolfgang, who turned nine during the visit. Leopold was much taken with King George III and Queen Charlotte, who treated the Mozarts like family, and he told his friend Johann Lorenz von Hagenauer, an Austrian businessman, that he was eager to win the affection of the English people too.
Picture: By Heinrich Lossow (1843–1897), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted April 26 2019
752
French economist Jean-Baptiste Say recalls a time when an ounce of prevention might have saved many pounds of cure.
Jean-Baptiste Say was a French businessman and economist, an authority on Adam Smith and champion of free markets who in 1804 resigned in protest from Napoleon’s dirigiste government. He told the following story to show that ‘economy is inconsistent with disorder’.
Picture: © Lisa Jarvis, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted April 22 2019
753
Former slave Ignatius Sancho complained that Britain was denying to Africa the free trade and Christian principles she so badly needed.
In 1778, Ignatius Sancho (1729-1782) wrote a letter to Jack Wingrave, son of his friend John, a London bookseller. Jack’s experiences in Bombay had prejudiced him against the locals, but Sancho reminded him that Britain had promised her colonies free trade and Christian principles, and given them neither.
Picture: © Pyspic, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted April 14 2019
754
In 1775, London’s high-handed exploitation of her colonies for tax revenue began to look like a very expensive mistake.
The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) saw thirteen British colonies in North America win independence as the United States of America. For too long, they had sweated in a wretched trade zone created to fill London’s Treasury with gold and line the pockets of her cronies, and it was time for it to stop.
Picture: By John Trumbull (1756-1843), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 31 2019
755
John, Duke of Montagu, that irrepressible prankster, identified a sad-faced soldier in the Mall as the perfect mark.
John, Duke of Montagu (1690-1749), was notorious for his practical joking. This might be little more than squirting people with water or putting itching powder in the guest bed, but sometimes it took on a grander conception.
Picture: © Mattbuck, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted March 29 2019
756
Geoffrey of Monmouth tells the tale of how Merlin first came to the attention of Britain’s kings.
Fifth-century tribal leader Vortigern has taken refuge from Saxon invaders in Snowdonia, but his new fortress keeps collapsing. His druid priests say it must be sprinkled with the blood of a virgin’s child — and rumour has it that young Merlin had no father.
Picture: From a thirteenth-century copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Prophetiae Merlini, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence Public domain.. Source.
Posted March 27 2019