Philobiblon

My 19th-century diairist, Frances Williams Wynn, is today getting a an officer of the Marines H.M.S. Northumberland Aug. 5, 1815, taking Napoleon to St Helena.

It has some lovely intimate insights into Napoleon the man:

Napoleon gets very sulky if he is not treated with that deference and respect to which he is accustomed: his own followers treat him with the same respect as if he was still emperor.
Beattie, my captain, was at Acre: Napoleon learnt this in conversation; seemed quite pleased, caught hold of his ear and gave it a good pinch (which is his custom when pleased), and seems to have taken a great liking to him.
…
I have dined three times with Napoleon. I cannot say I think his manners have much of that elegance which might have been expected from a person of his ci-devant rank. He has a particularly disagreeable grunt when he does not understand what you say, and desires a repetition.
He converses freely, but not at table, with the Frenchmen, and takes no more notice of the ladies than if they were a hundred miles off. I have not heard him speak once to Madame Bertrand at table, and seldom elsewhere.

I had some idea that he was always supposed to have been something of a “ladies’ man” – but perhaps not at this stage of his life.

Napoleon, History

A brave woman is cut down in her prime. From the BBC:

A well-known Afghan poet and journalist has died from her injuries after being beaten, police say.
Officers found the body of Nadia Anjuman, 25, at her home in the western city of Herat.
A senior police officer said her husband had confessed to hitting her during a row.

But it is said that “the family”, which I suspect means “her husband’s family”, refused to allow a post-mortem, which makes it highly likely that he will not pay any price for his action.

I couldn’t find any English-language information about her on the web. If you’re a reader who knows of sites in other languages, could you leave a comment with the link? It would be a small memorial.

Whenever I read about Herat, which is famous as a cultural centre I think of a wonderful anthropological study by a woman, I think she was American, that focused on pre-Taliban Herat, and a family of musicians, particularly the lives of the women, which was, by later Afghan standards, full and creative. Unfortunately I leant it to someone and never got it back. Does anyone recognise the description?

Postscript: Thinking of Muslim women poets, the one who immediately sprang to mind was the Bangladeshi Taslima Nasreen/Nasrin who has stood up against fatwas, death threats and societal pressures to proclaim the reality of women’s position in her society.

She wrote:

“Even a mangy cur of the house barks now and then,
but over the mouths of women cheaply had,
there’s a lock, a golden lock.”

Women, Feminism, Poetry

And it is a rousing edition on Early Modern Notes, the blog of the founder, Sharon Howard. Don’t miss it.

If you haven’t come across it before, this is a blog carnival alternating between the early modern and ancient/medieval periods, but it is by no means just for specialists.

For example, this one has a special, timely collection on Guy Fawkes’ Night, also exploring issues of modern religious prejudice, and a summary of the rather heated blogosphere debate about our current understanding – feminist and otherwise – of the persecution of witches in Europe. (On which I also made a small post.)

While I’m on the subject of carnivals, Tim Worstall’s weekly Britblog roundup seems to have a particularly good crop this edition. Now if you’re on my blogroll and you’re surprised to find yourself there, you can probably blame me – but go on, nominate yourself next week … (He doesn’t bite, and is friendly even if you don’t belong on the same place in the political spectrum as him.)

You might have noticed the Amazon advert for his soon-to-be-out blog compilation in my sidebar; a perfect gift for those who keep asking: “What is this blogging business anyway?” (And no I’m not in on the profits, although I do believe I have a small entry.)

I’d just been debating with the Blogcritics editors where I stood on the American political scale (off the left-hand end, I was suggesting), then I came across this unusually intelligent (but very American) politiical quiz. (Sorry, I’ve forgotten how I got there now.)

So it seems I’m not off the scale, just at its very edges. (And I’m still trying to work out how the question of computers writing novels relates to your politics …)

You are a Social Liberal (80% permissive) and an… Economic Liberal (10% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Not that it comes as a surprise, but the Observer reports that Nature has debunked so-called “research” (announced to the media long before it was published) said to show that men were smarter than women. (Which is based anyway on the total fallacy that IQ tests assess anything other than ability to do IQ tests, a cultural, learned skill.)

The “work” was last week published in the British Journal of Psychology, and immediately attacked by Nature (a far more prestigous journal).

It is nice to see science, for once, at least attempting to police its own.

UPDATE: Thanks to Vicki of Distinctive Web this is now fixed – at least it is on my screen; please advise if not on yours. (Should you be having the same problem her answer is in the comment.)

Another lovely example of altruism in the giant collective enterprise that is the blogosphere.

(And I’ve learnt not to trust Blogger preview!)

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If you can tell me how to restore my left margin I’ll be hugely, eternally grateful …

I’ve just spent two hours trying. The problem is in Blogger preview it looks fine, but in IE, there’s the text, hard up against the side wall. I’ve now got a template scattered with margin-left, padding-left, figures, but nothing seems to work.

It is now 4am, and it is going to have to stay that way for the next seven hours or so. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

To readers – sorry!