23 Nov Sundays with Stendhal 5: Stendhal on Blogging
‘The Marquis does not like bloggers, I warn you; it is his one antipathy,’ the Abbe Pirard said to Julien. ‘Know Latin, Greek if you can, the history of the Egyptians, of the Persians, and so forth; he will honour you and protect you as a scholar. But do not go and post a single page in French, especially upon grave subjects that are above your position in society; he would call you a blogger and take a dislike to you. What, living in a great nobleman’s mansion, don’t you know the Duc de Castries’s saying about d’Alembert and Rousseau: “That sort of fellow wishes to blog about everything, and has not a thousand crowns a year”?’
(The Red and the Black, part 2, chapter 34, “The Hotel de la Mole.” ‘Scribber’ in the original, but close in spirit, yes?)
Ha, ha. You have made my morning; many thanks.