Agraria and

Urbania

Gerrard Lilburne

1
Agraria and Urbania

Copyright: Byron & Shelley Publishing, 2017.

ISBN 9781976729614

Nisus Publications

2
For Viktoria, in thankfulness for all the
inspiration

3
 I
It was springtime in 1758. The world wide war between
England and France was raging in its third year, and
innumerable ships with their crews had been sunk – in
the Atlantic as well as in the Indian Ocean. To the French
yeoman and artisan, Louis-Olivier Fourier, the war was –
as such – an abominable absurdity. He had himself, with
his own hands, participated in building several of the
ships which were sacrificed in the war, and he had lost
several of his comrades in the battle at sea.

Louis-Olivier was an ardent adherent to the new

Enlightenment ideas which the present century had
brought with it, and on several occasions he had assisted
Denis Diderot and D’Alembert in their efforts at
collecting and depicting all the artisanal knowledge and
know-how, as well as all the technology, which were to
be found in French workshops all over the country. The
first volumes of the French encyclopedia had already
been published, and gave during the 1750’s an additional
impetus to progress within the multifarious French
communities, in the cities as well as in the countryside.

In England, the previous hundred years or so had

witnessed a somewhat different development than in
France, although the people of Great Britain in general
nourished high hopes for the new Enlightenment ideas
and ideals as well. The British Isles had had their Francis

4
Bacon, Gerrard Winstanley and John Locke, and these
philosophers’ thoughts had also influenced the
intellectual life of Continental Europe to a certain extent.

The metal worker, blacksmith and historian Gaius Digger

nourished the same contempt for the war as his
vocational brother in France. But to Gaius it was heavier
to tolerate as long as it was ”his” country which had
started the war – by attacking French merchant ships on
the open Ocean. The French had predicated the virtues of
laissez faire, and lived out this new liberal ideal by way
of foreign trade with the country’s surplus agrarian, craft
and industrial production. The strong upwards turn for
the French economy, and all the cultural impulses
flowing from the country, were regarded as a threat by
the British upper classes, who did not get a brighter idea
than resorting to armed force. ”It’s like the Ancient
Greeks had it,” Gaius thought, standing over the anvil
and forging a boat axe, ”where reason ends, violence
begins.” But Gaius, for his part, was not going to accept
his government’s warfare without protest. He was
already encouraging and organizing a revolutionary
struggle against his own regime – with the aim to
complete the work done by the so-called Levellers and
their most radical wing, the Diggers, during the
Revolution a little more than a century previously. There
had already been organized strictly clandestine militias in
London, Birmingham and Gaius’ own hometown,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as well as all over the countryside
5
in the southern parts of the country. Even in the vicinities
of certain northern cities there had been formed such
militias. Also in Scotland and Ireland people were
stirring, and the revolutionary Britons could expect
ardent support in both these nations.

A main inspiration for the English people starting to stir

up a revolutionary strife was newly dicovered biological
knowledge in France, by the gardener and scientist Du
Monceau, who early in the present year had discovered
the highly important symbisis which prevails in the soil
between mycorrhizal fungi and the roots of most of the
green plants on Earth, including the vegetables and herbs
growing throughout Britain as well as France. When Du
Monceu’s new insight was conveyed to the British Isles
by way of the translation made by the shoemaker,
gardener midwife and poet, Faith Harrow Craft – an
insight which alluded to the enormous increase in
nutritional activities, including the uptake of phosphorus
and minerals, with which the symbiosis supplied the
cultivated plants – vast segments of the British
population had seen through its own Government’s and
its high nobility’s self-serving and egotistical declaration
of war against the French – to such an extent that
seemingly a majority among the British public now
wanted to topple their own Government. The alternative
to the present system were planned to be a form of
confederalism, in line with the ones prevailing in the
Swiss cantons and formerly in ancient Greece and among
6
the Etruscans, the Hansa cities and the United Dutch
Provinces.

Gaius Digger nurtured a love affair with Faith Harrow

Craft, and it was he who had encouraged her to embark
on the translation work, and with her relations living in
France she had good knowledge of the French language –
which had been a desideratum on the British Isles for
quite a while. As a midwife she also sustained certain
contacts in the scientific society, who could assist her in
the translation of specific scientific terms, and as a poet
she had the ability to express herself. For although the
actual publication was based on a scientific article, it was
of so massive an importance that it would serve the
distribution of the book’s contents if it was conveyed in a
poetically accomplished way – not necessarily with
rhyme and rhythm, of course, but by picturesque
representations of the heavy scientific stuff. The main
point, as always in the ventures of the French
encyclopaedists, was to make the subject known among
the broad segments of the population by being of avail
within agriculture as well as crafts and industry. The
knowledge most often reached the public through reading
aloud by scholars familiar with the actual scientific
language and subsequent discussions on the topic.

”Have you ever wondered about what the basis of

civilization may be,” Faith asked Gaius one day when
they had a little rest in their common resting room in

7
between their workshops, in the old neighbourhood in the
old port of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

”Yes, as an historian one happens to do so from time to

time. For one is regularly confronted by the crucial
question: Why did the ancient civilizations disappear?
And what was their origin? From what kind of pre-
civilizatory economic basis did they develop?”

They sat for quite a while and philosophized over this

issue, before Gaius asked her whether she had come up
with some kind of definition of a civilization.

”I have been thinking a lot about this subject lately –

especially after the escallation of the strife on the high
seas, and based on an understanding of the war
mongering among the British elites. Many among us
Britons surely have this conception regarding the
mastering of navigation at sea and the consequent
commerce resulting from it. Intuitively speaking this
conception seems like pure nonsense to me, for everyone
obviously needs to produce something tradeable before
embarking on a merchant journey. If not, we are not
talking about trading operations but plunder pure and
simple. However, the delineation between the two of
them has been a vague one throughout history…”

”Yes, what you say is quite logical, Faith. Moreover, it

corresponds fairly well with my impression after

8
studying history and doing historical research for more
than 30 years.”

”Thanks, love. My view of the case is, as I indicated,

influenced by my simple materialistic instinct, that is,
that the oikos, as the ancient Greeks called it, or the
household, as we put it, has to constitute the basis for any
society. As a matter of fact, we are talking about biology
and human physiology. Without adequate nourishment
our inherent intellectual capabilities are of zero value.
And vice versa, in a way, adequate nourishment for
civilized human beings is a demanding subject in itself,
posing the greatest challenges for the human intellect…

However, I have to add that my own perspectives on

civilization and society in general are influenced, to a
considerable extent, by our beloved Quesnay, who has
portrayed the essential aspects of the economics within
our society in such a clear manner. Combined with the
work of Du Monceau it constitutes an invincible
combination seen in the context of the ordinary French
outlook on civilization.

”True enough. Indeed, the majority among the French

population are probably more or less influenced by good
old Quesnay. King Louis surely found the right man for
the position as minister of the exchequer in him. Louis is,
by the way, an extraordinary clever talent spy, to put it
that way.”

9
After the lunch break the both of them went back to their
craft work. Gaius hade recently been hired for blacksmith
work related to the equipment of the British war ships – a
work which he spoiled as much as possible, without
bringing him troubles with the authorities. Instead, he
used his time for making rifles for the planned revolt.
Like most artisans, Faith had also been commanded to
furnish the battling forces with equipment. She was
supposed to sew leather boots for the marines, and due to
the fact that the availability of leather was more even
than the availability of iron – because of the customarily
calm and sedate farmers, compared to the far more
riotous tendency among the members of the peasantry
who had been driven off their soil in the past generations,
only to be absorbed in the mining and metallurgical
industries – she had considerably more trouble with
sabotaging her delivery of ready made boots. However,
she managed to put away a pair now and then, meant for
the needy within the ranks of the revolutionary when the
time came.

10
 II

In the increasingly popular salons in the French cities one

of the main subjects for quite a while had been the issue
of precious metals; more specifically, what is it with
precious metals that attracts so many people towards
them and give them a higher priority than elements which
are vital for life itself? Despite certain people’s efforts to
explain the preoccupation with the traits of gold and
silver as resulting from their value as jewelry and
adornments, it was another view which was to prevail
among vast segments of the French intelligentsia:
Against the background of the old legends from ancient
Sumer, or Mesopotamia, along the rivers Euphrates and
Tigris, it has been contended that the sumeric civilization
in its early stages was visited by otherworldly beings
called the Annunaki. These human like beings came from
a solar system in which their planet was rapidly losing its
vital atmosphere because of excessive emissions of
carbon dioxide and methane. Hence, the annunaki were
searching the universe for planets on which they could
mine for gold in order to pulverize it and spread it
throughout their atmosphere so as to save life on their
planet. According to the legend they found this gold in
the mountain regions of ancient Sumer, and after tiring of
mining it themselves they decided to genetically engineer
a slave species based on the primates of the Earth. Thus,

11
this species was meant to be obsessed with gold mining,
and it came to populate vast areas of the Middle East and
also to spread into Europe.

Furthermore, many among the Fremch intelligentsia were

apt to believe that the obsession with trade among the
British stemmed from their contact with the ancient
Phoenicians, and that this fact earned them the nickname
”the Modern Carthage.” However, this was not to suggest
that the French automatically likened themselves with
ancient Rome, as the kind of imperialism represented by
that civilization ran completely counter to the political
ideals which had been in the making ever since the
publication of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws in
1748. Thus, it was republicanism which was the overall
ideal in France, albeit to a lesser extent in the countryside
than in the cities. In the countryside people had for
extended periods of time backed their respective kings, to
the extent that several of them had contributed to ending
the strife between barons and counts – struggles which
had taken a tremendous toll among the ranks of the
peasantry by their being commanded onto the battlefield
by ”their lords.”

The present king, Louis XV, was of a completely

different temper and mindset than his father, the so-called
”Sun King,” who had been very apt to strike an
imperialistic tone with respect to the surrounding world.
The present king was rather a universalist than a

12
nationalist, and he supported to the fullest extent the
Enlightenment philosophers in his country by offering
them high positions within his state administration, and
let thinkers such as Diderot get peace in their work
situation, even though it occasionally had to be
conducted in prison because of the pressure from the
Franch clergy as well as nobility.

In the Vendee district in Western France lived Jeanne

Poisonniere with her lover Charles Terrau. They ran her
family’s old farm together, with her parents living in the
same house – who also helped with the work in the fields
and in the workshops. Moreover, Jeanne and Charles also
had a son together, Robert, who was already old enough
to contribute with his labour in the farm work and had
even started learning the art of wine production. It was
quite common that several generations lived together,
mainly because that was the essential way that
knowledge off arming and craft work was transmitted
from one generation to the next. Public educational
institutions existed primarily in the cities, at least at the
university level. But the agronomical skills among the
French farmers were often at a very high level, especially
among those who had regular contact with
representatives of the intelligentsia – who in many
instances went on cultural travels to the countryside to
enlighten themselves. More rarely the farmers stayed for
more than a day or two in the cities – most often they

13
went there on special market days, which regularly
occurred towards the end of every week.

Actually, Jeanne Poisonniere had intended to move to

Paris to earn a living as a glass worker. However, when
her two brothers, Michel and Yves, had been commanded
into the war service to defend the principles of French
civilization and – as probably more than half of Europa’s
population saw it – the very homeland of the
Enlightenment ideals, she could not see any alternatives
but to contribute to carry on the farm work. Moreover,
she had a considerable interest in herb cultivation and
herb medicine, and practiced both those arts besides the
glass manufacture.

She had met her lover, Charles, at a dance night in one of

the region’s popular inns a few years back, but they had
lived separately all along until the war broke out. Then
they moved in together at the farm, where Charles
continued to practice viniculture and wine production at a
medium scale. He had always two apprentices working
with him, one in each trade – trades, though, which most
often was combined throughout France. Charles was also
a passionate piano player and occasionally he composed
his own works, among which some had been played at
public concerts in the Vendee district. Once there had
also been conducted a version of his work, ”The Power
of the Earth” in Paris.

14
Jeanne had learned glass blowing from her father,
Olivier, who was still active in procuring coal for the
glass making process in her workshop, which required
temperatures upwards to 1200 degrees Celsius. He still
blew glass, presently in Jeanne’s workshop, although he
had gradually relaxed his labour activity lately. Instead,
he concentrated on studying and doing research on the
history of glass production in France and elsewhere.
Among the scholars in France in the mid-eighteenth
century it was commonly held that this craft had its
origin in ancient Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt. Olivier
clung to the latter theory, which was the least common at
the time. He had stuck with the making of drinking glass,
and had not extended his production to sheet glass
production. The demand for glass had increased
considerably during the last few years accompanying the
new canning techniques which were spreading both in
the countryside and in the cities, and wine production
was on the rise due to the enlarged productivity following
from the new agronomical and micribiological insights
regarding plant cultivation, so that the demand for bottles
grew correspondingly. Apart from that, Jeanne used the
bottels herself in connection with her production of
tinctures from the herb cultivation – natural medicines
which encompassed everything from hemp root
decoction for use as a pain killer, especially regarding
bone fractures, to sage and thyme tinctures for treatment
of lung diseases. The new insights regarding ancient

15
Greece and Rome had, moreover, revealed those peoples’
usage of milfoil tea and milfoil decoction for healing
bone fractures and torn sinews through increased blood
circulation – which had also contributed to the
improvement of tooth health, which was of special avail
now that sugar was about to appear in large quantities on
the European market.

Consequently, Jeanne concentrated on the above

mentioned herbs, in additon to a great variety of others,
which she availed herself of in her own medicinal work.
After all, this was a vocation which had been despised
during moyen âge, which was the commonly used word
for the previous era, and way into moderen times as
witnessed by the fact that women as well as men had
been burned at the stake for witchcraft related to herb
usage all the way throughout the seventeenth century.
Many people clung to the opinion that the craze of the
witch hunts in early moderen times, in addition to the
religious wars which unfolded simultaneously,
contributed to paving the way for an increasing demand
for enlightenment and rational behaviour for the sake of
achieving a viable civilization. Similarly to Faith Craft,
Jeanne Poisonniere was of the clear conviction that any
civilization has to be based on the maintenance of the
household, i the general sense of the term, and in that
task she naturally included the care and improvement of
the population’s health, and hence ability to work,
throughout a long life.
16
Jeanne had joined a kind of modern guild consisting of
herb growers and practioneers of herb medicine, and at
their monthly meetings the guild members delivered
lectures and preliminary speeches for discussion for each
other – while other meetings were open for the public.
She had to go to Paris once a month in order to meet her
guild fellows, and at those occasions she liked to stay in
that city for couple of days to draw on its impulses and
breathe the ”free city air,” as the saying went during the
Middle Ages. Presently, the same ”free air” was about to
spread all over the French countryside and the old feudal
tithes and registers ware under increasing attacks from
peasants as well as Enlightenment philosophers. These
tithes and registers allotted certain people with the ”right
names” (the nobility) feudal rights over the so-called
serfs, who were tied to the soil on which they lived and
cultivated, while being obliged to do compulsory work
for, and pay rent to, the landlord in the form of a
considerable portion of their own produce. However,
with his economic philosophy and calculations Francois
Quesnay had stated empathetically what the
consequences of oppressing and impoverishing the
farmers meant for a society and, not least, for a
civilization. It was all ”omens of ruin,” according to
Quesnay’s point of view, and he had started the tedious
work of defeudalizing the French countryside. There had
also been several attempts at revolts from the peasants
during the previous decade, possibly as a result of the

17
already mentioned magnum opus of Montesquieu, The
Spirit of the Laws, and in certain locations armed bands
of peasants had burnt the chateaus of the nobility and
thereby also eradicated the hated feudal tithes – the
mystical disguise of which had been revealed by Jean
Jacques Rousseau in his On the Origin of Inequality a
few years back. According to Quesnay there was no way
around liberation of the serfs and defeudalization of the
French countryside. The question was how much the war
against England would cost in the form of diverted labour
and waste of natural resources and materials, and whether
the price was going to be so high that it would spoil the
possibilities for equalization by the fact that the new
demands for taxation of the nobility, so that even the
members of this social stratum would contribute to the
community’s finances, would be so high that the nobility
itself would resist them. In that case, the people would be
turning revolutionary, in Quesnay’s view – and the
outcome of a revolution one could never take for granted.
As for himself, Olivier Poisonniere could not recall a
single revolution which had been successful yet – maybe
with the exception of the Spartacus-revolt in the age of
the Roman republic, even though Spartacus and his army
of maybe as many as 100 000 runaway slaves were
defeated in the end.

”How do you think that this war will turn out?” Jeanne
asked her father one freezing February night as they sat
around the stove, reading and discussing. Presently,
18
Jeanne read a book on the Thirty Years’ War, and to
what extent it had ruined the whole infrastructure over
most of the Northern European continent. ”Do you think
that we will manage to see an end to it – in time to
prevent it from ruining our economy, and thereby also
spoiling Quesnay’s reform efforts?”

”Well, it is certainly not easy to tell, Jeanne. I don’t think

that our fleet is strong enough to defeat the British – so
the war must be halted by some other means, eventually.
At present it is difficult to envisage exactly how.
However, we have to retain our hope that we will soon
achieve an armistice and a permanent end to this war
craze. In my view, this issue, including whether
economic reforms will be implemented at home, will be
of crucial importance for the future of the whole of
Europe, and thereby for the entire world.”

”What makes you ascribing it such a great importance,

dad?”

”Well, take a look at the position of France among the

intellectuals of the Enlightenment around the world! See
how supreme our own encyclopédie is compared to those
in other countries! See how far our agriculture and crafts
have reached! And, moreover, we have still a reasonable
balance between city and countryside, a balance which
has been largely destroyed on the British Isles in
connection with the recurring enclosure movements

19
which the monarchy and the nobility have conducted
there. If this war is protracted or, even worse, if England
will emerge victorious from it, I fear that the very basis
of civilization in Europe will be threatened. Alas, the
British hardly have any tradition with acknowledging the
soil related aspects of our civilization – which is a
common feature among all civilizations throughout
history. Of course, there are certain exceptions among the
British, like Gerreard Winstanley and the Diggers
movement – and, to be generous, one could include the
entire Levellers movement during the English revolution
in the 1640’s. Moreover, they had the agronomist Jethro
Tull and his experiments with various cultivation
techniques.”

”Indeed – and the English revolution did not turn out to

be very successful – considering Cromwell’s mockery of
a republic in the aftermath of king Charles I’s execution
in 1649. After all, it should really be impossible for a
kingly power to be restored as a governmental form after
a republican revolution. However, that was what really
happened in 1660. And the very same year, absolutist
rule was established in the dual monarchy of Denmark-
Norway.”

”No, you are completely right. The English revolution in

the 1640’s was not a successful one in the long run. But it
gave us the works of Winstanley and the example he set
along with his Digger companions when they occupied,

20
tilled and sowed St. George’s Hill. Even if my English is
not the best, I have greatly enjoyed the reading of
Winstanley’s pamphlets from the revolutionary years and
in its immediate aftermath. In the years following the
revolution, by the way, he was a very disillusioned man,
and his later utopian works include a rigid disciplination
of the public, which he deemed necessary after all the
years with revolutionary turmoil and lawless conditions
in general.”

”Let us hope something will happen in England which

will contribute to the shortening of this war as much as
possible, so that a revolutionary outbreak may be avoided
here in France. I can’t see that it would have any better
prospects of success than the British had in the middle of
the previous century. It will probaly only result in a
dismal division between town and country – a division
which will be very difficult to heal. I can already sense it
from the attitudes among the public in Paris. More and
more people are denigrating the labour of the farmer, and
most often the latter is not ascribed much brain capacity
– and without the support of the farmers, any revolution
will fail.”

”Oh, well, my dear, that’s the way it has turned out to be.
We will have to keep faith in Quesnay’s ability to
enlighten people about the real issues at stake, so that he
can convince both town and country that they are

21
mutually dependent on each other, and that they enrich
each other’s respective cultural spheres.”

Once again Jeanne got absorbed by her book on the

Thirty Years’ War, which, by the way, had ended 110
yeras previously. Her father went to the firewood storage
to cut some more dry wood which he had gathered during
the autumn, and which lay behind the barn in lenghts of
12-15 feet. The temperature was one below zero, and the
clear and nearly windless weather was a sign that said
that the relatively cool weather type – in relation to
ordinary French conditions – would last for several days
more, even if the people here in Vendee, not far from the
Atlantic coast, were accustomed to rapid weather
changes. It all depended on the direction of the wind in
the higher atmosphere, and presently the few visible
clouds on the beautiful night sky were gliding from North
East and out towards the Atlantic. In winter time that
usually meant dry and cool weather in the whole of
France.

III
In Portsmouth on the southern coast of England there was
a very hectic period. The port was strongly involved in
the ongoing war mobilization at sea, and the ship builders
worked under strict command in the building of new
ships for the navy – as ever more ships were sunk out at
22
sea. Theophrastus Dirt – a name which he had adopted
from the gardening profession and especially the
knowledge of composting processes – spent most of his
labour at ship building during the winter season, and in
peace time he managed a fishing boat building company
in companionship with some colleagues. In other words,
they were running a kind of cooperative with a flat
leadership structure. Suppeosedly, the concept was
inspired by the cooperation between Winstanley,
Lilburne and the other Levellers members who had set a
standard within English radicalism and social liberalism.
It had come to represent the main opposition against the
tendency within the monarchy and among the nobility to
focus one sidedly on the predominance of trade, and
eventually industry, above agriculture and other primary
branches of the economy.

Theophrastus, who originally was christened Winston

Jones, detested the boat building work consisting in
supplying the fleet with ever more ships – which in
turned risked being sunk after only a few hours’ sailing.
The labour duty, however, was strictly maintained, and
there were few opportunities to escape from it. But
Theophrastus worked overtime at present in a
revolutionary artisanal group which had embarked on
building a certain amount of fast moving war-caper boats
which were meant to be emplyed in the revolt, which was
meant to occur as soon as a network was organized with
a view to redirect the fatal course of the country into a
23
war and plunder economy and, instead, into a civilisatory
sustainable direction. I his spare time, and with
whispering voices, Theophrastus regularly discussed
great and small political issues with his colleagues, and
those who were involved in the revolt plans often came
together to lay down their plans and listen to news from
similar revolutionary organizations throughout the
country.

Theophrastus’ good friend and lover, Ophelia

Oakgarden, worked among other things in a maritime
museum in Portsmouth – where she and Theophrastus
had met for the first time a few years previously – apart
from being a passionate gardener and apt musician. It
was primarily string instruments which attracted her, and
she played everything from guitar and bass to lyre and
mandolin. Once a week she joined friends and
acquaintances at one of the local pubs, the Fisherman’s
Inn, in order to play traditional folk tunes and occasional
self-composed melodies, among those she had composed
herself to poems by known and unknown British poets –
among them John Milton. Her horticultural activities
were also of a high standard, and she also taught her
fellow citizens this art at monthly meetings arranged by
the local gardening guild. This guild had recently
received a copy of the English translation of Du
Monceau’s fresh essay on mycorrhizal symbiosis and its
significance for food production in general, and now the
members of the guild were looking forward to end the
24
horrendous warfare in order to embark on more
civilization preserving tasks – such as the focus on
historical knowledge, production of quality products of
every kind, in addition to sustainable and highly
productive soil maintenance. After all, on the British
Isles had once had a central figure within agriculture in
the above mentioned Jethro Tull, the innovative farmer
who early in the 18. Century had achieved astounding
results in his fields.

Ophelia could hardly wait for spring to arrive so that she

could embark on some initial experiments herself, based
on the new insights into the productive effects of the
mycorrhizal fungi among the soil’s root systems and,
hence, a quite crucial contributor to plant nutrition and
resistance against plant diseases and insect attacks. She
had already figured out from where she could collect
mycorrhiza spores and nettles in order to prepare the
inoculation fluid for the coming spring. There were many
rich biotopes in the vicinity, and it was naturally there
where it would be most proper to conduct the gathering
of mycorrhiza spores. Ophelia had figured out that she
would primarily cocntrate on flowering plants which
stood in full bloom right beneath dense canopies. She had
noticed such on her excursions into the wild forests
during the previous autumn, which she always conducted
as often as she had an opportunity, and she had long
since wondered about how the plants were able to bloom
right there without any access to sunlight. Lately she had
25
formed an initial theory that precisely the mycorrhizal
symbiosis contributed to weighing up for the lack of
sunlight, and that if one made avail of such well adapted
fungi species, or rather a wide variety of those, one
would be able to secure good harvests even after long
periods with lack of sunlight during the growth season.
Maybe the experiments of the coming year would bring
an initial answer as to whether this hypothesis could be
strengthened, and Ophelia was utterly excited about her
coming gardening tasks and possible scientific
discoveries within the field of crop production.

IV
In Paris there was an intense activity and tense
atmosphere, caused primarily by the war which had
rendered the capitals of both the belligerent countries far
more important than before – indeed, it had launched an
urbanization process which, particularly in France, was
viewed with suspicion and dismay. There were protests
from farmers and appeals from the intellectuals against
this increasing tendency of drawing people in ever larger
numbers towards the capital and the other larger cities.
From officials, and in accordance with the ancient local
and regional assemblies of estates, one had in France a
more or less conscious focus on preserving a
decentralized social structure, with viable village cultures

26
embodying the economic foundations of society at large.
In England the situation was completely different as the
farmers were more or less isolated in their campaigns
against centralization, which was welcomed from the
state authorites as well as from the major part of the
intellectual circles.

At the faculty of history in the University of Paris,

Olympes Diderot worked among other things with the
issue regarding the relationship between town and
country thorughout French, but also with a sideview to
British, history. Olympes lived at a small farm on the
outskirts of Paris, and tended the soil in companionship
with her husband, Pierre-Joseph Germe, who had grown
up in Paris and inherited the cooper craft from his father,
who had now passed away. Olympes and Pierre-Joseph
had two daughters together, at the age og 4 and 8. In the
periods when the two parents were away from the farm
because of their respective occupations in Paris, the
children were taken care of by one of Olympe’s aunts.

Pierre-Joseph was a man of versatile interests, which was

fairly common among the many knowledgeable people
who had grown up with the new Enlightenment ideals –
especially in the vicinity of the cities, and Paris in
particular. Thus, he had also an interest in agriculture and
its biological, chemical and physical preconditions, and
at the farm which he ran together with Olympes a wide
variety of crops were grown – vegetables, herbs, berries

27
and fruits. Apart from covering their own nutritional
needs, the crops went to the market places of Paris,
where the demand was on the rise because of the
increasing concentration of people there in recent times.
The farm demanded a significant amount of labour,
especially during the main growth season, which tended
to be long but still was conditioned by the event of night
frost in the early spring and in the autumn. However,
only in rare instances did the farmers’ and
horticulturalists’ crops freeze in France, as they had
become very clever at planning the growing season.

During winter time Pierre-Joseph practiced his cooper

abilities and produced wooden buckets and barrels for a
growing market in France as well as abroad. He had
regular customers among ship owners and the
fieshermen’s guilds alike, and hence he was able to
foretell the rquired amount of labour well ahead of its
actual conduct within this painstakingly accurate craft.
This way he could spend his winter evenings with the
study of various manuring techniques within agriculture
as well as the history of the cooper craft.

Olympes had spent the previous winter studying the

peasant and artisan movement led by Etienne Marcel in
Paris and its surroundings in the 1350’s – a movement
which evolved into a near revolutionary attempt in its
struggle against the increasingly centralized state
apparatus and the predominant position of the clergy and

28
the higher nobility within it. In that era, it was an even
stronger bond between peasants and artisans, and in most
instances one and the same person combined the
respective occupations of agricultural and craft work.
What if the present French authorities contract the wrath
of the peasants and the artisans because of the war and its
costs, and moreover because it becomes too indulgent
towards the nobility and the clergy? It was questions like
these which occupied Olympes’ thoughts in her studies,
and she often discussed them with her colleagues and the
students at the university. There were many who held the
view that the war would be a lasting one, and hence
would take a heavy toll on the French economy and the
well being of her people, and in that case the people
would sooner or later revolt. Others clung to the hopes –
in part based on rumours spread through trade with
British coastal communities – that the British people
themselves would shorten the war thorugh a revolt
against their own authorities.

It was a time of great excitement – maybe even

somewhat too exciting, according to Olympes’ taste. She
feared the worst, and could not altogether envisage that
the eventual instigators of a British rebellion would
manage to win the sympathy of the common people on
the Isles. Many generations had passed since the English
revolution of the 1640’s, and the present generations no
longer had the revolutionary instinct which was so
prevalent in the old days. But never say never, she
29
thought; maybe it is excactly this war which will make
the British fed up with their own authorities, through an
impression that they all are labouring to no avail for
themselves or their fellow citizens? Imagine the situation
for the ship builders and the wood workers in general!
How do they cope in their daily work when they are
conscious that their labour within a short time span quite
probably will end up at the scrap heap of the oceans,
slowly decomposing at the bottom of the sea? What an
utter waste of natural resources and human labour! Thus
the question is whether the artisans will win the farmers
over to their side in their effort to topple the government,
and veer the country on to a more decentralized, pasific
course, with a focus on improving the degree of self
sufficiency – which had been in decline ever since
England emerged as a major sea power during the 17th
century.

In the university canteen one early spring day Olympes

sat together with her colleagues discussing recent
rumours that the entire Scotch and the major part of the
Irish population probably would support an eventual
revolt against the British state power in London. The
Scots largely founded their cultural pride on the legends
about William Wallace and Robert Bruce and their
armies consisting of farmers and occasional noblemen,
which fought for Scottish home rule in the 13th century
against ruthless English kings.

30
”Indeed, in that case a revolt will have every opportunity
to succeed. It would be like manna from heaven for us
here in France, as well as for Europe’s future in general,”
commented one of Olympes’ ageing colleagues.

”Quite obviously. And if the rebels have the support from

almost the whole of Scotland and Ireland, it may not be
of the greatest importance if they were to lack some
support from their own peasants in England? This really
gives an occasion to raised hopes for a successful revolt!”
Olympes added.

”Yes, mademoiselle, for we must neither forget that such

as the situation stands, an eventual revolt will take the
British king and his government completely by surprise,
and even as a shock to the members of parliament,” one
of the students suggested.

A moment of silence followed. The discussion partners

sat for a while enmeshed in profound thoughts about the
prospects ahead and the future of the whole of Europe.
As the break was over and they parted in order to go back
to their respective study tasks, Olympes said for a
conclusion that a whole lot would depend on whether the
preparations for the British revolt would be kept secret all
along until the actual outbreak, and whether all the
requisites would be in place by that time. There were a
whole lot of factors which had to be on the revolting
people’s side…

31
 V
The smokestacked inn in Newcastle on the north-eastern
coast of England was packed with people. Artisans from
all over the city and its environs were organizing another
meeting for the planning of the forthcoming revolt. Every
precaution was taken so that the authorities would not
unveil the activities, as manifested by the prescription
that the participants were told to arrive at intervals, rather
than rushing in all together at the start of the meeting.
These meetings were usually held during work hours, and
wall to wall with a carpenter’s workshop, in order that it
would be harder for the government officials to discover
what was really going on. Such as it was it appeared that
the traffic of people was merely the result of a particuarly
busy day for the artisans at the workshop. The workshop
itself had been exempted from the general mobilization
order which the government had issued to artisans from
all over the country, because of the fact that it delivered
indespensable furniture and other inventories to the city’s
dwellings and, moreover, had important deliveries to
foreign countries. Thus, its furniture ended up in France
and Germany as well as in Scandinavia, and the mariners
who brought them there exchanged ideas and news from
their own country as well as from the lands of the trading
partners. It was by this means that the word about the
planning of the revolt had reached Paris.

32
The chairman of the meeting clank his glass and raised
his voice in order to get the public’s attention, which was
often a challenge among all the invigorated and even
almost sanguine artisans who finally got to exchange
their virws on the future prospects and various planning
details.

”Welcome to the meeting, dear guildsmen and good

artisans! On today’s agenda we find the question of what
kind of support we may expect from the Scots and the
Irish. Next we’re going to discuss the status of weapon
forging and to what extent it keeps up with the scheemed
timetable. Lastly we must take a closer look at our
alternative in the wake of an eventual successful revolt.
The eventuality that we will fail is not held worthy of
consideration. Does anyone have some preliminary
questions or comments regarding the agenda, or other
actual issues which you would want to have debated here
today?”

A low murmur buzzed through the comparatively large

room – Deer’s Inn was a popular gathering place for
Newcastle’s citizens, particularly on Friday and Saturday
evenings and Sundays before noon, and through the years
it had expanded its business considerably.

”What is the present status as regards the level of

organization among our own farmers?” a wool

33
manufacturer from the valley along the river Tyne would
like to know.

The chariman could inform that things appeared good

with respect to the level of farmers’ organization in the
Southern districts of the country, and especially in the
South-West and among the Welsh – after all they had
their proud celtic traditions. However, things were
moving slower in the Midlands, while the closer one
came towards Scotland there were an increasing
enthusiasm for the revolt plans. The gathering followed
up with a discussion concerning the potential support
from the Scots and the Irish, and the participants got
good and credible information from two artisans from
Dublin and Edinburgh respectively. So far, most of those
who attended the meeting agreed that the prospects
seemed promising.

The meeting proceeded to the next theme on the agenda.

The chairman of the weapon smiths’ guild delivered a
preliminary introduction regarding the conditions of
production, the supply of metals, their quality and
distribution as devloped since the previous meeting in the
citizens’ militia.

”The conditions of production have been under

increasing pressure after the war broke out, and it is
presently a huge challenge with procuring sufficient
metals for our clandestine production, as the war related

34
monopolization claims almost all the available raw
materials in addition to our artisans’ labour. Those who
see themselves fit are conducting various forms of
sabotage against the war related deliveries. However, a
great many of our brave colleagues and fellow
revolutionaries have been made to pay for this
disobedience and been sent to jail. Luckily, the barbaric
torture methods which were applied in the Middle Ages
are no longer in operation, otherwise our plans of revolt
would have long since been revealed. Despite the
challenges, however, we are well under way to fill our
secret weapon depots, and quite a lot of militiamen have
also been handed a certain amount of rifles and pistols,
the distribution of which they themselves will take the
responsibility for during the revolt. We consider such
flexibility as absolutely necessary for our success in this
daring but indespensible venture.

As regards the quality of the weapons forged, tests so far

have shown that it is more than satisfactory. The guild
has obviously succeeded in its aim to improve the quality
of its weapon production through a certain enhanced
period of apprenticeship for newcomers within the trade.
Moreover, there is constant improvement and progress
within the very manufacture of metals, so as regards raw
materials the greatest challenge is that of competition
with the war delivery obligation under which the mines
and founderies find themselves.”

35
Gaius Digger was eagerly listening to the presentation of
the guild chairman. After a few minutes’ break, in which
considerable amounts of the finest Virginia pipe tobacco
were consumed, Gaius asked for the crowd’s attention:

”Is there any knowledge as to the arming of the Scots and

the Irish? I have myself been in touch with Scottish
farmers and artisans who have voiced their desire to
receive deliveries of arms from our workshops here in
North-Eastern England. We, for our part, cannot manage
greater deliveries than those we have already obliged
ourselves to, but we have promised to send some of our
master craftsmen up to Edinburgh and Aberdeen so that
they can teach the weapon smith trade to those up there
who might be intersted and willing.”

The guild chairman nodded approvingly to Gaius’ words.

”Yes, that is quite commensurable with the information

which the guild leadership has received. As regards the
general arming of revolutionaries in Scotland and
Ireland, I suppose we have to consider both the Scots and
the Irish as auxiliary troops, so that we will mainly have
to bear the brunt ourselves.”

Then there folowed a lengthy discussion regarding the

possibilities for further sabotage against the war
deliveries, and several suggestions were eagerly debated.

36
The meeting ended with a relatively intense discussion
regarding the concrete alternatives which the revolt was
meant to produce. There were basically two conflicting
factions, one of which pleaded allegiance to a kind of
guild communitarianism, in which power was to rest with
the respective members of the artisanal guilds, while the
other faction – which was supported by the majority –
veered towards a more directly confederal orientation.
There were many who thought that a social, economic
and political organizing on the basis of municipalities
and citizenship would create more solid community ties
than an organization based on the various trades, which
would tend to be inherently particularistic. A cratfsman
who had been involved in a freight vessel transportation
to Paris could inform the meeting that quite a similar
discussion was going on in that city, and that the French
now were eager to modify and modernize the system of
estates, and instead base the fundamental confederal
levels on the status of citizenship – even in relation to
people in the countryside. Interestingly, this had
happened even in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
in Flanders, when in the 12th and 13th centuries
democracy developed once more after being wiped out in
Europe since the Greeks were subjected to the
Macedonian invasions in the fourth century B. C. The
Flemish Medieval and Renaissance democracy, which to
a large extent was founded on the guild organization, was
known to have succumbed to state centralization during

37
the 16th century, in a period when The United Dutch
provinces and the Swiss cantons were among the few
inheritors of the ancient confederal legacy. During the
previous century, however, an increasing centralization
process had set in also in Holland, on a par with the
country’s increasing involvement in the strife for
hegemony at sea among the European great powers.
Thus, the outcome of the present large scale war would
necessarily have a decisive influence on the future of
confedralism in all the beliggerent countries.

VI
Despite the war at sea, Louis-Olivier Fourier had
ventured on a couple of sailings to several German ports
and all the way into the Baltic Sea during the previous
two years. He had especially good trade relations with
the merchants of Riga, and gave high priority to
nourishing contact with these Easterners. I was now time
for this spring’s seafare towards the East, and Louis-
Olivier had recently completed the loading of his self-
made brig, on which he freighted cargo and conducted
trade in companionship with tre artsianal colleagues –
two boat builders and one blacksmith.

The South-Western spring winds provided excellent

conditions for sailing eastwards, for with its raw sails the
brig had difficulties crossing up against wind of
38
considerable strength. Lous-Olivier and his colleagues
had filled the cargo rooms with quality wooden materials
of oak and exquisite blacksmith commodities produced
by the members of the blcksmiths’ guild in Paris. Back
home they hoped to bring dried fish which German and
Scandinavian traders had brought to the North-German
cities. Moreover, in order to secure supply of necessities
throughout the summer, they had their customary plan to
bring back a considerable amount of barrels with wheat
and rye of outstanding quality – hard grain from the
Baltic and Ukrainian countryisde which had preserved its
sprouting capability. Any surplus was sold to the citizens
of Paris, especially in periods when there was a shortage
of grain deliveries from the French peasants and manors
because of inclement weather and failed harvests. At the
moment, however, it seemed like science largely had
solved the problem of crop damages, in view of the novel
knowledge about mycorrhiza symbiosis and its
importance for plant health and optimal growth, keeping
the cultivated plants healthy and contributing to their
endurance during drought periods, freezing temperatures
and lack of sunlight. But until there were any proved
signs of this agricultural progress, the trade company of
Louis-Olivier had decided to uphold the import of grain.
However, they had alternatives ready in the form of fur
from the East – and the fine cod from Northern-
Scandinavia would always be in demand.

39
The war had resulted in considerable turmoil also in the
Eastern parts of the continent; Prussia had clashed with
Austria in a ferocious struggle over hegemony in
Eastern-Europe, while the German peasants and
cratfsmen resented the growing tax pressure which
resulted from the war expenditures. King Fredercik the
Great of Prussia was an ardent supporter of the
Enlightenment ideas, and in the long run he wouldn’t
consider it fortunate to antagonize the bulk of the
population. In Austria, Maria Theresa led an autocratic
regime which was rather reactionary despite its
pretentions of having a claim in so-called ”enlightened
despotism” – which was meant to replace the
supernatural principle of kingly power ”instituted by
God.”

The major issue also in the case of Prussia and Austria

was to what extent the war and its costs and
repercussions would lead to political and economic
centralization in the two countries. For quite a while
Prussia and the German states had nourished close ties
with England, especially by way of Hanoverian nobles
ascending the English throne, and an English triumph in
the war against France would quite probably contribute
to a turning away from physiocratic economy à la
Quesnay and corresponding confederal principles,
towards a more distinctive monetary economy based on
precious metals and a corresponding centralization of
political power and economic activities. In addition, it
40
would in all probability lead to an accellerating
urbanization process, which was already well under way
as a result of two years of war and, moreover, result in an
increasingly antagonistic relationship between town and
country. An English defeat in this war was shown to be
all the more urgent as the realities of the situation
occurred to the inhabitants over most of Europe – at least
in areas in which the level of Enlightenment and literacy
was at the highest pitch.

One mild May evening Louis-Olivier sat together with

his comrades and undertook the final preparations for the
sailing eastwards, mainly by calculating the price of the
commodities they were to bring with them. At an early
hour the following morning they were to leave the quay
on the Seine and strenously make their way to the open
ocean. The river current would give them good flow,
however. The only precondition was that the western
wind would not be so strong as to annul the force of the
current down the wide, glimmering river, which, by the
way, still had good stocks of pelagic fish species like
diverse kinds of whitefish, in addition to eel, pike, carp,
perch and some trout and sea trout – despite the growing
demand for fish proteins among the ever increasing
Parisian population. There was, however, concerns that
species living mainly on the river bottom, like the eel, the
perch and the trout, were about to be dangerously
contaminated by lead issuing from the glass works and
the jewelry workshops, and the authorities of the city,
41
together with the enlightened state officials, had
embarked on various measures in order to deal with the
pollution of the river. The actual artisans were obliged to
collect the lead which their manufacture produced as a
spillover, and in the meantime there were issued
prescriptions of a maximum dose of fish from the river
bottom, where these species digest vast amounts of
crustaceous animals which for their part has swallowed
the heavy metal through their own food in the form of
vegetable as well as animal nutrition.

This fine May evening Louis-Olivier served hot smoked

eel. He had put out some lines with tens of hooks with
earthworms during the previous weeks, after the eels had
resumed activity after their winter hibernation. The catch
had been fairly good, and although the fish was
somewhat meager after the long winter, it mattered less
regarding the eel, which has a vastly higher content of fat
than all other fish species. Very often, during the
smoking of eel, the challenge was a too high content of
fat, which, however, could be regulated thorugh the
temperature of the smoke during the smoking process, by
which sustained temperature above boiling level would
cause some of the fat to run off, while the smoke from
the alder and juniper penetrated well into the fish.

”Mmm, eel is really delicious when it is treated in the

proper way,” commented one of Louis-Olivier’s

42
colleagues, one of the boat builders. ”Maybe I should
expand my fishery to include eel as well?”

”Yes, that’s no foolish idea. There are highly valuable

proteins and fats in the eel. With scarcity of other animal
proteins and fats, those from the eel are welcome
resources. One lives very well on bread and eel alone, in
addition to a tassel of herbs now and then.”

”Indeed, it’s maybe the most healthy diet one could make
avail of, in the long run,” the blacksmith added.

It was as if Louis-Olivier had said it himself. For long

periods of time he had sustained on such a diet, and felt
strong, virile and athletic. After receiving the information
about the led contamination of the fish he had
considerably reduced his consumption of eel, which lives
exclusively at the bottom of the sea, rivers and lakes.

”It is a real pity with this led contamination. I really

wonder whether this thing called progress inevitably will
involve such problems as pollution of our food chains?
And, moreover, would it still be proper to call it progress,
when it is achieved at the cost of destroyed ecosystems
and damaged public health? Does not our task as human
beings on this Earth consist in enriching nature and its
diversity?”

The smith and the two boat builders nodded and gave
their unreserved consent. They knew how to appreciate

43
Louis-Olivier’s ever philosophically penetrating and
most often accurate and enlightening evaluations of the
manifold circumstances of life.

”Well, folks, I hope the eel fat did you good. Let’s have a
toast before creeping into our sleeping bags and dream
about a fortunate wind direction tomorrow!” Louis-
Olivier raised his glass of fine brandy, which they had
purchased from a destiller in Normandie during their last
trading voyage.

”Cheers! Cheers!”

VII
In England, the book printing business had been
progressing greatly during the past few decades, and in
one of London’s printing houses worked the free spirited
young woman Angelica Shelley. Angelica worked
throughout the week in the morning hours at the printer
Douglas Cooper’s printing workshop, a man who had a
long standing in the trade. She had moved to London
from Cardiff a few years back in time, in order to make
an effort at establishing herself as an essayist within the
male dominated English intelligentsia. Angelica often
spent long evenings in several of the city’s coffee houses,
more precisely those which were not owned and run by
altogether patriarchically oriented keepers, and where
there was an occasion for a young woman to take part in
the discussions. It was, however, aways difficult for a
44
woman to be taken fully seriously in intellectual
discussions – a challenge which, by the way, was even
greater for Angelica because of her attractive appearance.
Even London’s intellectual men were most often more
interested in the bodily features than in the intellect when
it came to women.

Angelica also nurtured contact with the seamen from all

corners of Europe who frequented the bars and pubs in
the quay areas, and wrote essays on European issues and
developments, waiting to meet a decent man – not
necessarily in order to embark on an intimate
relationship, but to have him help her being admitted into
the intellectual circles and hopefully get some of her
essays printed as pamphlets or leaflets – those literary
genres which of late had really become popular,
particularly in London and other big cities where a
potential readership could be found who regularly
purchased these kinds of literature.

The previous year Angelica had been involved in the

printing of Edmund Burkes treaty A Philosophical
Enquiry into the Origins of the Sublime and Beautiful – a
work which was eagerly discussed among the Isles’ more
philosophically inclined and nature loving inhabitants. As
for herself Angelica was not overwhelmingly pleased
with Burke’s work, although she was of the opinion that
it was nevertheless very useful because of the interesting
debates which it produced. Indeed, how is our

45
relationship with nature to be understood? Are we
humans something ”quite other” in relation to the general
tendency among the innumerable species of this globe?
Or do we possess something fundamentally in common
with them? Will our self-consciousmess as a species
make us ”aliens” within nature’s development and
evolution, and what will this eventually mean for our
existence, our civilization and, indeed, our very survival
as a species? Angelica had frequently discussed such
issues with several of London’s intellectuals, who clung
to the opinion that it was mainly our free will which
fundamentally separated us from other animals. They
rarely agreed completely in their discussions, for
Angelica emphasized far more strongly the importance of
actual social conditions regarding the ways in which the
single individual appeared and acted at any given
moment throughout history. Her view was considered
highly controversial in an age when notions of natural
rights entitled human beings, as biological beings, to
certain inalienable rights, regardless of social structures
and aspects of power. Regarding Burke’s work there
were many among Angelica’s regular discussion partners
who were flattered by his usage of the concept of a
sublime nature, and what kind of impact this concept had
on human taste and volition. As for herself, she was of
the opinion that this focus on the ”incomparably great”
and the ”immensity of natural forces” in due time would
give human beings an inferiority complex in relation to

46
the well known natural forces, such as for example
majestic mountains, thunder and lightening, hurricanes,
and so on, and that this feeling of inferiority in turn
would lead to grandiose and nemesis ridden human
projects in the form of abuse of technological insight in a
vain attempt to become ”Nature’s masters.”

”But humanity must achieve a certain degree of mastery

over Nature in order to make any kind of civilization
possible,” one of the debaters had objected one evening
as they discussed the issue over a Guiness at one of the
city’s many pubs.

”True enough. But we will never escape the fact that our
very existence is conditioned by the ecosystems in which
we live and our adaptability to our respective natural
environment,” Angelica quickly replied. She had
considered this question at length, and her conviction had
been hardened by previous discussions. ”And does not
Burke also hold that there are forces in nature to which
humanity simply has to bend?”

”Indeed, his work may certainly be interpreted in that

direction. Your perspectives are very interesting. I
suppose it’s the combination between your critical
intellect and your feminine instincts which enable you to
conduct such a sharp analysis of this issue.”

”Oh, thanks for your compliment,” Angelica said, rather

puzzled by such a rare praise for her intellectual

47
capabilites. ”We women are not very often taken
serioulsy in philosphical discussions like this one, so
your support and encouragement is very welcome. I am,
moreover, of the opinion that humanity’s focus should be
directed towards activities which can really add
something to the fertility and diversity of Nature, and
that’s particularly the case within agriculture. One only
has to consider the great variety we have achieved from
the wild cabbage plant, which during ages of plant
cultivation has become everything from headed cabbage
to broccoli!”

”Yes, that’s a good point. Unfortunately, most of what

concerns agriculture and agronomy has been neglected in
our country during the past decades – as compared to the
French. Only consider the great work of their
encyclopaedists! The French have made great
achievements regarding the understanding of biological,
chemical and physical processes in the soil. However,
these subjects are way beyond my field of competence,
as you know. My specialization is within the field of
abstract philosophy…” the elderly debater admitted.

”That’s true. But your views always contribute to my

reconsideration of the questions we are discussing,
whether to result in the strengthening of my own views,
or to my revising of them altoghether. However, my
views on ’humanity’s place in Nature’ have more or less
been settled ever since early in my teens, when I was

48
assisting the farmes in Southern Wales during their
spring labour as well as in the harvesting period. There is
a lot of insight among the farmers which deserve the
same attention which has been devoted to the French
farmers by their encyclopaedists.”

”Yes, there are certainly huge contrasts between England

and France, even within this domain. And now we have
got this bloody war, too. It is certainly not the two
countries’ toiling masses who will profit from it, neither
us ’brain workers’,” concluded Angelica’s – for the
moment – most sympathetic discussion partner.

There had been consumed large amounts of stout and

Guiness that evening, and even Angelica, who usually
preferred tea as the evening passed on, had drunk too
much beer on that occasion. Pretty dizzy she parted with
the other pub guests, and made her sligthtly staggering
way along the streets of London, while reflecting on the
war issue and the eventual British rebellion against it
among the hard working public. Angelica had come
across information about the planned revolt against the
war and the British regime which had started it, but as a
woman she did not consider the possibility of registering
as a volunteer within the London militia. Moreover, it
was important that someone outside the movement would
be able to cover the events if and when they erupted.

49
 VIII
The trading quartet of which Louis-Olivier was one of
the members sailed initially via Ghent to Hamburg. In
Ghent, they obtained some fine woolen cloaths, and in
Hamburg fish prices were very favourable. It had been a
good year for the fishermen along the Northern
Norwegian coast, and catches of cod had been above
average throughout the winter months – especially
around the Lofoten peninsula.

Louis-Olivier and his comrades were now turning the

northern tip of Denmark. The wind hit them from north-
east, occasionally in heavy gusts, so the sailing was
rather strenous for the four men.

”One of the advantages with this rough weather is that

the warring fleets tend to seek shelter in their respective
harbours,” shouted one of the boat builders to Louis-
Olivier as they stood hauling the sail in order to turn it
into an adequate position in relation to the wind
direction.

”Sure enough,” answered Louis-Olivier, and added: ”If

this windy weather continues, chances are good that we
won’t come across war ships before we’re well into the
Baltic Sea.”

50
”Well, I guess we’ll do well to hoist the white flag if
anything which looks like a war ship shows up,”
suggested the boat builder.

”Yes, that would be the safest thing to do,” concluded

Louis-Olivier. ”As traders we are best served by national
neutrality and peaceful sailing at sea. Thus, we also play
a considerable role in the development of understanding
between various peoples and nations, and have a
responsibility to contribute to the materialization of the
global community which the world needs to maintain a
viable civilization in the long run.”

”Indeed, that’s exactly one of our Enlightenment’s great

ideals. It will be exciting to see what level of importance
Diderot and D’Alembert eventually will ascribe us
craftsmen and traders in this connection, when the
relevant volumes of the Encyclopaedie appears.”

”Oh, that’s for sure, it will be highly interseting. I am

really looking forward to the follow-up of the promising
first volumes. Only looking at the magnificent
illustrations in themselves shows a cultural treasure of
which we can be proud – without thereby becoming
nationalists in any way. After all, the entire perspective
of the work is singularly universal.”

Their conversation was abrupted by a huge wave

washing on board. For a moment Louis-Olivier lost his
footing and slided towards the fence on the steerboard

51
side. He managed to grab hold of a rope fastened to the
foot of the mast, and thereby avoided to be washed over
board and into the cold sea water. How many sailors had
lost their lives in this way througout history?

They had to struggle with such occasional huge waves all

through the night – and got two hours’ sleep each,
portioned over two periods of the dark hours, so that they
were three men on duty at any moment. During one of
his sleeping hours Louis-Olivier had a strange dream.
During the previous winter he had read an account of the
tsardom and serfdom in Russia – and about the revolt
among the peasants in 1667, lead by Stephan Razin,
which for a certain time threatened the very tsardom to
its foundations, caused by the fact that parts of the tsar’s
own army sided with Razin’s side and fraternized with
his army. In his dream Louis-Olivier found himself in the
midst of a peasant rebellion, in which he fought side by
side with his fellow peasants against lojal tsarist troops.
When he was awakened by the blacksmith to take a new
turn on ship duty so that the latter could get his share of
sleep, he wondered whether the reading about the
peasants’ situation had put such a strong mark on him
that the account had stuck in his subconsciousness, which
thereby had to sort out feelings and attitudes in regard to
this subject. Alas, we have our problems in France,
Louis-Olivier thought, in connection with the vestiges of
the feudal system, but our peasants’ situation can hardly
be compared with the one beleaguring the Russians. In
52
France, we at least have a king sympathetic to reforms,
besides prudent state officials, with their often tolerant
and wise advisors, who are already well under way as
regards reforming the social and economic structure.
When that has been conducted, the political conditions
will sort themselves out as a result, Louis-Olivier
summed up his opinions of the subject for himself. He
had but little faith in the abilities of politics to influence
developments. After all, the ancient Greeks had invented
politics merely in an emergency when they were faced
with the attacks from the Persians, if we are to trust our
historians who are inspired by Montesquieu, he thought.

Early in the afternoon the next day they could get a

glimpse of the Northern tip of Denmark. In all
probability they would have a benign sailing down
through the seas between Sweden and Denmark during
the forthcoming day. They nourished a certain hope that
the trading duties in Oresund had decreased since last
time they passed through the strait – that was at least
what they had gathered from the information given by
ship captains in Hamburg.

IX
In the counsel chamber of his luxurious residence, king
George II had, on an evening in September, 1758, an
exchange with prime minister William Pitt which came
53
to be fateful for the British imperialistic ambitions. While
the autumn wind was howling outside, Pitt persuaded the
king to send troops to the Continent, as part of the
increased war efforts. The troops were to be depatched
before the onset of the first autumn storms were expected
to set in during the forthcoming month. What neither of
them knew, and which had also remained successfully
hidden from the entire British upper classes and members
of parliament, was that countrywide actions of sabotage
against quay facilities and war vessels already had been
well prepared by the revolutionaries – in a well
coordinated system thanks to dexterous revolutionary
seamen who speedily made their way along the coast
lines in order to organize the revolt.

”If we only could get the better of the French, our

imperial hegemony at sea would be secured for the next
hundred years,” Pitt maintained through the thick cigar
smoke which had accumulated during a long evening.

”Indeed, that’s exactly what is at stake. Thus we must, as

you contend, make this move on the Continent in the
nearest future, in order to stem the French tide of
influence and position there.”

The two men raised their glasses to fortune and luck. The
Scots could at least be thanked for the good whisky, the
king thought to himself, but as usual he had to go to bed
with the certainty that it did not balance out all the

54
troubles the Scots caused him. The Irish, however, he
thought that he controlled to a larger extent, at least until
further noticed…

In the middle of October, actions of sabotage occurred in

a long list of ports, from Chester, via Bristol and the
Southern coast and all the way up to Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. Also in Irish and Scottish ports the dock workers
and craftsmen inhibited the deliveries to the fleet.
Moreover, farmers from all over the British Isles
withheld their deliveries of wool to military textile
industry plants, as well as grain and meat which were
meant to provide nourishment to the marine troops.
These actions were hurriedly conducted as a result of the
king’s order to make ships ready for a voyage to the
North-German coast, loaded with troops which were
meant to get involved in the war operations on the
Continent.

In Newcastle, Gaius Digger and his revolutionary

companions organized veritable ”expropriations” of
cargos with weapons, cloaths and food to the battle ships
which lay by the harbour awaiting deployment. It was a
risky venture, and several sabotage columns had been
unveiled and their members sent into the dungeons.
Summary courts based on the accusation of treason and
robbery awaited the arrested rebels – the outcome of
which was given in advance; the convicted men were to
be hanged. Gaius’ column had considered measures to

55
free the prisoners locked up in Newcastle dungeon, but
came to the conclusion that it would be too risky an
effort, and that they would incur the danger of a
revelation of the encompassing revolutionary plans if the
efforts to free these prisoners were to fail. Instead they
agreed to concentrate upon the plundering of the wagons
rolling towards the city, in due time before this became
impossible because of the increased use of guards
escorting the freight. The same pattern occurred in all the
larger port cities.

In London, there were mass desertions within the naval

brigades when the news about the impending
revolustionary outbreak reached them through the seizure
of three vital war ships by the dock workers in one of the
harbours along the Thames. According to rumours spread
by audacious traders who had embarked on journeys
across the channel despite the war related dangers at sea,
there had also occurred a series of mutinies on board
English battleships. Some of them had apparently been
forced into French harbours, so that the ships could be
employed by the French navy – or at least be
incapacitated for further battle actions.

”Hm, it really looks promising,” Gaius thought to

himself, leaning over the hearth in his blacksmith
workshop. It was of great importance for him to keep
busy with the blacksmith work in the midst of the
revoluationary preparations – firstly, because the

56
revolutionary militias needed a continuous supply of
weapons and equipment, and secondly in order that he
should not incur unnecessary suspicion by inactivity
regarding his labour. Life had to proceed as normal as
possible. It was a widespread desire among the
revolutionaries that the revolution should be fought more
by the pen than by rifles and pistols. Thus, Gaius
conducted propaganda efforts and both wrote and
distributed pamphlets to artisans and merchants as well
as farmers. Everywhere there were established
clandestine discussion forums, which most often were
held in private, and with the same precautions which
were taken by the central revolutionary excecutive
commitees.

Just before Gaius was about to finish his day’s work,

there were three heavy knocks on the door. Gaius
hurriedly put his pistol under his coat, turned the oil lamp
down, and approached the door.

”Who’s there?”

”Gaius, it’s me, Jonathan. I have been warned that my

house is being watched by the guards stationed in town in
order to quell the disturbances. May I lodge here with
you for a few days?”

Gaius opened the heavy oak door and let in his friend and
revolutionary companion. Jonathan Johnson was one of
the ardent young spirits of the city, a sailmaker

57
apprentice who had joined one of the city’s revolutionary
clubs at an early stage, and who played a central role in
the sabotage actions directed against the supply and
repair of the war fleet’s sails.

”Thank Heaven that you were here in your workshop,

Gaius. I don’t know who else I could have asked for
lodging in the present situation. How is Faith?”

”Yes, here you can stay for now, Jonathan. I have a well
hidden room in the attic. Faith is doing quite all right –
she is eagerly occupied with the pre-revolutionary events.
The workshop in which she is employed has taken part in
the sabotage actions, and has sent several cargos to the
militas instead of the war fleet. Moreover, she is in the
midst of a very creative process regarding her poetry
writing. The events these days certainly inspire her. She
spends all her leisure time at poetry and studies, besides
being ready at emergency calls with respect to her
midwife services.”

”Good news, indeed! What are the plans ahead?”

”First of all we must complete the spoilage of our state

leaders’ involvement in the war on the Continent. It will
take some time and demand great endurance on our part.
Secondly, we must in one way or another seize the king
and the members of parliament. The plan consists in
taking them prisoners, indeed, to take them by surprise
during a session in the parliament, and then send them

58
across the Atlantic. We have contacts in the American
colonies who are very displeased with their current
situation, and would gladly keep the respnsible British
authorities there as hostages. Then the path would be
cleared for proclaiming a republic on the British Isles –
in other words a confederation of the Irish, Scottish,
Welsh and English nationalities.”

”That sounds great, my friend. But also very risky. By

the way, could you explain to me in brief terms what a
confederation would look like as compared to the
representative political system which we have at the
moment?”

”It is risky, indeed. However, the objective of

establishing a confederal republic is certainly worthy of a
risk or two. Moreover, we will make avail of surprise
tactics due to our allies among the London guardsmen,
who are willing to betray the crown and join our side
during the coup.

As regards confederalism it is, as you know, an ancient

political tradition which has been kept alive ever since
the age of the Etruscans, Greeks and Romans in the days
of old. In brief terms it involves a decentralized and
directly democratic form of governance in which power
resides with the people themselves – through decision
making processes conducted in public assemblies in
which every citizen has the right to participate, and

59
which will be established in every township and village,
as well as in neighbourhoods in the larger cities. The
delegates who are chosen, preferably by lot, from these
assemblies in order to conduct strictly administrative
tasks at higher confederal levels will be mandated by the
public assemblies and are subject to recall, and
replacement by others, if they were to disregard their
mandate or otherwise abuse their position. The higher
confederal levels, of course, will exist to make feasible
the coordination of the various communities throughout
the entire Isles, and, moreover, build ties to communities
and regions on the Continent and elsewhere in the world.
The long term ideal is a global confedral civilization.
However, there is a long way to go – especially when one
keeps in mind the highly centralized and authortitarian
social conditions in Russia and, according to what I have
read recently, also in countries like China and Japan.”

”This sounds quite magnificent. But tell me, why did the
confederacies succumb to centralization processes in
ancient times? And where have they survived in modern
times?”

”Well, the main cause of the ruin of confederalism in the

Ancient era is most of all Roman imperialism. However,
even before that the Delian Leauge among the Greeks
had withered because the Athenians had grasped undue
power and an unwarranted privileged position within
their confederacy. Since this and other confederacies

60
succumbed to particularism and imperialism respectively
in ancient times, confederalism has primarily been
represented by the Swiss cantons and the relatively flat
organization of The United Dutch Provinces.”

Gaius and Jonathan continued their conversation on their

way to one of their favourite pubs, which they changed in
due course so that their hosts could avoid accusations of
illegal gatherings and agitation. The oak trees manifested
their splendid autumn colours along the road down
towards the harbour district where their chosen pub for
the evening was located. The evening was mild for late
October, and they had left their woolen cloaths in the
workshop, and were dressed only in cotton shirts and
leather jackets. Strolling down the picturesque street,
which was traversed by occasional horses and wagons,
they drew in the flavoured autumn air. Pedestrians now
and then crossed their path – and some even sang old
tunes from the English revolution in the 1640’s, such as
for instance ”the Diggers Song”:

“You noble Diggers old, stand up now

Stand up now...”

61
 X
Home at the farm of Jeanne and Charles in the Vendee
province they were expecting a grand visit this last
weekend of September. The harvest of vines had been
above average, and the wine press was already in full
operation. For a couple of years Charles had been
corresponding with Denis Diderot, the Encyclopaedist,
and now the latter intended to visit their farm and its
wine press, which had become renown as an exemplary
model for wine production in North Western France. At
the moment Diderot was working on a volume of the
Encyclopaedia which focused on the technical details of
the equipment for wine production in general, and now
he wanted to draw some sketches of the technology
which was in use at Jeanne and Charles’ vineyard.

Diderot was a wanderer and delighted in walking along

country roads wherever he roamed during his scientific
and cultural investigations. His opinion was that walking
stimulated the thought processes – a conviction which he
shared with Jean Jacques Rousseau, among others, even
if they disagreed vehemenently, especially concerning
issues regarding civilization and progress.

This Sunday morning was graced with dry weather, only

a few scattered clouds and a fresh autumn air – perfect
for the final ripening of the vine varities which matured
at a later stage of the growing season. When Diderot

62
came wandering into the farmyard Jeanne and Charles
had already for several hours been busy operating the
wine press. They greeted him heartily, and invited him
into the kitchen for a taste of wine of good vintage from
their farm’s own manufacture.

”Mmm, quite splendid wine,” commented Diderot after

taking the first sips. ”But the days are getting shorter – let
us not squander more time here, but rather go to the barn
in order to observe the wonder machine. I have brought a
sketch book and coal pencils.”

”Oh, thanks for the compliment,” Jeanne said, and added:

”I’ll stay here in the kitchen and bake some bread while
you study and draw sketches of our equipment.”

Charles had built the wine press by himself, in

cooperation with some of the district’s dexterous
carpenters. It was based on some simple drawings from
the beginning of the century, on which Charles had made
some improvements. The very tightening of the press was
conducted by one of the farm horses, which performed a
so-called ”wandering” in the farmyard in order to power
the press. The pulling power of the horse was transmitted
by leather straps which pulled the press mechanisms in
the barn. The circular wandering of the horse, however,
was not of long duration – it did not require many rounds
before the sap was duly pressed out of the grapes so that
the yeasting process could be launched.

63
”This good old method is still working well. Indeed, it
may well be the most efficient one when it comes to
exactly this kind of equipment,” Diderot encouraged
Charles when the latter complained that there were no
creeks nearby which could power the press.

”Yes, you may very well be right on that account, too.

However, one would always like to see steady progress
when it comes to energy sources. That said, the energy
needed to tighten the wine press is not significant, so
water power might be more cumbersome than efficient in
this connection.”

”I would certainly think so,” said Diderot. ”I believe that

it is only in connection with very big wine press facilities
that water or wind power, not to speak of steam power,
would be of any considerable avail. Moreover, I am an
adherent to small scale production in general, in
combination with diversity and decentralized economic
structures. In many cases, one or two men could even
accomplish the wine pressing without the assistance of a
horse, thanks to the advanced cog wheel mechanisms
which has been developed in modern times.”

”Indeed, we had to cope with our own man power back

in the days before we had constructed the horse
wandering and the power transfer mechanism into the
barn. By the way, the issue of decentralization is one of
my own concerns, too,” Charles said. ”Let us hope that

64
this lamentable war will not result in an accellerating
centralization process in France.”

”Oh, yes, let us hope so – it would certainly preclude our

visions of a confederation of communes, as a democratic
alternativ to the nation state.”

”As regards the political aspect – do the authorities leave

you in peace in your work, when you manifest such a
stance with respect to the ideal political structure of
France?” Charles wanted to know.

”Well, it is a bumpy ride from time to time,” Diderot

admitted. ”In fact, I have already spent some months in
jail because of my philosophical scepticism and political
views, and been accused of atheism by the clergy as well.
And Louis, our king, is obviously obliged to balance
narrowly between the various estates – and still the
clergy possesses strong power. Much too strong, in my
opinion. However, one would have to keep the faith in
the potentialities of the Enlightenment ideals to
prolificate, so that religion and superstiton will exert
lesser and lesser influence on future generations.”

”I certainly subscribe to that view. By the way, what are

your views on the proceeding and outcome of the present
war?”

”Well, that is still an open question. In compliance with

many others I put my trust in the British public, hoping

65
that the general mass among the population across the
Channel in one way or another manages to preclude the
war efforts of the English crown.”

They discussed the rumours which had been spreading

regarding an imminent revolt on the British Isles. These
rumours were eagerly debated in the salons of Paris,
Diderot informed Charles, before adding that it was many
people’s opinion at the present stage that the Britons had
become too servile towards the king and his parliament.
Diderot himself, however, was not so sure about that. He
had good contacts among British intellectuals, he said,
and among them there were also prominent figures who
proclaimed a decentralized and confederal vision for the
future.

Diderot spent most of this Sunday – while it was

sufficient daylight slipping in through the barn windows
for illuminating the wine press – at drawing sketches,
while Charles explained the mechanism. They conducted
a pressing so that the encyclopaedist could observe how
the mechanism worked in actual operation. Charles’ son,
Robert, saw to it that the horse took the necessary rounds
in the famryard in order to tighten the press. He
considered it convenient work, especially as compared
with the tiresome and labour demanding pruning of the
vines, which was conducted once a year during the late
winter months. Various forms of farm work were quite
common among the young generation in rural France, as

66
everywhere else, even though new conceptions of the
singularities of childhood and the need for freedom to
play to an increasing extent manifested themselves in
connection with the new Enlightenment ideas. As for
himself, Robert could not envisage any other kind of life
apart from the one which included a certain amount of
farm work; however, he was eager to embark on
scientific studies. It was particularly his father’s interest
in history which had been transferred to the son.
However, his mother’s thorough investigation of the
virtues of herbal medicine also proved to have a certian
attraction on the teenager. Maybe there were new
scientific opportunities related to the combination of the
two fields of study, the young man wondered. The
University of Paris was the right place to focus his future
attention on. There he could obtain the impulses which
would guide him in the right direction in his studies.
Until then he had to settle with the hours spent in the
public secondary school – hours which had become
somewhat boring to him lately, as he felt that there was
too much concentration on Christendom at the cost of
science and philosophy…

Charles and Mr. Diderot had finished their tasks in the

barn, and discussed the latter’s sketches in the evening
sun, sitting on a bench along the barn wall. Charles made
some comments and Diderot added some details to the
drawings. When the sun went down they walked across

67
the farmyard and entered the kitchen, where Jeanne had
finished the day’s household tasks.

”Has there been many journeys around the countryside in

order to acquire insight in and draw sketches of the
farmers’ technological equipment,” Charles asked the
philosopher as they sat around the kitchen table tasting
the still hot bread from Jeannes baking session, served
with cheese and blackcurrant jam.

”Oh, yes, there has been a lot of travelling lately. I have

been on the road for the major part of the summer season.
As the most technically endowed and most capable in
drawing among D’Alembert and myself it has been my
main obligation to conduct the first hand collecting of the
diverse material, while D’Alembert conducts the editing
and organization of the volumes of the Encyclopaedia.
However, at the present time of the year my travelling
draws to a close for now. The roads are becoming less
favourable to travelling in connection with the rainy
season, so now I will wait until April next year with
further investigations of the subject of agricultural
technologies and labour processes.”

All four of them took another look at the sketches, while

they discussed technical details, concepts related to
various machinery parts, production capacity, and so on.
Diderot’s opinion was that Charles’ wine press was
among the most advanced and smoothly operating which

68
he had observed and depicted so far, and that he felt
certain that he would include drawings of it in the
fortcoming volume on agricultural technology and labour
processes. There had been momentous progress within
agriculture as well as crafts and industry during the past
decades, and together they held out great promises for the
productivity within the French economy in the years
ahead.

”What is the status of our French technology within

agriculture as compared to the British,” Charles wanted
to know.

”Well, I don’t possess the complete overview of the

British conditions – naturally because I haven’t had the
time nor opportunity to travel extensively in the British
countryside. However, according to my reliable contacts
on the Isles, we are at least not lagging behind them.
Moreover, I am fairly convinced that the Encyclopaedie
will contribute to further progress in our country, which
certainly is one of the main objectives of the entire
work.”

”It will certainly be interesting to follow the forthcoming

developments, both as regards your encyclopaedic work
and within French agriculture. I am really looking
forward to the volume on farming and the state of its
technology. Would only this war come to an end…”

69
Diderot and his hosts stayed around the kitchen table
sipping wine and discussing various topics until late at
night. The encyclopaedist and philosopher loved good
conversations and often spent the night after a day’s work
with people whom he visited during his scientific
journeys. Jeanne, Charles and Diderot discussed
everything from the latest discoveries within biology,
including the new perspectives on and proofs of the vital
role of microorganisms in the soil, to the prospects for
the European Continent in view of the recent war
developments. Jeanne eagerly joined the discussion,
especially the parts of it which concerned agricultural
science and medicine. Politics and war were of far less
interest to her, to put it bluntly, so when the conversation
turned into these topics she retreated to her study in order
to indulge in literature on herbal medicine.

XI
The summer season in Portsmouth had been relatively
warm and dry, hence Ophelia Oakarden had not been
able to test the full potentiality of mycorrhizal symbiosis
with respect to horticulture. However, the initial
experiments had provided some significant results. The
dry weather during extended periods of time had caused

70
problems for many farmers due to their lack of any kind
of irrigation systems for their fields and meadows. In
Ophelias garden, however, which covered some two
acres in the spacious garden surrounding the house which
she had inherited from her grandparents, the vegetables
and herbs had withstood the drought periods excellently,
and there were no signs of damage to the crops which she
had treated with mulching and mycorrhizal inoculation
throughout the summer months. However, in the various
parts of her garden which she had not inoculated with
mycorrhiza, due to the experimental value, the reduced
crops were highly tangible compared to average seasons,
which generally brought extensive precipitation here
along the southern coast.

Another significant result of the inoculation experiment

was that the crops had higher weights than usual, even if
the size of the vegetables generally was the same as
before; she had weighed and measured crops throughout
many seasons, but never registered such fine crops of
robust and particularly tasty vegetables and herbs as this
year. Was it really so that these microorganisms, with
sufficiently added organic material on the soil surface,
were so effective with respect to furnishing nutrients to
the plants and made them more drought resistant? In that
case it would in itself cause an agricultural revolution, as
soon as these insights and the corresponding techniques
became known among farmers in general and among
ordinary gardeners in the cities.
71
Briefly stated, what she had done was the following:
When the earliest flowers bloomed in May and June she
gathered soil samples from special locations in which
there grew especially fine and sturdy plant communities
with strutting single plants. To make sure that she
collected symbiotic fungi which would be adpated to
coexistence and mutual benefits with her crop plants, she
took soil samples from the whole spectrum of flower
plant families, such as the peaflower family and the lilly
family. She put the soil samples, which she gathered
from the top 10 cm of the soil, on ventilated glass, so that
the microorganisms had access to the required oxygen.
After gathering the soil samples she took them for a ride
with a borrowed horse and wagon along the country road
in order to give the fungi spores a kind of ”shock,” which
she had heard that would stimulate the sporulation of
these fungal organisms. Before gathering the mycorrhiza
spores she had collected nettles in the vicinity of her
garden, in the outskirts of Portsmouth. She had put the
nettles in two large barrels with tempered rain water in
them. After a couple of weeks, and thorough circulating
one time per day, the nettles had dissolved completely,
and she used a bucket of this nettle water for a
nitrogenous ”nutrient soup” for the mycorrhiza spores.

When her cultivated plants had reached a height of 5-10

centimeter, depending on the various species, she started
the mulching process, consisting in laying mowed field
gras from her garden and roadsides around the plants,
72
and then – in humid weather – spray the inoculation
fluid, to which she added more nettle water. Another
trick which she had made avail of was to give the fungal
spores a brief shock in the form of ice cold water from
the well for a few seconds, before warming up the
inoculation bucket with rain water until it reached 20
degrees Celsius. Then she sprayed the plants and the
mulching material as extensively as possible. This
procedure she had repeated throughout the summer, after
the mulching material from each layer had been hacked
into the soil and been degraded by the microorganisms.
All in all the tricks used she had partly conceived of
herself, and partly gathered from biologists and
horticulturalists who had attended the meetings of the
gardening guild in Portsmouth.

Ophelia was in splendid mood due to the astonishing

results of the recent experiments, and she had already
decided to go on a lecture tour during the coming winter
or early spring in order to enlighten gardeners and
farmers, and distribute Du Monceaus scientific essay on
mycorrhizal symbiosis. Then, she would rather have to
tone down the music avtivity for a while, she thought, as
she considered the prolification of this new insight as far
more important in the long run. The pleasure of music
she could always enjoy later on.

Every Saturday throughout the autumn before the winter

cold – which, however, was rarely very harsh in

73
Portsmouth – set in, Ophelia joined together with several
other gardeners and farmers at the city square. This
autumn it was a special joy to present the products of the
season because of their outstanding quality – and she had
tasted a lot of vegetables and herbs during her 30 years.
Both the regular customers as well as her farmer and
gardener colleagues were stunned by the virtually shining
texture of Ophelias products this autumn, and
Theophrastus – who often joined her at the square
sessions, and who had held as usual to composted animal
manure in the nurturing of his plants this season – was
somewhat envious of Ophelias’ outstanding results, even
while sharing her joy. Thus he contemplated applying her
methods on the fields in the next growing season.

”Good gracious, the lettuce leaves are almost as thick as

cabbage leaves,” commented one of Ophelia’s gardening
colleagues a Saturday in early September as they
exchanged a few words in the midst of busy market
activities.

”Oh, yes, isn’t it fabulous! A real miracle, actually. But

when one thinks of how ingenously nature is organized,
and its ecosystems function, it maybe isn’t that surprising
at all,” Ophelia wondered.

”That may be so,” replied the gardener colleague. ”I

wonder what other secrets are laying there awaiting
discovery by science?”

74
”Good point. It is indeed an exciting time period we are
living through. Would only this damn war come to an
end, so that the people of Europe eventually could
embark fully on creative ventures. As it is, agriculture is
steadily drained of labour power, due to the fact that
people are driven towards the cities to fulfil their duties
according to the government’s rigid war labour regime.”

Her gardener colleague bent over and whispered the

following words in her ear:

”I have heard rumours that the revolt against the war and
the king’s ministry is imminent. However, I cannot tell
more about it at the moment – as for myself, I have only
a peripheral role in the revolt plans. Someone will have
to feed the people in the midst of it all, too,” he said,
before they once again had to serve the many customers
who had come to town this Saturday, which was one of
the major market days in Portsmouth, due to the recent
harvesting.

XII
It had been a good growth season in the district around
Paris. Favourable temperatures throughout the summer
and certain periods of extensive precipitation had made
the storage rooms at Olympes Diderot and Pierre-Joseph
Germe’s farm full to the brink with a rich variety of

75
vegetables – cabbages, leek, onion, roots of many sorts,
including turnips and beets, the latter two primarily for
animal feed.

At this moment the main agricultural tasks were

accomplished, and the time was due for Olympes and
Pierre-Joseph to turn to their other occupations. Olympes
had planned to continue her work on a dissertation on the
movement led by Etienne Marcel in the late Middle
Ages, and had a lot of source investigation to do –
primarily in the form of judicial chronicles from the
actual time period.

Pierre-Joseph, for his part, prepared for a new season in

his cooper workshop at one of the quays along the Seine.
During the previous months he had received a long series
of orders of barrels as well as buckets, and he was
expecting delivery of building materials by mid October.
The orders came from farmers, wine producers,
merchants as well as ship owners, who needed his
products for their specific purposes. The cooper guild
played a central role in the commercial life of the capital,
and Pierre-Joseph took pride in the fact that he could
contribute with such an important work besides his
farming activities. He had already participated at the
guild’s first meeting of the autumn, at which the guild
members had discussed the quality of materials, the best
furnishers of wood for cooper work, the price levels, the
number of apprentices which they could employ in the

76
forthcoming season, and other important issues related to
their business.

When the time came for his departure to Paris, Pierre-

Joseph filled up his craftman’s wagon and set out on the
country road towards the great city. He brought with him
provisions for an extended period of time, so that he
would not need to return to the farm until New Year’s
time – unless he was to be struck by intense
homesickness, which by the way frequently happened
during his regular stays along the Seine. After all, he
thrived best in rural surroundings, although the pulsating
life of Paris and the many discussions going on in bars,
salons and cafés also attracted him strongly.

The journey to the city went without serious trouble,

except from the fact that the road was somewhat bumpy
after a lot of horse travel related to the farmers’ deliveries
of agricultural produce at the city square. For the most
part Pierre-Joseph and Olympes hired coachmen for the
transportation of vegetables to Paris’ grocery stores, so
that they themselves could spend their precious time at
home on the farm. After all, they spent enough time in
the city during winter time, they figured.

Shortly after his arrival in the workshop, and after

unloading the provisions, Pierre-Joseph walked along the
quays to his favourite bar to hear the latest news from the
capital and the wide world out there. The bar, Folque,

77
pulsated with life this autumn afternoon. There were
people from the capital itself, of course – craftsmen and
intellectuals, and even a few farmers from nearby
villages – as well as seamen from far away places. It was
especially the latter Pierre-Joseph was eager to meet and
listen to, to the extent that they were able to make
themselves understood in the French language, or
mastered English at a level which corresponded with his.
He got to hear about the latest events on the war fronts,
both on the continent and at sea. There were even a
couple of British sailors who could convey the
germinating revolt in England – and told tales about the
actions of sabotage against the supplies to the British war
fleet and about the arming of the revolutionaries.

”When are the great outbreak expected?” Pierre-Joseph

wanted to know from the British sailors.

They told him that it was still very uncertain. It was

crucial to hit the right timing, especially with regard to
what to do with the monarch, George III. It was no good
idea to execute him, considering the difficulties that the
first English republic had run into in the 1650’s after the
beheading of King Charles II in 1649. A repetition of the
mistakes conducted under Oliver Cromwell had to be
avoided at all costs, as such faults would mean the
eclipse of republicanism in England in all foreseeable
future – indeed, maybe even forever.

78
”There have been discussions as to whether he is to be
sent in forced exile in the American colonies,” one of the
sailors whispered. ”It is presently great social ferment at
the other side of the Atlantic, and immense grievances
against the colonial status and the extortions made by the
colonial power. There are many proud puritans ’over
there’ who want to gain self determination over their own
resources. Moreover, many colonials wish for a
democratic development based on the ideals of the
English revolution in the 1640’s. The legends about
Winstanley and Lilburne are still told in many parts of
the American continent, particularly in New England
where there are conducted regular town meetings at the
city squares.”

”Oh, well, that is an ingenous idea,” Pierre-Joseph

replied when he got to hear about the plan. ”Maybe it
would end the monarchical conception once and for all?”

”That would certainly be worth hoping for,” the other

sailor said. ”The world has witnessed enough of this
senseless idea of ’kingship by the grace of God’ – that’s
for sure. This conception is only keeping people ignorant
– superstitious and subdued – without ability to or
possibility for achieving real enlightenment and
empowerment.”

The discussion continued around the table, while the

guests drank their glasses of wine and dark beer. The

79
Parisians preferred the former, while most of the farmers
and seamen enjoyed the dark beer, which was mainly
imported from Ireland. There were also served certian
simple dishes in the bar, and an aromatic scent from
French herbs spread in the room as the courses of the day
were being prepared. Pierre-Joseph stayed there for a
couple of hours more. Food, however, he was well
supplied with in his workshop, so that he could save his
money for other expenditures. The freighters who
conducted the transportation of materials were supposed
to get their pay within the next few days, and the farmers
who ran the cooperative saw mill further up along the
Seine were also due for payment for their delivery.

Back in the workshop Pierre-Joseph prepared a simple

dinner consisting in scrambeld eggs with leek and thyme,
in addition to Olympes’ tasty home baked bread. After
dinner he read a few pages in Rousseau’s ”On the
Origins of Inequality among Human Beings,” before
going to bed. ”If these thoughts of Rousseau reaches out
among the public,” Pierre-Joseph thought to himself, ”we
will approach revolutionary conditions even here in
France. Well, unless the reform efforts by Quesnay and
his colleagues succeed in due time…”

Fortunaltely for Pierre-Joseph and his fellow craftsmen in

a similar situation, the next morning brought the same,
dry weather. The wooden materials for his cooper work
were supposed to be carried from the freight boat and

80
into the workshop, and as dry and well stored which they
usually were it would be a sin to expose them for rain.
The materials, for the most part oak, was split at the
cooperative saw mill, and had been stored and dried for
almost two years – exposed to wind and rain in the first
period and then covered but open enough for air drying.
The people at the saw mill had split the oak into ready
made staves, so that Pierre-Joseph only needed to cut the
right lenghts and plane them properly before joining
them together into barrels and buckets. To keep these
together he used osier bands which he steamed together
with the oak staves in order to soften them and make
them elastic. In this way the products would be
completely water proof. This, moreover, was quite
crucial, as most of the barrels and buckets were to be
used for storage of liquid substances such as wine, beer,
oil and milk.

The freight boat already lay at the quay a few hundred

meters up the river when Pierre-Joseph came driving
with his wagon the next morning. He welcomed the
freighters, whom he knew well from earlier deliveries.
They were three strongly built hauliers who had given up
farming in order to concentrate on this special freight
sailing up and down the Seine – a freight transport,
moreover, which provided an essential link in the
economic life of the capital and also vast parts of
Northern France in general.

81
After hauling the materials onto his wagon, Pierre-Joseph
drove back to the workshop, eager to start the new season
of cooper work. He fed his horse with oat from a barrel
he kept standing in the stable, wall to wall with the
workshop, and started carrying the oak materials into his
storage room. Several things had to be done before the
actual cooper work could begin; he had to chop fire wood
for the steam apparatus, the osier bands had to be
prepared, and last but not least he had to sharpen the
cutting tools properly – saws and knives as well as
planers. He figured that he would need the forthcoming
days for these preparations. Moreover, he wished to find
some freightmen or taxi drivers who could rent his horse
during the long period in which he did not need it in
town. The horse thrived better being in activity, he
thought. Moreover, he saved precious forage in this way.

XIII
In London, the new year, 1759 – the fourth year of the
war – had started turbulently. The city’s artisans and
even many of its merchants, who were frustrated over the
war which undermined their businesses, had gathered
together in secret during the holidays in order to plan a
well coordinated tax refusal in protesting against the war.
Simultaneously, the city’s people’s militia was busy
conducting sabotage actions against the supplies to the

82
navy – particularly by dumping cannon balls into the
Thames. The king and his parliament were about to run
out of counter-measures, and despite the fact that the
police had managed to seize some of the saboteurs – and
already hanged some of them – the entire power
apparatus in the capital was about to be crippled. What
would be the next, wondered the king as well as the
members of parliament. Both Pitt and George III
expected the worst – bearing in mind the fate that had
met Charles II towards the end of the revolution in the
1640’s. But it would hardly go that far this time, they
tried to soothe themselves. They had no idea about what
the rebels speculated in as the definitive counter-stroke
against the war, and as the starting point for an entirely
new social, economic and political direction for the
British Isles.

In the printing shop in which Angelica Shelly worked,

the days proceeded mostly as normal. However, with an
increasing onrush from revolutionaries who wanted to get
their pamphlets and leaflets printed in order to intensify
the propaganda against the war and spread the ideas
about a British confederation and abolishment of the
monarchy, there was a lot to hold her occupied –
especially with talking and negotiating with the rebels.
The owner of the printing shop was rather reluctant to
print such writings, even if he supported the case of the
revolutionaries in principle. He had, however, a large
family to support, and being the family loving man he
83
was, he did not dare to throw himself into the struggle
tooth and nail. But an occasional pamphlet and leaflet he
had taken the risk to print during the previous months. As
for Angelica, she had less to fear, as she merely was the
printer’s apprentice. Moreover, she had not her own
family to support, and neither had she any immediate
plans to bring children into the world – such as it looked
like at the moment, with shortage of the most vital
necessities due to the war economy and the increasingly
strong priorities accorded to the war supplies. However,
maybe there would be changes soon, indeed, maybe even
fundamental ones, she wondered.

One day towards the end of February she visited her

favourite pub, located a few miles away from her own
lodgings in the East end. This very evening was to be
very memorable and significant for her, as she finally
met a male intellectual, albeit a very young man, but a
sharp, women loving man with a very special drive when
it came to social and political commitment compared to
most of Angelica’s customary discussion partners. The
man was Thomas Paine. It was he who made contact with
her as she was sitting in the bar enjoying a Guiness as a
compensation for lack of dinner that day.

”Well, my lady, so you’re sitting here drinking beer all

by yourself?” Paine addressed her, almost like they had
known each other for a long time. Paine’s jovial

84
appearance immediately appealed to her, and they started
talking.

”Oh, yes, once more my main meal had to consist in a

couple of Guiness,” Angelica admitted. ”This terrible war
is wearing down my nerves. Moreover, it has taken away
my appetite.”

”Oh, dear, you are not alone in this,” Paine quickly

responded. ”Very often, I’ve had to do the same.
Fortunately, it is tasty as well as good nourishment,
although it does not make up a balanced diet in the long
run. Moreover, I would suppose that the Irish could need
it for themsleves these days.”

”You are right. If people are fed up with the authorities

here in England, it is nothing compared to the rage which
has accumulated among the Irish as well as the Scots.”

”True enough, my lady – and with good reasons. The

royal power in this country has ridden roughshod over
our brothers and sisters in the west and the north
throughout centuries. One would think that it will soon
come to an end!”

”Oh, dear, don’t speak so loudly! It may very well be

government spies present here tonight. One never knows
when they show up, considering the suspicion among the
state leaders after all these sabotage actions and
mutinies,” Angelica warned her new aquiantance.

85
”Oh, thank you for reminding me about that. May I
already call you my friend? I feel that we immediately
struck such a good note. You see, I have been to sea for a
while, and there has been little spiritual contact with
women – and of course in other senses to…”

”You are flattering me, mr. Paine,” Angelica, said,

slightly blushing by the staunch man’s polite flirtation.
”As for myself, I have had huge difficulties with being
respected in a way that suits me. You see, I have certain
ambitions in the intellectual sphere, among other things
by writing brief essays on actual issues – besides my
apprenticeship in one of the city’s printing shops.”

”Really? Well, I could have guessed so! It must be my

lucky day to meet such a talented lady shortly after
setting foot in London again!” Paine was thrilled, and
they toasted to the preliminary stage of what would turn
out to be a close and fertile friendship.”

Angelica and Paine kept on conversating in the pub right

until closing time. Paine had still not been able to acquire
his own permanent lodging in London, so he stayed
temporarily at an inn in the Soho district. He was fond of
walking, and offered Angelica company on her way
home. She was thankful for that, and they continued their
conversation through the foggy London night. He told
her that he was himself a man of literary ambitions, even
though he so far had had to spend most of his time on

86
other, more trivial labour, as he put it. He was pleased
with leaving the seafarer’s life behind, as he experienced
both discomfort with the rolling waves, and, moreover,
found it hard to engage in good dialogue with his
colleagues, as they were most often dead drunk in their
spare time. However, now they had at least been men
enough to conduct mutinies, as their form of protest
against their own war crazed authorities, he said. “That is
something!”

”How do you view the prospects for the planned revolt?”

Angelica wanted to know.

”That’s a very good question, my friend,” Paine said,

pleased by the young lady’s bright and deeply committed
outlook. ”Well, I consider the possibilities for its success
– and consequent groundbreaking results for the whole of
Europe – as fairly good. However, it depends on our
ability to avoid setbacks during its most intensive period,
which still lies ahead. If we won’t be able to avoid such
setbacks, the reactionary forces may easily get the upper
hand. But I have my thoughts on how the people may
conduct the revolt to a sucessful and final conclusion.”

”Now, you made me highly curious,” Angelica admitted,

and glanced at her new friend as they trotted along the
quiet streets. ”Can you reveal some of your thoughts in
this respect? Or are there things which still must be kept
secret?”

87
”Well dear, I feel that I have every reason to trust you, so
I can give you a few hints. But you must promise me to
keep them to yourself until the plan has materialized.
There are only a handful of revolutionaries who are
informed of this as yet.”

”Certainly, my dear. My mouth is closed with seven seals

when someone asks me to keep a secret, regardless of its
content,” Angelica confirmed.

”Well, you probably know how the Revolution in the

1640’s ended, after the beheading of King Charles II?”

”Oh, yes, I have studied the Revolution in some detail,

but especially through the writings of Gerrard
Winstanley.”

”Oh, well! Winstanley is one of my great historical

heroes. If he had had a more prominent role during that
revolution, things would have been different – in a
positive sense. Of that I am fully convinced… However,
this boastful Cromwell was in control back then, and not
even general Fairfax could measure up to him when it
came to the elaboration of tactics and planning of the
revolutionary events. And it all ended, as you know, in
nothing of value for the people at large, who had fought
the revolution as soldiers in the New Model Army and
suffered huge human and material losses. Then came the
restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and since then the

88
republican idea has seemingly been dead and buried – at
least in England.”

”That’s true. However, right now things are building up

in the direction of republicanism once again, both in this
city and all around the country – indeed, even in the
countryside, according to what I’ve heard from
travellers.”

”That’s right, Angelica – and this time around we will

have to make sure that the republican effort does not
peter out once more, through for instance a regicide
which could be made avail of in an eventual reactionary
political context. May Fortune spare us from such a
scenario! However, now I will relate to you the main
essence of my plan, which I had the opportunity to
discuss with some of the militia leaders the other day.”

”Oh, yes, tell me, please!”

”Well, as you understand, we must get rid of the king in

an intelligent way. And when that’s done, the parliament
will not have its institutional basis anymore, and the way
would be paved for the development of decentralized
power structures and a confederal organization of the
economy all over the British Isles. In that respect, the
essence of my plan is as follows: Also in the American
colonies the opposition against the English crown has
been accumulating during a decade or so, and according
to what I’ve heard from certain sailors who have visited

89
the colonies recently, there are increasing murmurs that
the colonists aim to rid themselves of the kingly yoke and
their denigrating colonial status. Thus, I have suggested
to the people’s militia of London that we rig a fast
moving and ocean crossing shooner bark, simply kidnap
the king himself and maybe some of his closest relatives
and subordinates, in an unguarded moment; then force
them on board the bark, and set sail for Boston. We will,
in other words, send the king in forced exile to the
freedom loving American city, which will gladly
welcome the initiative and see to it that kingship on the
British Isles is relegated to the history books once and for
all! Only a few details remain as regards who will ’take
care’ of the king and his eventual ’companions’ over
there. The fast moving shooner bark is more or less ready
for the expedition. Of course, there are certain dangers
and risks involved, such as the possibility that our ship
may be assaulted by the navy out at sea – but we have to
take that risk. Moreover, our crew will be well equipped
with firearms, and the men are very eager to get the
operation started.”

”Oh, well, this sounds like the plan of a genius!”

Angelica bursted out. ”And this you have figured out all
by yourself?”

”Oh, thanks, dear. Well, I suppose it’s the kind of

schemes that one may envisage during long and tedious
duties on board a vessel isolated out on the open ocean,

90
indeed, maybe even egged on by the drunken utterances
from some of the men on board. But in essence, this is
my own plan, and I am flattered that it has been approved
by the militia.”

Angelica was altogether exalted over what she had heard,

so that when they arrived at her front door she invited
Paine to stay the night with her. Paine, however, who had
a tight schedule consisting of writing pamphlets and
other organizational work during the forthcoming days,
had to decline the invitiation – despite feeling very
tempted by the sweet and intelligent young lady. But as
he said in bidding her good night:

”Meaningful work is waiting. We will have to save the

romantic moments for a later occasion.”

They kissed each other gently on the cheeks, and thanked

each other for a wonderful evening. A new friendship
had been formed which gave Angelica hopes for vital
assistance in her career as an essayist.

XIV
A dry and clear Saturday in early October, Louis-Olivier
was present at one of Paris’ several markets in order to
offer some of the commodities which he and his trading
companions hadde obtained during last spring’s voyage

91
eastwards. The harvests had been nothing more than
mediocre over most of France, thus there was a certain
demand for Louis-Olivier’s wares, particularly the wheat
from the Baltic countries. But also the dried cod was in
high demand, in part due to the restrictions put on
marketing and consumption of fish from the Seine. It was
a long distance to the sea and hence very few, if any,
fishermen who would be troubled with the long freights
of their catches up against the river current to Paris. Most
of their fish was instead sold and consumed in the cities
and villages along the Atlantic coast.

Paris was very crowded this autumn morning. There were

people from the surrounding countryside, as well as
Parisians themselves, but also newly recruited sailors
who were about to enter the French fleet – the latter
prepared themselves for a final autumn offensive before
the winter storms set in. Louis-Olivier conversated with
some of them, and got the clear impression that it was not
something which they did lightheartedly. Most of them
had simply volunteered because of a dire economic
situation and the reduced career opportunities in civil life
because of the war. Some were peasant lads who had had
to find an occupational alternative when production on
their families’ farms had been curtailed as a result of
lacking export related demand for products such as wine,
dried meat and herbs. Others had been artisanal
apprentices in various trades which were also hemmed by
reduced demand for their various craft products. Nearly
92
all of them hoped that the war would end soon, so that
they could return to meaningful tasks in the civil life.
However, they were well aware that the forthcoming sea
voyage may well be their ”last journey,” and Louis-
Olivier felt a strong sympathy for them. As for himself,
he had been lucky enough to maintain the trading
activities of his trading company, and together with his
dexterous and brave companions he had been able to
continue the traditional sailing to the East each spring so
far during the war – and they had no immediate plans to
leave it off.

Louis-Olivier made a pretty penny at the market that day,

and after the market hours he made his way to one of his
favourite cafés in one of Paris’ old neighborhoods, before
going to one of the famous salons in order to attain a
philosophical discussion which engaged him
considerably. It concerned the position and role of
women in French society, and a crucial issue was
whether they primarily should focus on domestic life,
with its house holding activities, family care and raising
of children, or did they have more momentous roles to
fill – within intellectual life as well as within art and
music? A process of women’s liberation was well under
way, as a natural consequence of the Enlightenment
ideals – which with their universalistic character
necessarily had to make an impact on gender roles as
well. Louis-Olivier found the issue to be a highly
complex one. On the one hand women had surely
93
intellectual abilities quite on a par with men. However,
on the other hand there was not the slightest doubt
concerning their all important role in the home, which
always had been completely indispensible for the
reproduction of society. So far he had come to the
conclusion that there would have to be a possibility for
combining the two aspects of life for women in general,
if not at one and the same time. However, a combination
demanded the most scrupulous planning and discipline
on the part of the women themselves, of which not
everyone would be in the adequate possession. Moreover,
it demanded all sorts of goodwill and support from the
men, who had to be willing to let women into social
spheres which hitherto had been completely dominated
by themselves, and additionally they had to be willing to
engage in some of the tasks related to raising the young
in order to provide the women leisure time to pursue their
intellectual and artistical faculties.

That night there were to main speakers in Madame de

Gouges’ salon. Firstly, there was no less a celebrity than
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whom with his highly sceptical
attitude towards modern European civilization considered
even this issue of women’s liberation as a somewhat
construed issue, and in his opinion apt to disturb
society’s basis further. The second speaker was the
hostess herself, whom for several years had been engaged
in the campaigning for women’s rights and their claim
for a share in the public domain.
94
As a guest Rousseau was given the platform first, and he
argued extensively for his view, partly by emphasizing
the fact that the nature of men and women differed from
each other in deep seated ways, and that this divergence
also marked their respective spirit and assigned the tasks
which it was natural for the two sexes to conduct. His
conclusion was that education for men and women
should differ, and that a woman’s asset was her charm
and caring ability, while it was the man who primarily
posessed intellectual powers. After his speech there were
questions from the public, which Rousseau answered in
his customary pedagogical vein – by repeating what he
ordinarily told the commoner he met; that he couldn’t
think for them, and that they had to make up their own
minds about crucial social and political issues. The only
thing he could do, he said, was to argue on the basis of
his own rational ability, and refer to historical
illustrations of how the allocation of gender roles had
functioned to the most optimal extent throughout the
ages. He mentioned ancient Athens as a crown example
of the optimal gender role pattern, by pointing to the
strenght of women’s position within the oikos, or
economy, spehere. After all, political life had largely
been forced upon the ancient Greeks due to external
threats, and should not be something to urge for neither
by women or men, in his opinion. As regards cultural
activities such as science, literature, art and music he was
more ameniable towards female participation, on the

95
condition that it did not occur at the expence of their
tasks and duties in the homes. He added, however, that
the role of art may easily be exaggerated under
civilization – and referred to a treaty he had written on
the subject.

In her speech, de Gouges touched upon individual

women who, throughout history, had entered the social
stage with their intellectual capabilites, such as for
example Sappho in ancient Greece, and hence manifested
the potential inherent in what many learned people
considered as the ”weak sex.” De Gouges admitted that
there were not many famous women known to posterity,
but that probably many more had existed without being
recognized and recorded by historians in subsequent
periods. She contended that it was now time for
revolutionizing the traditional gender pattern – without
denigrating the highly important role which women
played in the domestic sphere. However, she was an
ardent suporter of birth control and family planning, and
appealed to the male section among the public to take
their share of the responsibility for reducing the number
of unwanted births – both through their own sexual
praxis, by for example abrupted intercourse, and by
circulating the knowledge of so-called ”safe periods” for
women, and so on. As regards political life, she
contended that women had as much to conduct in that
field as men had, and that if female values were to
achieve a greater influence on political life, there would
96
be less rivalization between nations and a more harmonic
life within each respective nation. Then there were
questions from the audience, which in turn were
answered by de Gouges in a well founded and eloquent
manner.

After the initial speeches it was time for a short break

with tea and coffee, in addition to some finer sandwiches.
Rousseau and de Gouges mingled freely with the public,
which was aroused by the crucial issues involved in their
speeches. Louis-Olivier was impressed by both speakers,
and had received additional aspects to reflect upon. He
had sympathy with the struggle of women to realize their
potentialities as intellectual and artistic beings, but still
shared Rousseau’s concern that they risked to forsake
their indispensable tasks in the home – especially
regarding the raising of children.

The discussions among the audience and the two

speakers lasted well into the night – occasionally heated
through the diverse opinions being represented on that
occasion as well. Men were in a solid majority among the
audience – still the women present rose to the occasion
with quick comments and pointed remarks. In the event
no one single opinion could claim ”victory” in the wake
of the discussions. As usual the essential value of the
session was that a number of important issues had been
considered from various angles, so that the debaters went
home with the firm impression of having raised their

97
consciousness and widened their horizon – and thus laid
a solid foundation for further reflection.

Louis-Olivier had raised his voice on a couple of

occasions during the discussions, and among other things
asked Rousseau whether he thought that political life was
something corrupt by its very nature, or whether it had
any kind of liberatory or civilizatory potential.

”Well, it depends on various factors,” Rousseau said,

”firstly what kind of institutions it fosters and is based
on, and who’s controlling them. In order that political life
shall benefit the whole of the people, society requires
political institutions which give the common will room to
express itself and put its mark on the political decisions.
As it is now, here in France and nearly everywhere else,
politics becomes just another means of oppression
alongside religion – as if the latter was not enough!”

Louis-Olivier thought that these were revolutionary

perspectives, while he recognized the main traits from
what he had read about democracy in ancient Greece –
and to a certain extent from the Roman republic before
the costs of war ruined its economic base among the
sturdy yeomen, who were forced to leave their soil or at
least neglect its proper cultivation.

A young woman present, who worked part time as a cello

instructor in one of Paris’ cultural establishments,
expressed her challenges regarding being respected

98
among the cultural elite, and got the full support of
Madame de Gouges and also several of the other women
and men present. All in all the meeting ended in a
reconciliatory mood, in the sense that it was agreed upon
that the very Enlightenment project itself was highly
nourished by such happenings and debates. In her
farewell speech de Gouges informed the public that the
theme for the next meeting in her salon was going to be
the Encyclopedie and its role in the public life of France.
It would occur on the first Saturday in the next month,
and she had invited no less a figure than Denis Diderot to
deliver an introduction.

Louis-Olivier bid farwell to some of the other debaters,

packed up his remaining wares from the day’s market
activities and tied them well to his cart, before driving
home. The coming day he intended to save for some
reading, among other in a book on the heyday of the
Hansa League, and then go down to the harbour in order
to conduct some necessary maintenance work on his
company’s trading vessel. He had made an appointment
with the blacskmith and the two boat builders to meet
there in the early afternoon. Among the things to be done
was the oiling of the deck before the raw and humid
season set in, and moreover there were various
administrative tasks which had to be done with the
trading commodities, which had to be finally divided
among the company members.

99
The coming spring the boat was supposed to be be
impregnated all around with pine tar and flax oil. It was
many years since it had been done last time, and now it
was hight time for such an important task. They had
ordered flax oil from some noblemen who ran a common
oil press in Normandy, and with whom Louis-Olivier had
established a professional contact during one of his
trading voyages. The pine tar came all the way from
southern Norway, and had been produced and exported
by thrifty farmers up there in the cold north who
conducted these trades during the winter season, before
and after tending to their harvests – a combination of
agriculture, craft and trade which was largely unknown in
rural France, primarily because of the feudal restrictions
on peasant activities. Many of the Norwegian farmers
were yeomen, and enjoyed a singularly prominent
position within Norwegian society despite the economic
privileges assigned to the burghers by the Danish crown
– which had governed Norway more or less like a
province since the late Middle Ages.

XV
A grey and cold winter day towards the end of 1759 the
king’s troops suddenly amassed in Newcastle, in the form
of both cavalery and marine corps. Obviously, the Crown
had got extensive hints about what was going on in the

100
city regarding preparations for an extensive revolt. There
had been sporadic razzias and subsequent arrests in a
number of other cities as well, and troops had even been
sent to Ireland and Scotland in order to prevent the
expected support for the revolt in these regions.

The military units acted in a so precise and aim targeted

manner that Gaius Digger, who immediately after
hearing of the first razzias had seeked shelter among
some artisanal colleagues in the northern outskirts of
Newcastle, with further escape routes open to the north
and the west, got the firm impression that it all was due
to a betrayal within the ranks of the revolutionaries. For
how else could the troops find their way exactly and
immediately to the weapon storages and the workshops
in which the arms for the militia were produced? Of
course, the latter could be based on eventual lacking
deliveries from the workshops in question to the regular
military forces. But what about the localization of the
depots? At the moment Gaius had no suspected traitors in
mind, and he was uncertain about the proper way to act
under the present circumstances. Should he flee further
north and seek shelter among his companions within the
ranks of the Scots, or should he relocate to a distant
village here in England, and in due time see what could
be done to prevent a complete abortion of the revolt
effort, or at the very least take care not to get arrested and
prosecuted for high treason against the English crown –
which in his case, due to his central role in the planning
101
and initial execution of the revolt, with certainty would
mean a death penalty – or, at the very best, deportation.

In companionship with his artisanal colleagues in the far

north of Newcastle he discussed the sudden change of
fortune, and what could be done by each and one of
them. There were many concerns. Most of them had
families to support, and some of them were highly
convinced that the revolt now was foiled. If there were a
traitor or more within the ranks of the revolutionaries,
such an extensive amount of sensitive and detailed
information would have leeked into the hands of the
authorities that the latter would very soon have unraveled
the whole movement. Thus, many of the craftsmen found
it wise to embark on a flight into the countryside, and to
seek shelter among their friends and acquaintances withn
the peasantry, and wait for the razzias to end and things
to turn back to normal conditions. They figured that they
would manage to send supplies of food to their relatives
in the city while there were in hiding, and hope that their
family members were left in peace by the razzia troops.
Most of them were of the opinion that there would hardly
be any traces of their revolutionary activities in
Newcastle – so that the one crucial factor would be the
issue of a traitor who could have revealed their identities
to the government. A number of their colleagues
elsewhere in town had already been arrested and got their
workshops and homes turned around. In all probability
they were facing a harsh fate – and so did their families.
102
The next day, Gaius met some Scottish colleagues who
had stayed a few days in Newcastle in the wake of a
guild conference during the previous weekend. A cooper
who he got into contact with expressed great concern for
his relatives in Scotland, as he reckoned that the king’s
razzia troops would strike there, too, and he doubted that
it would be safe for him to embark on the travel back
home at the moment. But would it be any safer here in
Newcastle, with the city full of aim directed and highly
determined troops? He and Gaius discussed possible
alternatives, and Gaius suggested that they could flee
westwards – to the interior of the country – and seek
refuge among som farmer craftsmen whom he knew
there, and who had not been deeply involved in the revolt
attempt.

They had hardly agreed upon uniting their energies in an

escape to the west, however, before the location in which
they conducted their dialogue – an inn which
occasionally had housed meetings for the revolutionaries
– was stormed by a razzia troop. There was no time to
slip away, and the host as well as the present guests,
including Gaius and the Scottish cooper, were resolutely
laid in chains and led into the waiting wagons. The chief
of the troops was brisk in his orders, and briefly oriented
the arrested of the accusations against them. He largely
confirmed Gaius’ suspicion of a betrayal from among the
ranks of the revolutionaries by referring to ”reliable
sources” within the city of Newcastle itself, which had
103
enabled the government ”to unravel the revolt schemes
and prevent it from causing further damage to the crown
and its patriotic war.” Then the wagons with the
congested prisoners rolled down towards the harbour,
where the arrested were going to be loaded on to a ship,
awaiting further procedures. Gaius reflected upon the
dismal turn of events, and had very low expectations both
regarding the prospects for the revolt and his own
personal future. Would the war now drag on for several
more years? Would he be able to see his dear Faith
again?

In the meantime Faith Craft had been busy with a

midwife mission in the harbour area, and thus registered
the arrival of the military ships and the troops swarming
all over that part of the city, and she was soon informed
about their errand. Her midwife occupation represented a
veil to her involvement in the revolt, as did also her
female sex. Hence, she considered it safe to remain in
Newcastle, and to continue her doings as before – except
for anything which could be associated with the
revolutionaries. At present it was a matter of making the
best out of a very difficult situation, and first and
foremost she had to make an effort to acquire knowledge
about her beloved Gaius’ situation. She feared the worst,
and her fears were confirmed a few hours later, when one
of the revolutionaries visited her in a hurry before
departing from the city with a few companions. The news
about the arrest of Gaius and many other acquaintances
104
made a huge impression on Faith, and the next morning
she contacted the doctor whom she regularly cooperated
with in connection with child births. The doctor had no
strong opinions about the revolt, although he understood
the revolutionaries’ agenda. He knew about Faith’s and
Gaius’ role in it, and now he came with some well
meaning advices to Faith.

”As you say yourself, the chances are very slim that the
government will target you, so that you will probably be
safe staying here in Newcastle and continuing your work
duties. On the other hand, the chances for getting in
contact with Gaius or any of the other prisoners are less
than slim. Furthermore, if you show any effort to contact
them you might very well be suspected for complicity. If
the prisoners are held in the castle, you may send
someone in your place to bring them the most dire
necessities – but I doubt that the prison guards will let
you in.”

”Yes, you are right. Oh, dear, what a terrible situation! I

fear the worst for Gaius and his valiant companions. The
best I can hope for is for Gaius and the others to be
deported – and even that will mean that I will never see
him again.”

”Well, the accusations against him and the others will

certainly be severe – in the form of high treason against
the English crown. However, if they will be kept for a

105
while in the castle, there would still be a possibility to see
them, if you only could find a way to confirm that they
are kept there. But I have to warn you that the castle is a
nasty place, with frequent executions, and moreover the
prison authorities have surely received orders to lay their
hands on persons who arouse their suspicion.”

Faith thanked the doctor for his advices and their good
cooperation during the sucessful child birth the day
before, and returned home in order to make an attempt at
getting some nourishment – despite her low appetite due
to the recent events – and most of all to write some
poetry in an effort to digest the harsh impressions.
Writing poetry was the best means she knew for coping
with difficult emotions – and the present situation was by
far the most challenging she had ever experienced.
During the events of the previous months she had written
dozens of poems, and read them for Gaius in their
intimate moments of mutual confessions and romance.

Back home in the kitchen she had stored some salted

herring, and in the cellar was a barrel of potatoes which
she had recently bought from one of the farmers trading
in the city square. Onions belonged to the vegetables
which she grew in the small garden in the backyard, and
now they hung in neat strings for storage drying from the
roof of the attic, as usual at this time of the year. A
variety of roots were customarily stored in the cellar with
the potatoes.

106
During the dinner preparation, in which she as usual
made an extra portion in order to save for the next day,
she got the impulse to invite the lady next door for
dinner. Her husband was away on a longer trade venture
to Wales, and Faith used to have good conversations with
her on a variety of subjects. Even though the neigbour
couple did not belong to the active revolutionaries, they
sympathized with their case and eagerly wanted to see an
end to the war – both in order to stop the meaningless
spill of blood and resources, and so that the trading
husband once agian could experience normal, quiet work
conditions.

”Have you heard the latest news regarding the revolt?”

Faith asked the neighbour lady after they had ended their
herring meal.

”No, dear. Has anything special happended? I am always

poorer informed in periods when my man is away on his
trading journeys – it is he who has the best information
channels among us.”

”Well, my dear, I have received very bad news. There

must have been a betrayal among the revolutionaries,
because the crown’s troops have conducted razzias
against our comrades, and proceeded so systematically
and purposively that they necessarily will have to be in
the posession of utterly precise information from
insiders.”

107
”Oh, dear! So, that’s why I witnessed military troops
riding towards the city centre yesterday morning. I
certainly was distubed by the fact, but I had no idea that
it was as dramatic as that. Have you heard anything about
Gaius’ situation?”

”Well, unfortunately he is among the arrested, and in all

probability he is transported on board one of the hulks,
which have anchored up in the bay, in this very moment.
My fear is that he will be executed rather soon, if he he is
not going to be deported to a penal colony. The trials are
ordinarily quite summaric in such instances. Oh, dear, I
guess his arrest was more or less unavoidable, when this
action by the government first occurred, considering the
role he has played both with respect to organizing
meetings and writing and distributing pamphlets, in
addition to participating in actions of sabotage during the
preliminary stages of the revolt.”

”Oh, dear, you have my deepest compassion. But tell me,

dear, were the revolutionaries here in our city unduly
reckless with respect to acting in such an intensive and
open manner? I am first and foremost thinking of the
distribution of pamphlets.”

”Yes, you may have a point there. However, this issue

with the pamphlets are always a dilemma, for on the one
hand it is necessary to inform the public, and on the other
hand one has to avoid leaving too obvious evidence

108
which may be traced to single individuals. The former
has to be achieved in order to win crucial adherence to
the case and prepare for what’s coming next in the event
of a successful revolt – in the sense of toppling the crown
and the government. The latter has been attempted by
consistently publishing under pseudonyms. However, if
there are traitors in our ranks, we have no guarantees
whatsoever against getting our entire movement ripped
apart.”

They spent the entire evening conversating about these

events and the dramatically changed prospects in view of
them, as well as more mundane subjects. They agreed to
try to let life pass as normal as possible. Faith’s
neighbour said that she longed for her husband to return
home – it would take another week or two. His home
journey was a long one, and even the procuring of
sufficient forage to the horses, which he usually rented
from a horse breeder on the outskirts of town, was a huge
challenge at times. Fortunately, there were many fertile
pastures along the roads, and by keeping up a good tone
with the farmers in the respective districts, and in
exchange for some commodities, there were usually good
opportunities for letting the horses fill their stomachs
with oat as well as timothy.

109
 XVI
A Staturday in February in the new year, 1760, Jeanne
Poisonniere and Charles Terrau had made a journey to
Paris in order to look for a copy of the Encyclopedia
volume on agriculture. According to Diderot’s
suggestions when he visited them last autumn, it should
be published by now and available in the book stores.
The journey to town had been somewhat strenuous for
the couple, as frequent rain dureing the previous weeks
had made the roads muddy. They kept their spirits high,
however, by singing French folk songs, and also joined
up with some other travelers.

Arriving in Paris early in the afternoon under the grey

winter sky, they first enjoyed a better meal in one of
Paris’ restaurants, which was also a regular customer of
Jeanne’s herbal products. They ordered a chicken stew
with potatoes, broccoli, parsnip and carrots, and a bottle
of wine. They were always eager to taste other wine than
the ones they brewed themselves, and in this way they
could also get an indication of their own wine’s quality
standard. Once again they reached the conclusion that
their own wine certainly was on a par with the ones
served in the restaurants. They were, however, always
searching for improvements and new aroma variations.

They stayed quite a while in the restaurant, mainly

because of a nice talk with a couple of the other guests,

110
who also came from a village in the vicinity of Paris.
They were two brothers, relatively young farm boys, who
had an errand in the city on behalf of their father – an
errand consisting in ordering some blacksmith wares for
the horse equipment back on the farm. Having already
completed this task, they were the more eager to sit
talking for a while. Both Jeanne and Charles appreciated
the good conversation, centering mainly on agricultural
subjects, and almost forgot their time schedule with
respect to their own errand in Paris that day. As it was
getting dusk outside the thought suddenly struck them
that they now only had a short time before the book
shops closed. The two brothers understood very well that
Jeanne and Charles was eager to get hold of a copy of the
fresh volume of the Encyclopedia, which they intended to
buy one day themselves. However, as for now they had
too much maintenance work to do on the farm, and
reading had to wait. Even the evenings were spent with
practical tasks, they said.

The four of them thanked each other for the good

company, and Jeanne and Charles trotted out in the
streets of Paris in order to make it to their favourite
bookshop befor closing time.

Fortunately, the honourable bookstore on the northern

bank of the Seine had not closed yet, and to Jeanne and
Charles’ great joy the owner had just received a packet
with copies of the recent Encyclopedia volume.

111
”Yes, they have arrived recently, but demand has been
high so I have already ordered more. It is somewhat hard
to foretell how great the demand there would be here in
Paris for a literary work on agriculture. However, there is
no doubt that it has caught the interest of more people
than the farmers themselves.”

”Oh, that’s good news, indeed,” Charles said. He took a

quick glance at the volume, and the first thing that struck
him was the singularly elaborate illustrations, which had
been drawn with the utmost precision; even small details
of various sorts of equipment and machinery were
shown.

”This looks magnificent – even better than expected,”

Jeanne exclaimed, having been somewhat uncertain as to
whether technical installations could be adequately
reproduced on paper. ”Please, give us two copies, as we
have promised our neighbour to bring a copy for him as
well.”

”No problem, madamme,” said the book store keeper,

”then you will get a moderate discount, too.” He wrapped
the books in solid paper, tied a rope around it, and
thanked them for the business.

Jeanne and Charles had decided to stay the night in Paris,

rather than embarking on a journey home on the muddy
roads in the dark, so they found lodging in one of their
most frequently visited inns. Although the both of them

112
were eager to take a closer look at the Encyclopedia
volume, they still chose to spend the rest of the evening
in good company in the inn’s bar. There conversations
were always lively, and presently they centered round
topics such as the last war news as well as other events of
varying degrees of actuality and importence. Despite the
serving of alcoholic fluids there was a sober atmosphere
in the bar, which was natural enough as the guests mostly
consumed tea and coffee that evening. Jeanne and
Charles were eager to bring the discussion onto the
Encyclopedia, and eventually found themselves in a
dialogue with one of the city’s many freelance writers, a
man who was equally interested in this subject and had
written quite a few pieces on it in the past.

”What is your opinion of the new volume? For I assume

that you have seen it,” Jeanne wanted to know. She was
at least equally talkative as her man, and maybe even
more dexterous in giving her curiosity free reigns.

”Oh, it is a marvellous piece of work,” the writer said

emphatically. ”In this feat there must have been spent
innumerable hours both in drawing the sketches as well
as in editing.”

”Yes, we can affirm that Diderot went very scrupelously

at it when he drew the sketches of some of the
technology.” Charles told the writer about the
encyclopaedists visit at their farm, and the time and

113
precision demanding work he had conducted with his
sketches and also the awareness he had shown towards
Charles’ own descriptions of the functioning mechanisms
of his wine press. ”I am, however, stunned by the
ultimate result. What would France have done without
him?”

”That’s a good question, indeed,” nodded the writer.

”And now he is probably even obliged to do all the
editing work by himself, too, after the threatened
resignation of D’Alembert because of the imprisonment
threat, which has already brought Diderot behind bars on
a couple of occations.”

”Is that so? Oh, well, it is certainly understandable that a

man is somewhat afraid of being singled out by the
auhorities in a negative sense. Fortunately, Diderot has a
most comprehensive network of splendid writers within
all the fields of knowledge which the Encyclopedia
covers.”

Charles could vividly contemplate the difficulties which

would arise for anyone who dared to challenge the
official view on present affairs. And even if the latest
volume on agriculture was of a completely innocent, and
even wholly beneficial, character in every sense, former
volumes on more sensitive subjects, such as politics and
religion, were far more disputed and disliked by the
government. And as editors, Diderot and, as yet,

114
D’Alembert, were responsible for the content being
printed – even if most of it was penned by others. It was
particularly the clergy who were the main instigator of
the efforts to stem the tide of the encyclopaedists’
publishing activity, and this estate still excercised a
strong influence on the secular authorities. Hence, Louis
XV could not see any way around granting their demands
of censorship to a certain extent, although he was
sympathetic towards Diderot both in a personal sense and
towards his efforts on behalf of the ideas and ideals of the
Enlightenment. This sympathy led to his silent faciliation
of proper work conditions for Diderot while he was in
prison.

“Well, it was probably such work condtions to which

D’Alembert was not willing to adapt,” Charles thought –
after all, it was not everyone’s gift to be in posession of
such an endurance and patience as Diderot. Charles tried
to envisage all the long and strenous travels which
Diderot must have conducted – whether on his visits to
distant farmers and artisans in France itself or abroad in
order to establish contacts with other members of the
international ”Republic of Letters.”

While Charles had been occupied with his own thoughts

for a while, Jeanne and the freelance writer had touched
upon another subject, notably the opportunities for
journalists to cover the war events in a balanced and
critical manner. As for himself, the writer had written

115
articles for one of Paris weekly newspapers and
experienced that the eye of the needle was very narrow
indeed regarding what kind of perspectives which were
considered ”suitable” for printing. Criticism of one’s own
authorities had to be camouflaged in an ingenuous
manner, for although there was no doubt that the British
crown was the real aggressor in this context, France’s
government was not spotless either – and a journalist’s
main task was to keep an eye on how the country was
governed.

”This colonization has its side effects,” the writer said,

”and they are not exclusively positive. The very
motivation to propagate civilization around the world is
surely praiseworthy. However, one is easily drawn into
complicated affairs in these very colonies themselves,
and obviously even into imperialistic strife.”

”Oh, yes, it is this ugly militarism,” Jeanne said. She

could neither understand nor easily accept that kind of
perversion of human wit and common sense, while
Charles for his part was not that cathegorically negative,
as he meant to have recognized ennobling mechanisms
on the human spirit which manifested themselves during
and immediately after a war period – on the condition
that the war was fought on behalf of high ideals.

”Well, let us hope that Reason prevails in the long run,

and in a general sense,” said the writer, in which Jeanne

116
and Charles certainly agreed. ”The military attack by the
British is exactly the opposite of Reason, and their
motivation seems highly suspect. Have the British
authorities enfeebled their peasants to such an extent that
the British Isles have become compeletely dependent on
supplies of staple goods from overseas?”

”So it seems,” said Charles, who had tuned into the new
topic of their concersation. ”However, at present there
are disturbances among the British people – and many
rumours and even reports about major revolt events. May
it succeed!”

”Well, I have been keeping up with the news about such

a revolt effort. As for myself, I consider a popular revolt
in England as doomed to failure in the present situation.
There are far too many uncertainties involved.”

They kept on discussing this crucial issue until early

morning. The freelance writer informed them that in the
coming week, he had planned a reportage journey to
Flanders in order to write about the wool industry there,
and make a comparison between the Flemish
developmental stage and the latest progress which had
been achieved within the French textile industry, and also
take a look at the effects of the war on the wool business.
Jeanne and Charles wished him a good journey and a
sharp pen, and went to bed so as to get a few hours’ sleep
before the homeward journey.

117
At noon the next day, the farming couple embarked on
their way home after a short weekend in Paris which they
both considered highly rewarding in every way. It had
started to rain, and the road was in an even poorer
condition than the day before. The only thing for them to
do was to make avail of time and patience. Fortunately,
the two horses were strong and steady on their feet, but
they did not want to press them more than necessary –
they were outside their most active season and, hence,
not as well trained as during the summer season.

Jeanne and Charles reached the farm at dusk. Charles

quickly lit up the stove, and Jeanne set about making a
simple dinner consisting in vegetable soup cooked on a
few swine bones, which could be left cooking slowly
while she took care of some other household tasks.

After dinner they spent the whole evening taking turns at

at loud reading from the Encyclopedia volume, but also
studied the illustrations carefully. Indeed, there was the
drawing of their own wine press – just as Diderot had
envisaged. They felt a certain satisfaction at being
immortalized in a sense through the Encyclopedia,
although their names weren’t mentioned. But neither
were the names of the possessors of the other tools and
machines.

118
”Well, if French agriculture doesn’t get a significant
boost through this publication, I will eat my hat!” said
Jeanne as they went to bed.

”Oh, my dear, I firmly believe that you won’t have to eat

your hat,” said Charles. ”This work represents progress
in a spiritually manifested form – and it is only a
question of time before the agronomical insight and the
technical finesses will spread among the general public –
and also reach the lowliest farmers. Surely, the vestiges
of the feudal order may inhibit progress, but to the extent
that they stand in the way, they will be swept away in one
way or another.”

Within the end of a lovely weekend they had become

enlivened by optimistic notions both on behalf of their
own farm life and French, and indeed international,
agriculture. They fell asleep in a peaceful and loving
atmosphere, and felt a distinct happiness related to living
in the age they did.

XVII
Throughout the winter Ophelia Oakgraden had prepared
the lecture she was going to present on her tour in East
Anglia in the spring, in addition to in depth studies of the
various agronomical publications she could obtain. There
were quite a number on this subject even in England,

119
although the country in that respect lay way behind
France when it comes to the extent of knowledge as well
as the number of publications. As yet, Ophelia was not
familiar enough with the French language to embark on
the French originals – and translations into English were
few, among which Du Monceau’s work on the role of
mycorrhiza represented an honourable and highly
valuable exception. Indeed, precisely the latter work
constituted a fundamental frame of reference for the
lecture she had written. Hopefully, the farmers in the
rural districts around Bedford, Peterborough and
Norwich, the cities which she was going to visit, would
be able now in March to attend her lectures and come up
with their questions and comments. And if the weather
lately had been as dry in East Anglia as in Portsmouth,
the roads would be well traversible, even over longer
distances.

Ophelia’s soul mate, Theophrastus Dirt, had spent the

winter months as usual with boat building work on the
docks, of which the construction of a fishing vessel and
compulsory labour on an English navy ship constituted
his central tasks. He had witnessed, and partly
participtated in, some of the sabotage actions along the
quays, with their eventual dumping of cannon balls over
board from the war vessels. Presently, the news had
arrived concerning the razzias against the revolutionaries
in Newcastle, and Theophrastus found it wisest to lay
very low indeed regarding political activity – which in
120
fact suited him quite well. Thus, he concentrated fully on
his craft, albeit working deliberately slower with the navy
ship, while the evenings were spent at studies on
composting techniques – in order to be optimally
prepared for the forthcoming growing season and the
years ahead – in addition to romantic moments with
Ophelia in front of the stove, in the charming little brick
house on the outskirts of Portsmouth. In the last couple of
days he had assisted Ophelia in her final preparations of
her lecture tour, and discussed the lecture manuscript
with her on suitable occasions throughout the past few
months. He was sincerely proud of her and what she had
achieved in the field of agronomy, and together they
complemented each other very well – with their
respective wit regarding everything connected to soil and
food cultivation. And, not surprisingly, their feelings
towards each otther grew richer and deeper as the years
went by.

Ophelia laid her travel route to East Anglia via London,

partly because the roads were generally better in that
direction, and also in order to orient herself in the city’s
many bookstores and search for scientific literature. After
a rewarding sweep in that purpose, with a dozen books in
her suitcase, she journeyed eastwards. She had to rent
transportation all the way, because a swift moving wagon
she and Theophrastus hadn’t afforded yet – or, rather, did
not even prioritize. It was certainly not often that they
ventured on long distance travels. Moreover, the good
121
old horse back at their improvised farm was well suited
to agronomical tasks – but long distance express
expeditions it was simply not fit for, both because of its
anatomy, particularly its relatively short legs, and its
advanced age.

For Ophelia to obtain locomotion along her journey was

a relatively simple matter, and well arrived in Bedford,
two days before her scehduled lecture in that city, she
found herself a lodging at a decent prize. It was now
Friday and Ophelia, who was not of an especially
sociable nature, still enjoyed occational stays out on town
in order to entertain herself with music and a rare and
lucky interesting conversation now and then. In fact, she
had long since experienced that her main field of interest
was so obscure to the general public that she only very
rarely found someone to communicate with on its related
topics, namely agronomy and its microbiological aspects.
Fortunately, she had Theophrastus, without whom her
life would have been a very lonely one, indeed. As a
practicing researcher, conducting her own scientific
experiments, she lived completely in her own world for
days at end – grappling with scientific biological
questions and processes. So, it suited her perfectly that
Theophrastus was of a somewhat similar character,
staying for extensive periods of time preoccupied with
his own research within biology. They had discovered
these facts regarding their preferences at a very early
stage in their initial friendship, a fact which certainly had
122
played a crucial role in bringing them closer together as a
couple, and led to their conviction that they had both
found their optimal life long partner.

Presently, however, Ophelia was completely on her own,

supposedly for up to three weeks, and had looked
forward to some social distractions which she otherwise
seldom undertook. The lecture, and the knowledge which
it aimed to present, were so well drilled into her mind
that she considered a night out on town as a most
attractive prospect for the night – and would give her
further inspiration for her work. Thus, early in the
evening she went out to look for the location with the
best sounding music – which was a difficult choice both
because the quantity of more or less well prepared music
arrangements was high, and because the practice among
the public of playing musical instruments had seen a
veritable blossoming during the later years – both as
results of increasing instrument making and publication
of folk songs with chords.

She finally chose a place which was called The East

Anglian Fiddler, which had specialized in a musically
oriented undertaking, including pre-arranged concerts a
dozen times a year or so. There were no such pre-
arrangement for the actual evening, but still a lively
atmosphere – in fact, it was the public chorus singing
which had drawn Ophelia to the Fiddler. City folk, in
addition to some visitors from the surrounding

123
countryside, had brought their fiddles, mandolins and
other string instruments with them, and flutes were
borrowed from the owner of the place, who was an apt
flute player himself. Drums of various kinds were
frequently applied, and Ophelia enjoyed drumming, in
addition to join the chorus, on occasions in which she had
not had the opportunity to bring her own string
instruments or to borrow such.

It turned out to be a long evening at the Anglian Fiddler,

and after joining the drumming and singing to ”Dirty Old
Town” for the second time that night, Ophelia was in a
comfortably numb state of mind as she wandered back to
her lodging for the weekend. She took a glance at the
lecture papers, noted a few things which she had
contemplated on her way “home,” and went to bed with
the purpose to read for a while – and fell asleep in the
midst of imaginary views of new wonders produced by
nature, which for Ophelia meant the results of
microbiological symbiosis with green plants.

As Sunday dawned she prepared herself for relocating to

Peterborough, and enjoyed a long breakfast in a cozy
café in the near vicinity. There were already quite a
number of people out in the streets – for a Sunday
morning – and Ophelia wondered whether any of them
had the intention to hear her lecture. After all, everyone
is entitled to hope, she thought. The owner of the café
heard on her accent that she was from somewhere else,

124
and wondered if she was on a holiday trip. When he
heard about the purpose of her journey to Bedford, he
was sincerely impressed.

”It is certainly not an everyday happening to encounter

female scientists,” he said with a gentle smile on his
bearded face. ”May I ask you how long you have been
into this science?”

”Oh, well, I have practiced horticulture since my very

childhood, and in diverse ways and at various levels
conducted research on the manifold processes of Nature
in connection with that. Indeed, with my upbringing in
rural surroundings, everything was suitable for such
efforts. Moreover, my parents have the same passion for
plants and everything living, so that I more or less got the
interest and curiosity impregnated in me with the breast
milk. However, the more in depth, purposive scientific
studies only gathered momentum after I came over a
copy of a French scientific work on microbiology and
soil fertility, written by a man named Du Monceau.”

”Oh, I see. That’s quite a different life from my own, I

can assure you. My parents ran a merchant business, and
their dealings with the processes of nature was more or
less constricted to activities in the bedroom and potato
growing in the small backyard,” said the café owner
laughingly.

125
Ophelia enjoyed the company of the sympathetic man,
with his Irish descent and his warm appearance. So she
kept sitting there for quite a while talking with him about
her prospects for the future, and first and foremost her
hopes for the lecture tour, while he shared his memories
from a life in the small town of Bedford.

When she arrived at the quarters of Bedford’s gardeners’

guild half an hour before her lecture was supposed to
start, there had already gathered a few handfulls of
people outside as well as inside the building. Judging on
the basis of a first impression of the accents, Ophelia
concluded that there were people from various districts –
and most of them were dressed in rural looking clothes.
There was even an elderly man who appeared to belong
to the nobility. Ophelia was excited about what she could
expect from him, and what his motivation was for
attending the lecture.

She entered the platform at eleven o’clock, and talked for

about one and a half hour about her subject, with an
interested and attentive audience in front of her. The
slight nervousness she had sensed in the moments before
entering the platform was gone as soon as she embarked
on her speech, and she let the audience express their
questions in between the various paragraphs – some of
the questions she noted in order to address in her final
remarks, while others were answered directly.

126
Naturally, many among the audience were farmers, and
were highly interested in obtaining knowledge about
biological processes which could be utilized in order to
increase the fertility of soils without conducting the
toilsome and unpleasant handling of animal manure –
which included long term composting processes and a lot
of manual labour before the end product could be made
avail of in the fields.

”Indeed, instead of animal manure we have now reached

a stage, due to the practical implementation of new
microbiological insight, in which anyone, with better
results and less hard physical labour, can utilize plant
material directly as manure – that is, by so-called
mulching processes – either by covering the cultivated
soil with a suitable layer of gras and/or legumes, or by
sowing separate green manuring crops which are
harrowed into the top soil well in advance of the autumn
frost, so that the actual soil acreage is perfectly suited for
the cultivation of nutrient demanding crops such as
various cabbage varieties and leek the next season. The
recycling of the green manuring plant material into
nutrition for new grown crops is, according to this novel
method, accellerated and made more efficient by the
inoculation of the top soil with mycorrhiza spores, which
is conducted during favourable periods of humid
weather, or at least under a cloudy sky – so that the
microorganisms are guaranteed favourable conditions for

127
sporulation, or ’sprouting’, to use a more mundane word
for the germinal processes of microbiological fungi.”

As it was time for a short break in the lecture, a buzz of

engaged murmuring sounded through the room. Coffee
was served, and the entire hall was filled with pipe
tobacco. That didn’t annoy Ophelia, however – after all,
she had long since read that one of the main reasons for
the North American Indians to start utilizing the tobacco
plant was its stimulating effect on the very process of
thinking itself. Alas, she had more than once
expereienced much livlier conversations in locations in
which there were lots of tobacco smoke than elsewhere.

At some point during the second part of her lecture, the

man with the noble appearance eventually came to the
fore. He wanted to know more about the economic
implications of the new growing technique – on the
income side as well as regarding the expenses – as he
considered making avail of this technique on his estate a
few miles outside of town.

”Well, regarding the expenses there is a very simple

mathematics. It consists in paying for the manual labour,
which make up most of the costs, although the very work
operations themselves are far more pleasant and less
toilsome than the labour connected with animal
manuring. The materials – the green plant mass, the
nettle water and the mycorrhiza spores – must indeed

128
also be procured, but these entail small expenses. For
your part, I am sure that you have access to acreage
which may conveniently be laid under legume
cultivation, for instance, and you probably also have
woodland in which mycorrhiza spores can be found.

On the income side, the sheet is far more unforeseeable –

due to the very fact that the potentiality of this new kind
of cultivating crops, and especially the largely unknown
productive capasities of these soil microorganisms, is so
immensely high. However, what may reasonable be
ascertained is that the qualitiy of the crops will be first
class, and may therefore be sold at the highest obtainable
market price – and may also be delivered to the finest
restaurants.”

She mentioned the actual results she had achieved by the

end of her previous growth season, and had even brought
with her a couple of onions and a few roots in order to
prove its quality and storage capacity. Even though the
products were not necessarily larger than under
traditional farming, she said, their weight was
considerably higher due to the high mineral content –
which precisely contributed to the magnificent capacity
for storing during the winter.

Towards the end of her lecture it was time for the

concluding questions, and there were many present who
had both theoretical and practical inputs to Ophelia’s

129
presentation. She delighted in the response, and as she
rolled in her hired wagon on her way to a follow up in
Peterborough a few days ahead, she envisaged a wholly
successful lecturing tour.

XVIII
Towards the end of February, 1760 Olympes Diderot
visited Paris in order to conduct a few more source
researches in connection with her dissertation on Etienne
Marcel and the revolutionary movement he led in the
Paris area in the 1350’s. Most of the raw draft for the
dissertation was already completed, but she still thought
that a few more details were lacking in order that the
parts were to make up a satisfying whole. It was still one
more month until the spring labour back home on the
farm would commence, and she figured that she would
be able to hand in the dissertation well ahead of the
scheduled time limit this spring.

One day in the Parisian university library she met a

history professor who had specialized in French medieval
history, and even lectured on the movement around
Etienne Marcel for several years. The actual professor
had been among those who had encouraged Olympes to
embark on a dissertation on precisely this movement, as
so scant work had been done on the subject previously,
and he was also of the opinion that Olympes would have
130
the very best preconditions for mastering the task in a
highly successful manner.

”I assume that you have knit the movement led by

Marcel Etienne together with the parallell peasant
movement led by Guillaume Cale – who has been
neglected to an even larger extent than Marcel by former
historians,” said the history professor as they spent some
time together drinking coffee in a well deserved pause in
their respective labour.

”Yes, I have touched upon this subject. It has, however,

been very hard to obtain sources on the peasant
movement. My impression is that the French farmers
were treated so denigratingly by the authorities at the
time that only sporadic references are to be found
regarding them in the chronicles and annals. Fortunately,
we have the judicial journals from the actual period,
albeit often only in fragments. Nevertheless, they give a
certain insight into the rural conditions at the time of
their rising.”

”You are right,” the professor admitted. ”In fact, the

peasants’ movement seem to have encompassed the
whole of Ile de France and the surrounding regions, and
constituted a veritable struggle against feudalism –
probably the most powerful peasant resistance in
European history next to the English peasant revolt in

131
1381, led by John Ball and Wat Taylor, and the German
Peasants’ War in 1524-25, led by Thomas Münzer.”

”That is certainly also my strong impression,” nodded

Olympes, ”in combination with middle class elements in
the nearby cities they even took control over a city like
Amiens, and for their own part they pillaged the chateaus
of the nobility at a gallopping rate. After all, their revolt
was directed against their burdensome economic lot, and
hence their opposition was aimed directly at the French
crown. One may very well wonder what French society
would have looked like if the revolt had succeeded in its
aims.”

”Oh, that’s a question I have been pondering over on

many occations during my research on the subject,
without being able to see the entire alternative picture in
front of me. However, a more decentralized and
democratic society it would certainly have been – and, in
all probability, also less militaristic, with a marginal
scope for later figures such as Louis XIV. A major issue
arises, however, regarding foreign policy, if the English
state power had continued as before. On the other hand,
maybe the English peasant revolt in 1381 would have had
another outcome if the French one had succeeded a
generation earlier?”

”Yes, there are many parallells between the fate of the

respective movements, which collapsed rather quickly

132
after their leaders were executed – as such revolutionary
efforts were at least equally dependent upon dexterous
and brave leading figures back then as now,” Olympes
added.

”Oh, I would say that they were even more dependent

upon such men back then, at a time when illiteracy was
widespread – especially in the countryside. Even if it has
been a slow progress, literacy has increased considerably
in rural France after the encyclopaedists started their
work, in addition to the invaluable role of the emerging
public schooling system.”

”That’s a good point, indeed. I’ll have to note down the

importance of covering the aspect of illiteracy in a more
profound way than I have done so far. Maybe this was
the decisive factor which contributed to the failure of the
peasants’ strategy – to the extent that messages were
conveyed by pen and paper?” Olympes thought out loud.

”That’s a plausible possibility. Probably much of the

communication among the revolting masses, and their
leader’s commands, was conducted only by mouth, even
though certain written messages will of necessity have
been conducted, although none has yet been found. And
to the extent that they circulated, it may very well have
been decisive if they were misapprehended or not
understood, so that the execution of the strategic plans
failed.”

133
When Olympes and the history professor went back to
their sceduled tasks for the day, Olympes thanked him
for a very interesting conversation and his invaluable
input. He retorted exuberantly that conversations such as
the one that they just had experienced made life as a
history researcher so much richer.

”One easily gets locked up in one’s one study chamber,

left to ponder over difficult issues,” as he put it.

Back home in her tiny Paris lodging by the southern bank

of the Seine, Olympes reflected upon the spiritual content
of the day. She would have wanted to touch more
profoundly upon the socio-political alternatives to the
centralized, monarchical state, but she knew too well that
the professor was not an adherent to the idea of a
confederation of communes, which appealed so strongly
to herself and many French women and men in general –
even all the way to the top within the regional estate
assemblies. Olympes remembered the professor’s
objections when they had discussed the subject a few
years previously: Politically, it would mean
desintegration and chaotic conditions, and culturally it
would mean an impoverishment and diffusion of the
singular French way of life. Moreover, he had scarcely
any faith at all in the ability of the general public to self-
organize. As for herself, Olympes was of the opinion that
the latter issue was hard to determine, as long as the vast
masses of the population were not entitled to govern

134
themselves and develop their abilities in self-organization
through trials and failures. For, after all, this ability had
manifested itself at several previous historical stages,
most notably in ancient Athens. However, at that time
and in that context the cultural circumstances were
altogether different from anything else in the overall
European history, and it was certainly not an easy matter
to ascertain what exactly was needed in order to produce
a similar conditional framework in modern times, she
thought.

She lay on her back in her simple bed and pondered on

this subject for a while, then made some food to get the
energy to complete the editing of her dissertation. It was
still more than a week’s stay in the city before she was
supposed to return to the farm; nevertheless she had to
spend her time well – as it was here in Paris that the
scientific sources were to be obtained, even though she
had actually found a few in rural districts, too. Presently,
she was preoccupied with the culturally conditioned
framework of the two parallell movements and the
crucial events related to them, and highlighted – on
advice from the professor – the limited extent of literacy
among the general public in France during the High
Middle Ages. Later in the evening she wanted to visit her
man, Pierre-Joseph in his coopper’s workshop.

Pierre-Joseph Germe had kept his barrel and bucket

production at a relatively intensive level throughout the

135
winter months, and now almost all of the orders were
already delivered – and he was also about to run out of
materials. He reckoned, however, that he would have
enough in order to finish his cooper season in a
respectable manner. ”In the worst of cases I will have to
rent back the horse one day, and make a journey up to the
saw mill,” he thought – and without much consideration
laid aside the alternative of ordering a freight boat for the
little materials that eventually would be needed for the
rest of the season. The main delivery of materials for the
next season had to wait – for he had to adjust it to the
orders which he received during the summer season
before he, in his turn, sent off an order to the farmers’
cooperative who ran their saw mill secretly in the debths
of a densely forested valley, and smuggled their products
down to the Seine disguised as noblemen.

This evening Pierre-Joseph had just come home from an

errand in order to investigate the possibilities of a
meeting with Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the nearest
future, as he had heard that Rousseau was in Paris in
connection with a debate in which he was invited to take
part together with Diderot – and now Pierre-Joseph
wanted to discuss with the former philosopher the main
political issues which he himself was most enthusiastic
about, such as republicanism and direct democracy,
subjects on which Rousseau had also reflected in his
writings. Pierre-Joseph had got a hint about Rousseau’s
favourite café in Paris on those rare occations in which
136
he ventured to the capital – he felt more comfortable in
the countryside; moreover he had lately got into
increasing trouble with the authorities because of some of
his latest publications, such as the dissertation, ”The
origins of inequality between human beings.” Alas, he
had even pondered seriously on the alternative of
emigrating.

In the excited mood of envisaging a highly interesting

meeting, Pierre-Joseph suddenly heard a way of
knocking on the door which he knew so well and loved
so dearly. ”It has to be Olympes,” he thought and jumped
out of bed and danced his way to the front door. It was
quite a while since they had been together, as both of
them had been intensely busy with their respective tasks.

”Is it you, honey?” Pierre-Joseph asked through the

keyhole before daring to open the door – he was
generally sceptical towards surprise visits late in the
evenings.

”Yes, it is me, dear.”

He opened and let her in. They held each other tight and
kissed passionately – the one positive thing regarding not
seeing each other for a while was that their passion
towards eachother flared up more intensely than in
periods when they were together day out and day in for
several months, such as generally was the case during the
summer season. Although they enjoyed to the fullest

137
extent each other’s company, a little ”air” in the
relationship had never hurt anyone, as the years went by,
they agreed.

”My dear Pierre-Joseph, how has everything been in the

workshop lately?” said Olympes, who was usually swift
in seeking the confirmation that everything was okay
with her loved one.

”Oh, thanks, my dear, everything has mostly operated

smoothly. As you know, I feel highly comfortable with
my craft by now, and do not run into so many challenges
any longer. It has surely become duller in a way, but the
gain is represented by more time and energy to
preoccupy myself with other interests and tasks as well,”
he concluded.

”Oh, yes, that’s what I’ve always said, my dear, that this
work is made for you, with your handy fingers and
estethical sense” – such nice words from Olympes which
made life a pleasant ride for Pierre-Joseph.

”Thanks so much, my dear! And now I am eager to hear

how you are doing, and not least how you are progressing
with your dissertation? Is it a lot that remains before you
can hand it over to the university officials? Many new
additions since we saw each other last month?”

Olympes told about the latest revisions, and about the

interesting conversation with the history professor.

138
Pierre-Joseph knew the man through previous
conversations with Olympes, and had read a couple of his
works – and had registered his political preferences.

”I am glad to hear, my honey, that you are getting even

closer to the completion of your splendid work, which
has occupied you so intensely for so long now. As
regards the professor, he is a scrutinizing and hard
working historian, but this love for centralized state
power which shines through his writings lowers my
overall estimation of him, as I have indicated to you
before.”

”Thank you so much for your support all along the way,
my dear. Yes, we certainly agree upon the politics.
However, you know, as a student of history I have more
professional touching points in common with him than
you have – with your stronger focus upon the present
situation and what may be done in the foreseeable future.
As you know, I share your main perspectives on the ideal
organization of society, and I am also fascinated by the
utopian literary tradition, but simply do not manage to
engage as deeply as you in these issues. Probably the
difference between us in that respect is related to your
craftman’s occupation, which brings you more directly
into important events in the present era and their political
connotations.”

139
They updated each other on the additional private news
on their respective fronts, and ended the night in erotic
activities – they had long since made the experience that
these were a pleasant way of obtaining relaxation and
expanding their horizon, in addition to adding glue to the
ties between them. And at the present moment Olympes
knew that she was in the middle of a ”safe period”…

XIX
One day Angelica was at work in the printing office in
the autumn – in the foggy London – she and the owner of
the print shop were doing the type setting of a purely
military strategic volume on the English crown’s warfare
in Scotland throughout the centuries with the purpose of
quelling the independent and rebellious spirit of the
Scots. The volume contained no seductive ideas, and
neither any socio-political criticism of the powers that be,
as it was penned by a historian who adored the English
crown. Angelica talked with her employer about various
aspects of their trade, and also touched upon political
issues – naturally also the revolt which was gathering
momentum in several places across the country.

“I feel that we probably should take the responsibility of

printing more publications from the revolutionaries,” the
printer suggested as they had a short coffee break. “After
all, it is highly important that they reach out to the public
140
with their message, lest the revolt will be almost
impossible to understand among the people in general –
who scarcely are familiar even with elementary political
issues and conceptions. I think in particular of the
confederal alternative, which is in dire need of
elucidation and elaboration by the public itself, as it is
largely unknown to the majority of craftsmen and
farmers around the country – indeed, not even
intellectuals I know of are familiar with the confederal
principle these days. In other words, it has been well
hidden from the public by the state authorities, in view of
its central role in crucial epochs of the history of the
European continent – and even with occasional and
sporadic outbursts here on the British Isles.”

“Yes, I have been thinking about it,” Angelica replied.

She was even more eager than the printer regarding the
revolutionary cause. “It would be a highly valuable deed
if you would dare to print their works.”

She had scarcely finished the sentence before the both of

them were shattered by a heavy knocking on the front
door. None of them were armed, and they did not
consider any kind of resistance as an option – for friendly
they did not considert the “visitors” to be. Angelica went
to the door, while the printer tried to obtain an overview
of what kind of former publications were still laying
about in his printing office. The large stacks of printed
matter quickly overwhelmed him, however, and he was

141
not able to do much before four policemen appeared in
his office.

“We are here by the king’s order to ransack this printing

house. Rumours are circulating that you have been
printing seditious and subversive manuscripts – among
other this one.” The police commander held out a
pamphlet written by an artisan who advocated sabotage
actions and tax refusal in oppsosition against the crown’s
war machine and squandering of the nation’s resources –
human as well as material – in addition to expressions of
solidarity with the French, whom the author described as
culturally fraternal with the British, indeed, with ties
back to the heyday of the Celts in the Bronze Age and the
Iron Age.

“This publication has been distributed here in London

and several other cities, and the number of seized copies
by the authorities suggests that the circulation must have
been considerable. What is your response to this
accusation?” The police officer stared intensely at the
printer, and also observed Angelicas reaction.

“Well, I cannot disclaim my responsibility for printing

the actual pamphlet, for if I had done so you would
obviously have turned my entire printing facilities upside
down – in a more dramatic manner than has already
occurred,” the printer said after a few moments’ silence.

142
“You are aware of the penal ramifications with respect to
accusations of treason and sedition? In the very least it is
punished by penal labour for life!”

The printer looked down – certainly he was familiar with

these things, and the risks of indulging in such publishing
activities. However, he tried to defend himself:

“Well, most of these revolutionaries are people with high

moral standards. I cannot see anything wrong in giving
them a hand now and then by printing some of their
writings. After all, we live in an age of Enlightenment.”

“So you have printed more publications of the same

seditious kind? Would you just as well come up with the
original manuscripts and eventual printed copies you
might still have in store here – so that we won’t have to
actually turn your office and workshop upside down!”

The printer and Angelica looked at each other, and both

of them realized that there was no other option than
submitting to the police orders. They had to search out
whatever they had of similar publications, a search which
took some time. The policemen, however, were in no
hurry and waited until Angelica and her employer had
sworn that there were no more to be found. They came
up with 6 pamphlets and one book, all of which could be
categorized in a way that the authorities regarded as
treasonous and seditious. There were no mercy – they
were handcuffed and led into the police wagon, and

143
transported to extended interrogation and imprisonment
on bread and water until their trial – at some point in the
future. The most important thing for king and parliament
was to get rid of them, before the spirit of revolt spread to
an increasingly enlightened – and hence threatening –
English public, which also had numerous sympathizers in
Ireland and Scotland.

In a stolen moment before being taken away to prison

Angelica managed, however, to scribble down a few
words to Mr. Paine, who was supposed to show up in the
printing office one of these days in order to pick up a
handful of pamphlets in so as to distribute them in the
London pubs at convenient occasions. Those few words
consisted in an urgent message that he had to go into
hiding in a far off corner of the country, and maybe even
go abroad, in order to keep safe from the authorities.

The police wagon eventually rolled off to the Tower of

London, infamous for its hard terms of penance and
innumerable executions throughout history. Maybe one
of the most well known of these was the process against,
and the execution of, the Sottish revolt leader, William
Wallace, in the early fourteenth century, who was
beheaded there after extensive torture. Angelica and the
printer were locked up in their respective parts of the
Tower, without any opportunity to communicate with
each other, and neither with the surrounding world. Such
a total isolation, and being fed on bread and water alone,

144
bereft of any intellectual stimulation, easily drives people
crazy – and they were both utterly depressed about their
situation.

A few days later, Thomas Paine strolled up the street in

which the printing office was located, and he noticed
immediately that the front door was sealed and the
facilities empty. He looked around and ascertained
himself that he was not observed, before sneaking into
the backyard, broke a window and climbed inside. After
looking around in the workshop for a few minutes, he
found the scrap of paper on the desk with his first name
on it. His pulse beat rapidly as he read Angelicas
ominious words: “Police. Raid. Seizure. Accusation of
treason.” Paine completetely forgot his original errand i
the printing shop, and hurriedly jumped out of the
window. Fortunately, the street was fairly crowded at this
time of the day, as many people were on their way home
after work. Thus, he was able to mingle among the
pedestrians, while he figured out a plan for escape and
contemplated possible alternatives in order to hide away
for a while. He recalled a friendly connection with a
horse breeder on the western outskirts of the city, and
considered the chances good that he would be able to
borrow a good horse from that man when he had
explained his circumstances to him. The horse breeder
was active within the people’s militia, and had lent his
horses to important missions by the revolutionaries
during the past few months.
145
Hence, Paine headed out west, avoiding the most obvious
escape routes out of town – even though he had no
particular reason for believing that the authorities were
searching for him. However, he took no chances. His few
writings he had published under pseudonym, in these
days of censorship, but he had many acquaintances
among the revolutionaries, and he did not feel quite
certain that the printer and Angelica would be able to
keep silent in the long run during the imprisonment
isolation – which may very well be of long duration,
considering the sinister accusations.

It took him the rest of the day and most of the following
night to reach the horse breeder’s location, as he had to
follow several diversion paths in order to avoid causing
suspicion through his long, purposeful wandering without
much luggage in the lousy weather. He went to sleep for
a couple of hours in the hay piled up in the horse
breeder’s barn, and woke up by the cockrow at dawn.
After meditating for half an hour, and contemplated the
most favourable unfolding of the coming day, he strolled
over to the stable, where he expected to find the horse
breeder at this time of the day. He was right, and the
horse breeder welcomed him in the friendliest way and
invited him in for coffee and breakfast.

“You must be starved to death!” the horse breeder said as

he placed some bread, scrambled eggs and bacon on the
kitchen table so as to provide a power breakfast for a man

146
who obviously was in deep trouble, and had a strenuous
task in front of him. Paine had just told him the bad
news, and what he considered necessary to do for his
own part – if he loved his life and freedom.

“Well, dear friend, I certainly won’t decline your

breakfast offer. This was a most welcome rest, and I am
highly thankful for your assistance.”

“Oh, Thomas, it’s the very least I can do for you! We

have to support one another to the fullest extent during
our struggle, even though it may eventually end in defeat.
After all, solidarity is the very essence of the societal
vision which we try to convey to the people. Were we to
fail in the practice of this solidarity when confronted by
adverse circumstances and all kinds of difficulties, our
vision would be more or less valueless, and most likely
be all the more obscure, for future generations.”

“You are quite right indeed, my good friend. We have to

act as a vanguard making good examples. Regrettably, I
will personally have to lay low in the unforseeable future,
and maybe even flee the country. But I assure you that I
will find ways to serve our common cause – whether it
will be here or there. The most important thing, in my
opinion, is that confederalism materializes in one central
location or region here in the western world, so as to be
formed in practice according to its highest possible
liberatory potential. After all, the United Dutch provinces

147
and the Swiss cantons are rather top heavy, to put it that
way, even though both of them represent the confederal
principle in their separate idiosyncratic ways. Presently,
we are in need of someone democratizing its ideological
fundament so that the principle as such may appeal to the
fullest extent to all the freedom loving people out there
among the common artisans and farmers.”

“So true, Thomas.” The horse breeder asked Paine to

come with him to the stable once again in order to choose
a good horse, as he knew that the latter was well versed
in horse quality.

“I reckon that there are some four or five of them which

stand out as the best suited ones for your mission, and
such a long ride which you contemplate.”

Paine had told him that he envisaged a stay in some

Welsh village until things had calmed down – a village in
which he planned to do some occational farm work so as
to make a provisionary living while on the run.
Moreover, that kind of work commonly included lodging
at the actual farm.

“I think I go for this one,” Paine said after studying the

five horses which the horse breeder had singled out as the
most likely candidates. Paine’s choice fell upon a brown
stallion with Arabian genes, with a lineage all the way
back to the Age of the Crusades in the 11th century.
According to the horse breeder, Paine’s chosen stallion

148
had shown great endurance and had experience with
similar long rides. Moreover, it was very frugal and able
to go far only after pasturing some clover or wild grasses
along the way – after a meal of oats it was absolutely
invincible.

“That sounds wonderful,” said Paine. “Thanks so much!

Be certain that you can always call on me if you have the
least notion that I can assist you with something!”

They bid a heartily farewell the next morning. Paine was

supplied with abundant provisions of various sorts,
among other a sizeable slice of a salted ham – which
provided lots of energy in such occasions. In addition, the
provisions consisted in rye bread as well as a few bundles
of onions which the horse breeder had bought at the city
square in order to store in his aerated basement
throughout the coming autumn and winter. He gave Paine
half of them. It is crucial to eat some vegetables as well,
he pointed out to Paine.

With a solid load of luggage Paine set out further west.

He had borrowed a rough map from the horse breeder,
and picked a route westwards. It went mostly outside the
most traversed country roads, over meadows and through
forests, in a way that he enjoyed travelling. Moreover, in
the present situation it was clearly the safest way.

149
 XX
At the boat construction site along the Seine, the boat
building crew, under the leadership of a guild master, had
laid down the keel of a new galiot – a relatively flat
bottomed vessel suited for cargo freight up and down the
river, primarily of wine. Louis-Olivier Fourier had
dedicated some days, before preparing for the coming
spring’s trade expedition, to give a helping hand to the
boat building crew, in which two of his trading
companions were engaged. Louis-Olivier enjoyed being a
part of the boat building work, and even contemplated
applying for an apprentice position as a boat builder at
some point in the future – either in the actual boat
building crew or with some other boat builder in the Paris
area. At times, the trading business was slow, particularly
in these times of war, and the occasional work he
performed in between trading efforts – such as various
transportation work for several craftsmen and industrial
establishments – did not quite satisfy his vocational
preferences. Moreover, the two boat builders in his
trading company were very good colleagues, and he
enjoyed co-working with them. He was of a very sociable
nature and, hence, did not thrive well working alone for
long intervals.

The vessel which they were presently building was not

especially large – with its 30 feet – and they reckoned
with completing the construction within the end of the

150
year, if the supply of boat materials was sufficient. They
had already received the oak materials, to be chopped
into frames, and which had been hand picked by the boat
builders themselves in a forested area by the coast a few
years previously. By now the oak was well dried, and
could be cut and shopped conveniently with optimally
sharpened tools. The fir planks for the carcass had also
been ordered – from a saw mill up along the Swiss
border, and they were expected by early summer. At the
moment, the main task consisted in raising the frames on
the keel, and it was exactly this physically demanding
work that Louis-Olivier was hired in to assist.

The chopping of the frames was completed. The boat

building crew, which consisted in two boat builders in
addition to the two included in Louis-Oliviers trading
company, had performed this work during the previous
winter, on the basis of the precise drawings which existed
of the galiot. It was a laborious work, and highly
demanding at that – for every angle had to be precisely
adjusted so that the carcass planks would fit in well in the
right positions, in accordance with the very carvel
building process itself. It was a completely different
matter than with the clinker building technique, in which
the carcass planks are joined at the outset, and adjusted
with a boat leveler, before the frames in their turn are
adjusted and nailed to the carcass at a later stage in the
building process. After all, the oak was a hard wooden
material, and thus challenging to work with, but its main
151
asset obviously consisted in the self-impregnating resin
which made the frames so resistant against rotting.

In the course of a long weekend they had raised most of

the frames, and Louis-Olivier had contributed his part for
the boat building team for now. After ended work session
on the last day he was assisting them they sat a while in
the evening sun talking about various aspects of boat
building, as well as the forthcoming trading expedition
and the latest news from the war. As inhabitants of Paris
they had every opportunity to keep updated on news from
the wide world, and as regards the trading business it was
quite indispensible to be oriented about the actual
political and socio-economic conditions in far away
places – in France as well as in Europe generally.

“It is a fine boat type this galiot,” said one of the boat
builders as they sat there looking at the frame
construction. “I wonder whether similar boat types are in
use on other rivers around the world, too?”

“I would certainly think so,” said Louis-Olivier, “don’t

you remember the freight vessels which we saw in the
lower stretches of the Vistula during one of our trading
ventures into the Baltic Sea? They reminded me a lot of
the galiot, I recall.”

They memorized former trading expeditions and

discussed which of them had been most successful. There
was no doubt that wine export to the Baltic, and even to

152
the German states, was a secure and profitable business.
The same could be said about the importation of quality
wheat from Eastern Europe to the French market –
especially in years of ill harvest for the French grain
growing farmers.

“I wonder what kind of growing season our farmers will

experience this year?” said one of the boat builders.
“Should we put our stakes in importation of quality
wheat once more?”

“Oh, well it is always a question of gambling, to a certain

extent,” said Louis-Olivier. “Maybe we should divide our
importation efforts between grain and furs, so as to be
prepared for various eventualities?”

“That’s no bad idea,” agreed the two boat builders who

were members of Louis-Oliviers trading company.

“I have made contact with a couple of retailers in

Geneva,” said Louis-Olivier, “maybe they would be
interested in purchasing their respective loads of Baltic
furs, so as to sell in the Swiss mountain regions? I reckon
that it is far more difficult hunting conditions in the Alps
than in the fairly flat forested regions along the Baltic
Sea.”

“You are quite right. It is hardly a lucrative business

being a trapper in the Alps, considering the rugged and
inaccessible terrains in those areas. So it is highly

153
probable that people in the cities and villages by the foot
of the mountains are dependent on imported furs to a
certain extent,” commented one of the boat builders.

“Well, then I will confer with the retailers next time I

meet them here in Paris. If they don’t show up within the
next few weeks, I will send them a letter, well ahead of
our departure eastwards, hopefully to receive their
response in due time so that we may plan eventual
purchases of furs on our forthcoming voyage.”

The conversation then turned on the foreign political

preconditions for their trading expedition, and hence also
on the latest news about the British revolt effort. They
had received news about the razzias against the
revolutionaries in Newcastle, and considered the future
prospects for their bold actions with the aim to stop the
war as rather dismal. The British revolutionaries
deserved their firm support and sympathy, as they were
the genuine representatives for the struggle aiming at a
universal civilization which would transcend nation
states and relegate imperialistic strife to a bygone stage in
the evolution of humanity. But what would the recent
razzias by the English authorities mean for Louis-Olivier
and co?

“I wonder whether the English state powers will be so

enmeshed in the issues at home that we will experience
calmer conditions at sea throughout the year?” said

154
Louis-Olivier. “After all, we have got by somehow
during our previous voyages on the open sea, but it is
probably more due to pure luck than anything else, I
suppose.”

“We have certainly had fortune on our side,” said one of

the boat builders. “However, we have also taken our
precautions – I’m thinking especially of the essential
trick to sail under neutral flags, for by that recourse we
are even profiting from the Danish-Norwegian neutrality
guard.”

“We are indeed. But I don’t feel hundred per cent

comfortable with the fact that we in this way somehow
betray the French cause. After all, it was we who were
attacked at the outset – and France is undoubtedly the
epicenter of the Enlightenment,” objected Louis-Olivier,
without feeling that he put forth undue patriotic
sentiments.

“Oh, well, we certainly have to hope for French victory

in this war,” said one of the boat builders, “but an
English peace initiative after a successful rising among
the public of the Isles would also serve the cause, I
think.”

“You are quite right,” said Louis-Olivier, “however, right

now the prospects for the latter are rather fragile, and the
English crown will not give up its imperialistic efforts in
the near future.”

155
“Well, let’s hope that the English revolutionaries manage
to overcome the present crisis and succeed in inhibiting
the English war machine. Indeed, the many actions of
sabotage already have contributed in that direction, even
if they so far have been countervailed by the terribly
efficient mobilization economy initiated by the English
king and his parliament. It shows that the war was well
prepared by the British,” concluded one of the boat
builders.

“Yes, that’s really important in this context,” said Louis-

Olivier, “and hence France should have the moral right
on its side in this strife, and may with justice on its side
indulge in a patriotic agenda with a more solid
foundation than the English.” As an ardent idealistic
trader who strived for border transcending and mutually
fertile international relations, Louis-Olivier was proud of
his French lineage, but was nevertheless able to draw a
distinction between what would be most expedient here
and now on the one hand, and the more long term goals
on the other.

In the event they stayed at the dock area way into the
spring night discussing these complex issues, without
reaching an unanimous conclusion. They agreed,
however, that trade and markets regulated by high moral
standards were fundamental preconditions for any kind of
democracy, and in that context touched upon the example
of ancient Greece and the early revival of democracies,

156
especially in Flanders, during the early Middle Ages.
This focus on democracy belonged to the long term
socio-political goals they had in common, and which knit
them together as a well functioning labour team. Their
disagreements were more pronounced when it came to
choosing the best possible perspectives and the
corresponding actions in the actual situation. The boat
builders were naturally outraged by the horrendous waste
of precious wooden materials, through the accelerating
cutting down of oak trees in both countries for the
construction of war vessels, as well as by the aggressive
exploitation of boat builders’ labour in the whole of
North-Western Europe – resulting only in sunken war
ships. So they wished for an immediate end of the war –
almost regardless of “victor.” For his part, Louis-
Olivier’s view was that as long as the meaningless war
was raging, and had already taken its terrible toll – both
in human lives and invaluable materials – it would be a
catastrophe for European civilization if the English state
power succeeded in its militaristic orientation and
aggressive imperialistic efforts. He mentioned the
downfall of the ancient Greek civilization in the wake of
Sparta’s defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian war, and
also related the outcome of that war to the decline of the
Roman republic two or three centuries later.

Louis-Olivier obviously had an asset compared to his

discussion partners through his spare time studies, which
he was in a better position than his boat building friends
157
to enjoy, in the more theoretical and universal aspects of
the war in which they were enmeshed, but he still
understood their points of view very well. Their pride
was mostly based on their artisanal capabilities, and
everything related to national patriotism was none of
their business. They identified with their craftsmen
colleagues in other countries and parts of the world as
well as in France, and viewed the political conditions
from their own socio-economic stance. Being primarily a
trader, with the international orientation which almost
automatically resulted from that business, Louis-Olivier
fully shared their solidarity with people of other nations,
but still considered himself able to comprehend the more
far reaching and long term consequences of present
events and outcomes – about which the boat builders had
neither had time nor opportunity to speculate.

XXI
The rain was pouring down on the tiny column of
prisoners which were marched down towards the
Newcastle harbour. Gaius Digger was chained together
with thirteen other revolutionaries who had been arrested
during the meticulous razzias conducted in the city in the
previous two weeks or so. Since their arrest they had
been held in the castle – and been subject to severe
interrogations. Until now, Gaius had been able to keep

158
his mouth shut regarding everything he knew about the
revolt effort, and kept his focus on not revealing anything
which could lead the authorities on the track of other
revolutionaries. What scanty information he had given
was related to his craftmanship – such as the difficult
conditions of production during the war years and the
immense strain related to the compulsory deliveries to
the navy.

He was in an utterly depressed mood. In company with

the other arrested revolutionaries, he had suddenly been
commanded out of the castle early this morning, without
any information as to what lay in store for them. He
feared the worst, however – either deportation or
execution; the final outcome would depend on what the
judge in the forthcoming summary trial would put forth
as evidence or presumptive proofs. Probably, the latter
would be decisive.

After an uncomfortable hour in the inclement weather

this early spring day Gaius and his companions -- all of
whom he knew very well – were rowed out to the waiting
hulk anchored in the bay. On board the ship they were
hurriedly chained together along benches in the penary
labour chamber, and immediately put to work – under
strict surveillance. Their labour task was of the
monotonous kind, simply consisting in the packing of
gun and pistol bullets which, they were told, were meant
to “put an end to traitors like themselves, and bring

159
England the victory in the patriotic war.” Thus, the joy of
work was out of the question, and the days dragged by –
while Gaius thought about his beloved Faith and the fact
that they would never see each other again. Of course, he
also thought about the revolt, which at present seemed to
be foiled – by an infiltrator and the action of the
authorities.

Safe and sound in her hiding place, Faith Craft had

chosen to try to live as normal as possible in the wake of
the razzias and arrests. As far as she could comprehend
there were no obvious tracks which could link her to the
revolutionaries, and as long as she and Gaius had chosen
to postpone their marriage until a calmer period in their
lives there were neither any public documents which
revealed her intimate connection with Gaius. At the
moment she was desperate to come up with an idea of
how to assist him and the other unfortunate
revolutionaries in their fateful present circumstances.

One night, after a midwife mission on the outskirts of

town, she visited an inn in order to have a pint of Guiness
after a long day at work. The chosen location was
relatively calm that evening, and none of the other guests
seemed to be representatives of the authorities – unless
they had disguised themselves cleverly. Faith found a bar
stool and ordered the simple evening course of scrambled
eggs, bacon, leek and tomatoes.

160
During the evening she joined a conversation with a
harbour labourer who incidentally had observed the penal
column as it was loaded into the boats heading for the
hulk – and hence she received the news which she had
feared. She realized that her chances for assisting Gaius
and the other prisoners now were infinitely meagre –
unless they, by some circumstance, were to be rowed
back to town. And if the latter were to happen, it would
certainly not bring any joy – quite to the contrary, it
would simply mean execution. It was like the choice
between pestilence or cholera: Deportation or hanging.
The separation between her and Gaius would be a
defintie fact anyway – for very few people were able to
survive a deportation to the penal colonies. Faith felt an
immense emptiness inside. Could they have done
anything differently in order to avoid such a tragic
outcome of the revolt effort? She could not think of
anything in particular – and for either of them resistance
and revolt against the war had appeared both as a moral
duty and a necessity in order to secure the further
dissemination of the Enlightenment ideals.

One day, early in the morning, at the time when Gaius

and the other rebel prisoners usually were led into the
penal labour chamber, he and three others were instead
taken out to the deck and subjected to a summary trial.
They were all taken as one and ascribed the authorship of
a number of seditious and traitorous publications, and
held responsible for the organization of the revolt.
161
“The court has the strongest indications that these four
men bear the main responsibility for the revolt in
Newcastle and the surrounding district, and that they
intended to topple the English crown and the parliament.
Do the accused have anything to say in their defense?”
the judge said towards the end of the brief judicial
session.

“What I want to stress is that we are internationalists, and

relate to the universal ideals of the Enlightenment...,”
said Gaius after receiving a nod from the other three,
suggesting that he was entitled to speak on their behalf.

“Hm, from the viewpoint of the authorities it all appears

more like high treason and anti-patriotic sentiments,” the
judge interrupted him, before making a few additional
notes and reading the sentence.

The penalty was as they all reasonably had feared: Death

by hanging at the castle. Gaius saw his life in slow
review as the four of them were led back to their
respective cells: His childhood marked by endless
curiosity and a strong urge for achieving knowledge,
flirtation with the girls in the weekends, the political
awakening in his early teens by being introduced to the
new Enlightenment ideas and modern ideals which were
expressed, particularly in France, and which French
seamen along the docks in Newcastle had told him about
– and even presented him with some writings, which by

162
their French origins had given him an urge to familiarize
with the French language. He had had a rich life, indeed,
and realized that he had lived his life at a crucial turning
point in the development of European civilization, and he
reached the conclusion that he could not have acted in
another way. It was a whole lot, however, which he
would have liked to accomplish. He had very much
wanted to write a comprehensive work on Gerrard
Winstanley – the 17th century revolutionary genius – and
his Digger movement during the English revolution in
the 1640’s, and had anticipated a highly interesting
source material research in that connection. With his
good contacts among the historians, especially in
Edinburgh, where they looked somewhat differently on
the English state power throughout history, he would
have been well positioned to succeed in his writing task,
he thought. And in all this, Faith would have played a
central role, as an inspirator with her beautiful soul and
poetic frame of mind – and as a loving wife when they
eventually would have had the opportunity to get
married, with a hope to bring children into this world.
Due to the troubled social conditions marked by the war
and their revolt effort, all this had had to wait – and now
it would never materialize. “Well, I am not the only one
to experience this kind of fate,” he thought and
commemorated people who had been subjected to far
worse things than himself – such as bestial torture and
corresponding methods of execution. He thought about

163
the so-called “witches” and what they had gone through
towards the end of their lives, before the Enlightenment
had put an end to the witch mania and the persecution of
innocent people, who simply had viewed life differently
than the clergy and the powers that be in general. Maybe
there were even envious neighbours playing a role in all
this? Indeed, he had been lucky enough to live in a
progressive era, with more humanistic ideals and a
pronounced focus on rationality and freedom of thought
– even though it all had been sadly inhibited by the
meaningless war. Not only did it disrupt the prospects for
the universal Enlightenment ideas in the decades and
centuries ahead, but it was so costly that the English
crown contracted an immense debt to English and Dutch
bankers so that the tax burden on the general public rose
to unprecedented heights. Surely, this fact had
contributed decisively to the relatively widespread
adherence to the revolt efforts, for among the public the
new philosophical ideas and scientific insights were still
not widely known – in England it was primarily the
nobility and the emerging bourgeoisie which had had the
time and opportunity to study such things. So Gaius had
been lucky, he thought, to have become enriched with
such intellectual aspects of life – even though it now
turned out to cost him the same. “Oh, well, ain’t life
ambiguous and complex,” he concluded once again – and
settled with his conclusion.

164
The four convicted men were held in their cells, with
only water and a tiny chunk of bread during the day, for a
few days more, before suddenly one day they were being
commanded on board a landing boat in order to embark
on their last ride – up to the castle. They sat chained
together in the prisoners’ wagon all the way up to the
infamous building – it was a dismal ride in every sense,
on empty stomachs and facing the end of their lives.
Gaius, however, had accepted his fate and tried to inspire
the others to be proud until the last moment. He told
them that they were all entitled to such pride in
themselves and their heroic effort, and reminded them of
their invaluable artisanal work through long years of
service to the common weal and their brave commitment
on behalf of the universal ideals of the Enlightenment.

“Let’s hope that our struggle will not simply disappear in

the historical book of forgetfulness,” said one of the
convicted revolutionaries, who did not invest much faith
in the “official scribes” – which historians much too
often are reduced to, in his opinion.

“Well, there is always a chance that it will,” said Gaius,

“considering the scanty historical consciousness about
the Delian League and the confederal socio-political
organization of the Etruscans in ancient times – at least
here in England. But we may hope that these traditions
will see a revival, for the sources are still there – albeit
written down by Greek and Roman historians several

165
centuries after the demise of ancient Greek and Etruscan
civilization.”

“Let us eagerly hope so. Right now I am thinking more

about my wife and my children,” said one of the others.

“I certainly understand you,” said Gaius, “I feel a huge

sorrow myself in that connection. I only hope that my
beloved keeps her spirit high and gets over this in due
course so that she can live a long and happy life – and
find another life companion who will surely fill my role
as well as I have done. Time heals every wound – and
only the good memories last in the long run, my friend.”

“I suppose it is an instinct for survival, what you mention

there – although it will not help us now,” said one of the
other convicts, a blacksmith with whom Gaius had spent
a lot of time in his adult life, both as guild companions
and fellow revolutionaries.

Late in the afternoon they reached the castle. Sentries

were posted along the road, so that no representatives
from the public could enter it and get the opportunity to
observe the executions – which the authorities sought to
play down as much as possible, in order to avoid making
martyrs of the convicts, so that they would not inspire
similar attempts in the future. Such was the pure and
simple power strategical logic of the English authorities
in this case. In instances where there was a desideratum
to make examples in order to frighten the public into

166
submission it was different; then the authorities singled
out and blamed certain individuals for eventual
disturbances. In this case it was another matter, however,
because the leadership was organized in so flat manner,
and seemingly with so many audacious and clever heads
involved, making the horror striking method useless. The
events had to be veiled as much as possible, and in the
history books only be referred to as “disturbances” and
“disobedience,” bereft of any political and ideological
implications. The very executions themselves were well
in line with this goal; a brief procedure in which the
convicts were led up to the gallows, blindfolded and
taken out of the course of history.

For several days Faith Craft had impatiently awaited

news about Gaius and the other prisoners. As such news
were slow in the coming, she tried to sooth the pain in
her soul and her emotional strain in her usual manner –
by writing poetry.

“Our beloved heroes

Taken today

In my direst throes

I lay restrained”

167
Such sounded the last verse she penned that night. Now
she wished for some sleep – it had been a while since she
had had a restful night, both because of midwife duties
but mostly because of her thoughts about Gaius and his
comrades. She wondered what would now become of the
anti-war campaign and English society.

One day she went to the city square in order to purchase

fish and vegetables she was addressed by one of Gaius’
artisanal colleagues. The English troops had left the city
by now, or lodged in the castle, so he had ventured out
into the streets again. Immediately after the initial razzias
he had made it up to Scotland, and could convey the bad
news from there as well – many arrested rebels and
already several executed revolutionaries, who were
condemned on the basis of mere presumptive evidence
and without hard proofs.

“I regret to say that I have been informed that Gaius and

four of the other arrested here in Newcastle were
transported through the streets the other day. Their
wagon headed for the castle,” Gaius’ friend informed
Faith in a whispering voice as they stood side by side at
the fish mongers stand.

“Oh, good Lord,” Faith exclaimed, “it can only mean one
thing – that they have been subjected to the severest
penalty and are about to be executed. Oh, dear, I had a
tiny hope that the sentence would ‘only’ be deportation –

168
so that there would have been a slight opportunity for
them to get away with their lives.”

“Oh, yes, one would have hoped so. However, the

authorities obviously have decided to strike hard in this
case – the trials I’ve heard of have been highly summary,
rapid and frequent. Just consider how quickly the troops
left town after the successful razzias; no superfluous
provocations against the citizenry were allowed to
occur.”

“You are right. The police actions were highly well

prepared. They must certainly have known everything
about the revolt plans and their advocates well ahead of
the razzias themselves. I wonder who the infiltrator is, or
maybe there were several of them?”

“I have been speculating about the same. There are

rumours about two weapon smiths who suddenly
disappeared from town aorund the time of the initial
razzias, and there are firm indications that those two were
infiltrators and spies who operated on ordres from the
government – in the wake of the very first sabotage
actions against the war supplies about a year ago. They
surely received a considerable amount of money for their
filthy conduct, maybe even promises of entering the rank
of noblemen.”

Faith completed her purchases in the city square, hurried

home and made a simple meal – before embarking on the

169
long walk up towards the castle. As she arrived at the
lower gate everything was silent. She was halted by two
sentries who ordered her back to town – the area was
closed for the public at the moment, she was told.
Turning back a few hundred yards, she sat down on a
heap of logs by the side of the road, staring at the
towering castle, and at the starry spring sky, with tears
rolling down her cheeks.

XXII
A few weeks before the spring labour were about to set in
back home at the farm in Vendee, Charles Terrau was in
Paris in connection with the performance of a musical
work he had composed a few years back – and the event
was a major dancing ball to be held in honour of Louis
XV and meant to boost French optimism regarding the
outcome of the ongoing war. There were many celebrities
present, but the ball was still open for people from all
social strata – on the condition that one was properly
dressed for the festive occasion.

Charles had written the musical piece, consiting in simple

melody lines, for a string quartet, and prior to the ball he
had a conversation at one of the city’s restaurants with
the musicians who were about to perform his work, in
accordance with an appointment he had made with them
last winter. The quartet consisted in three men and a
170
woman, the latter being one of the violinists, while cello
and bass represented the two remaining instruments. As
for himself, Charles was very eager to hear how his
composition would sound with bass, as he had never
heard it with that instrument before – and he didn’t have
access to bass back home. He thought that such an
occasion as this was perfect for the introduction of bass,
as the rhythmic effect for the dancing would be more
accentuated when that instrument was included.

Back home in Vendee, his beloved Jeanne Poisonniere

was putting the final touch on her glass ware production
for this winter season, which had mostly been spent on
fulfilling orders of finer glass wares from the nobility and
the burghers of Paris and other cities in northern France –
besides tending to the precultivation of the coming
season’s herb and vegetable sprouts. Both of these labour
tasks were rather demanding and required scrupulous
precision and the uttermost concentration – even from
Jeanne, despite her long experience in both fields of
work. She could, however, not imagine any other
vocations, and considered herself to be living in a rural
paradise – with a beautiful scenery surrounding the farm,
a kind and warm hearted lover, and a terrific son, in
addition to good neighbours and her creative and
meaningful activities.

As she was about to finish the day’s labour in her glass

making workshop, her son, Robert, addressed her in

171
order to notice her that he was about to go for a ride to
the neighbouring village to see a friend, and even flirt a
bit with the girls, if any occasions for the latter presented
themselves. He was a dexterous rider, and the ten miles
or so were usually traversed in circa one and a half hour
– if he didn’t explore some new tracks in order to take a
look around and enjoy the scenery and wildlife. Today he
wanted to take the shortest cut, because he had important
things to discuss with his friend, related to the prospects
of starting a university education in Paris the forthcoming
autumn. His friend was determined to embark on
philosophy studies, and wanted to hear Robert’s views on
his choice. Moreover, Robert had not yet decided
definitely on which study he would follow – the choice
being between biology, astronomy and history. Maybe
even philosophy was an option, if his friend was able to
convince him...

When the night came for the dancing ball in Paris,

Charles showed up early with the hope of interesting
conversations with the other guests. He was particularly
excited as to the opportunity of meeting Rousseau and
discuss music with him. He thought, however, that the
chances for the republican to show up in public in a ball
in honour of the king were rather scanty – even though
the latter was ever so accommodating to the
Enlightenment ideas in general. But a devoted republican
he couldn’t possibly be, and his officials – especially of

172
the clergical brand – had in fact already started a
persecution of Rousseau and his like.

It turned out that Charles was right; Rousseau never

showed up, but as a welcome compensation he had the
honour to meet Voltaire, who felt more at home among
the French elite, albeit neither he among the clergy.
Charles’ conversation with Voltaire centered mainly on
religious issues, with the consequence that the latter
nearly convinced Charles about the inhibiting effect of all
kinds of superstition on social progress and the
intellectual capabilities of human beings, especially
regarding the sciences, but also in political matters.

“Rationality is the foremost characteristic of our species,

hence it must also come to the fore as the trait which
determines our orientation in life and every important
decision – whether we talk about the private sphere or in
public life,” Voltaire said cathegorically when Charles
had asked him if religion actually did not constitute a
firm foundation for the majority of the population in a
changing and unforseeable world.

“Viewed in a purely ethical context, Christianity is still

the mainspring for a majority even in this age of
Enlightenment,” Charles added.

“Well, as for myself I mainly view Christianity in a

historical perspective, and certainly ascribe it a
substantial role in the development of ethics. It is my

173
opinion, however, that we should and can do without it
today – the crucial question is how long it will take to
replace it with a purely secular ethics. As for myself, I
am of an impatient nature,” Voltaire admitted as they
thanked each other for an interesting conversation.

“Right now I look forward to join the dance. It is quite a

while since last time – I tend to spend most of my time in
secluded contemplation and have always some writing
projects going on.”

Charles could understand very well how such thought

and writing processes could involve reclusion for
extended periods of time – as a composer of musical
pieces he regularly felt the same need. However, his
other occupations still brought him into frequent contact
with his immediate neighbours, and he came to the
conclusion that he would not have wanted to exchange
his life situation with Voltaire’s – even though the latter’s
surely presented a lot of rewarding challenges and
exciting events. Moreover, Charles could not really
envisage living in the city, while Voltaire for his part was
more or less dependent on such a life for his very
occupation as a philosopher and writer – notably its
publishers, printers and publications, as well as crowds to
address with his lectures and the numerous salons which
offered such a variety of intellectual stimuli. He was of a
quite different nature than for example Rousseau, who
could spend weeks wandering along country roads and

174
lead a conversation with anyone – and even profit
intellectually from it. Voltaire, for his part, identified
himself more with the “learned circles” in the cities.

The evening was a very rewarding one for Charles, and

from what glimpses he had of Voltaire throughout the
dancing ball it seemed like the philosopher was enjoying
himself, too. Charles’ musical piece was played three
times during the evening and well into the night, drawing
more and more guests onto the dance floor. The bass
lines really inspired the Parisians on to their dancing feet
that night. As for himself, he also got the opportunity to
dance a bit – with a couple of distinguished Parisian
ladies. He thought, however, that Jeanne was a better
dancing partner by every means, but in her absence he
had to do with the Parisians. “How was Jeanne?” he
wondered as he strolled back to the inn where he had
rented a room for the weekend.

In the simple greenhouse at their farm, Jeanne was

working late with the transplanting of herb and vegetable
sprouts. The smallest herbs in particular, such as
marjoram, thyme and mint, were always a challenge – the
slightest neglect could cause the tiny stems and leaves to
be crushed. She lifted the sprouts carefully out of the soil
with a small pin, after watering the pots duly the day
before. Presently, the sprouts were to be transplanted into
somewhat larger pots, so as to get more space for further
growth before the final potting were to be conducted two

175
weeks later. The very planting of the precultivated plants
in the fields was customarily scheduled to the middle of
May, after the direct sowing of the other crops had been
done.

After a lengthy work session, during which she had

thought that it was fortunate that Charles would not be
away for long, so that he could join her in the tedious
transplanting, she sat in her outdoor armchair and read in
a medicinal book as Robert came riding into the
farmyard.

“How was your trip, my son?” she asked him when he

had led the horse into the stable and given it some oat as
a reward for the exertions of the day.

“Oh, well, it was an express ride today, mom. The mare

was quite energetic. I had a long and interesting
conversation with Yves, and on my way back home I
have considered philosophy studies as an option for me
in the autumn,” Robert said as he finally got seated by his
mother’s side in the evening sun and sipped at a glass of
wine.

“Interesting,” said Jeanne. “So, have you reached a

conclusion yet?”

“Well, I think that it could have been really exciting with

philosophy studies. However, as yet I am leaning more
towards biology, and maybe particularly animal

176
physiology – which you have encouraged me to for so
long now.”

“Oh, I am glad to hear that, my son. In that field of study

there is a whole lot still undone, and in my opinion you
should have every ability to contribute with something
essential and important within that science – with your
previous readings in the subject and, not least, your love
and understanding of animals.”

XXIII
Safe and sound back in Portsmouth after her lecturing
tour in East Anglia, Ophelia Oakgarden had digested the
impressions. She felt that it had turned out well and been
met with a largely positive response, particularly from
the farmers. Obviously, they were the ones who were
most eager to find alternatives to the ardous manual
handling of animal manure, to the extent that they were
in a position to reduce their herds of cows and sheep. The
horticulturalists, however, probably thought that ordinary
garden compost served them well enough as plant
nutrition -- and moreover had somewhat lower ambitions
than those who made a living of the soil on a full time
basis. Ophelia regretted that the urban gardeners had not
shown up in greater numbers at her lectures – as it was in
the cities, in fact, that the new Enlightenment ideas, with
their corresponding scientific innovations, had the
177
greatest potential for further development and,
furthermore, were absolutely crucial arenas if these
novelties were to actualize this potential. In the event of a
general political reaction, and the domination of
industrialism in the field of economics, maybe even
exacerbated by by an undue focus on the role of
commerce, it was not hard to imagine that many of the
new scientific insights within agronomy would be
neglected and replaced by ecologically unsound methods
of cultivation. The Germans, in particular, were presently
putting a high premium on purely chemical soil
processes, and even though a prominent agronomical
figure like Johann Gottschalk Wallerius revealed a deep
biological sensitivity in his writings, it was hard to
foretell how his future colleagues would proceed in the
decades ahead. Urbanization had begun to spread in
Germany as well, in part because of the emerging
industrialization and also because of the ongoing
European war, and this situation was a poor basis for the
prolification of the new theoretical insights which
Ophelia had obtained and their utilization in practice – as
it certainly required a sufficient number of “hands” out
there in the countryside who could do the manual labour
related to the green manuring and mulching, which were
not easily conducted with the help of mechanical tools.

Ophelia spent her days elaborating on her notes from her

lecturing tour, including questions which had been raised
by the audiences, with the aim to publish a scientific
178
essay on the role of microbiological processes for a
highly productive and sustainable agriculture. She had
made an appointement with a London publisher who had
expressed his willingness to consider her manuscript for
publication, and had invited her to the capital by the end
of April. She barely managed to squeeze the journey into
her tight schedule, though, because the preparations for
the forthcoming growing season were already begun.
Fortunately, she had her husband, Theophrastus, who
would stay at home and work on some composting
projects – and even conduct a few experiments in that
respect. Thus, he had the opportunity to look after the
early sprouts in the precultivation benches which they
had constructed in a shaded corner of their garden.

“Well, my dear, I wish you a nice journey to London –

let’s hope that the publisher will be convinced by your
manuscript!” said Theophrastus as the day came when
Ophelia made ready to seek out a Portsmouth coach
which could take her in the direction of the pulsating city
by the Thames.

“Thank you so much, my dear. Oh, yes, that would be

very welcome, you know – I am convinced that a whole
lot is lacking in the field of agronomy in this country, and
that France in particular is way ahead of us.”

“Oh yes, that is absolutely certain, my dear Ophelia – and

I feel assured that you will be able to strike a deal with

179
the publisher – to the extent that he cares about the
prolification of science in this country.”

With her backpack well fitted Ophelia wandered down

the picturesque road towards the city centre of
Portsmouth, and as always she enjoyed walking under the
tall oak and beech trees. At this time of the year, the
leaves had just sprung out and the canopies hung over her
head in all their light green beauty. She had always a
scinetifically oriented mindset at the bottom of her
aestehetic sensibility, however, and now she observed
last year’s flowers which still stood with their ripe seed
stands close to the stems of the majestic trees. “How
could they stand right here flowering and seeding in such
a lush manner – in the shadow of the canopies?” she
recalled wondering, before the new knowledge of the role
of mycorrhizas had given her an astonishing clue to the
mystery. By now she had come to the conclusion that it
was the symbiotic relationship between the trees and the
flower plants via their respective root systems, connected
to each other by the fungi hyphae, which facilitated the
distribution of the plants’ surplus nutrients to the
neighboring plants in the plant community, in exchange
for whatever minerals and essential nutrients they could
not take up on their own accord. And in the same way
even the sun’s energy and its plant physiological effects
must be transferred to flowering plants growing in the
shadow of the trees, she thought – for how could their
ripe seed stands otherwise be explained? She delighted in
180
the enchanting wonders of nature as she vividly
envisaged another trip to London.

Theophrastus, for his part, had been greatly inspired by

Ophelias scientific approach to plant growing, and had
decided to conduct a couple of experiments of his own
this season. Firstly, he was going to do some research on
various forms of plant material and their combination
with a view towards the speed of decomposition and the
end result of the composting processes; secondly, he was
going to experiment with the usage of urine as an
efficient starter of the composting process. He had read
in one of Ophelia’s scientific journals that the farmers of
India utilized urine – from husbandry as well as from
humans – in this context, and as for himself he
subscribed to the notion that this kind of recycling of an
essential animal waste product would constitute a natural
mechanism in the balance between animal and vegetable
life forms – since the solid animal manure also had such
a benevolent effect on plant growth. For some weeks
now he had collected the urine of his and Ophelia’s
household in a barrel, and was now about to add some of
this fluid to some chosen compost piles in order to
conduct comparisons of the end results in the course of
the summer months. In colonial England there was a
scanty recognition of the wisdom of the Indian people
when it came to productive activities in general – hence
Theophrastus regarded his own experiments as of some
importance in his own home country. “But what about
181
the ordinary prejudices? Would they dispel a reasonable
utilization of a human waste product, which should
circulate in the organic processes around us?” he
wondered as he stood there sweating over the piles of
plant material which he was about to heap together at
suitable shadowy spots in his garden.

With the aim to travel as fast as possible to London,

Ophelia took care to obtain information on the best coach
offices along the way. There were huge differences
regarding how long commotions the various coaches
undertook. In Portsmouth she obtained valuable
information from her coach driver, who was well
informed about his colleagues’ services along the
travelling route northwards.

Along the way she variously enjoyed the pleasant view

from the coach window, observing the surrounding
landscape, and doing some minor editing on her
manuscript. She thought that the publisher may disregard
her because she had no university education, but still
hoped that the content of her essay would speak for itself
– especially in view of the scientific references to Englsih
as well as French naturalists.

In the event it turned out that the publisher was rather

sceptical, and he revealed his attitude towards her by
referring to her gender already at the outset of their
conversation.

182
“Well, it is very bold of a woman to present what claims
to be pioneering insights into the field of biology,” he
commented after a brief reading of the list of contents
and the main conclusion in her manuscript.
“Unfortunately I cannot take the responsibility of printing
your work – mainly because I will not risk affronting my
male contacts in the scientific circles.”

Naturally Ophelia was very disappointed about the rejection,

and felt intensely the unfairness of the gender pattern as it
manifested itself within the English intelligensia. She had
heard about the French women’s achievements regarding
their own emancipation, and at the moment she felt that
she lived in the “wrong” country. The need to soothe her
disappointment presented itself strongly, and she decided
to visit one of her favourite pubs in Camden Town –
simply in order to get drunk for a change. It was certainly
audacious for a woman to get drunk on her own in the
capital, but she knew the pub owner well and felt certain
that he would take good care of her – to the extent of
telling her when he meant that she had had enough to
drink.

The pub, with the charming name “The Local

Townsman,” was almost overcrowded when she arrived
there early in the afternoon this spring Saturday. She was
met by loud conversations – and not surprisingly it was
the actions of the government against the revolutionaries
which everyone talked about. There were many who

183
sympathized with the latter, but also a considerable
number of royalists present, hence the discussions were
generally high tempered – it was almost impossible to
reach a compromise in this matter. As for herself,
Ophelia preferred to lay low when it came to political
issues, and was more interested in scientific subjects –
along with her passion for music. However, she was
certainly engaged in the recent political events due to
their implications for the prospects of universal science,
and felt depressed by the fact that the war effort now
seemed to proceed uninhibited on the part of the English
government, so that the war had to be fought out to the
bitter end – with the certainty that England would
triumph in the long run, considering the country’s
unrivaled fleet and command of the sea. However, it
would mean a “victory over Reason itself,” as she
expressed it in a discussion with a couple of the other
guests – and she was urged to explain her point of view
in more detail. So she pointed towards the advanced
scientific acheievements of the French and the
outstanding work done by their encyclopaedists – and
additionally referred to the fact that it was French
thinkers like Bayle and Montesquieu who had initiated
the liberal turn during the past century or so. Admittedly,
the British had had their John Locke up in Scotland, but
she argued that the latter by far did make people think
their own thoughts to the extent that Bayle and
Montesquieu did.

184
It was certainly unpopular notions to express in a London
pub in the midst of an imperial war between the two
major European powers, and she was met with stern
opposition in this respect. The discussion reached a
stalemate, and she ordrered another whisky. She drank
quite a few of them that evening, and she felt very
grateful when the pub owner offered her a bed in the
second floor, where he lived with his family. He also
comforted her regarding the foiled publication project,
and tried to encourage her to keep on going with her
research and writings. Sooner or later there had to
emerge people in the publishing business who subscribed
to a more progressive stance towards women’s
potentialities in the various fields of science, as he
expressed. And with these soothing words she fell asleep
to the sound of singing by the pub guests. Obviously the
discussions had come to an end for now, and yet again
fraternization occurred in the form of English shanty
songs. Ophelia felt thankful that she did not lead this kind
of life on a daily basis, and promised herself not to
consume alcohol again in a long, long time.

XXIV
A weekend in June, while Pierre-Joseph was in Paris
with the sole purpose of meeting Rousseau, Olympes had
a well deserved break from the farm work – which

185
presently consisted in weeding the vegetable rows and
earthing up the potatoes – and spent her time in her study
completing the dissertation on Etienne Marcel and the
artisanal and peasants’ movement he led in Paris and its
surroundings in the 1350’s. It suited her well to sit down
with some intellectual and physically relaxing work after
the long sessions behind the horse in the potatoe rows
and vegetable fields. The farm work certainly satisfied
her aesthetic sensibility and need for economically
meaningful activities, but from time to time it could
become a bit too repetitive and automatically
programmed in her body. On the other hand it was
physically versatile, considering the season as a whole,
and both she and Pierre-Joseph were athletically built
after many years of agricultural practice.

At the moment, however, it was intellectual work which

occupied her time for a few days. Her collection of
source material had been of long duration and
encompassing, and in her own opinion this work would
in itself contribute new dimensions to Medieval studies
in general. Another question, however, was whether it
would be published. The emancipation of women had
certainly reached a higher level here than in England, she
thought, but still not so much so that one could take for
granted that a woman’s wiritings would be made
available for the public – even if they held an adequate
scientific level. Moreover, during the previous year or so
the French government had introduced a stricter
186
censorship on writings with a radical dimension –
restrictions which had made life more difficult for writers
such as Diderot and Rousseau – whom Pierre-Joseph thus
wanted to meet before the philosopher emigrated and
searched for political asylum elsewhere.

Regarding Etienne Marcel, Olympes had found out that

he came from a very wealthy family of burghers in Paris,
and that his big heart had led him into an alliance with
the artisans of the city in order to make an effort to halt
the increasing centralization of the French state power at
the time – and that he in connection with this effort co-
operated with the peasants in the surrounding country
districts. Marcels vision was a decentralized France
based on assemblies of estates, in which artisans as well
as peasants were to be represented. The confederal
principle was also included in their hopes for the future.
As it turned out, however, at some point during the
Hundred Years’ War the radical movement he led was
crushed by the king’s army, and with this defeat the very
notion of confederalism ebbed out among the French
people. In the centuries since then it has been the Swiss
cantons and the United Dutch Provinces which have kept
confederalism alive in practice. Thus Olympes summed
up her perspectives and research results in her
dissertation, which she now was about to submit for
censorship at the university of Paris. How would its
reception be? Would the professors have the courage to
recognize it, not to say even admit that they knew about
187
the events back then? She had her concerns. During her
visits to the university she had met several female
researchers who had been frustrated in their scientific
careers and been obliged to seek out other vocations –
such as being hostesses of salons in order to make avail
of their intellectual urges. As for herself, Olympes
thought that she would be confronted with huge
existential challenges if she had to consider such an
option instead of the combination she thrived with at the
moment – mixing a simple farm life with intellectual
work in her spare time and during the winter months. She
envisaged that her intimate and warm relation to Pierre-
Joseph would make her stay here in the countryside, and
rather keep on studying and writing on a part time basis –
awaiting an eventual opening of possibilities for
publication and contact with the literate segments among
the general public.

Moreover, it was exactly this intimate contact with the

productive life of the countryside which she felt gave her
a fertile perspective for understanding the working men
and women of the past – which had been studied and
written about only in rare instances so far. Indeed, she
thought that the very scent of vegetable mould had a
euphoric effect on her mind, and she even had a notion
that it had played a crucial role in the peasants’
endurance regarding their oppressive and toilful
conditions throughout history. What were they not able to
accomplish as soon as they were freed from their chains?
188
She contemplated the Norwegian farmers who had built
their own trading vessels and embarked on commercial
journeys also along the French coastlines, and the pride
they manifested in their conduct. Even though she was
not very familiar with Scandinavian history, and only a
scanty literature was available on the subject in French or
English, she had got a glimpse of it through
conversations with the Norwegian historian Gerhard
Schöning during one of his visits to Paris. He was a true
friend of the farmers and expressed a highly respectful
attititude towards them, among whom he conducted
several extensive research journeys. It should certainly
have been more historians of his calibre, she thought,
while she made another effort to penetrate into the mind
set of Etienne Marcel and his physical and social
environment.

In one of his favourite Parisian cafés Pierre-Joseph was

lucky enough to meet with Rousseau and have a
conversation with him regarding the spirit of the times
and the whereabouts of the future. Would monarchism
triumph over republicanism now that things seemed to
turn out badly for the English republicans and their revolt
effort? He was also curious as to Rousseau’s personal
prospects at this crucial stage when censorship seemed to
be more heavily imposed also here in France.

“Well, I am not overly optimistic on behalf of the

future,” said Rousseau, “neither regarding republicanism

189
in general nor for my own personal prospects. Private
property has got a much too extensive leeway and
economic inequality is only increasing as the years go by.
War is rarely progressive in any meaningful sense, and if
England were to win this war it would have huge global
repercussions. Who knows what will happen in the
American colonies, for example? And what about France
herself – in the wake of the immense economic strain
resulting from the war expenditures? What about the
integrity of the Enlightenment ideas? Will orthodox
religion – whether we are talking about Catholicism or
Protestantism – once again dominate the scene? The
uncertainties and risks are numerous.”

As for himself, Pierre-Joseph was not very familiar with

the larger international issues, as he had a relatively
limited access to sources in this respect – apart from his
encounters with foreign sailors during his winter seasons
at his cooper’s workshop along the harbour of Paris – so
he listened very eagerly to Rousseau’s considerations, a
man whose good contacts in diplomatic circles regularly
gave him thrustworthy information.

“Then there is this issue of the so-called ‘women’s

liberation’,” continued Rousseau. “What will that
struggle lead to? In my opinion, which is based on a
certain amount of experience, there are so far-reaching
differences between the two sexes that it will be of
immense importance what kind of ‘liberation’ our

190
women will achieve. Are they to be ‘liberated’ from the
household or to spiritual and artistic activities? Are they
to get involved in the political domain and aspire to
power within the state apparatus? In general, I am highly
sceptical towards the tendency of politics to swell at the
cost of the more intimate social life and the public’s
economic conditions of production, and in this respect I
can underpin my scepticism by alluding to the ancient
Greeks, who hardly were in favour of expanding their
political domain to an unduly resource demanding extent.
Quite to the contrary – as their very political domain
itself was enforced upon them as a result of the recurring
military threats from the Persians and other foreign
invaders. Of course, Athenian politics aimed at
preventing tyranny and even oligarchy from developing
within their own society, but it was never meant by the
Athenians to throne above the oikos sphere. Neither did
Aristotle subscribe to such an expansion of the political
sphere, according to his work, Politics, in which he also
warns against admitting trade an undue importance and
role within economic life – at the cost of agricultural and
artisanal production.”

Their conversation veered more and more towards the

history of ideas, which was a subject that Rousseau to an
increasing extent occupied himself with as he realized the
importance of political ideas for social development,
particularly in turbulent times as these. At present he was
working on two different projects, one of which
191
concentrated on the rearing of children, in a fictional
form, while the other was a socio-political dissertation on
the social contract between the various estates and all the
individuals constituting a society, and at the same time
arguing the case for direct democracy. In particular, it
was the issue of the inaliable sovereignity of the
individual which occupied Rousseau’s mind at the
moment – a principle with which he tried to live in
accordance every single day, in his encounters with
people from any social strata.

“No one is entitled to think on behalf of others,”

Rousseau concluded. “I repeat that dictum over and over
again in my conversations with people I meet who ask
me to speak on their behalf. Everyone has to take charge
of their own business and organize to the best of their
ability in companionship with their fellow workers and
associates, I repeatedly tell them. I suppose that’s the
reason why the authorities consider me an annoyance in
the public sphere.”

With those words their dialogue turned on Rousseau’s

personal prospects. The philosopher announced that his
plan was to leave for Luxembourg, in a kind of political
asylum, and to continue his writings from a base in that
country. As for himself, nationality meant very little, he
said, even though he naturally supported the French
cause in the war against England – as long as it already
was under way. He preferred, however, that it would end

192
immediately, considering the possibilities for a
progressive development in the years ahead, including
the continuation of the economic reform work initiated
by the physiocrats. In his opinion it was absolutely
crucial that the remains of feudal society were rooted out
once and for all, so that the peasants could be elevated to
an equal level with the other productive classes of society
– indeed, maybe even alotted a decisive voice in the
public assemblies, and he added that he did not have an
unconditioned faith in European civilization considering
its modern developments. There had evolved far too
much vanity, envy and spite among people in general,
partly because of the difficult conditions for the
peasantry and the concomitant urbanization process,
Rousseau summed up, before explaining his choice of
location for a political asylum.

“Well, Luxembourg is a decentralized country.

Moreover, it is located not far from the Swiss cantons
and freedom loving Geneva. There is a rural beauty to the
area which has always appealed strongly to my
aesthetical sensibility. In addition, the women there are
simply adorable, and not nearly as vain as here in Paris,”
the coming fugitive asserted. “It will be a favourable
location for completing what I consider as my main
theoretical work so far – at least within the field of
philosophy.”

193
Pierre-Joseph was full of intellectual impressions as he
returned to the farm on Sunday afternoon, and he
discussed them lengthily with Olympes throughout the
evening, and for her part Olympes got the glimpse of a
few additional points which she ought to include in her
dissertation – albeit without direct reference to Rousseau,
she thought. Well, the next few days would reveal how
she was going to go about it. The crucial thing now was
to submit the manuscript for academic review, and
prepare to defend it in front of the stern Parisian
professors.

XXV
In the Tower of London sat Angelica Shelley and the
printer incarcerated for the fourth month for concurrence
in the revolt attempt. The isolation had already taken its
toll on Angelicas nerves when she suddenly one day was
locked out with the explanation that she as well as the
printer had been granted a pardon from the king – in her
case because she had only had an inferior role in the
printing of subversive writings, and he due to the fact
that, seen from the point of view of the government, he
had done an excellent job throughout his long career and,
moreover, had very promising children to take care of.

Incredibly solaced she made her way to the city centre

and found a coachman who could bring her back home.
194
She thought about Thomas Paine and his situation, and
regretted the fact that their relationship would now be
almost impossible to maintain, as he hopefully lay in
hiding by now in some distant place, and her moves were
very likely to be under scrutiny by the authorities in the
unforseeable future.

Back home she glanced through her bookshelves and

instantly found some good literature, which had been
totally lacking during her imprisonment, and let her mind
rest in a travel narrative from the age of the Hanseatic
League. Reading historical literature was one of her
favourite pastimes, although the more scientific variety
still was a rarity in the English publishing business. So
for the most part it was the literary aspect she enjoyed –
as a valuable source of inspiration for her own writings.

“How would the revolutionaries proceed now, when

Thomas’ support no longer was at hand – at least not in
the immediate future,” she wondered. He probably would
have to seek refuge even further away from the English
state officials, that is, if he did not conceive of some very
smart solution, she thought. Well, she could only hope
for the best, and that she would be able to rejoin him at
some point in the future – when conditions had returned
to some kind of normality.

Anyway, the revolt was obviously foiled. That much she

could easily figure out – if nothing else, the brief

195
conversations with a few strangers while she awaited the
ride home told her that it was all over. The capital was
full of troops, and a number of revolutionaries had been
incarcerated, some of them had already been executed
and most of the others deported to some penal colony.
The heroic attempt had been aborted, and the prospects
for a Europe united in the universalism of the
Enlightenment, for which Thomas Paine was such a stout
proponent, were rather dismal. As it all stood at the
moment, the rivalry between nations would probably
dominate the agenda for many decades ahead, maybe
even for centuries to come – if nothing of importance
occured in the opposite direction.

Down at the docks along both banks of the Thames the

official forces of order were eagerly embarking on the
tasks of reinvigorating the war supplies to the English
fleet after the inconvenient abruptions due to the actions
of sabotage during the previous year or so. Hence, two
central cities – London and Newcastle – were once more
under the control of the authorities, and neither in other
cities did the revolutionaries succeed in their attempts –
naturally as the effort in the capital itself largely
determined the developments elsewhere. Deportation
ships were sent to every central harbour city, so as to
pick up the arrested revolutionaries in order to ship them
off to the Caribbean or Australia.

196
In Aberystwyth, where Thomas Paine temporarily had
sought refuge, there had also been razzias, arrests and
deportations – causing him to lay low and go into hiding
in some tiny village in the interior. Here he had had the
lesiure to figure out a plan for coping with the new
situation, and had come to the conclusion that he would
apply for a job within the English state apparatus – in
order to camouflage his former revolutionary activity and
preserved political stance. Later on he would have to
conceive of a more long term solution, he thought.
Fortunately he had very good contacts in the American
colonies. Maybe there was a role for him to play there at
some point in the future, in which he could serve the
struggle for human liberation and the case for universal
human rights?

He missed Angelica. She had been a refreshing presence

in his life after he set foot on land again following his
period at sea. How was she doing now, he wondered.
And would there be any kind of hope of seeing her,
considering the numerous summary sentences which had
been executed against those who had been involved in
the revolt efforts? He chilled at the thought that she may
already been executed or was on her way to a penal
colony. For a young girl either of these prospects must be
the worst nightmare, he thought – after all, they had
somewhat more tender souls than fully mature men.

197
In the university library of Aberystwyth during one of his
brief visits there, he encountered a historian who had
specialized in the history of the American colonies. He
had told Paine about the solid foothold of puritan ideas
on the other side of the Atlantic, and emphasized that
historical names such as John Lilburne and Gerrard
Winstanley still were commemorated and honoured in
various ways over there – notably in the form of the New
England town meetings, a tradition which kept the idea
of direct democracy alive. These monthly public
meetings at the squares of a number of cities in the
North-Eastern parts of the American continent gave, at
least potentially, the citizens themselves the moral power
in society. Maybe this public power could one day even
be insitutionalized, the historian wondered, and added
that in that case it would be entirely in accordance with
the spirit of Rousseau – if one was to pay attention to his
political writings, which presently were about to be
included in a major work.

Thomas Paine was highly invigorated by the historian’s

portrayal of the situation in the English colonies across
the Atlantic, and he instantly started to consider the
prospects of going over there as soon as a chance to do so
presented itself. He thought about his former merits in
engineering and his patents on various bridge
constructions – which almost certainly could be of avail
in the new society that the colonists were about to build.
They surely needed contributions and assistance both
198
within the field of infrastructure and in the political
domain, he assured himself.

In the meantime, life in London were about to return to

normal conditions, and the printer had long since
returned to his vocational duties – henceforth in the form
of printing works wholly acceptable to the Crown and
parliament. Thus, his printing projects mostly consisted
in travel accounts and innocent local history writings
from around the country – without any kind of criticism
of the monarchy or the war – dealing with rural as well as
urban settings. Both he and Angelica felt a great solace
by doing their work without the constant fear of being
prosecuted by the government due to the publication of
so-called subversive literature. On the other hand, they
both strongly regretted the outcome of the revolt attempt,
and their thoughts frequently pondered over those who
had been executed or deported – and their closest
relatives. Neither Angelica nor the printer managed to
look far into the future. As for the moment, what
mattered was to live well from day to day, and get the
maximum joy out of life – awaiting the future turn of
events as they were to present themselves. Angelica, for
her part, had lately been thinking of emigration, possibly
to the continent, in order to improve her prospects
regarding essay writing and publication. But would it
actually be easier there, she wondered – considering the
uttermost probability that England sooner or later would
claim victory in the war, the costs of which certainly
199
would increase the pressure of taxation on the public in
her enemy states, which would result in lesser scope for
liberal reforms so that a country like France, for example,
would have to concentrate exclusively on the economic
aspects of life. However, maybe there would be
possibilities in a city like Paris after all, if the tendency in
the direction of sterner censorship did not hit with full
strength due to the demand for national patriotism in the
war setting? Well, she would have to try to obtain
information on the continental scene – and hopefully
arrange a visit to the French capital as soon as she had
obtained some savings for such a journey. Until then she
would concentrate on the book printing trade and,
moreover, continue her own writings – in order to
become a master by enduring practice. She wanted to
write about the women’s liberation process in France,
and leave aside the aborted revolt attempt at home until
some later stage. As for now, it was a much too sensitive
subject – and she had no intent to write about it in a vein
which would please the authorities. However, she had
taken her notes during the previous dramatic years, and
sooner or later, she figured, the conditions would be ripe
for her to conduct some compreensible writings on the
events.

She felt comfortable at being in posession of the position

of apprentice in the printing workshop – for how would
she otherwise have coped economically? The difficult
economic conditions so far during the war had forced a
200
lot of women into prostitution, both because so many
people were driven from the countryside and into the
cities, where there wasn’t enough decent work to be
found – especially not for women – and because it
appeared more lucrative in comparison with a position as
a simple domestic servant. As for herself, she had
reached an age in which the instinct of motherhood had
begun to make itself felt, and whether it was due to
hormonal changes or not she had thought more and more
about having a child – despite the turmoil of the war.
Was it the relation to Thomas Paine which had led her to
think about motherhood, she wondered. She wasn’t sure.
However, there was no doubt whatsoever that he
attrected her considerably. Well, now he was out of reach
anyway – and there were no prospects of starting a
permanent relationship with him in the nearest future.
And motherhood under any kind of circumstances she
was certainly not interested in – the precondition would
have to be finding a man whose soul appealed to her, so
that the both of them could experience a mutually
rewarding development in various ways.

With these thoughts in her head, Angelica wandered

along the streets of Camden Town. She certainly enjoyed
her walks in this area – among markets, workshops,
diligent men and women, horses and wagons, and also
beautiful trees and flowers. Two young lads sat there
fishing in the creek – and had already secured a dinner
for their families, as far as she could observe, to the
201
degree that the fish didn’t contain a too high level of
heavy metals in order to serve as healthy nutrition. She
talked for a while with the young boys, and it turned out
that both of them had fathers and other relatives who
were among the deported after the revolt attempt. In an
effort to cheer them up a bit in their dismal
circumstances, she said that they seemed to be stout
young men who had been raised well, and certainly
would be able to cope with the additional challenges and
duties which a life without fathers would entail. The boys
expressed their sorrows at being bereft of their closest
relatives, but emphasized that they both had intimate
adult friends of their respective families who could fill
some of the empty space left by their deported fathers.
The political world, however, seemed only distasteful to
them, they said – and added that in their opinion people
in general should concentrate on economically
productive activities as well as science. Anyhow, that’s
what they themselves planned to do – and Angelica was
apt to support them in their priorities, even though
Thomas Paine had convinced her about the importance of
wise political action when it was demanded by the actual
circumstances.

202
203