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👑CAROLINE: I promise you, Dr Waterhouse, that if any such occasion arises, I shall send you a letter.
[As best he could in a moving carriage, Daniel bowed]
DANIEL: And I promise your highness that I shall respond—cheerfully and without a moment's hesitation.
#TheConfusion
#BaroqueCycle
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Pride and vanity have built more hospitals than all the virtues together. Bernard de Mandeville (text next to a portrait of young Mandeville)
SEPTEMBER 1693
When Men fly from danger, it is natural for them to run farther than they need.
—The Mischiefs that ought justly to be apprehended from a Whig-government, ANONYMOUS (ATTRIBUTED TO BERNARD MANDEVILLE), 1714
#BaroqueCycle
#TheConfusion
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D: I am named Dappa. I was—am—a linguist.
JACK SHAFTOE: That means not a thing to me, but as we are nothing more than a brace of slaves wandering around lost in a heathen citadel, I don't suppose there's any harm in hearing some sort of reasonably concise explanation.
#BaroqueCycle
#TheConfusion
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Saint Denis holding his head. Statue at the left portal of Notre Dame de Paris.
>of Louis-Francois de Lavardac bounced & spun in the dirt of Khan el-Khalili in the center of the Mother of the World & the dust of the Sahara began to cloud the lenses of his eyes.
The Confusion
volume 2 of
the #BaroqueCycle
by Neal Stephenson
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Portrait of Sophia of Hanover, late in life.
SOPHIE: I am NOT trying to make Peter feel at home, but to show him that, somewhere between Berlin & here, he at last crossed the frontier of civilization. And 1 lovely thing about civilization is philosophers capable of making interesting conversation. ■
#TheConfusion
#BaroqueCycle
Neal Stephenson
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Enoch Root had shown inhuman patience during the last 2 years, as the transaction of the quicksilver had been slowly teased together. There had been plenty of interesting diversions for him in the Philippines, and in helping to establish Mr Foot as the White Sultan of Queena-Kootah. >
#BaroqueCycle
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Perhaps the Electress was thinking out loud; or perhaps the message was intended for others. Years later Caroline was to understand that it had been intended for her. Sophie was trying to teach the little Princess how to be a Queen, or at least, how to be a Mother. >
#BaroqueCycle
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At Herrenhausen gardens:
FUTURE GEORGE 1: What was a place for the femmes to dally in the garden is to become a site of Important Conversations.
ELECTRESS SOPHIE: Oh but it already is, my little prince, or I should say it was, until ours was interrupted & replaced by this.
#BaroqueCycle
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DANIEL: You forget that I do not care whether you are pleased. I have undertaken this work simply because I phant’sy that my ends are akin to yours; & to those ends, you have provided me w/some of the means.
👑CAROLINE: 😡I have heard that there were still men like you about England.
#BaroqueCycle
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He hadn't really known what to expect of America. But people here seem to do things—hangings included—with a blunt, blank efficiency that's admirable and disappointing at the same time. Like jumping fish, they go about difficult matters with bloodless ease.
#BaroqueCycle
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JACK: I don’t know what a journal is.
ELIZA: Like a gazette for savants.
JACK: Oh, so that stack of papers is something he wants to have printed?
E: Yes.
J: Well, if he founded it, it’s his journal, so why’s he got leeches in his breeches?
LEIBNIZ: It has been finished for years. >
#BaroqueCycle
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Italian Baroque works in the New York Metropolitan Museum’s European paintings galleries
LEIBNIZ: When we look at the canvas, we glimpse in a small way how God understands the universe—he sees it from every point of view at once. By populating the world w/so many different minds, each with its own point of view, God gives us a suggestion of what it means to be omniscient.
#BaroqueCycle
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A painting of King John 3rd (Sobieski) of Poland-Lithuania, advancing on Vienna.
The fucking Winged Hussars charging in a battle.
This fellow from the north was no play-actor & he rode across the bridge w/a solemn face that spoke of bitter days ahead for Grand Vizier Khan Mustapha.
This was the army of Poland-Lithuania & their king, John Sobieski & his cavalry were called the Winged Hussars.
#BaroqueCycle
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Great big dark mounds were visible off to his right, far away.
After they continued to be there for several days in a row, Jack realized that they must be mountains.
He’d heard of them.
#BaroqueCycle
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DANIEL: How many Wizards are there just now? You, Enoch, that's 2. Possibly Isaac.
SOLLY: I have no idea.
But here Solomon was distracted by a faint noise from the direction of the stairs. He and Daniel expected to see a Cossack bearing more #gold; but instead it was Saturn.
#BaroqueCycle
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![Robertson's phantasmagoria, Paris, 1797
Robert probably attended one of Paul Philidor's Phantasmagorie shows in Paris in 1792 or 1793. In 1790 in Vienna, Philidor had turned the fake séance ghost projections of charlatans into his pioneering phantasmagoria spectacle that allowed larger audiences to watch a safe but scary show. He probably profited from a strong light source, but especially revolutionized the concept of ghost-raising by claiming he used scientific and optical art to reveal how charlatans duped gullible audiences. After performing in Paris for about half a year, Philidor left and was not heard of again in France (although he took his show to other European cities).
With his understanding of optics, Étienne-Gaspard Robert (15 June 1763 – 2 July 1837) would have had relatively little problem figuring out how Philidor's ghosts were created with the magic lantern. Years later, his further technological prowess was combined with his skills in painting and showmanship, in developing his own pre-cinema horror show.[1] He evidently felt safe from any possible claims from Philidor and only slightly altered the spelling of the title that Philidor had introduced in Paris.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sit6iw4blblomxysee42qzfq/bafkreidxh3xvdzau3h4mxh2jvjp2r6zbks2xu4z6k4dqr57aj73xjtkcdm)
Robertson's phantasmagoria, Paris, 1797 Robert probably attended one of Paul Philidor's Phantasmagorie shows in Paris in 1792 or 1793. In 1790 in Vienna, Philidor had turned the fake séance ghost projections of charlatans into his pioneering phantasmagoria spectacle that allowed larger audiences to watch a safe but scary show. He probably profited from a strong light source, but especially revolutionized the concept of ghost-raising by claiming he used scientific and optical art to reveal how charlatans duped gullible audiences. After performing in Paris for about half a year, Philidor left and was not heard of again in France (although he took his show to other European cities). With his understanding of optics, Étienne-Gaspard Robert (15 June 1763 – 2 July 1837) would have had relatively little problem figuring out how Philidor's ghosts were created with the magic lantern. Years later, his further technological prowess was combined with his skills in painting and showmanship, in developing his own pre-cinema horror show.[1] He evidently felt safe from any possible claims from Philidor and only slightly altered the spelling of the title that Philidor had introduced in Paris.
DANIEL WATERHOUSE: Well, I don't know what my family would think of my being involved in such things.
ROGER: Poh! Look at what they have been up to! Now that the Apocalypse has failed to occur, Daniel, you must find something to do with your several talents.
#BaroqueCycle #Quicksilver
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MONSIEUR LE COMTE DE PONTCHARTRAIN, CONTRÔLEUR-GÉNÉRAL OF FRANCE: The English have devised an extraordinary scheme for the defense of their homeland, which is that they have no money.
ELIZA: Only you, monsieur, would have the penetration to see that as a defensive strategy.
#BaroqueCycle
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Late August 1690, The Malta Channel
NYAZI: My brother cried ‘Fly away & meet us at the caravanserai! You must be the husband of our wives, the father of our children; the Ibrahim of our race'
JACK: Beats having your nuts cut off by wild men.
N: 👊😡
#BaroqueCycle
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An Ottoman galiot filled with rowing slaves.
Then, for a long time, none of them uttered a sound. Even Jeronimo's tongue had been silenced…
Obviously, it would take many days to cheer him up.
#BaroqueCycle
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Who wasn’t scared? The only person Daniel could think of who wasn’t, was Sir Christopher Wren.
If the Duchess of Arcachon-Qwghlm was scared, she was not letting on.
Perhaps Marlborough wasn’t scared…as long as he remained in Antwerp.
Those were the only ones he could think of.
#BaroqueCycle
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European captives of Barbary pirates being led ashore in chains.
JACK SHAFTOE: Eliza, how’d you get from Barbary to Vienna?
ELIZA: When I reached an age that a horny Moor construes as adulthood, I bore the same relationship to my mother as a dividend does to a joint stock corporation—viz. new wealth created out of the the old. I was liquidated.>>
#BaroqueCycle
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A diver comes up with a sheet of hammered gold, maybe 8” on a side & about .25mm thick, w/a pattern of tiny neat holes punched thru it, like a computer card. Randy spends 2 days obsessing over this artifact that came out of a crate stored in the hold of the U boat.
#BaroqueCycle #Cryptonomicon
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Teague swung the stave round in a long arc parallel to the ground, catching Upnor in the side & flattening him…Upnor's steel cuirass now sported a huge dent, jabbing deep into his side. Teague executed a series of brisk stabbing motions accompanied by metallic bashing sounds & screams.
#BaroqueCycle
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A painting of the Battle of Vienna
Vienna, 1683:
Echelons of cavalry traversed the ruins of the Grand Vizier's camp like ripples snapped across a bedsheet.
JACK SHAFTOE: What was I just saying?
ELIZA: Oh, you were adding another codicil to our partnership agreement. Just like some Vagabond-lawyer.
#BaroqueCycle
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ROGER COMSTOCK: What does it say of us that our commerce is built 'pon forms and figments while that of Spain is built 'pon silver?
DANIEL WATERHOUSE: Some would say it speaks to our advancement.
#BaroqueCycle
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APRIL 1694
My lady,
You have given me a command not to be grateful. I know better than to disobey it. But you cannot command me not to harbor charitable instincts…the benefit that I shall reap from the transaction that you so cleverly devised…
Ungratefully yours,
Ponchartrain
#BaroqueCycle
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An X-ray of a Jackstone urolith in the bladder. For many years afterwards, Pepys would hold a celebration on the anniversary of the successful operation. Bladder stones can form when waste products or urine become concentrated and crystallise within the bladder. This painful condition can be the result of a number of medical conditions, including urinary infections, gout, an enlarged prostate, or even medications. The famous 17th Century diarist Samuel Pepys suffered from bladder stones from a young age. By the time he was 25, his pain was so bad that he elected to have surgery – a process called lithotomy. The invention of the procedure is credited to Ammonius Lithotomus of Alexandria – in the 3rd century BC. So with no anaesthetic available, and with no knowledge of the danger of germs, Pepys was held down while the surgeon made an incision in the perineum - and using an implement similar to the one in our collection - removed the stone (allegedly, the size of a tennis ball!). The wound was dressed without stitches and left to heal itself. The fact that his operation was the first of the day probably saved Pepys’ life because the surgeon’s instruments - and his hands - were the cleanest that they were going to be all day.
PEPYS: Lord of the Universe, Your humble servants Samuel Pepys & Daniel Waterhouse pray that You shall bless & keep the soul of the late Bishop of Chester, John Wilkins, who, wanting no further purification in the Kidney of the World, went to Your keeping 20yrs since.>>
#BaroqueCycle
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#Polostan is the first book in @nealstephenson.bsky.social’s new #BombLight cycle. This feels like it could be on a similar scale to his #BaroqueCycle. Off to a great start, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next instalment.
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