Political Letters Research Articles

Senator Elbert Thomas and the Hope for Industrial Equity

Senator Elbert Thomas and the Hope for Industrial Equity

Lachish “Letter” 2 (BM 125702): A Polite Letter, an Accreditation Pass, or a Text Used to Teach Letter Writing?

Lachish 2 is typically described as an enigmatic letter, one that consists mainly of the protocol language used in letter introductions. However, past studies have wrestled with Lines 5–6 of this letter, and noted the linguistic crux posed by the verb ybkr. The present study argues that while Lachish 2 looks like a letter, it plays a different role than letters are traditionally conceived to do (as written communication media that articulate the words of a sender to a recipient). This text’s form, organization, and focus on formulae, and its lack of clear message suggest that Lachish 2 was used as an instructional tool that outlines a letter’s organization and sample epistolary formulae, serving perhaps as a template. This ostracon offers insight into both the practice of letter writing as seen from the internal perspective of a writer, and into education in the process of letter writing in the later days of the Judean monarchy.

Pierre des Noyers, a scholar and scientific intermediary at the court of Louise-Marie Gonzaga

Pierre des Noyers, secretary of Queen of Poland Louise-Marie Gonzaga, is known for his role as a messenger, envoy, court journalist and sometimes propagandist. His work as an unofficial diplomat for the Queen and ambassador for France is less famous though no less interesting. Even though he was already quite involved in these time-consuming tasks, Pierre des Noyers also acted as a scientific intermediary for the quite curious Queen Louise-Marie of Poland. He maintained contacts with many scholars from France and Italy. He could nurture this network thanks to his position as an informal diplomat at the court of the Queen and his dedication to science in general. Even by discarding his most official and political letters, his known correspondence amounts to several hundred letters written in a period of around 50 years to various friends and scholars. Roberval, Gassendi, Boulliau, Hevelius or Pascal are among these contacts and he plays for most of them the role of a scientific intermediary sharing with them observations, books and anecdotes. His letters are filled with astronomical observations, prodigies and prophecies. Des Noyers was also a practitioner of science. Having possessed a rather large collection of scientific instruments he always sought the improved ones and his daily life was marked by scientific studies. He wrote meteorological bulletins for Academia del Cimento in Florence, studied the measurement of time, observed the sun and showed interest in the inner workings of the human body. This article will delve further into more scientific aspects of Pierre des Noyers’s life, both at the court of Louise-Marie and outside. The first part presents a rough overview of the secretary’s contacts in the scientific environment of 17th Century France and how they were used to connect scholars from Poland with this environment. The second part of this work presents Pierre des Noyers’s practice of science as a tool to understand the world and for which utmost diligence in measurement and practice is required. The last part focuses on des Noyers’s application of this scientific method in two, now pseudo-scientific fields: astrology and divination.

Ultimum dilemma Брута или Возможно ли моральное оправдание убийства Цезаря?

The article examines how to apply moral and philosophical reflection in the commission of a crime. An action is the result of solving an equation with many variables. This is overcoming legal, moral, philosophical, and emotional contradictions. However, modern legal and ethical thought closes the way for understanding its causes and motives. As an example, we examine the conspiracy and murder of Caesar in Rome in 44 BC. The article reveals objective differences in the understanding of morality in antiquity and in modern ethical science. Here we analyze the philosophical and ethical grounds that will help solve this dilemma. First of all, we considered the philosophical and political works and letters of Cicero. His reasoning about the duties of a citizen might have influenced Brutus' decision to participate in the conspiracy against Caesar and accept the moral choice as his fate. Brutus did not act as a murderer, but as an exponent of public purpose and public utility, for whom the purpose of the act was the public good, incompatible with tyranny.

How Sincere Was Leibniz’s Criticism of Hobbes’s Political Thought?

This paper focuses on Leibniz’s engagement with Thomas Hobbes’s political anthropology in the Mainz-period writings, and demonstrates that Leibniz tried to construct an alternative to the English philosopher by conceiving of a physically- and ontologically-grounded psychology of actions. I provide textual evidence of this attempt, and account for Leibniz’s rejection of Hobbes’s political theory and anthropological assumptions. In doing so, I refer to diverse aspects of Leibniz’s work, thereby highlighting his aspiration to congruity and consistency between different areas of investigation. Furthermore, Leibniz’s political writings and letters will reveal another—sometimes neglected—aspect of the issue: his concern to defend and legitimize the existence of pluralist and collective constitutional political systems like the Holy Roman Empire by providing the theoretical ground of their ability to last.

"Ideological character" of M. P. Pogodin in the Pre-October and Soviet historiography

On the materials of the historico-biographical treaties and the generalizing works and special essays in history of the Russian social and political thought the historiographical appraisals and treatments of the ideological character of M. P. Pogodin given by the Pre-October and Soviet historians are examined. This problematico-historiographical review is realized in the context of phenomenon of the so-called «theory of the Official Nationality» in the period of the Nicholas I reign. A. N. Pypin, liberal and westernist historian of literature and social thought, was the real maker of this debatable historiographical ideological construction. He considered M. P. Pogodin the eminent representative of the Official Nationality and the odious conservator-conformist. Other Pre-October historians and publicists (S. Ashevskiy ets.) focused their research attention to Pogodin’s "Political letters" (1853?1856) in which his opposition to Nicholas I regime’s policy and certain progressive features of his position were especially strongly manifested. G. V. Plekhanov’s work "Pogodin and the class struggle" (1911) determined the typical for the following Marxist and Soviet historiography fixed interest to the class roots of his conservatism and sociological identification that as the "bourgeois". The late Soviet authors (V. K. Tereshchenko) which were adherents of the class treatment also and the contemporary Russian historians of the Soviet school (V. Ya. Grosul, R. G. Eymontova) emphasized the heterogeneity and evolutionary character of the Pogodin’s position, the increasing presence of the critical and progressive elements in his conservative world outlook on the whole.

Bernhard von Gudden's psychiatric assessment and the deposition of King LudwigII of Bavaria in 1886 : Comments on the article by R.Steinberg in Der Nervenarzt 01/2019

King LudwigII of Bavaria drowned himself in Lake Starnberg on 13 June 1886 after subduing and drowning Bernhard von Gudden, aMunich-based psychiatrist who had tried to hold him back. Commissioned by Prince Luitpold, Ludwig's successor to the throne, von Gudden had provided apsychiatric assessment on the king. Finding him to be suffering from aprogressive mental illness and paranoia (madness), he declared Ludwig incapable of ruling. On the basis of this report Ludwig was unlawfully declared incapacitated, deposed, arrested and locked up in the Berg Castle under von Gudden's medical supervision. We conducted a5-year psychiatric historical study of King LudwigII, the most thorough of its kind ever undertaken. The main results were: the private, official and political letters the king wrote until his very last day were reasonable, well-argued and impeccable in style. Until his final days Ludwig had invariably fulfilled his administrative tasks in aprompt and proper way. His handling of political affairs was also wise and reasonable. Due to social phobia afflicting him since his youth he neglected his representative duties as amonarch. Von Gudden's report is marred by severe flaws. In his article published in Der Nervenarzt (01/2019) R.Steinberg adopts von Gudden's psychiatric diagnosis and misjudgement. Steinberg writes that the king's illness developed "in aclear crescendo". In fact, it was the behavioral anomalies associated with the king's homosexual relationships that grew increasingly prevalent at the court, whereas Ludwig's mental efficiency improved over time. Given the historical misjudgment and numerous other errors that Steinberg adopts from von Gudden, I considered it necessary to compare and contrast his conclusions with results from our own research.

Xue Xue, a practitioner, well-versed in both polite letters and martial arts

Xue Xue, a practitioner, well-versed in both polite letters and martial arts

Love's Wounds. Violence and the Politics of Poetry in Early Modern Europe by Cynthia N. Nazarian

Reviewed by: Love's Wounds. Violence and the Politics of Poetry in Early Modern Europe by Cynthia N. Nazarian Elena Kazakova (bio) Cynthia N. Nazarian. Love's Wounds. Violence and the Politics of Poetry in Early Modern Europe. Cornell UP, 2016. xii + 299 pages. Cynthia Nazarian's Love's Wounds asks why the language of Petrarch's sixteenth-century imitators is much more violent than that of the original. The study centers on four main figures in addition to Petrarch himself: Maurice Scève, Joachim Du Bellay, Agrippa d'Aubigné, and Edmund Spenser, thus allowing the author to analyze and compare the literary traditions of Italy, France, and England. She recognizes the potential influence of historical circumstances on each poet, that is, the amount of violence that each faced in real life during the restless sixteenth century, which could have found reflection in their respective interpretations of the Petrarchan tradition. However, she is more interested in the lyric and political possibilities presented by the incessant insistence on and amplification of suffering. Nazarian carefully acknowledges her debt to various critical traditions, specifically feminist criticism and New Historicism, as she explains in the introduction and at various moments in the rest of the book. At the same time, she is just as careful to point out the ways in which her study is unique. Nazarian often presents conflicting interpretations by previous scholars and then attempts to reconcile those conflicts or go beyond them by proposing to read together concurrent works that are often considered too different for comparison. Chapter 1 focuses on Petrarch and his first French follower, Maurice Scève. Nazarian argues that although Petrarch's poet is vulnerable, that he is wounded by his unrequited love, he is not silenced. He speaks because he is vulnerable; he cannot keep quiet. It is in this unstoppable voice of the abject poet that Nazarian sees a connection with political speech. She insists that political poems of the Canzoniere should not be read differently or separately from those addressed to Laura, as a lot of scholarship has done. She sees a "deep consanguinity" (19) between them, a perspective that will be utilized in the rest of the study, underlining connections and even dialogues that exist between sonnet sequences of different authors and their more obviously political texts. The political model that she identifies in this vulnerable but unstoppable voice is the principle of parrhē: bold, truthful speech, potentially with a risk to the speaker. But it is this risk that makes the speech more powerful. Through a detailed comparison of Petrarch's political letters and his sonnets, Nazarian reveals a connection between the persona of a concerned citizen fruitlessly addressing those in power and that of a suffering unrequited lover, which together present the possibility of opposing the will of the powerful. Nazarian then argues that Maurice Scève did not simply imitate the rhetoric of the wounded but unsilenced lover of the Canzoniere. He modified and contested various elements of that rhetoric. His poet's suffering is increased to the point of dehumanization; his pain is more concrete, more physical; his voice is shattered and it is non-verbal signs that continue to show his suffering. But what Nazarian sees as Scève's most influential change is "the figure [End Page 829] of the sovereign Beloved" (49), a promising connection with the political that will be repeatedly explored in later chapters. Through the victimization of the poet—his own undeserved suffering and his Beloved's hinted abuse of power—Scève renders the Petrarchan model more critical and thus lays the groundwork for the future French Petrarchists and their much more politicized sonnets. Chapter 2 is dedicated to Joachim Du Bellay's La Deffence and L'Olive, through which Nazarian traces the emergence of the concept that will be explored and examined in the rest of the book and that she terms "counter-sovereignty," defined as "perspective, which seeks to take vulnerability and turn it into agency" (108). She offers a comparative and nuanced reading of La Pléiade's manifesto as an exercise in the Petrarchan rhetoric of unsilenced abasement and Du Bellay's first sonnet sequence as an expression...

Tea Sets and Tyranny: The Politics of Politeness in Early America by Steven C. Bullock

Reviewed by: Tea Sets and Tyranny: The Politics of Politeness in Early America by Steven C. Bullock Carrie Tirado Bramen (bio) Tea Sets and Tyranny: The Politics of Politeness in Early America steven c. bullock Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017 304 pp. In our own time when political leaders have resorted to vitriol, expletives, and even hate speech, it is good to be reminded that this was not always the case. For historian Steven Bullock in his Tea Sets and Tyranny: The Politics of Politeness in Early America, one has to go back to the long eighteenth century to find a period when leadership was predicated on behavioral restraint. George Washington famously opposed profanity to such an extent that he prohibited cursing among his officers and soldiers; and remarkably, there is only one instance—and this is apparently still debated—when Washington cussed and it was on June 28, 1778, at the Battle of Monmouth. According to a frequently cited passage in Paul Van Dyke's George Washington: The Son of His Country (1931), an officer present at the battle noted that General Washington "swore that day until the leaves shook on the trees" (216). Washington appears in the epilogue of Bullock's narrative as a model of self-control and moderation, even though privately he was known to have a "fierce and irritable disposition" (217). By the end of the eighteenth century, politeness played a crucial role in Revolutionary-era politics, providing an important way to understand how sociality informed the political behavior of Anglo-American elites. Although Bullock's study concludes with George Washington's presidency, in an era when the culture of politeness had become hegemonic, the majority of the book focuses on the years between the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the American Revolution nearly a century later. The emphasis is on the evolution of politeness as a political strategy of leadership that is inextricably tied to notions of authority. For Bullock, politeness represents an important social practice that played a foundational political role [End Page 828] in the transition from authoritarian styles of governance to more democratic ones. The book's introduction provides a superb overview of the argument and a clear sense of its intervention in the long-standing scholarship on eighteenth-century politeness. In reference to this earlier scholarship, Bullock notes that historian Richard Bushman's The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities (1992) and literary scholar David Shields's Civil Tongues and Polite Letters (1997) focus on the social aspects of Anglo-American elite culture with little reference to governing approaches. Where Bushman turns to material history and the emergent culture of consumerism by looking at houses and picket fences, handkerchiefs, and even pickle dishes, Shields understands the social life of Anglo-American elites in their taverns, clubs, and coffeehouses. Neither Bushman nor Shields links politeness explicitly with political authority. More recent scholarship that addresses eighteenth-century theories of government in terms of restraint from John Locke to Thomas Jefferson tends to focus on institutions and structural concerns related to elections and checks and balances. Sociality plays an insignificant role. The foundational premise of Tea Sets and Tyranny is that notions of political authority cannot be discussed in a vacuum, but must involve sociality, culture, and interpersonal relations. Politeness is ultimately about power, where the social and the political are inextricably interwoven. Bullock writes, "Eighteenth-century discussions about manners were intimately intertwined with fundamental political issues, closely linking politeness (discipline of the self) with power (discipline of others)" (2). "Politeness" refers less to social hierarchies of good taste and more to how manners can inform a model of restrained authority and personal refinement through "sympathetic and responsive leadership" (2). The book's most significant contribution is the way it demonstrates how the political is personal, and conversely, how the personal is political in early America. By linking interpersonal behavior with political dynamics, Tea Sets and Tyranny places questions of power firmly at the center of a study of sociality. At the outset, Bullock asserts that he wants to avoid abstraction. To do this, he anchors his analysis in the biographical stories of six individuals: Francis Nicholson, the Virginia governor known for...

Metarrelatos políticos: los preámbulos constitucionales latinoamericanos

Se analizan los contenidos de los preámbulos de las Constituciones Políticas de los Estados latinoamericanos, con el de fin de comprenderlos, clasificarlos, exponerlos de manera comparada. Con base en ello, se establece su relación con el actual modelo de Estado de derecho y su papel como insumos ideológicos tanto para la producción de normas jurídicas, como para la respectiva hermenéutica constitucional, específicamente, en los juicios de control o de defensa constitucional. Se describe, además, la evolución de su concepto y significado, sus contenidos, funciones y fines, a partir del examen de las proclamas asumidas como metarrelatos que compendian afirmaciones políticas cohesivas de diferente naturaleza (axiológica, filosófica, mítica, histórica y cultural) y que tienen la pretensión de legitimar un nuevo proyecto de orden sociopolítico o de relegitimar uno existente. Estas son tomadas de los textos de las Cartas Políticas de los Estados latinoamericanos mediante una metodología de análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo.

IAMBLICHUS’ EPISTLES, FOURTH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL EPISTOLOGRAPHY AND THE NEOPLATONIC CURRICULA AT ATHENS AND ALEXANDRIA

As a literary genre and practice, philosophical and political epistolography seems to have been alive and well in the fourth-century Roman empire. We have fragments of twenty letters of the late third- and early fourth-centuryc.e. Platonist (Neoplatonist to us) philosopher Iamblichus of Chalcis (which are preserved in the early fifth-century Ioannes Stobaeus’Anthologium[ = Flor.]) to former students and other contemporaries, some of whom appear to have been imperial officeholders (see Appendix); theEpistle to Himeriusof Sopater the Younger (which is partially preserved in Stobaeus, 4.5.51–60, in sequential extracts; this Sopater is the homonymous son of the philosopher who had been Iamblichus’ student) to his brother Himerius on the latter's assumption of an unknown governorship (ἡγεμονία) in the East, probably sometime in the 340s or 350s (and so under the Emperor Constantius II); the Emperor Julian'sEpistle to Themistius, which was likely written and publishedc.December 361/early 362; and theEpistle to Julianof the Aristotelian philosopher Themistius on proper rule (preserved in two Arabic manuscripts from the eleventh and fourteenth/fifteenth centuries), which seems to have been a response, in part, to Julian'sEpistle to Themistiusand perhaps was written to the emperor when both men likely resided in Constantinople at the same time. These philosophical and political letters are but a few examples from this period. All four authors mentioned above, who are representative of intellectual life in the East during the fourth century, produced epistles which reflect Greek political theory in a Roman imperial context.

Ecologia de Saberes na Educação do Campo como alternativa epistemológica e societal: experiência do SIECS

With the theme “Land, Labor and Education”, the Interterritorial Seminary of Rural Education in Semiarid was hold in the city of Juazeiro, Bahia, from 17 to 19 November, 2016, pointing out in its organizing process a pluralist perspective by thinking engagemently the knowledge about Rural Education, with the contribution of a plural group that had different knowledge: Academy, Rural Social Movements, Student Movement and Artists. This paper aimed to describe analytically the SIECS experience, using as methodological instruments the documental research in the electronic event page, the personal notes, the collective moments of evaluation moments and Political Letter of SIECS, showed at the end of the event. Related to ecology of knowledge (Santos, 2010), the event aimed both to home the comprehension that scientific progress in this  knowledge field depends on its dialogue with the traditional knowledge and the Arts and to qualify Rural Education as scientific field with hard knowledge area. The results pointed out the SIECS as contra-hegemonic space to strengthen the struggle by land, education, quality of life for all, constructed in a descolonial perspective where place, time and being are seen in different power relationships.

An Abundance of Riches

ABSTRACT This third of a projected seventeen volumes covers the productive years when Hemingway revised and published The Sun Also Rises (1926), composed much of Men Without Women (1927), and wrote A Farewell to Arms (1929), the novel that made him world famous. The 345 letters, most of them published for the first time, are presented attractively—clear and eminently readable—and they are brilliantly annotated. In addition to a general index, the volume includes maps, a chronology, a roster of correspondents, a calendar of letters, and an index of recipients—all that a scholar or general reader could ask. Hemingway emerges here in his full humanity—polite letters to his Scribners editor Maxwell Perkins, affectionate letters to F. Scott Fitzgerald, profane letters to fellow writer Ezra Pound, grateful letters to his father, and touching requests that his mother get over her “pain and disgust” with his writing. It is truly an abundance of riches!

Kristen dan Kenaifan Politik: Kritik atas Sikap Politik PGPI dalam Pilpres 2014

ABSTRACT: Politics is an aspect and a system that is very important in the lives of citizens. All citizens including Christians cannot shy away from politics, because of politics produce various public policies. Thus Christians are supposed to take part in political life, not only in the electoral arena, but also in other areas. In the event the election, churches should not be nae. Churches must wisely give political enlightenment to their congregations, instead of the other way, lead the congregation to elect candidates of certain leaders. Thus the "political letter" issued by PGPI during the 2014 Presidential Election should be criticized as nae, since the content dictated the churches under PGPI. In addition, issues brought up in the letter were entirely unfounded. It is no surprise that PGPI Chairman, Rev. Dr. Jacob Nahuway, MA, received much criticism and scorn. KEYWORDS: politics, political participation, power, nation, country, religion.

Shaping Church-State Relations After Constantine: The Political Theology of Hilary of Poitiers

Writing in the half-century after the “conversion” of Constantine, Bishop Hilary of Poitiers wrote two works regarding Emperor Constantius II. The first,Ad Constantium, is a polite and formal letter, seeking an audience with the emperor. The second,In Constantium, is a harangue against the emperor. Some scholars have proposed that the difference in tone between these two documents indicates that Hilary had come to advocate for the emperor to be completely uninvolved in the affairs of the Church. Closer analysis reveals that Hilary always endorsed a position in which the emperor should be involved in ecclesiastical affairs, so long as he submitted to the higher authorities of scripture and the ancient apostolic faith. Hilary would have had no concerns with a pro-Nicene emperor enforcing proto-orthodox church councils and creeds. Prior to Hilary, most of Christianity had accepted imperial involvement in the Church. But the involvement of the Roman emperors in ecclesial matters caused many to have to consider the problems of someone outside of the Church making decisions for the Church. Hilary's efforts stand as one of the first western attempts to nuance and limit the emperor's ecclesiastical role.

La Jurisdicción Especial de Paz en Colombia: ¿Un nuevo paradigma jurídico?

<p>El artículo presenta los principales hallazgos y debates conclusivos de la investigación <em>La Jurisdicción Especial de Paz en Colombia: ¿un nuevo paradigma jurídico? </em>A partir del análisis de los diferentes instru- mentos aplicados a diversos actores académicos e institucionales, y a los jueces de paz; de las prácticas de ellos mismos, y de los debates esenciales planteados en el tema, se constató que efectivamente esta jurisdicción, introducida por la Carta Política de 1991, no constituye un nuevo paradigma jurídico.</p>

MLA Honored Scholar of Early American Literature, 2016

The Modern Language Association's Forum for American Literature to 1800 is charged with recognizing extraordinary scholarly contributions to the field of early American studies. The Executive Committee for 2016 has named Fredrika J. Teute, for the last quarter of a century the editor of publications at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, as the Honored Scholar of Early American Literature for 2016. This award is only given on rare occasions, but Teute's luminous career--shepherding leading-edge scholarship into publication, mentoring future editors, producing transformative intellectual work of her own, and advocating for the field at every level--makes her unusually deserving of the honor. Throughout her long career, Teute, though trained as a historian and affiliate faculty in the Department of History at the College of William and Mary, has played a crucial role in shaping the field of early American literature. She has done so not only in the extraordinary number of books that she has shepherded but also through her leadership role in creating interdisciplinary dialogue in early American studies by insisting on cross-field conversations and helping young scholars in history and literary studies speak and write for their interlocutors across the divide. As many can testify, through her personal candor and intellectual engagement at multiple conferences--always listening, querying, and raising the bar--Teute has helped to define questions and catalyze emergent work at the intersection of literary, historical, and cultural studies. Teute thinks with her authors across intellectual roles, as a historian, a critic, and an editor. Consider, to name just a few, some of the books brought to light under Teute's hand: David Shields's Civil Tongues and Polite Letters (1997), Sandra Gustafson's Eloquence Is Power (2000), Martin Bruckner's Geographic Revolution in Early America (2006), Susan Scott Parrish's American Curiosity (2006), Marion Rust's Prodigal Daughters (2008), Lisa Voigt's Writing Captivity in the Early Modern Atlantic (2009), and Patrick Erben's Harmony of the Spirits (2012). She has pushed the field to consider circum-Atlantic perspectives, with conferences in Ghana, Barbados, and Scotland. She has invited scholars to explore the relationship between science and technology in her Bacon to Bartram conference (2002). Through her professional efforts, Fredrika has helped widen the arc of early American studies by encouraging work in the study of Native America, French and Spanish colonial North America, the Caribbean, slavery, West Africa, gender, literature, natural history, religion, and material culture. …

Transpennine Enlightenment: The Literary and Philosophical Societies and Knowledge Networks in the North, 1781‐1830

AbstractThis essay investigates the role of the literary and philosophical societies in Manchester (1781) and Newcastle (1793) as part of the wider network of the ‘the transpennine Enlightenment’. It argues that these societies were concerned not just with the science and technology interface, but also with polite letters and general ‘improvement’. Originating in conversation societies, they were committed to the collision of mind. Although they banned religious and political controversy, they were not free of conflict over the mode and purpose of the improvement they sponsored, an issue illustrated by the public quarrel over the ‘New Institution’ at Newcastle in 1808.

Court and Public in Late Eighteenth-Century Stockholm: The Royal Urban Life of Duchess Charlotte, c. 1790

This article analyses the everyday urban sociability of Duchess Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte, sister-in-law to Gustav III of Sweden. It is a detailed account of social practice through a wide array of the Duchess's papers, namely her political journal and letters, informal notes to friends and household accounts. The study also includes royal theatre box subscription lists as a way to identify the composition of the theatre audience. The claim of this article is that the Swedish royal family maintained its authority in a period of political challenge, by maintaining an urban presence. Through a carefully ritualised sociability, the court preserved social exclusivity by means of urban encounters, such as daily walks in the gardens, weekly appearances at the royal theatres and balls at the Stock Exchange.