ceiswyn

What keeps surprising me about the young men of AmRev isn't how brave and daring they were. Young people without a sense of self-preservation are two a penny. What is really astonishing is their *competence*.

When I was 19, could I have charmed my way across the wilds of a foreign country, pretending to be a priest? I could not. When I was 19 or 21, could I have created and led a militia? I could not (though I could have drawn much better doodles in their pay book). When I was 20, could I have taken command of foreign troops and turned a potential rout into an ordered retreat? I could not. When I was 26, could I have persuaded two different countries to send desperately needed aid to support my country's war? Only if you wanted to be fighting said war on two whole new fronts.

What produced that level of maturity? Was it something in the water?

(Or could we, in fact, also have been that competent if we had been taught those skills, and required urgently to have them?)

"How many children did Aaron Burr have?" is a surprisingly difficult question to answer.

Obviously there's Theodosia Jnr. That's one.

Then I really think we should include his illegitimate children with Mary Emmons. That's another two, so three.

He adopted two sons in later life. They were rumoured to be his natural children as well, but either way they should probably be counted. That makes five.

He also acknowledged two little girls a few years before his death and made them beneficiaries of his Will. He was in his late seventies at the time but men have fathered children into their nineties so who are we to say they definitely *weren't* his? That would be seven.

Then there are his stepchildren. Theodosia Snr bought five children to that marriage, aged between 11 and 15, and Burr definitely acted as a father to them, even the older boys. We're up to 12.

Is that all? Well. That depends how you view his wards and proteges. Nathalie de Lage lived in his house, with her governess, for seven years. His letters show that he was fond of her, and he mentioned her in his 1804 Will. He acted as guardian for Maria Reynolds's daughter Susan after Maria and her second husband fled notoriety after the publication of the Reynolds Pamphlet. Then there were the Eden sisters; Burr was keen to try their father's case to make a precedent, and after Eden died he took the family into his home and supervised the education of the two younger sisters in a manner similar to his tuition of Theodosia. So does that make 16?

And that's not counting any children he left littered around the world from his 'follies'...

Apparently there are people in the world who don't think that a short 48-year-old balding dude with bad teeth and weirdly anime facial features is incredibly sexy.

(...god my taste in men is dreadful. How come I have such good taste in women?!?)

(And yes, I just titled a post about Burr with a quote by Hamilton. So sue me.)

It is 8am. I have found a comment on social media claiming that men who wore shirts with ruffles were not 'real men'.

I'm going in.

1. Book your passage, for £30, to be paid... later.
2. Jingle the two halfpence in your pocket.
3. Set out to sell literally everything that you own or have bought that is sellable.
4. Ask your official minder at the Alien Office for a passport in a fake name.
5. While you're there, try to sell him a book for £10. Be very surprised when, after asking you why you're selling, he loans you £10 and doesn't take the book.
6. Buy a pair of pantaloons that you don't want.
7. Discover that you have already sold virtually everything that is sellable, and what remains is definitely not worth £20.
8. Go to your official minder at the Alien Office and, in utter desperation, just beg him for the £20. Receive £20 and an amended passport that is good for any fake name you care to use.
9. Pack and ship all your belongings to be loaded onto the ship.
10. Miss your stagecoach. (To be fair, they changed the departure time on him)
11. Take the next stagecoach, arrive at Gravesend at 5pm, and discover that your ship sailed at noon and the Alien Office is closed.
12. Track down the local Alien Office bod so that you can go through customs and get the relevant stamp/signature/whatever.
13. Hire a boatman to chase your ship down the Thames.
14. After 12 miles, stop at a tavern to deal with the hypothermia caused by being on the Thames on a windy March evening without a greatcoat.
15. Buy some straw.
16. Continue down the Thames, but this time lying on the straw, and with the rowers having taken pity on you and thrown their greatcoats over you.
17. Have a nice snooze for the next 15 miles or so.
18. Around midnight, be woken up to finally board your ship and be reunited with all your belongings.

I don't think Burr ever made a stagecoach departure time in his life, and he *never* learned.

(I am also impressed that a man who struggled every night to sleep in an actual comfy bed, was apparently out like a light on a pile of straw in the bottom of a rowboat)

270 today! ...unless it was 268...

The man was deeply flawed but his genius still shines. I can barely read the Federalist Papers for stopping to admire his phrasing, or his clarity, or his depth of thought, or his understanding of human nature.

“’Tis my maxim to let the plain naked truth speak for itself; and if men won’t listen to it, ’tis their own fault: they must be contented to suffer for it.”

The good: I am officially King George III’s favourite subject.
The bad: I passed up the opportunity to nick a copy of The Reynolds Pamphlet.
The awesome: I get to see it again tomorrow :)