Catherine De Medici
DEDICATION To Monsieur le Marquis de Pastoret, Member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts. When we think of the enormous number of volumes that have been published on the question as to where Hannibal crossed the Alps, without our being able to decide to-day whether it was (according to Whittaker and Rivaz) by Lyon, Geneva, the Great Saint-Bernard, and the valley of Aosta; or (according to Letronne, Follard, Saint-Simon and Fortia d'Urbano) by the Isere, Grenoble, Saint-Bonnet, Monte Genevra, Fenestrella, and the Susa passage; or (according to Larauza) by the Mont Cenis and the Susa; or (according to Strabo, Polybius and Lucanus) by the Rhone, Vienne, Yenne, and the Dent du Chat; or (according to some intelligent minds) by Genoa, La Bochetta, and La Scrivia,--an opinion which I share and which Napoleon adopted,--not to speak of the verjuice with which the Alpine rocks have been bespattered by other learned men,--is it surprising, Monsieur le marquis, to see modern history so bemuddled that many important points are still obscure, and the most odious calumnies still rest on names that ought to be
radically false and vicious Public Sentiment, disguise themselves,
is that which characterizes certain individuals as destitute of
financial capacity. A 'kind, amiable, generous, good sort of man,'
(so runs the varnish,) 'but utterly unqualified for the management
of his own finances'--'a mere child in everything relating to
money,' &c. &c.--meaning that with an income of $500 a year, he
persisted in spending $1000; or with an income of from $2000 to
$3000, he regularly spent from $5000 to $8000, according to his
ability to run in debt, or the credulity of others in trusting him.
"The victims of this immorality--debtor as well as creditor--are
entitled to more faithful dealing at the hands of those not directly
affected by the misdemeanors of the former. It is the duty of the
community to rebuke and repress these pernicious glosses, making the
truth heard and felt, that inordinate expenditure is knavery and
crime. No man has a moral right thus to lavish on his own appetites,
money which he has not earned, and does not really need. If public
opinion were sound on this subject--if a man living beyond his
means, when his means were commensurate with his real needs, were
subjected to the reprehension he deserves--the evil would be
instantly checked, and ultimately eradicated.
"The world is full of people who can't imagine why they don't
prosper like their neighbors, when the real obstacle is not in the
banks nor tariffs, in bad public policy nor hard times, but in their
own extravagance and heedless ostentation. The young mechanic or
DEDICATION To Monsieur le Marquis de Pastoret, Member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts. When we think of the enormous number of volumes that have been published on the question as to where Hannibal crossed the Alps, without our being able to decide to-day whether it was (according to Whittaker and Rivaz) by Lyon, Geneva, the Great Saint-Bernard, and the valley of Aosta; or (according to Letronne, Follard, Saint-Simon and Fortia d'Urbano) by the Isere, Grenoble, Saint-Bonnet, Monte Genevra, Fenestrella, and the Susa passage; or (according to Larauza) by the Mont Cenis and the Susa; or (according to Strabo, Polybius and Lucanus) by the Rhone, Vienne, Yenne, and the Dent du Chat; or (according to some intelligent minds) by Genoa, La Bochetta, and La Scrivia,--an opinion which I share and which Napoleon adopted,--not to speak of the verjuice with which the Alpine rocks have been bespattered by other learned men,--is it surprising, Monsieur le marquis, to see modern history so bemuddled that many important points are still obscure, and the most odious calumnies still rest on names that ought to be