Gotham Diary:
Crimsoning
2 November 2011
Linda Colley’s Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837, which seems to have been a Times notable book when it came out, originally, in the Nineties, has appeared in a second edition, which I’m enjoying hugely, although I only found out about it from a recommendation by Amazon. (People who bought Jeremy Black’s George III bought Colley’s book as well, and I can see why.) Above and beyond the historical instruction, Britons affords some irresistibly good writing.
All aristocracies have a strong military tradition, and for many British patricians the protracted warfare of this period was a godsend. It gave them a job and, more important, a purpose, an opportunity to carry out what they had been trained to do since childhood: ride horses, fire guns, exercise their undoubted physical courage and tell other people what to do.
It doesn’t get any better than that. Yesterday, I encountered an equally precious gem, although it’s inadvertently marvelous and not by Colley herself. A Tory divine called Richard Polwhele urged ladies to remember that “the crimsoning blush of modesty, will always be more attractive than the sparkle of confident intelligence.” I couldn’t disagree more; I’m like the dude in Last Picture Show who tells Cybill Shepherd to come back when she’s got her virginity fixed. The “crimsoning blush” fixation is what finally made it impossible for me to read Trollope; he’s so into crimsoning blushes and girls’ modesty that it begins to sound like child abuse. I don’t think that there’s anything sexier than the sparkle of confident intelligence, which is why I’m looking forward to seeing Stockard Channing in Other Desert Cities. We have tickets for my birthday.