The Louvre Museum held quite a few paintings by Charles Le Brun. He had been director of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture under Louis XIV, as well as Louis XIV's chief painter.
One of his works was a portrait of Chancellor Séguier. At first glance, one might have thought it depicted the king on a procession.
The chancellor sat on horseback, surrounded by several young and beautiful attendants. At the other end of the gallery hung a painting of Charles I. He had dismounted and wore neither armor nor clothing that displayed his status; the painter had merely used his "noble bearing" to reveal his identity.
In January 1649, Cromwell established a court and executed Charles I. According to surviving portraits, the judges at the time all wore black robes with large collars, a style greatly influenced by the Netherlands.
Yet at the National Assembly that tried Louis XVI, the deputies wore no uniform attire. Their clothes came in every variety imaginable, except judicial robes.
A British member of Parliament named Edmund Burke once wrote in his Reflections on the Revolution in France: In some matters, restraint and courtesy require us to be cautious and remain silent; in others, a higher form of caution requires us to speak our minds.
Georgiana's remarks to Mazzi had not been a spur-of-the-moment impulse. She had prepared them long ago but had never found the opportunity. Still, she truly had not expected all the convoluted implications Sir Merry had raised.
That cotton belt map was connected to Leoncourt's travel account of the Americas. Around 100 degrees west longitude, rainfall changed dramatically.
Georgiana had not forgotten the Corn Laws. She could not remember who had said it, but colonial products were meant to supplement those of the mother country, not compete with them.