'the general welfare, the great business of the universe...'

'the general welfare, the great business of the universe, will go on though I have no further share in promoting it...' - mr. clare's deathbed speech in caleb williams by william godwin.

it is similar to bunin's last speech. 

'still, this is so dumbfoundingly extraordinary. in a very short while there will be no more of me – and of all the things worldly, of all the affairs and destinies, from then on I will be unaware! and what I'm left to do here is dumbly try to consciously impose upon myself fear and amazement...' 

another written entirely in the morning blogpost

horsemouth is wondering where the BBC drama serial of the life of mary wollstonecraft and william godwin is. tom paine, william blake (as supporting cast), carlyle, burke etc. as villains, imlay as sexy cad, godwin as tragic hero. 

revolutionary times. revolutionary people. 

hail newington green.

meanwhile horsemouth is out in the wilds 

a soft and gentle rain falls (but not enough to do any real good). 

the hens are reluctant to lay so the eggs will probably have to be delivered today. plus there may be stuff to get from ewyas harold. plus there's bell-ringing. 

over on substack another interest of horsemouth’s, the class system, the french class system, three french authors on the transition between classes. 

(horsemouth guesses this forms a part of milstone grit also in its british context).

to be honest, he only has one book by an author on this list - édouard louis’s a woman’s battle’s and transformations).

interesting looking website it's on too.