"I wish he would bring some home rather than write so much about it" --
Jenny Marx on her husband, the author of "Das Kapital" ("The Destroyed
Correspondence of Mrs. Marx", cited in "The Unauthorised Biography of Karl
Marx,
the inventor of Marxism").
In a message dated 4/24/2015 9:55:57 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx writes in "Re: The Meaning of Life": "Jenny, please,
descended [...] from the Dukes of Argyll, who knew a thing or two about
bringing
some home."
Or different homes perhaps (but mainly Invernaray). I guess they would
distinguish between home and villa and estate and manor and the rest -- never
mind a castle.
It was as a matter of fact that in the autumn of 1836 "Carlo" became
engaged to "Jenny" von Westphalen, a baroness who had "known" (NOT in the
Biblical sense) "Carlo" since childhood.
Having broken off her engagement with an aristocrat to be with "Carlo",
their relationship was socially controversial due to the differences between
their class origins.
(Although Jenny never used the word 'controversial' in her Journals -- He
wrote them in German).
Matter of fact, Carlo befriended the baron, Jenny's father, who happened to
be a liberal aristocrat (liberal used in the English sense -- Grice wrote,
"Do not multiply senses beyond necessity" but made an exception with
'liberal'. He noted it had two senses: the English, right one, and the
American
one.
"Luigi" von Westphalen was friendly enough, but perhaps Carlo outdid it
when he (Carlo) dedicated his doctoral thesis to him. ("To the baron", he
wrote in German). Jenny recalled that the baron "just browsed it." ("He would
rather hunt anyday" -- the implicature: he was of the 'fishing, hunting and
shooting' type).
A long seven years after their engagement ("better later than never", their
daughter recalled), on 19 June 1843, Carlo married Jenny in a Protestant
church in Kreuznach.
Jenny's paternal grandmother was Jeanie Wishart (1742–1811).
Jeanie (as she properly spelt her first name) was a Scottish noble.
Jeanie Wishart's mother's family were the Dukes of Argyll, for centuries
Scotland's most powerful aristocratic family.
Jeanie Wishart's father, on the other hand, was George Wishart (1703–
1785), a a direct descendent of the 9th Earl of Angus and Lady Agnes Keith,
the
latter in turn a direct descendant of King James I, and the royal House of
Stuart (vide: Burke's landed gentry of Great Britain, page 617).
The Earls, Marquesses, and Dukes of Argyll are alleged to be by most
historians among the most powerful, "if not the most powerful") noble families
in Scotland (As Yooll notes, "I add "if not the most powerful" to
disimplicate, only").
The current Duke is Torquhil, the 13th to hold the title (The next one
will be the 14th to hold the title, and so on).
Their family seat (only they wouldn't say 'family' as a Mitford Non-U) is
Inveraray Castle (only they would not say 'Castle' as a Mitford non-U), when
Invernaray so nicely does.
Cheers,
Speranza
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