Comment on See if they can set the record straight

  1. plumadesatada on Chapter 10 Tue 03 Dec 2024 01:31PM UTC

    cranky loki wearing gigantic elaborate earrings

    *rubs hands* aw yiss, your girl is finally done with exams for the term and can finally dedicate herself to thoroughly enjoying the heck outta this bad boy.

    had to reread entire fic to put my brain in, what did you call it, 19-century comma-abuse mode? although give the words I've had to look up while rereading, i think it's more a "why use a two-syllable word or a phrasal verb, when there is a 5-syllable word derived from Latin (whose meaning has either been lost or changed in the intervenen 130ish years) that fits precisely what I mean?" mode, lmao.

    "That he and Burr had both thought it proper for officers to study strategy, they had only discovered after the war". WHAT. why does this imply they were kn a minority. please tell me that was not an actual debate in military circles 😭 of course they should study strategy. why is there even a question omg

    "This plan with Wilkinson? It was even more of a will o’ the wisp than it had been years ago when Wilkinson had brought it to Hamilton". damn this man be out there selling bridges.... and our intrepid A. B. is getting all caught up in the excitement of the heist instead of noticing how many steps of the plan hinge on "well, if everything goes right...".

    "And now that Hamilton knew the flaws in Burr’s plans it was tempting, very tempting, to see if they could be corrected". oh NO, not the other one too lmao. but then again Ham was never really one to resist temptation, was he.

    I love how this entire scene is basically just Alex going "you will not commit political or actual suicide by invasion" and Aaron going "but-" and Alex interrupting "ah-ah-ah" and wiggling a finger no in his face. "and also quit smoking".

    "(...) addressed in a fluid scrawl even less legible than usual". between the coughing and the headaches and the general weakness and now this??? I'm starting to get really worried about A. B.'s health. and I think Alex is too.

    thank you for clarifying re: ham's experience with being betrayed by a someone you trust; his ASSISTANT no less?? yikes.

    I am very much enjoying these developments. burr' s health becoming increasingly poor (do I foresee ham inviting him to stay at his home to ensure his good health?), Ham being secretly (even to himself) jealous of Burr's various uhhh indiscretions.

    onto next chapter!

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    1. cranKy_obsessive on Chapter 10 Tue 03 Dec 2024 02:03PM UTC

      Chocolate sprinkles with cappuccino

      I gotta admit that writing this has been an adventure in exploring the outer limits of my vocabulary. Reading Hamilton's writing (and various other writers of the time) regularly has me going 'OK technically I do know that word, but I WOULDN'T HAVE ACTUALLY USED IT'.

      In armies of that time, becoming an officer was all about social status and who you knew. Or, in the British army's case, what level of commission you could afford to buy. The idea that maybe officers should actually know something about officering was still *way* in the future; as late as 1879, Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Major-General's Song' was satirising the new concept of educating officers! Burr and Hamilton both read books to try to learn, but probably most others learned in a more ad-hoc way, from experience and mentoring. Terrifying, isn't it?

      Burr's health is an interesting one. In Burr's letters and journals, he tends to claim that his health is very robust, and to be fair he did live to 80. However those same letters and journals show him constantly suffering from minor ailments, especially headaches/migraines. Having suffered a gunshot wound and punctured lung would definitely not have helped matters.

      The comment about Burr's handwriting is actually a nod to the editor of the unabridged version of his Private Journal: William K. Bixby. From his Introduction: "The Journal will be of very great interest and value to those who would understand the remarkable man whose inmost secrets are here revealed. He wrote with the freedom of a Rousseau, and attempted no concealment except such as might be effected by the use of the French language, the persistent abbreviation of important words, and careless and often scarcely legible handwriting." Bixby's snarky comments on his subject are an absolute gem.

      (And I am so glad you noticed that Hamilton's distaste was covering jealousy!)

      Last Edited Tue 03 Dec 2024 02:04PM UTC

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      1. plumadesatada on Chapter 10 Tue 03 Dec 2024 07:17PM UTC

        cranky loki wearing gigantic elaborate earrings

        so what I'm taking away from this is that Burr could also have been a doctor in medicine, he certainly had the handwriting for it LMAO (now I want an au where they are both doctors and they fight —academically of course— over whether germ theory is real or if cocaine is healthy etc)

        anyway I'm off work now so I'm diving into next chapter

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