The story goes:
At the end of her life, a famous Parisian courtesan of the 19th century was asked: "You have seen so many changes: monarchy, republic, empire, republic again. Of all the regimes under which you have lived, what was the best?"
"Ah, that is easy to answer. The best was the Second Republic!"
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"The Second Republic? But it was so short and unstable and there was so much hunger and suffering!"
"But I was 18 then …"
I think of that anecdote whenever I hear pundits of a certain age reminisce nostalgically about the days when was illegal to own your own telephone.
