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There's a man who knows his priorities

  • May. 7th, 2008 at 8:04 AM
Darcy
I came across this quote yesterday. It's from 33 year old General Antoine Charles Lasalle, recalled by Napoleon from Spain to serve against Austria, when asked if he would go to Germany via Paris.

"Yes, it's the shortest way. I shall arrive at five a.m.; I shall order a pair of boots; I shall make my wife pregnant, and I shall depart."

He was among the 27,000 French killed at Wagram a few months later.

Comments

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[info]rarelylynne wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 01:29 pm (UTC)
Indeed.
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[info]jordan179 wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 01:46 pm (UTC)
Did he, in fact, make his wife pregnant?
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[info]eeknight wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 01:49 pm (UTC)
I've been trying to find that out. I think I have to go back to the library and try and find a bio.
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[info]scottakennedy wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 02:18 pm (UTC)
That question made my google addict rear its ugly head.
If this bit of the internets can haz its facts straight
The Top Twenty French Cavalry Commanders: #2 General Antoine-Louis-Charles LaSalle
then it doesn't sound like he got lucky that last time, as the daughter he fathered with his wife was born three years before his death.

"A commander who was known, on occasion, to charge with nothing more than his pipe in his hand, mellowed a little and became more responsible after he married Josephine-Jeanne-Marguerite d'Aiguillon, the divorced wife of General Victor-Leopold Berthier, in 1803. LaSalle possessed a keen sense of duty and responsibility and cared for Berthier's three boys, Almeric-Alexandre, Oscar, and Alexandre-Joseph as if they were his own. He and Josephine-Jeanne had their own little girl, Charlotte-Josephine who was born in May 1806."
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[info]eeknight wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 02:23 pm (UTC)
I know it shouldn't be in the job description, but husbands often are improved by their wives if they marry well. I know that's true in my case.
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[info]billzilla wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 03:09 pm (UTC)
LaSalle, a cavalry commander, was also such a natural horseman, as if born in the saddle, that he was referred to by his men as "The Centaur."

B.
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[info]shadefell wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 03:37 pm (UTC)
"I shall make my wife pregnant by flipping her switch from "not pregnant" to "pregnant." It is just that easy."

He is very considerate. A lesser man would have awoken his wife at 5am for the pregnancy. He bought time by ordering boots, then impregnating her. And then he left so she didn't have to fix him breakfast.

A true gentleman.
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[info]eeknight wrote:
May. 7th, 2008 04:55 pm (UTC)
I suspect the beloved wife of a famous cavalry general only had to remind the servants how her husband likes his eggs after such a long period away.
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[info]nataliehatch.blogspot.com wrote:
May. 8th, 2008 04:09 am (UTC)
Tit Tit, Tat Tat
Do you think that he'd just mount his wife, go for a little gallop and then low and behold pregnancy ensures. Side note: for our three babies hubby had nothing to do with it. The straw came out, viola pregnant... Maybe he had something similar hidden in his arsenal?
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[info]eeknight wrote:
May. 8th, 2008 12:59 pm (UTC)
Re: Tit Tit, Tat Tat
Thanks for the shout-out.
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