Favorite Link of the Week

Thomas Jefferson, U.S. minister to France. Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh, seven-year-old heir to the empire of Vietnam. They met in Paris in 1787. Anna at A Summary View, the blog of the Jefferson library, tells the story.

Jefferson wanted rice from what was then known as Cochin China. He was still hopeful about receiving it the next year, but apparently no samples ever arrived at Monticello.

Prince Cảnh was in Paris to sign a treaty with the French king on behalf of his grandfather. He played with the Dauphin, and developed a preference for Catholicism, though for political reasons he was never publicly baptized. Cảnh died of smallpox in Vietnam during Jefferson’s first term.

(Portrait courtesy of Wikipedia.)