I have mentioned to you that we keep seeing in our readings the transition from feudal to mercantile or bourgeois society: that is, a situation in which power no longer comes from being a noble with an inherited title in a world where everyone's social position stays the same, but instead comes from anyone who has money. We saw this in Venice, when Candide, whose money came from exploration, had to help out the six kings; we saw it when the small businessman Michael Kohlhaas was able to make princes shudder and make counts lose their jobs.
I found one of the great folk songs about this change, a song in which a wealthy commoner is able to say fu to a nobleman: "John Barbour," here sung by Sean McCann of Great Big Sea. Unfortunately, the worthy who put it on youtube for some reason accompanied it with pictures of MacGyver or someone like that: you might want to just shut your eyes and listen.
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