In 1792 Thomas Paine compared the monarchy with something kept behind a curtain,
‘about which there is a great deal of bustle and fuss, and a wonderful air of seeming
solemnity; but when, by any accident, the curtain happens to be open—and the company
see what it is, they burst into laughter.’ According to Paine, a passionate republican who
was involved in the American Revolution, nothing of this could happen in the
rep
