DOCTOR G OTTFRIED W ILHELM L EIBNIZ picked up the coffee-pot and tipped it into his cup for the third time, and for the third time nothing came out of it. It had been empty for half an hour. He made a little sigh of regret, and then reluctantly stood up. 'I beg your pardon, but I begin a long journey tomorrow. First the Channel crossing – then, between Calais and Paris, we shall have to dodge French regiments, straggling home, abject, starving, and deranged.'