10. Thomas Paine was noted by contemporaries for his disdain for personal hygiene
Thomas Paine brought with him a history of failure when he came to America from England in 1774. As a tax collector, he was fired, rehired, and fired again for dereliction of duty. He failed as a maker of corsets and left two former wives behind him when he obtained a letter of introduction from Benjamin Franklin. Franklin usually exaggerated the abilities of the men he recommended for employment. In Paine’s case, Old Ben merely stated his value as a, “clerk, or assistant tutor in a school”. Paine’s greatest service to the Revolutionary cause came from his pen, though he also served in the Continental Army in the ranks. His 1776 pamphlet The American Crisis opened with the memorable phrase, “These are the times that try men’s souls”.
Years later a friend visited Paine’s apartment in Paris after the writer departed for the United States in 1802. He later wrote, “I never sat down in such a filthy apartment in the whole course of my life”. He went on to describe it as “There was not a speck of cleanliness to be seen”. In an earlier description of Paine’s personal habits, the same writer mentioned the “brimstone odor” emitted by the writer. Another described Paine as “loathsome in appearance”, always in need of a bath and clean clothes, which he seldom obtained. One by one, the revolutionaries he supported, including Jefferson and Monroe, abandoned him, with multiple references to the revulsion in which he was held. Paine died in New York in 1809. Only six mourners attended his funeral.