A story told – apparently by another cat lover – of his time in Rome concerns his unexpected disappearance one day.

He was found in a state of mental confusion (geistig verwirrt) in Trajan's Forum, surrounded by some of the ferral cats who abound in the city.

His texts display an anecdotal lightness of touch, with elements of elitist Dandyism and an underlying conservatism, albeit not infrequently spiced with stark departures from the politically conservative mainstream.

Unlike other conservative commentators, however, he did not campaign against artistic innovators: he viewed their outputs from a position of distanced sceptical interest, but not of unreasoned hostility.

He was able to find intellectual joy in each new ideology that appeared, a tendency clearly disclosed in both the content and style of his own written commentaries and criticism.