Tea at Trianon: Deadly Toys

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Deadly Toys

This makes me really mad, too mad for words. Share

3 comments:

wendybirde said...: Wow, this is horrible! I remember when i was in high school and in an antique store and i saw this really sweet antique block set i was going to get for a child. My mom was with me and she said i shouldnt get antique baby toys becuase of the lead paint since babies put things in their mouths--and she just assumed, and i have too, that modern ones do not have lead in them since we know the danger of lead now wheras they hadnt before. So to see this...wow!; August 21, 2007 at 1:43:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, apparently some small children have become ill and brain-damaged from the Chinese toys.; August 21, 2007 at 5:02:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: People need to watch what they buy from dollar stores. Much of it is from China and I have concerns about quality and safety standards. Especially toys, plates, cups, glasses and flatware...how do we know they are safe?

I found a couple of toy figurines that my children had been given very recently that were from a dollar store. They were stamped Mattel and Made in China on the bottom, just like the ones recalled. They were not in a set but were probably pieces of a broken up set that for whatever reason were sent to dollar stores.

I recognized them in the photos as pieces of the set and immediately threw them out!

I have noticed that the dollar stores sell dress up jewelry and other cheap toys that chip, crack and peel VERY easily. They should test those first - I'm sure the results would be interesting.; August 21, 2007 at 8:18:00 PM EDT