A place for friends to meet... with reflections on politics, history, art, music, books, morals, manners, and matters of faith.
A blog by Elena Maria Vidal.
"She was not a guilty woman, neither was she a saint; she was an upright, charming woman, a little frivolous, somewhat impulsive, but always pure; she was a queen, at times ardent in her fancies for her favourites and thoughtless in her policy, but proud and full of energy; a thorough woman in her winsome ways and tenderness of heart, until she became a martyr."
"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."
"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
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Unless otherwise noted, any books I review on this blog I have either purchased or borrowed from the library, and I do not receive any compensation (monetary or in-kind) for the reviews.
Miss Janice has a fun post for ladies who are frequently labeled as being "prissy." I never thought of myself as being prissy, but nowadays you can be labeled as such merely for wanting to maintain basic politeness. Yes, if you insist that the "F" word be avoided in the course of a conversation, or that God's name not be taken in vain, or that people not wipe their noses with their fingers, then I guess it makes you "prissy." Oh, well....
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Interesting point. This is something I've been grappling with recently. I'm a very small and petite young lady with round features - even though I'm 22 I have a childish look to me if I'm not careful. In college I took up the habit of witty repartee (no regrets there!) so as not to be so "precious", but I also took up cursing. I'll admit that my language was pretty foul for awhile, though no worse than any of my friends. I did it to remind people that I wasn't a child, since it was pretty easy for people to be rather condescending to me.
Now I'm reining the language in, and I already feel like people are treating me more like a little doll. I can't say I'm please by it, but your own good manners should come before how other people treat you.
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3 comments:
Interesting point. This is something I've been grappling with recently. I'm a very small and petite young lady with round features - even though I'm 22 I have a childish look to me if I'm not careful. In college I took up the habit of witty repartee (no regrets there!) so as not to be so "precious", but I also took up cursing. I'll admit that my language was pretty foul for awhile, though no worse than any of my friends. I did it to remind people that I wasn't a child, since it was pretty easy for people to be rather condescending to me.
Now I'm reining the language in, and I already feel like people are treating me more like a little doll. I can't say I'm please by it, but your own good manners should come before how other people treat you.
I feel there is something midway between prissy and course. Both extremes can put people 'off'.
I guess that makes me a prissy too then! Since I value politeness and avoid like the plague that 'f' word. Oh well!
;-)
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