Tea at Trianon: Oscar Wilde's Reconciliation

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

Monday, March 26, 2007

Oscar Wilde's Reconciliation

Lew Rockwell linked to this article today. The Vatican is not praising Wilde's moral lapses but rather his literary genius and his final conversion to the Catholic faith. I loved his stories The Selfish Giant and The Birthday of the Infanta, when I was a child. Share

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: The Selfish Giant is still one of my favourite stories, I keep the copy given to me as a child in the bookcase closest to the sofa so it's within easy reach whenever I feel like a quiet read.; March 26, 2007 at 7:15:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Truly a literary giant, brilliant and gifted, one of a kind. Sadly, his lifestyle created enemies and wrecked the lives of those who loved him. He paid a heavy price for it though, and I trust his soul is at peace.; March 26, 2007 at 9:29:00 PM EDT