Tea at Trianon: Graduation 2007

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

Friday, May 18, 2007

Graduation 2007

Thanks be to God. Cousin Gil graduated from VA Tech last week, in spite of being shot in the head by Cho a month ago. It was an emotional occasion, especially for the parents whose children were given posthumous degrees. May God protect our country and our young people, everywhere.

Some reflections from Godspy. Share

4 comments:

Michelle Therese said...: PRAISE GOD!!!!!!! How wonderful!; May 18, 2007 at 5:25:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Amen.; May 19, 2007 at 10:34:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: I read about the various activities planned for the day and it brought tears to my eyes. Let us pray that the young survivors may walk into the future without being hampered by guilt and traumatic stress from this horrible occurrence.; May 19, 2007 at 12:04:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: I cried, too.; May 19, 2007 at 12:15:00 PM EDT