Tea at Trianon: Lilacs

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

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Lilacs

From the poem "Lilacs" by Amy Lowell:

May is lilac here in New England,
May is a thrush singing "Sun up!" on a tip-top ash-tree,
May is white clouds behind pine-trees
Puffed out and marching upon a blue sky.
May is a green as no other,
May is much sun through small leaves,
May is soft earth,
And apple-blossoms,
And windows open to a South wind.
May is full light wind of lilac
From Canada to Narragansett Bay. Share

4 comments:

Michelle Therese said...: How I miss lilacs! Did you know that Sweet Grass Farms sells fresh white lilac laundry soap and fabric softner?? I think the website is www.sweetgrassonline.com; May 3, 2007 at 4:13:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: You don't have lilacs up there?! OH NO! Thanks for the link, that is my kind of site.; May 3, 2007 at 5:17:00 PM EDT
Michelle Therese said...: No lilacs. I'm having serious withdrawls! They are my FAVORITE flower - and the scent!!! Ooooooh I love it! I hope heaven is loaded with lilacs!; May 4, 2007 at 5:05:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Your heaven will be, dear.; May 4, 2007 at 8:38:00 AM EDT