Tea at Trianon: Hilarious...

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, July 27, 2007

Hilarious...

...And pathetic. What a bunch of sillies. (Via the NOR) Share

7 comments:

Alan Phipps said...: Wow... and in Santa Barbara. I lived there for 10 years, and I'm trying to place the location where this took place. It it possible that this happened near the La Casa de Maria retreat center, which is staffed by sisters who consider themselves "independent" from the local church, after a skirmish several years ago. In recent years, they have really gone off the deep end.

I'm not surprised the SB Independent published this. They are certainly no friend to religion.; July 27, 2007 at 1:16:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Last January I met an Episcopal lady minister at a community dinner honoring Dr. King. (Everyone in Newman Assoc had to attend that dinner) The minister had been a Catholic religious sister prior to her conversion to Episcopalism and ordination. She believed she was called into the priestly vocation and couldn't do so in the catholic church. (It was a long story) I'm sure she's among women like her who have done the same.; July 27, 2007 at 2:25:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, Alan, it's off the deep end, alright.

Yes, Elisa, people who choose disobedience always have a long tale to tell....; July 27, 2007 at 2:30:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: It all sounds so very much like a slithered whisper of assurance, i.e., "But of course God won't mind you eating the fruit of that tree...."; July 28, 2007 at 12:53:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, how everything brings us back to Eden....; July 28, 2007 at 11:35:00 AM EDT
Michelle Therese said...: How annoying that the paper reports it as if these women are acctually part of the REAL Catholic Church.; July 29, 2007 at 7:19:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: I know, it's SO annoying.; July 29, 2007 at 9:19:00 AM EDT