Tea at Trianon: A Short Essay on the French Revolution

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, August 23, 2007

A Short Essay on the French Revolution

Here is a concise essay on the French Revolution excerpted from an old Catholic textbook once used in Ireland, written by Rev. Reginald F. Walker CSSP. Share

2 comments:

wendybirde said...: Wow, this was an excellent summary Elena. It really helped too being reminded about the changes to ultra secular dating and timing that were made then. Related, i've been exploring medieval style dating and timing over on the Tables Tales blog, SUCH a difference from secular dating and timing when we order things around the feastdays and liturgy of hours instead. Im frankly sorry we lost that.

How we see time is core stuff, even the revolutionaries knew it...

Paix,

Wendy; August 24, 2007 at 1:16:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you, Wendy! I thought it made some interesting points, too!; August 24, 2007 at 7:50:00 AM EDT