Tea at Trianon: Watch and Pray

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

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Watch and Pray

Hopefully, it's just another rumor. (Via Spirit Daily) Share

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: We've always been vulnerable. And always will be, because we are mortal, and of course because where there's a will, there's a way-- whether it be for doing good or ill. It does help, however, to know that a small towel and a bottle of water could help buy us some time in escaping some fume-y/incendiary mess. I'm not ever going to stop using public transportation, etc., so I'll add those two items to my purse, perhaps in between the Rosary beads and the chocolate stash.; August 1, 2007 at 2:10:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: All we can do is trust God and go on with living.; August 1, 2007 at 2:35:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: The "Family Security Matters" web site is more than a bit creepy, and I question their motives. It strikes me as not so much about family security as about whipping up a frenzy of anxiety in this country, the better to advance a political agenda. There's a word for those who stoke and exploit fear to gain political power. We call them "terrorists", a term that emerged in the French Revolution, which employed terror explicitly and deliberately to achieve its end: "Que la Terreur soit à l'ordre du jour" was the Jacobin slogan coined in 1973. A lesson of those times that needs to be re-learned is that not all terrorists are scruffy foreigners.

There's nothing like the distractions of war -- or the something very like war that we see about us now -- to ease the top-down imposition of social and political change at the hands of ambitious radicals possessed by what Augustine called "libido dominandi" -- the lust for power. Making people afraid is one of the best ways to ensure people will embrace the new paradigm.

Romulus; August 1, 2007 at 2:56:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: That crossed my mind, too, Romulus. Thanks for the feedback, which is why I posted the link, to see what others think about it.; August 1, 2007 at 3:16:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: my husband is an airline pilot... i'm glad he has his government issued 9mm, his rosary in his pocket and wears a 4 way medal...what else can you do? (one day while in the security line[he wasn't packing heat] his rosary showed up on xray and the tech said something about weapons and his response was "it's [the rosary] a most powerful weapon"; August 1, 2007 at 4:19:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: Hundreds of thousands are killed every year just driving to and from work. I place my body and soul in God's hands everytime I get behind the wheel of my car.; August 2, 2007 at 12:18:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said...: Life is fragile. God alone knows how many have been killed in Minnesota's bridge disaster. Fortunately as Catholic, we should not be afraid of death.

Deo gratia,
de Brantigny; August 2, 2007 at 11:22:00 AM EDT
Dymphna said...: All we can do is wait and pray. We have been extraordinarily blessed since 9/11. It's in God's hands.; August 2, 2007 at 8:47:00 PM EDT