Tea at Trianon: Tea at Trianon

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

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Tea at Trianon

Biographer Clare Tschudi describes what it was like to have tea with Marie-Antoinette at Petit Trianon. People who expected grandeur were surprised at the simplicity of the Queen's private retreat.

Here is another description from Marie-Antoinette: The Woman and the Queen by Sarah Tytler and Henrietta Keddie
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...: Lovely print--I wish it was in color!
By the way, there were irregularly scanned pages from the Tschudi book.; October 9, 2007 at 4:23:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, wouldn't it be lovely! Yes, I noticed some of the book is not scanned corrrectly but the page I linked to is OK.; October 9, 2007 at 5:09:00 PM EDT
Widow Capet said...: Wonderful ! I would have liked to sip tea and walk in the gardens at Petite Trianon . It seems so peaceful ... Thank-you for posting this. :D; October 9, 2007 at 7:23:00 PM EDT
Terry Nelson said...: Petite Trianon must have been beautiful.; October 9, 2007 at 8:26:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, it was. It still is....; October 9, 2007 at 9:03:00 PM EDT
pimprenelle said...: Thank you for this so beautiful passage, dear Elena Maria Vidal... And thanks for quoting Edmund Burke too. We all think of our queen so much for the moment...; October 14, 2007 at 6:16:00 PM EDT