Tea at Trianon: Silent Prisoner

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, January 18, 2008

Silent Prisoner

Heidi Saxton has a moving book review of Amanda Young's Silent Prisoner, the story of the painful truth of child abuse.

Silent Prisoner is not easy reading. Yet woven throughout are silvery threads of hope: distant relations and other strangers who showed momentary kindnesses. A little boy, the product of a loveless marriage that became for her a promise of a better future. Above all, the comfort of angels and glimpses of God … not overt and overwhelming, but beacons of something better, urging her on. It is the portrait of someone truly powerless, yet ultimately unbeaten.

Anonymous said...: Small acts of kindness from another member of the family or a friend can bring a ray of light into the life of an abused child who otherwise would feel hopeless and betrayed. When I was a little girl I recall my mother taking our neighbor’s child (who was not physically abused, but neglected; and bathing, washing her hair and powdering her up, much to the delight of the child. My mother would also mop their floors so the child could live in a clean environment. I might add, my mother had a close friendship with the family who did not object to my mother’s attentions, but were just too ignorant and lazy to do it themselves. We did not have much money ourselves, but she would take food down to the less privileged section of our neighborhood. One does not have to possess a lot of resources in order to reach out to others.; January 18, 2008 at 1:16:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: That's beautiful, julygirl.; January 19, 2008 at 10:32:00 AM EST