Tea at Trianon: The Waters of the Seine

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

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Waters of the Seine

Historical novelist Catherine Delors has an article on the Seine River in eighteenth century Paris.

The Seine River was everything to Paris. Barges brought essential merchandises from distant provinces. Often they went no further than in Paris, to be dismantled in the spot and sold as wood. One embankment specialized in the commerce of wheat, another was dedicated to the wine trade. The embankments were not the paved, clean ones we see now. At the time, they were muddy or sandy, depending on the location. Indeed the Roman name of the city, Lutetia, is said to be derived from the Latin lutum, “mud.”

Alexandra said...: I love rivers with history, especially the Seine. I always have to do the touristy thing and ride the Bateau Mouche when I visit Paris. I really want to take the children there someday. I think(hope)they'd love it as much as I did when I was little...and as an adult(giggle).

Richmond, Va. now has a nice historical boat trip down the restored river front. Much the same as the Seine, it was an important barge throughway. I found some old civil war pictures of an area(Library of Congress online) where we had stood that was so different than today. No nice concrete embankments, just mud...and the burned our city of Richmond in the background.; April 27, 2008 at 10:08:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Very interesting, Alexandra! Thanks for the background.; April 28, 2008 at 7:57:00 AM EDT