Tea at Trianon: The Emperor and the Soldier

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, July 11, 2008

The Emperor and the Soldier

Jørn K. Baltzersen writes of Blessed Charles of Austria and his friend Edward Lisle Strutt. Share

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Not as familiar as I ought to be on this Blessed and his place in history - but I wanted to draw your attention to a collection of children's cartoon stories about famous French adventurers including this saint:
http://www.editionsdutriomphe.fr/PagesHtml/nouveautes.htm
Have you ever considered the comic book format for telling the marvelous tales you tell aimed at a younger audience? I would imagine it would hang on the talents of the illustrator - I read recently that after his wedding this month Daniel Mitsui of "The Lion and the Cardinal" blog from Chicago is looking to expand his ouevre. I would love an "Englished" copy of the story of St Theophane Venard "Dans les griffes du tigre" since I'm intrigued by all things Fata Morgana!
God Bless
Clare Krishan; July 12, 2008 at 10:56:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you, Clare, that is fascinating, as usual. I love Daniel Mitsui's drawings and would love to have him illustrate one of my novels.; July 12, 2008 at 11:13:00 PM EDT