Tea at Trianon: Madame Sophie de France

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, February 11, 2009

Madame Sophie de France

Catherine Delors discusses yet another of Louis XVI's famous and annoying Aunts (although Madame Sophie was probably the most innocuous.) Share

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: A very interesting short biography, Elena! Thanks for the link. I was thrilled to read that Princess Sophie feared thunderstorms as it reminded me of a Chinese imperial figure who was equally afraid of thunderstorms and perhaps equally shy and intellectual.
It's so interesting when you compare some stories and realize that there were striking similarities between the occident and the orient.; February 12, 2009 at 8:04:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, Furui, I find such similarities to be utterly fascinating. People are people, no matter what their rank or cultural background, they often share the same fears and hopes.; February 13, 2009 at 10:24:00 AM EST