Tea at Trianon: Benson's Apocalypse

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, March 13, 2009

Benson's Apocalypse

One of my favorite novelists is Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, whose masterpiece, Lord of the World, is the topic of an article by Rev. James V. Schall, SJ.

Gareth Russell said...: The Penal Laws were an abomination and eventually extended in a milder form to Irish Presbyterians as well, and the non-conformist (i.e. non-Anglican) members of the population. It caused great problems even for members of the Ascendancy Class and the remnants of the Anglo-Irish nobility. A hideous period in our history.; March 13, 2009 at 9:40:00 AM EDT
MikeinFL said...: archive.org has Msgr Benson's Lord of the World available as a free download, in various formats. It looks as if there are three versions or instances of the book: search results here.; March 13, 2009 at 9:44:00 AM EDT
Stephanie A. Mann said...: On the other hand, Elena, have you ever read his "Dawn of All"? He wrote it because some readers thought "Lord of the World" was depressing and discouraging!
It is set in 1973, and the Catholic Church is triumphant against all who oppose her. England is almost totally Catholic and Catholicism is about to become the established Church in England!--and America is the same as England. Divorce and fornication are illegal, and the Church has courts for heresy which have power to turn convicted criminal heretics over to the secular arm for punishement; the Catholic Church has regained all former Anglican dioceses and property. Monarchy rules and the House of Orleans is on the throne of France! Berlin, however, is the capital of Freemasonry, and the German Emperor is not a Christian--otherwise, practically everyone in the West is a Catholic!
It is available on Project Gutenberg.; March 13, 2009 at 2:58:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: No, Stephanie, I have not read it but now I'll have to~ it sounds really interesting!; March 13, 2009 at 3:05:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: A collection of Roahl Dahl-like 'Tales of the Unexpected' of Benson's is on Google books, titled A Mirror of Shalott
http://books.google.com/books?id=xWcXAAAAYAAJ&dq=Robert+Hugh+Benson+mirror+of+shallott
as a neophyte to his work it's more my cup of tea than starting with a lengthy apocalyptic novel (I find The Book of Revelation inspiring rather than scary, but that may be presumptuous of me ;-).; March 13, 2009 at 11:42:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you for the suggestion, Clare! I, too, find The Book of Revelation inspiring and hopeful as well.; March 13, 2009 at 11:49:00 PM EDT