Tea at Trianon: Angels and Demons

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, May 17, 2009

Angels and Demons

Modern fantasies about Catholicism.

Elizabeth Lev discusses the real Rome compared to the fantasy Rome.

Terry Nelson saw it, too. Share

5 comments:

Stephanie A. Mann said...: When Elizabeth Lev mentioned how Tom Hanks and "Opie" read and worshipped William Manchester's book on the Middle Ages, I nearly flipped! "No wonder," sez I! EVEN Thomas Cahill recognizes Manchester's deep anti-Catholicism in that book!
In my humble opinion--no acronyms--I do think only fictional alternatives to this drivel, like Piers Paul Read's novel, recently issued from Ignatius Press, can help. Much as I love writing and teaching history as a discipline, I know it can only reach those willing to hear it and accept it--fiction can "sneak" truth in.; May 17, 2009 at 6:06:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Excellent point, Stephanie!; May 17, 2009 at 6:49:00 PM EDT
Hans Georg Lundahl said...: http://o-x.fr/6xk links to an index page I made for the posts an Orthodox priest made about "da Vinci code" - with two remarks added on what made it for incredulity on my part even in the modern part of the fiction ...; May 18, 2009 at 4:12:00 AM EDT
Terry Nelson said...: Thanks for the link Elena!; May 19, 2009 at 12:30:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thanks, Hans!

You're welcome, Terry!; May 19, 2009 at 2:36:00 PM EDT