Tea at Trianon: Maria Fitzherbert's House

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

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Maria Fitzherbert's House

I have posted on her before. She lived in Brighton and the house still exists. To quote Fr. Blake:

The Prince Regent gentrified Brighton but it was really to live with, or rather close to Maria Fitzherbert, who was known as the Prince's mistress. However, there is pretty good evidence that they were actually married, the marriage was secret, she was a good Catholic girl, but the appearance was that he was his mistress. This "appearance" of unconventionality in their relationship gave rise to a loosening of morality amongst the Regency Court. Contact with Brighton leads Jane Austen's Lydia to downfall.

Enbrethiliel said...: +JMJ+

England's geography makes setting into character in much of English literature. My professors who grew up in England would talk casually of driving past Jane Austen's house on the way to work or "biking through nine Thomas Hardy novels in one afternoon." When one professor was a young man in Woking, Surrey (if I remember correctly), he would let his parents know he was going out by saying, "I'm going to see the Martians now." (This was, of course, a reference to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, in which a Martian invasion wrecks Woking.)

The first time I read Fr. Blake's post, I wondered about the many embedded meanings of English places, and in particular those which must have flown over my head when I tried to appreciate the classics.; July 28, 2009 at 8:21:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Cristina, you should go to England and do a book about homes of English authors and places that appear in their books. That would be fascinating!; July 28, 2009 at 3:31:00 PM EDT
May said...: Such a fascinating (and sad) story, this one of the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert.; July 29, 2009 at 10:47:00 PM EDT
May said...: It is so striking that the Prince fell in love with a woman so much his superior in character and virtue. He must have admired these qualities, even if he did not live up to them himself. Probably a story that has repeated itself many times through history.; July 30, 2009 at 9:17:00 PM EDT