Tea at Trianon: Eunuchs

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

Monday, August 31, 2009

Eunuchs

In imperial China. Share

6 comments:

Julygirl said...: I read an article about Eunuchs that mentioned an odor about them because the wound left from the procedure never fully healed. (This is probably more information than anyone wants.); August 31, 2009 at 11:57:00 PM EDT
lara77 said...: I find that story so sad and depressing. These poor young men; did anyone ever ask them before they wre denied their manhood. The abuse of these men defies comment.; September 1, 2009 at 7:39:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: I know, it is horrible and cruel but was part of life for centuries in many non-Christian lands. From what I understand, their families were compensated and it was considered to be a way to a more comfortable life but at what a terrible price.; September 1, 2009 at 7:59:00 AM EDT
Christina said...: Julygirl, it was because the castration left them incontinent and they constantly dribbled urine. It's too sad to think about.; September 1, 2009 at 11:42:00 AM EDT
potpourri_for_sixteen_hundred said...: The last castrato to sing at St. Peter's (in Rome) sang as late as 1921; there are extant recordings.; September 3, 2009 at 1:56:00 PM EDT
ralph repo said...: The photo clearly states (in traditional Chinese) "Annam" which means secured or "pacified south." This was what the Imperial Qing government called the area that we know of today as the northern part of Vietnam. Annam was a vassal to China for hundreds of years, regularly sending castrated young men north as tribute to the Chinese kingdom. Ultimately, in a foreign policy move, the Qing relinquished Annam to the French as it was preoccupied with fears of Japanese expansionism in Korea (another one of China's historic vassals).; November 15, 2009 at 5:00:00 AM EST