Tea at Trianon: On Being Prissy

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, October 18, 2009

On Being Prissy

Miss Janice has a fun post for ladies who are frequently labeled as being "prissy." I never thought of myself as being prissy, but nowadays you can be labeled as such merely for wanting to maintain basic politeness. Yes, if you insist that the "F" word be avoided in the course of a conversation, or that God's name not be taken in vain, or that people not wipe their noses with their fingers, then I guess it makes you "prissy." Oh, well.... Share

3 comments:

Gabriel Girl said...: Interesting point. This is something I've been grappling with recently. I'm a very small and petite young lady with round features - even though I'm 22 I have a childish look to me if I'm not careful. In college I took up the habit of witty repartee (no regrets there!) so as not to be so "precious", but I also took up cursing. I'll admit that my language was pretty foul for awhile, though no worse than any of my friends. I did it to remind people that I wasn't a child, since it was pretty easy for people to be rather condescending to me.

Now I'm reining the language in, and I already feel like people are treating me more like a little doll. I can't say I'm please by it, but your own good manners should come before how other people treat you.; October 18, 2009 at 12:06:00 PM EDT
Julygirl said...: I feel there is something midway between prissy and course. Both extremes can put people 'off'.; October 18, 2009 at 10:32:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...: I guess that makes me a prissy too then! Since I value politeness and avoid like the plague that 'f' word. Oh well!

;-); October 23, 2009 at 1:12:00 AM EDT