Tea at Trianon: A French Breakfast

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, February 28, 2010

A French Breakfast

Delicious simplicity. Share

5 comments:

Julygirl said...: Yum! The fabled Continental Breakfast of which we have only a poor substitute in this Country. Having come from an Agrarian background I am also a proponent of the full blown caloric, heart stopping, country breakfast.; February 28, 2010 at 9:54:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: After living in France it is hard for me to have a huge heavy breakfast first thing in the morning. I do like a hearty country brunch, though. Especially a Maryland country brunch, such as what Mike and I had at our wedding reception.; February 28, 2010 at 10:07:00 AM EST
Anonymous said...: Having grown up on it my whole life, just this morning as we breakfasted on french bread right out the oven, with cafe au lait, I declared to my family (for the millionth time) that this is the best breakfast in all the world!

(You can take the girl out of New Orleans, but you can't take the french of the girl!); February 28, 2010 at 10:42:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Sounds wonderful! I am dying to visit you!; February 28, 2010 at 10:47:00 AM EST
Anonymous said...: My favorite breakfast is baguette with jam and cafe au lait! Tongue in Cheek is a beautiful blog. I've added it to my blogroll (I started a second blog called Tea & Etiquette).

Juliana; March 2, 2010 at 10:43:00 AM EST