Tea at Trianon: Ten Unbelievable Facts

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, July 18, 2010

Ten Unbelievable Facts

About competitive kindergarten. I cannot believe that such stress is good for small children. Share

5 comments:

Michelle Therese said...: Another reason to homeschool!; July 18, 2010 at 4:37:00 AM EDT
Nonni said...: This isn't just kindergarten -- I've read comments on Facebook from my friends trying to get their children into competitive PRE-school. I find it all very nauseating.; July 18, 2010 at 10:02:00 AM EDT
Julygirl said...: I would not have believed people would go to this extent except for having witnessed it first hand.; July 18, 2010 at 10:04:00 PM EDT
Enbrethiliel said...: +JMJ+

One of my first part-time job was at a nursery school, giving the children their practice tests and interviews. There was one little girl who was frightened to death of me (and we soon learned, of all strangers), and her mother and the nursery school principal drew up an elaborate plan to make sure the little girl wouldn't crack when her real test and interview came. I have no idea whether it worked.; July 18, 2010 at 11:01:00 PM EDT
Colleen Hammond said...: This brings tears to my eyes!; July 19, 2010 at 7:59:00 AM EDT