Tea at Trianon: The New Year and the Lord of History

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

Friday, December 31, 2010

The New Year and the Lord of History

Some reflections by George Weigel.

I’d like to think, though, that my longstanding aversion to making a Big Deal out of New Year’s Eve has something to do with my conviction, which is the Church’s conviction, that the real “new year” begins with First Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent. And if that’s true, then going bonkers over the turn of the civil calendar is giving a bit more to Caesar than Caesar has a right to receive.

tubbs said...: I'm going out tonight, briefly, to visit old friends that I haven't seen in ages (we were supposed to get together on the night of the blizzard) I much prefer to stay in on the 31st.
I agree with the author. I'd much prefer to build my year around the church calendar.; December 31, 2010 at 3:28:00 PM EST
Theresa Bruno said...: I agree. Considering that I'm on MST (mommy standard time) partying, staying up until midnight and even making a New Year's resolution that I won't keep, isn't attractive to me.

Tonight, my husband, son and I are going to watch Peter Rabbit and go to bed at a reasonable hour.; December 31, 2010 at 7:51:00 PM EST