Tea at Trianon: The Handshake

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

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Handshake

Gone by the wayside? According to Swell and Dandy:

Perhaps the most rudimentary staple of social interaction, the handshake, dates back as early as the 5th century B.C. in Greece. Likely originating as a gesture of peace (a hand engaged in a handshake can bare no weapon), it is speculated that the handshake was popularised in the 16th century by Sir Walter Raleigh in service to the British Court. The handshake is crucial in the social realms as a means of greeting, yet it appears at risk of falling out of use by the youngest generation. It is important to shake hands upon greeting colleagues, friends, or new acquaintances, and to do it properly.

I will add that a lady usually extends her hand first and it is her privilege not do so so as she sees fit. Share