Tea at Trianon: Common Courtesy

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

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Common Courtesy

It's not so common anymore, as Swell and Dandy reflects.

Everyone has heard about it. It is no myth. Where, then, is it? It seems that "Common Courtesy" just is not very common anymore.

Courtesy is defined by one dictionary as "excellence of manners or social conduct". Excellence. "Average" or "just getting by on the bare minimum" does not cut it. No, courtesy requires one to exert some effort.

Courtesy is hardly difficult, but it does not just happen either. One has to consciously make the effort. Hold the door for the person behind you, especially if she is a lady, even if this requires you to pause for a few seconds to wait. Remember those simple but important words- "please" and" thank you".

Molly said...: It's the little courtesies, or lack of, that make a difference.

Pet peeve of mine: When people don't wave their hand (as a THANK YOU) after I let a driver pass me, or have the right-of-way when it's not theirs.; March 9, 2011 at 12:33:00 AM EST