Tea at Trianon: Inherited Design

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, May 4, 2011

Inherited Design

What does one do with heirlooms and old family junk? According to a piece by Frances Schultz in the Wall Street Journal:

And here's the lovely part about making peace with a loved one's belongings: While so many of us are drawn to the new and perfect, inherited pieces have soul. Even if flawed, objects and furnishings with history have a story. They carry the energy of our affection. It radiates through the house. People can sense it when they walk through the door. We may not be conscious of it, but it's there.

lara77 said...: I guess for myself the old has intrigued me much more than the new. I look at the beautiful pieces of cranberry glass collected by my late mother and remember how much she enjoyed receiving them. I never bought or received anything I did not love; like beautiful books they are like old friends. Collections reflect their owners and do tell so much about a person.; May 5, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM EDT