Tea at Trianon: The London Season

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, December 27, 2012

The London Season

From Gio:

If you have ever read a historical novel set in 17th, 18th or 19th century England, you've probably heard of the London Season. The aristocracy considered it so important that for them the year revolved around it. But what was this Season? And when did it take place?

The London Season did not fall between two specific and set dates, but coincided with the Parliamentary session, which usually started sometime after Christmas (depending on when the hunting season came to a close in the country), and ended in July, when it adjourned for the summer. During that time, anyone who was anyone rushed to London to see and be seen, entertain and be entertained. And of courses, women rushed to their seamstress and milliners to buy new gown, hats, gloves, shoes and any other piece of attire they could think of to show off during the season! (Read entire post.)