Tea at Trianon: Tickerage Mill

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

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Tickerage Mill

The English cottage of actress Vivien Leigh.

Vivien loved Tickerage Mill and it was so easy to see why. Tucked away in a little valley amidst woodlands and green pastures, the Mill is so peaceful and extremely beautiful in the spring. A courtyard with a lovely landscaped pond, and a wall covered in wisteria sits on one side of the house. It’s called Vivien’s White Garden. When in bloom, all of the flowers there are white, corresponding with Vivien’s favorite color. In the front of the house, there is a big yard with lots of wildflowers and daffodils growing here and there. Up on a little hill sits a crescent-shaped hedge with a stone bench in the middle. We were told that Vivien loved to sit there and catch the last rays of sunshine before they slipped behind the rolling hills in the distance. (Read entire post.)