Tea at Trianon: Hercules: The President's Cook

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, March 1, 2014

Hercules: The President's Cook

The story of Hercules, our first president's cook. To quote:

General George Washington (1732-1799), first president of the new United States of America, was well aware of the importance of his cook. He brought his own cook from his home at Mt. Vernon to run the kitchen of the presidential residence in Philadelphia in 1790. Known by the single name of Hercules, he was reputed to be the very best cook in America, one who could not only produce the most elaborate dishes, but also insist on perfect order among his large staff and spotless cleanliness in his kitchen. Washington spoke proudly of the "labors of Hercules" when the first exquisite dishes were set on his table each night. Even on his days off, Hercules set himself apart, dressing with such impeccable style that he was recognized and saluted by name as he sauntered down the Philadelphia streets.

Only one thing set Hercules apart from his lofty counterparts in the great houses of Berkeley Square in London: Hercules was a slave, and President Washington owned him. (Read more.)

The North Coast said...: How deeply indecent it was that a man whose talent and skills would command a high salary and probably make him a successful restauranteur in a free market economy, had to bear with the degradation of slavery.

While a free man could have just walked away in a dispute, this man had to bear with the humiliation of field labor as a "punishment"-something no free employee of comparable position and talent would have been subjected to. I'm glad Hercules escaped and must say that Washington deserved to lose this prize employee.

Only so much credit is due Washington for freeing his slaves in his will- it's easy to be "giving" when you aren't going to be around to miss what you're giving away. Washington and the other slave-owning founders still have a lot to answer for, for allowing the vile institution to continue even one day after declaring independence from the mother country, especially when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette banished slavery in France of their own volition.; March 1, 2014 at 6:02:00 PM EST