Tea at Trianon: Another Interview

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, October 11, 2014

Another Interview

A lovely interview from Gio. People are going to know more about me than they ever wanted to know. To quote:

1. If you could live in any era, what would it be and why?
13th century France during the reign of St. Louis IX. I see that time as one of the best in the Middle Ages.

2. If you could invite three people, dead or alive, to dinner, who would you invite, and why?
St. Joan of Arc, St. Therese of Lisieux, and Marie-Antoinette because they all three loved France, small children and their Catholic faith.

3. Three books everyone should read?
Preparation for Death by St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Abandonment to Divine Providence by Fr. Caussade, and The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis.

4. Who's your style icon?
Audrey Hepburn. I love her simple style, plus she always remembered that she was a lady.

5. What are you watching on TV?
The Roosevelts.

6. What's the soundtrack of your life?
Definitely Gone With the Wind.

7. What's your favourite holiday destination, and why?
My own home. I love to be home for the holidays. There is no where else I would rather be.

8. What inspires you?
The beauties of God's creation.

9. One thing on your bucket list?
I must make pilgrimages to several shrines which I visited when praying for a special intention. I promised to return and make a votive offering in Thanksgiving if my prayer was answered. It was. I must go to Lourdes and the shrines of Quebec.

10. Something about you that would surprise us?
I took archery lessons in college and really enjoyed it. Fencing, too.