Tea at Trianon: Louis XV as Dauphin

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

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Louis XV as Dauphin

From Tiny-Librarian. It is said that Marie-Antoinette's second son, Louis XVII, resembled his great-grandfather.

Louis XVII

Cynthia Lambert said...: You site appears to have been hijacked by someone named Vidal. She is posting all kinds of religious nonsense. Just thought you might like to know.; February 10, 2015 at 4:51:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: I beg your pardon? Are you a lunatic? This IS my blog and I post what I like on it. I am sorry you see religion as nonsense. That is your loss.; February 10, 2015 at 4:55:00 PM EST
melyne said...: o, hello, dear troll Cynthia, you reading wrong blog, I guess. Elena, thank you for great blog. History is my passion and Marie Antoinette is my last great discovery. I just hope to know more about Louis XVI. Can you recommend some books about him?; February 11, 2015 at 2:16:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you, my dear. I would recommend Bernard Fay's Louis XVI as well as Nesta Webster's 2 volume study on Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.; February 11, 2015 at 7:43:00 AM EST