Tea at Trianon: The Illness of George III

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

Monday, June 8, 2015

The Illness of George III

From Madame Gilflurt:

If all else failed, the patient would be controlled by fear. Dr Willis, who came from his Lincolnshire asylum to attend George, believed this was instrumental to recovery. He first had the King separated from his family and all looking glasses removed. The keepers were instructed to return George’s blows and abuses, like for like. Willis then became a kind of harsh schoolmaster, punishing George if he refused to eat or became unmanageable. The greatest punishment, it seemed, was confinement. They started off by “sheeting” George; swaddling him tightly like an infant of the period to prevent movement. When it became clear mere linen would not do the trick, they progressed to a “strait waistcoat” made of a resilient striped material called “tick”, which was tied up with tapes much in the manner of a modern straightjacket. Clearly, George remained unruly, for Willis introduced a bulky chair with restraints on the arms and legs. Too heavy to be thrown down, the chair would hold George captive for hours. He resentfully called it his “Coronation Chair”. (Read more.)

Tiny-Librarian has portraits of George III, Queen Charlotte, and all of their children, HERE.