Tea at Trianon: Anne's World

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 30, 2016

Anne's World

From Victoria:

Generations of girls have enjoyed the heartwarming tales of Anne Shirley, better known as Anne of Green Gables. Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery drew upon her own childhood experiences to create the stories, which take place in the fictional village of Avonlea, inspired by the true-life community of Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. The picturesque area holds many wonderful sights to explore; here are a few of our favorite spots. Montgomery often visited her cousins at their farm near Cavendish. The Green Gables Heritage Place commemorates the site of the iconic house featured in the books about her beloved protagonist, “Anne with an e.” The home is open for tours, and it is decorated as it appeared at the time of the author’s stays. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: When I visited Prince Edward Island we went around and looked at the various locations mentioned in the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery exclaiming, Oh this happened here or that happened there, then we realized, "Wait a minute, it was all fictional!" Her talent was to make the reader believe a fictional world really existed.; April 30, 2016 at 11:27:00 PM EDT