Tea at Trianon: Dancing into Battle

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

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Dancing into Battle

From Austenprose:

Attending a society ball with the characters was quite heady. When one thinks of the Regency-era, and especially the ball room scenes made famous in Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer novels, the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. Fellowes did not disappoint. There was enough description of the decor, music and ball gowns to properly set the stage, quenching fans of the era. The characters that filled the ball room are what really added interest and potential for the future. Fellowes is building his world and framing personalities beautifully.

The end of the episode was puzzling – and meant to be, by design. We are not really sure what the big secret is. Why is Sophia gasping and sobbing over the sight of the group of officers that Lord Bellasis is with? Later, we learn that he dies at Waterloo. Not entirely a surprise for me, but a big shock for our heroine.

It is early days, but the opening was spare in its simplicity, yet brimming with potential. (Read more.)