Tea at Trianon: The Long Room at Clifton

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

Friday, August 5, 2016

The Long Room at Clifton

From Chartreuse and Company:

Due to the forgotten nature of this room, when I was a little girl, we children spent a great deal of our time in here. This is where we had our Parcheesi and Hearts tournaments. (Parcheesi is a board game touted as the game of Royal India, and Hearts is our favorite card game.) But the one activity that consistently brought the entire household into this room was when my sisters, my cousin, and I would put on our theatrics. They were always staged on the first landing of the front stairs, a perfectly sized stage for four young thespians.

These were sophisticated affairs which included original scripts (written and directed by us), costumes (items found in closets), and elaborate props (the piano stool as a dining table, a jump rope as a microphone). Popular songs of the day were usually included, a cappello. Our audience was always appreciative, and left us feeling remarkably talented.

And just a note on this room, that I realize only as I write this: this was a room filled with finer things, items my grandmother held in esteem. And yet we were never made to feel that we could not be in there. We sought out the room for our games and fun. To this day, when we set the ‘young people’s table’ for our big get-togethers, that table is set in The Long Room, on its deep, wool oriental rug. That’s just how it was. So consider Grandmother Thomas’ example when you get the impulse to say that a certain room is off-limits to children. Consider what you may be denying them, and yourself. (Read more.)