Tea at Trianon: How the Reagans Entertained

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

Sunday, October 9, 2016

How the Reagans Entertained

From Food and Wine:

More seriously, you do sense that Nancy Reagan took her hosting duties seriously. Alongside her autographed editions of Cooking with Daniel Boulud, Wolfgang Puck's Modern Kitchen and Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah (by Dinah Shore) is Nancy's own personal edition of The Congressional Club Cook Book – with her name embossed in gold on the cover and four of her recipes inside. (This is the perfect season to test out her recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Pie.)

The Reagans also had a nice if small collection of wine books, which may have led to their acquiring a 1983 magnum of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild (est. value: $1,000-$1,500) and another comparably priced magnum of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild circa 1979 – both up for sale. If that's way out of your price range, you can always bid on the collection of "Reagan's Bar" napkins (est. value: $200-$400). According to the embroidered message there, "The drinks are on the house at The Reagans." (Read more.)