Tea at Trianon: A Hushed Garden

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, July 6, 2017

A Hushed Garden

From Victoria:

Homeowners Eric and Diana Hansen purchased their Jazz-Age home and bought not just a six-lot property, but also a rich heritage, ready to be preserved. When Diana Hansen met the original owners of her property, she learned much about its past. Once home to the late artists Georges and Eleanor Bridges, the 1921 cottage, with hints of Greek and Spanish architecture, possesses a unique character and a storied history. The Bridges befriended authors Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, both of whom, on occasion, visited their cottage. Diana says the Italian-style gardens would have been set for a party, lined with tables and lights, and lively music would have filled the night air. Almost a century later, the Hansens have kept the garden as close to its original shape and structure as possible. “[Eleanor’s] garden was her passion,” Diana says, “We feel a mission to keep the garden just as it was.” (Read more.)