Tea at Trianon: Southern College Towns

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

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Southern College Towns

The South is renowned for its fine schools. From Southern Lady:

From the red brick halls of higher learning at the University of Georgia to the city’s recent arrival on the modern food scene, the name “Athens” has come to represent so much more than the ancient pillar of learning and culture this college town was named after. Whether or not you love the Bulldogs, the university and the community that grew up around it broke new ground in American education in 1785 when Georgia incorporated it as the country’s first state university. We think that’s worth celebrating across the South. Take a closer look at all its historical and modern charm. Stroll the streets of this north Georgia city, and it becomes clear that this is no “sleepy college town.” Athens thrums to a tune all its own partly because of its musical heritage that encompasses country, bluegrass, and rock. (Read more.)