Tea at Trianon: Christmas in Richmond

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, December 3, 2017

Christmas in Richmond

From Southern Lady:

Like virtually all of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond is so deeply entwined with our nation’s history that it’s impossible to cleave the two apart. From statue-lined Monument Avenue to the Capitol Building designed by Thomas Jefferson, the past is palpable here, as constant a presence as the winding James River. Yet, under the traditional trappings beats a youthful heart with a bold, savvy spirit backed by a very Southern air of warmth and welcome.

“Richmond is unique—it has distinct neighborhoods with lots of character and culture and charm,” says Virginia First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe. “There’s a wonderful sense of community.” As an active family with two teenagers and a pair of dogs (plus three more grown children), Dorothy and her husband, Governor Terry McAuliffe, have embraced the chance to explore these enclaves, often hopping on their bicycles to pedal through town. Among their favorites are the picturesque 19th-century Fan District, so named because of the way the streets fan out, and the adjacent Museum District, home to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Virginia Historical Society. (Read more.)