Tea at Trianon: The Battle Against Temptation

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, September 9, 2018

The Battle Against Temptation

From Intellectual Takeout:

The problem of loneliness and temptation becomes cyclical because the temptation grows stronger when you feel you are alone. For me, a more solitary lifestyle was a choice in order to grow in my faith. But for many loneliness is a forced circumstance, brought on by job changes, separation from family or friends, or simply having succumbed to the greater culture in which male friendship isn't valued.

If we know that our present culture won't provide us the means to attaining self-mastery, I suggest we look to another, one in which higher principles were actually the norm.

One unlikely source of inspiration I have discovered is the female protagonist of Charlotte Brontë's eponymous literary classic Jane Eyre. In this 19th century tale of virtue, romance, and spirituality, Jane is confronted by a choice between conscience and desire. While she is drawn deeply into relationship with her noble, yet passionate employer, she is shocked to discover that to marry him would, in fact, be an adulterous act. At the moment of sharpest temptation Jane describes her inward struggle:

“This was true: and while he spoke my very conscience and reason turned traitors against me, and charged me with crime in resisting him. They spoke almost as loud as Feeling: and that clamoured wildly. ‘Oh, comply!’ it said. ‘Think of his misery; think of his danger — look at his state when left alone; remember his headlong nature; consider the recklessness following on despair — soothe him; save him; love him; tell him you love him and will be his. Who in the world cares for YOU? or who will be injured by what you do?’

Still indomitable was the reply — ‘I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad — as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth — so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane — quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot.’”

Jane's convicting words strike to the heart. Has our culture– have we –forgotten the virtue of self-control? Fellow men, I know that self-discipline is hard, but I urge you to consider: does that make the battle any less worth it? (Read more.)