Tea at Trianon: Merlin

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

Monday, May 6, 2019

Merlin

Merlin and Arthur

From Ancient History:

Merlin (also known as Myrddin, Merlinus) is the great wizard of the Arthurian Legends best known from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur (1469 CE). The character was created by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain (1136 CE) where he first appears as a wise and precocious youth with prophetic powers. The French poet Robert Wace (c. 1110-1174 CE) then translated Geoffrey’s work and added to it in his Roman de Brut(c. 1160 CE). Merlin was later featured as the central character of the Merlin by Robert de Boron (12th century CE) who cast him as a Christian prophet, and this depiction, with some variation, would continue in the Vulgate Cycle (1215-1235 CE) and the Post-Vulgate Cycle (c. 1240-1250 CE) to influence Malory’s final characterization of the seer.

In Malory, Merlin is Arthur’s mentor, instrumental in every aspect of his life from his conception to his education, his rise to power, and his vision of a kingdom ruled through justice and goodwill. Merlin is central to the lives of all the main characters of the legend, able to see both past and future, eager to advise and be of service, but unable to alter what he knows must be.

From his earliest appearance in medieval literature, Merlin has remained among the most popular characters in the legends. He may have originally been a fertility god or spirit, feared or revered for his great wisdom and magical abilities, and this concept of Merlin was revived in 19th-century CE romantic literature. Since then, he has appeared in or influenced numerous works of fiction, film, and other media, almost always depicted or referenced in this same way, as a powerful mage. (Read more.)

More HERE.