Tea at Trianon: Tracing History, One Pub at a Time

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, May 22, 2019

Tracing History, One Pub at a Time

From The History Press:

Although the UK has been involved in armed conflict almost constantly throughout its history, and many pub names remind us of our history and how we came to be the nation we are today. The names of such pubs as The Dragoo, The Rifleman and The Kentish Rifleman, show the close connection with the military that existed in Kent, England’s Front Line County. Three pubs in particular represent the role of the RAF in Kent. The Tiger Moth in Chatham refers to the two-man bi-planes which were used for training pilots at Rochester Airport. The Spitfire in Kings Hill is a direct reference to the plane which epitomises the heroic pilots of The Battle of Britain who fought in the skies over Kent, and The Mayfly in Hawkinge. (Read more.)