Tea at Trianon: Handbook of Hope

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

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Handbook of Hope

From Crisis:

In this weary world, two of the most formidable pitfalls lying in wait for our stumbling feet are the temptations of doubt and despondency. Whether the cause of discouragement lies within or without, it can be crippling to our spiritual lives. It is certainly no wonder if we feel disturbed and anxious at the prospects facing us. One need only recall the scandals racking the Church, the devious corruption that has spread throughout society, or the breakdown of the family, morality, and truth. Things look bleak and, indeed, only promise to grow darker. What course can we few take against such far-reaching evil which is taking hold and laying waste all around us?

To those discouraged by the current state of world affairs be they political, ecclesiastical, or cultural, a reading of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s masterpiece trilogy The Lord of the Rings will serve as an excellent remedy to despair. Whether it be one’s first or twenty-first time taking them up, Tolkien’s message of hope in the face of overwhelming odds is a resounding rallying cry to call one back to the fray that is our lot in life.

A master of mythology, lore, language, and history, Tolkien creates a palpable world in which his tale unfolds. Middle Earth is beautiful, but in peril when the reader arrives on the scene. The Dark Lord Sauron threatens to destroy it, abolishing all that is good and submitting it to his malevolent will. There is only one way to defeat him and the chance of success is infinitesimal: return Sauron’s all-powerful Ring to the place of its creation and destroy it within the flames of Mount Doom before he can reclaim it. (Read more.)