Tea at Trianon: The Lord of Misrule

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

Friday, January 5, 2024

The Lord of Misrule

It is the Twelfth Night.

Fisheaters has everything you need to know about Twelfth Night, including a poem by Robert Herrick:

Twelfth Night: Or King and Queen

Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
Where bean's the king of the sport here;
Beside we must know,
The pea also
Must revel, as queen, in the court here.

Begin then to choose,
This night as ye use,
Who shall for the present delight here,
Be a king by the lot,
And who shall not
Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here.

tubbs said...: All right, so my Epiphany cake flopped. Did you have to be so cruel as to post this pic of me dancing around with the failed floppy pastry? I was merely trying to cheer myself up with a little jig and a double jigger of schnapps.; January 5, 2011 at 10:50:00 AM EST
The North Coast said...: I've seen bars like this. I'll bet this place was pretty disreputable in its time.; January 5, 2011 at 5:03:00 PM EST
Terry Nelson said...: If only we were neighbors! happy Twelfth Night.; January 5, 2014 at 6:17:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, you could have come over for dinner! We had roast beef and lots of Southern Comfort!; January 5, 2014 at 6:32:00 PM EST