Tea at Trianon: The House That Inspired 'Peter Pan'

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

Thursday, March 19, 2020

The House That Inspired 'Peter Pan'

From last fall, but still interesting. From Tatler:

The former home of Peter Pan playwright J.M. Barrie in leafy South Kensington is looking for a new owner - and all you need is £8.5m. Barrie lived in this six-bedroomed home in 1890 and legend has it, the top floor balcony inspired a scene in his play (FYI Peter Pan was a play before it was turned into a children's novel) where Wendy and Peter stand before flying off to Neverland. The house is arranged over four floors and has heaps of period features - including ornate cornicing, high ceilings and original wood flooring with sweeping reception rooms and grand bedrooms at the back of the house overlooking the pretty Hereford Square. (Read more.)