Tea at Trianon: Letter Casket of Henri IV

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, September 2, 2020

Letter Casket of Henri IV

From The British Museum:

Casket; ebony; numerous moldings, pierced bands and cartouches in relief, silver partly gilt; eight panels round sides, four oblong representing the Seasons alternating with four ovals for the Elements; front: Spring between Water and Fire, symbolized by Neptune and Jupiter with thunderbolt; back: Summer between Air and Earth, represented by two female figures; cover: recumbent female figure holding mirror with snake round handle, little boy seated on skull at her feet, right hand held medal of Henri IV and Marie de Medici, now lost; drawer in lower part; inner side of lid fixed with oblong silver panel with scroll border showing combat between two men and a lion, bears etc: this is shown separately as a plaquette in a frame, its original position inside the lid is indicated by holes. This plaquette bears maker's marks and hallmarks.Key; document in French inside. (Read more.)