Tea at Trianon: Marie Antoinette’s Private Garden Is Restored

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, July 2, 2021

Marie Antoinette’s Private Garden Is Restored

Tulip Poplar blossom at Versailles

Tulip poplars were always my favorite tree as well and we had many in our woods on Ball Road. From The Epoch Times:

At a certain time of year, American visitors ambling around the grounds of the Palace of Versailles can detect the familiar heady scent of the Virginia tulip tree—Marie Antoinette’s favorite tree. Native to eastern and southern America, the Virginia tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), with its pale green or cheerful bright yellow cup-shaped blooms, along with other American native plant species such as the white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus), was first introduced to France in the 18th century. Now, nearly 150 newly planted Virginia tulip trees are the centerpiece of the recently restored Queen’s Grove at Versailles. The restoration project took two years and included extensive research in order to return the grove to the layout of Marie Antoinette’s time.
Along with the scent of the tulip tree, the sweet fragrance of 600 newly planted rose bushes, when they bloom, will greet visitors. The roses pay homage to Marie Antoinette’s world-famous rose collection and her love of the flower’s beauty, perfume, and medicinal properties. (Read more.)