Tea at Trianon: What is America?

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 9, 2021

What is America?

From Charles Coulombe:

Nothing reflects the strangely mixed nature of our country so much as the uniquely American way of celebrating Christmas. The Christmas Tree is German; Santa Claus, via Clement Moore, Thomas Nast, the old New York Sun, and Coca-Cola, Dutch; holly and mistletoe are English; and the Nativity Scene ultimately Italian. Depending on where you live, English plum pudding, eggnog, and tom-and-jerries may take their place beside Mexican tamales, Neapolitan fish dishes, French buche-de-Noel and our own turkey and pumpkin pie atop Yuletide tables. The American Christmas songbook erupts into a virtual United Nations and World Council of Churches combined: the Church herself contributed O Come All Ye Faithful; The First Nowell and God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen came from English, Angels We Have Heard on High and O Holy Night from French, and Silent Night from Austrian Catholics. Away in a Manger is attributed (some say falsely) to Martin Luther, Hark! the Herald Angels Sing was written by John Wesley’s brother, Charles, O Little Town of Bethlehem by the Episcopal Bishop of Boston, Philips Brooks, and It Came upon the Midnight Clear by the Unitarian clergyman, Edmund Sears. Peculiar to this country are the non-religious Christmas songs, starting with such hits as Santa Claus is Coming to Town and White Christmas, and culminating in the likes of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. (Read more.)