Tea at Trianon: ‘Please Do Not Break Glass’

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

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

‘Please Do Not Break Glass’

From The Daily Wire:

“In the month of November, city data shows there were 3,375 reports of larceny theft in San Francisco – the overwhelming majority of those were car break-ins. SFPD’s Central District, home to tourist hot spots including Fisherman’s Wharf and Chinatown, sees the highest number of smash-and-grabs,” CBS San Francisco added.
In Mid-November, NBC Bay Area titled a piece, “SF Suffers Highest Rate of Car Break-Ins Compared to Atlanta, DC, Dallas, LA,” subheading it, “The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit rode along with undercover police officers, interviewed top law enforcement officials, and obtained and analyzed court and police records to find out why car burglaries remain one of the most prolific crimes in San Francisco.” (Read more.)