Tea at Trianon: Lyndale House

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, January 27, 2022

Lyndale House

From Country Life:

Effortlessly stylish, spacious and with the ever-elusive outdoor space that London property craves, Lyndale House is a wonderful private home, set back from the road via a Roman ‘Doric’ archway.
The house manages to capture the essence of a Queen Anne-style home (it was built in the 1730s), being the sort of place which you could easily imagine appearing in an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. Yet it also reflects the fact that this is a home that has been the recipient of much care and attention — the current owners carried out a thorough ‘sympathetic restoration and improvement programme’ in recent years.
The Grade II-listed property in London’s Highgate Hill originally dates back to 1630, but most of the property was rebuilt in 1730 and now forms part of a terrace known as The Bank. It retains many of its early 18th century additions — large window shutters, original fireplaces and ornate ceiling mouldings — all of which create the backdrop of a superbly decorated home. (Read more.)