Tea at Trianon: Sauron the Deceiver

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, May 3, 2022

Sauron the Deceiver

From Gamerant:

The Rings of Power are some of the darkest and most mystical objects in Middle Earth. They were devised by Sauron as a part of his scheme to conquer the world and have dominion over all who dwell there. There are 20 rings in total, 9 for the lords of men, 7 for the dwarven kings, 3 for the elves, and of course, the one ring itself, the master weapon to corrupt all of the others, and bring them into the service of Sauron.
The rings have a dark history however, and they were originally all intended for the elves, rather than men or dwarves. Sauron taught Celebrimbor to make the original 16 rings, known as the lesser rings, and into them he poured his will and his malice, ensuring that those who accepted them would eventually fall to his power. But Celebrimbor created the 3 elven rings away from Sauron’s watchful gaze, giving the elves time to flee and hide them somewhere safe, out of the reach of Sauron’s corruption. (Read more.)