Tea at Trianon: The History of Eärendil

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

Sunday, October 2, 2022

The History of Eärendil

From Nerdist:

Simply put, Eärendil, a half-elven mariner, helped save Middle-earth. The Dark Lord Morgoth and his evil forces threatened to overrun Middle-earth, and the Elves and Men couldn’t hold him back on their own. And though the Valar, the godlike beings of The Lord of the Rings‘ universe, did not allow mortals on the shores of Valinor, their realm, the half-elvish Eärendil eventually found a way and traveled there with his wife, Elwing.
Elrond’s father built his ship, Vingilot, with the help of Círdan the Shipwright. His first voyages saw adventures aplenty as he sailed to look for his parents Tuor and Idril in Valinor. And Eärendil figured, while he was in Valinor, he would carry the message of Elves and Men to the Valar and ask for assistance for Middle-earth’s fight against Morgoth. This initial trip, which Eärendil made without Elwing, didn’t end as planned.
After a detour that saw Elwing briefly turn into a bird, Eärendil set back out for Valinor with Elwing (in half-elven form again). Elrond’s father wore a Silmaril, a brilliant jewel made from the essence of the light-giving trees of the Valar, bound across his brow. And its light shone like a beacon. The sons of Fëanor, the elf who made the Silmarils, pursued them, trying to get their hands on the Silmaril. Luckily, this time, Eärendil finally arrived on Valinor’s shores. (Even though he wasn’t technically allowed to). He asked the Valar for mercy upon Men and Elves, and the Valar agreed. (Read more.)