Tea at Trianon: The Sloppy Rich

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

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The Sloppy Rich

From Laura Crockett at The History Desk:

During the Middle Ages, folks had to stand still whilst sleeves were tacked onto their garments. Tunics were woven as one piece, but no one had the long fitted sleeves we have today, that are attached to the garment’s body. It would not be until the Renaissance, that the tailor figured out how to make a tight fitting garment. However, clothing was constructed as two pieces; the bodice did not attach to the skirt once hoops came into the picture. The bodice was made to fit the corset. Is it any wonder women stood up straight for the next two hundred years? Even the men’s clothing required stiffness in the construction for those doublets to have the correct look. From this era, the stiff upper body, not just the lip, became the mark of the wealthy. Indeed, the wealthy, who would be the leaders of society, presented themselves as worthy of the roles they played in the civilizations. The people tried to emulate the wealthy.
They still do.
This is what concerns me. That the wealthy no longer understand their role. In part, this is so, because individualism has run amok, and partly because so many new fortunes have been created. Once upon a time, when the same families ruled their civilizations for generations, the middle classes looked to emulate the virtues, and dress, of the leadership class. Whatever the aristocrats were wearing, you wanted to wear it as well. They had style, and the middle and working classes wanted them to have style. Don’t kid yourselves, the working class were some of the biggest snobs around. (Read more.)