Tea at Trianon: Unexpected Things You Can Find At The Thrift Store

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

Friday, December 8, 2023

Unexpected Things You Can Find At The Thrift Store

From Southern Living:

While it's easy to imagine that items are mistakenly donated to thrift shops all the time (haven’t we all lost a sweater or two this way?), every now and then, the accidental donation is something much more heartbreaking. In the case of one Oklahoma family, the local Goodwill found WWII documents in a hidden compartment of the lockbox they’d donated. Recognizing that these papers likely held great sentimental value for the family, the staff tracked them down and returned them for safe keeping. Should you ever stumble upon such a find in your local thrift shop, consider bringing it to management’s attention before taking it home. You might just reunite a family with a cherished possession that they’ll be thrilled to have back. (Read more.)