Tea at Trianon: When History Became Legend, and Legend Became Myth

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, March 12, 2024

When History Became Legend, and Legend Became Myth

From Catholic Exchange:

In the present hour, these words ring true! For we live in such a time. A time that the Prophet Isaiah warned us of. A time of which he spoke of, “when evil would be portrayed as good, and good would be portrayed as evil.” A time when the Son of God is seen by the vast majority of people as just a good man, and that his being the Son of God a mere myth. A time when objective truth, which has been the foundation of our civilization for the last two millennia, is also considered a myth, and summarily denied. A time when Christ’s teachings on the meaning of true discipleship are supplanted by the masses in exchange for a pagan, hedonistic lifestyle with its singular focus on the pursuit of personal pleasure.

If Tolkien were alive today, I believe he would be saying much the same things. Tolkien was a visionary, who saw the weaknesses of humanity that, under the right circumstances, could be exploited and ultimately used to enslave many. Which he depicted in the power of the rings!

One need only look at the various addictions that plague our society to realize the truth of the matter. By all appearances, there is little to no effort undertaken to eradicate these addictions, as they serve only to enslave.

He was certainly not alone in his dire concerns for humanity in the foreseeable future. Like Aldous Huxley, the author of “Brave New World”, and George Orwell, the author of “Animal Farm” and “1984”, his views on the plight of humanity in a society filled with injustice and great suffering, are decidedly dystopian in nature. But unlike the others, his views contain a prevailing message, that in the end, good will conquer evil.

Indeed, central to each of these three men’s writings is that humanity will encounter such a dystopian future. How prescient they appear to have been! As their visions of humanity’s future are unfolding right before our eyes! (Read more.)