Tea at Trianon: Flower Moon

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

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Flower Moon

From Live Science:

May's full moon, known as the Flower Moon, will be at its fullest on Thursday, May 23, and shine close to the bright star Antares. The moon will also appear bright and full on Wednesday and Friday. May's full moon is called the Flower Moon, after the plentiful flowers that bloom during this month in the Northern Hemisphere, according to Timeanddate.com. Other names for May's full moon include the Milk Moon, Mothers' Moon, Bright Moon, Hare Moon and Grass Moon. Many Anishinaabe, or Ojibwe, Indigenous people of the Great Lakes region know it as Nimebine Giizis, or Sucker Moon, according to the Center for Native American Studies. Since the moon turns full at 9:53 a.m. EDT on May 23, there is no ideal time this month to watch the full moon rise in a twilight sky. On Wednesday, May 22, it will rise just before the sun sets, while on Thursday, May 23, it will rise about 50 minutes later, long after sunset, in near-darkness.(Read more.)