Tea at Trianon: The New Jane Austen TV Series

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, February 6, 2025

The New Jane Austen TV Series

From House and Garden:

Set in 1830 and 1840, 13 and 23 years after Jane’s passing, the story begins when Cassandra visits Isabella (Rose Leslie of Game of Thrones fame), the niece of her long-dead fiancé, who is on the verge of losing her home following her father’s death. While she appears to be there to support Isabella, Cassandra’s true mission is to recover a hidden bundle of private letters that could jeopardise Jane’s reputation. As she uncovers them, she is transported back in time, reliving the joys and heartbreaks of her youth. Flashbacks introduce Young Cassy (Synnøve Karlsen) and Jane (Patsy Ferran), as they experience the romantic entanglements, friendships, and disappointments that shaped their lives and inspired Jane’s timeless novels. (Read more.)