Tea at Trianon: The Lion and the Legacy

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, May 20, 2025

The Lion and the Legacy

I have been invited to write some articles to celebrate our 250 years as an independent nation. From Talbot250:

If I had ever seen the red lion of Talbot County as a child, I would have immediately thought of Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia, a series I loved. What child can forget the moment when Aslan gives Peter a shield with the red lion upon it? That image stuck with me and deepened my fascination with lions—creatures that have symbolized royalty, courage, and fierce protection in stories throughout history.
The lion has long represented power, bravery, and nobility. It has appeared in ancient myths, the Bible, and even among the stars. While African lions were most familiar to Europeans, early settlers in North America wrote of seeing “lyons” along the shores of the “Chisapeack.” These were likely cougars or bobcats, predators that thrived in the dense forests and hunted the large herds of deer. The wild beauty of these animals was part of the landscape that early trappers and settlers encountered, adding a local echo to the lion on the county’s seal. (Read more.)