John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
4417 Edmund Burke 1729-1797 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 4417 |
| AUTHOR: | Edmund Burke (1729–1797) |
| QUOTATION: | It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely 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 just began to move in,—glittering like the morning star full of life and splendour and joy…. Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men,—in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 331. |