It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this world a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, glittering
like the 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 fallen 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 that threatened
her with insult.
But the age of chivalry is gone and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. Never, never
more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified
obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of
an exalted freedom! It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honor, which felt a
stain like a wound, which inspired courage while it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it
touched.
Adapted from Edmund Burke, "On the Death of Marie Antoinette"
Based on the excerpt, what is the purpose of Edmund Burke's
speech?