1802 | Project Gothic

The Adventures of Capt. Duncan

The Adventures of Capt. Duncan, A Journey From Europe, Over The Arabian Deserts, To the British Settlements in India; Containing, Among Other Particulars, An Account Of The Perils he experienced in those terrific Regions, The Eccentric Humours of His Tartarian Guide, His Shipwreck, and Distresses In The War With Hyder Ally, &c.

Author: Mary Anne Radcliffe
Publisher: Thomas Hurst
Publication Year: 1802
Language: English
Book Dimensions: 11.5cm x 19cm
Pages: 36
University of Virginia Library Catalog Entry, Sadleir-Black Collection: PZ2.R345 1802

Dubiously attributed to Mary Anne Radcliffe when published in 1802, this chapbook tracks a captain’s journey across what’s east of England

Material History

The Sadleir-Black Collection edition of The Adventures of Capt. Duncan wears its history well. Despite its age, the book has maintained its blue cover, bound by a thick string. Frayed and whittled down on the sides, the cover sheets are thinner and frailer than the sheets containing the book’s text, perhaps indicating that the covers have borne the brunt of the wear and tear. The exterior cover notes an extravagant number of salesmen across England responsible for the publishing of the book. The interior cover recognizes this edition as the premium printing copy of the story, costing an additional three pence, up to a total of nine. That distinction, as a premium publication, likely enabled the cover’s survival, as this edition supplied a superior set of craftsmanship and materials.

The bluebook cover of *The Adventures of Captain Duncan*

With regards to the pages, The Adventures of Capt. Duncan is relatively short. Even amongst these few pages, they are uneven, jetting outward or inward, indicating some combination of both uneven page-cutting and the wear of centuries. The pages themselves are brittle, dry, and yellowed, yet firmer than the cover. When turning the pages, they tend to crunch a bit and move with rigidity.

Following the initial pages that note the book’s publication information, there is an illustration of Captain Duncan in his armor. This serves as a frontispiece, with the inelaborate title The Adventures of Capt. Duncan. On the very next page, the expansive title takes up a full page, declaring The Adventures of Capt. Duncan, A Journey From Europe, Over The Arabian Deserts, To the British Settlements in India; Containing, Among Other Particulars, An Account Of The Perils he experienced in those terrific Regions, The Eccentric Humours of His Tartarian Guide, His Shipwreck, and Distresses In The War With Hyder Ally, &c. This title uses an array of fonts, spacings, and capitalizations on the page, ranging from robotic, direct fonts, to floral and italicized fonts. On the cover, there is a similar mixing of fonts. There are variations even among the spaces between the letters within words, as well as the spacing between lines.

The rest of the book is not nearly as unique. The text itself is fairly plain. There is little spacing between lines and a 1.5 to 2 centimeter margin on the pages. The book is brief, at only thirty-six pages, in the style of gothic chapbooks. The back cover of the book shares the same physical qualities as the blue front cover: it is thin, fragile, and is more sparsely populated with printed text.

Textual History

The Adventures of Captain Duncan was one of two installations in Radclife’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine (Brown et al). The magazine’s publishers hoped the magazine would “contain an elegant & chaste collection of Original Novels, Tales, Romances, Lives, Memoirs, Voyages, Travels, &c. together with a judicious Selection from the Writings of those Authors, whose works have in any degree excited public notoriety” but after those first two issues, the project was abandoned (quoted in Potter 64).

The preface of *The Adventures of Captain Duncan*

As a chapbook, The Adventures of Captain Duncan holds a small place in the larger chapbook publishing landscape. From roughly the late 1790s to the early 1800s, Thomas Hurst published gothic chapbooks from his office at 32 Paternoster Row. He was integral in many of the gothic chapbooks published between 1798 and 1803, including The Adventures of Captain Duncan. Hurst spearheaded the serial Radclife’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine, and was also the exclusive seller in England, while the rest of the magazines were sold in Scotland (Potter 64). Another gentleman, Thomas Brown, joined Hurst in publishing Radcliffe’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine, as well as The Marvelous Magazine (Potter 64–5).

As the eighteenth century turned to the nineteenth, chapbooks were sold with practices that echo modern multi-level marketing schemes. The primary distributor (Thomas Hurst, for example) would collect a group of subordinates to sell the chapbooks, with the option to sell the books individually or further distribute them to other sellers (Potter 67). Booksellers’ advertisements in newspapers and such reveal an extensive network of this wholesale distribution (Potter 67–8).

Mary Anne Radcliffe was billed as the writer, compiler, and editor of Radclife’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine. Her name immediately begets ambiguity with its similarities to the well-known Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe, but that is not where the issues end. Mary Anne Radcliffe was certainly a real person. She was born Mary Clayton of Nottingham. She was well educated, considering her status and gender (Brown et al). At the mere age of fourteen, she married Joseph Radcliffe, giving her the fateful Radcliffe name. Following her marriage, she dotted across England between Edinburgh, London, and Nottingham (Brown et al). Mary Anne Radcliffe certainly wrote as well. The works most clearly attributable to her are The Female Advocate; or An Attempt to Recover the Rights of Women from Male Usurpation and Memoirs … in Familiar Letters to Her Female Friend. Scholars have doubted her other attributed works, however, which include an array of gothic novels as well as translations of foreign novels (Brown et al).

The frontispiece for *The Adventures of Captain Duncan*

Most modern scholarship focuses on Mary Anne Radcliffe’s larger Gothic novels rather than her chapbooks, but they reveal a larger practice of misattribution, where certain publishers attached Mary Anne Radcliffe’s name to books in an attempt to sell more—relying on her proximity to Ann Radcliffe’s name (Garside et al). Some of Mary Anne Radcliffe’s attributions are more suspect than others. One such novel, Radzivil, was attributed to her several years after publication. The Fate of Velina de Guidova, which is a translation from Russian that is set in France, was attributed after an even greater wait (Brown et al). Both novels focus on material entirely distinct from The Female Advocate and point to a different author entirely (Brown et al).

Radclife’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine has fewer suspect circumstances but still exists within the context of those other misattributions. The magazine correctly identifies Mary Anne Radcliffe’s address and she was attributed at the time of publishing (Brown et al). Some modern scholars are skeptical of Mary Anne Radcliffe being the true author or editor of the pocket magazine, but it nevertheless holds a sharper connection than her other attributions (Garside et al). Whether Mary Anne Radcliffe truly wrote and edited for the magazine or someone else did, The Adventures of Captain Duncan remains a valuable part of the history of chapbooks in England.

Narrative Point of View

The Adventures of Captain Duncan switches between an unidentified third-person narrator and the first-person narration of Captain Duncan, through what appears to be a set of direct statements from Duncan. The third-person narrator functions as an interpreter of those notes. Both styles delve into the captain’s emotions, but his first-person interjections serve as sharper confirmations of the preceding paraphrases of the narrator.

Sample Passage:

As the Captain became familiarised to his Tartar guide, he found him a fellow of infinite humour and much humanity, well acquainted with the world, and endeavoring all he could to alleviate the gloom that frequently clouded his countenance. One principal object with him seemed to be to impress the Captain with an idea of his high importance as a messenger belonging to the Sultan, and that his authority wherever he came was not to be disputed. “ Thus,” says Capt. Duncan, “ whenever we stopped at a Caravansera, he immediately called about him, in the name of the Sultan, for fresh horses, victuals, &c. And though the utmost submission was shown to his will, he nevertheless frequently exhibited his muscular powers by unmercifully belaboring all indiscriminately with his whip, and I was afraid to interfere, fearful that he might think it necessary to give me a flogging to avoid suspicion.” (15)

These two modes of narration function within the larger historical implications of The Adventures of Captain Duncan, an international story that has the power to shape English understandings of lands and cultures beyond England. The reports of Captain Duncan thus operate as a historical primary source within this fictional text. This adds a sense of realism, because it seems as though these could be the words of a real man, who had a real story, who is being studied by a real person. Additionally, several times throughout the book, there are extended passages explaining local customs, none more prominently than when the text explains that during Hajj, in Mecca, the worshippers “enter the former [Masjid al-Haram], and, walking seven times round the little building contained within it, say, ‘This is the house of God and of his servant Abraham’” (10–11). These insights into other cultures gain veracity the same way Captain Duncan’s own story does: through the book’s presentation of his journals as a primary source within the narration.

Summary

Captain Duncan’s journey begins as any journey does: with a departure. In May 1781, he receives word that he must go to India to help sort out his father’s affairs. Duncan leaves his spouse and two daughters in England. Rather than directly sail around the Cape of Good Hope, he travels over land, across Europe and the Middle East en route to India. He dots between European cities like Brussels, Venice, and Augsburg. In Augsburg, Duncan finds himself in a church when a friar indulges him in drink, issuing vague religious proclamations about his journey. The friar is welcoming, joyful, and telling stories that keep Duncan enthralled before continuing his journey.

The title page of *The Adventures of Captain Duncan*

He reaches a fork in the road at Venice, deciding whether to travel directly through Syria or through Egypt. After opting for a boat ride to Egypt, he meets a young English woman he hopes to bring with him to India, but her guardian stops his pursuits. When he lands in Alexandria, he still heads through Syria, taking his longest stop at Aleppo. His journey is largely defined by the different British people he meets along his travels, and Aleppo is no different. Those expatriates offer comfort, refuge, and rescue to Duncan throughout his trek. He connects with a large, traveling caravan going towards Mecca; one large enough to withstand bands of robbers along their path. It eventually links up with a few more caravans, each boasting legions of soldiers and beasts to fortify their trip.

Once he reaches Mecca, he meets yet another woman who wants to run away, this one suffering in the clutches of an older husband. With their plan hatched, Captain Duncan is quite prepared to sneak away, but the British Consul hears of this scheme and shuts it down. Duncan even faces local legal trouble resultant from his infringement upon a legal marriage, but the Consul smuggles him out of town with a Turkish guide.

The captain quickly irritates the overbearing guide with his mocking of the guide’s sense of seriousness and superiority, leading to some scuffles over horses and such. He specifically objects further when the guide traffics several women via their traveling party, but to no avail. They eventually reach Mosul, where their partnership ends and the captain links up with an Armenian merchant to assist him in his travels. The merchant brings him to the last leg of his journey, where he boards a ship to take him to India.

However, calamity strikes and they misjudge the monsoon patterns of the waterway and condemn their ship to ruin. Despite battling the waters and waves, the ship collapses when a hurricane forms and the crewmates subsequently drift across the sea. They wash ashore at Hydernagur, where Indian locals, who do not take kindly to British colonizers, capture them.

This page introduces traveling actions of the story

When leader Hyder Ally finds out that Captain Duncan is the son of the renowned Colonel Duncan, he wishes to turn Captain Duncan to his side in the war. At first, it comes in bribes, where Hyder offers men and money, but it later comes in threats, where Hyder’s men temporarily hang and torture Captain Duncan, before eventually conceding.

Duncan has a British companion in these troubles, one Mr. Wall. Mr. Wall came on this journey out of financial necessity; he was in love with a woman, and his previously wealthy father had wasted his riches on some poor investments, leaving him destitute and unable to wed. He came to India to try to recoup some wealth, enough to get married. But Mr. Wall never returns to England and dies in Hydernagur, shackled at the feet to the still-living Captain Duncan.

There is still another English expatriate, however, for General Matthews marched into town to save Captain Duncan from his captors. After gaining freedom, Duncan enlists as a negotiator between British and Jemadar forces, who are an independent sect of forces who revolted from Hyder Ally’s son, Tippoo Sahib. The British military wants Jemadar’s support to help gain a valuable garrison to fight back against Sahib. Successful in these negotiations, Captain Duncan continues on his journey, moving farther across India before even venturing out to China. He finally returns to England some three and a half years later.

Bibliography

Brown, Susan, Patricia Clements, and Isobel Grundy, eds. “Mary Ann Radcliffe: Writing.” Orlando: Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Online, 2006. http://orlando.cambridge.org 3 November 2021.

P. D. Garside, with J. E. Belanger, A. A. Mandal, and S. A. Ragaz. “The English Novel, 1800–1829: Update 4 (June 2003–August 2003).” Cardiff Corvey: Reading the Romantic Text 12 (Summer 2004). http://www.romtext.org.uk/reports/engnov4/ 3 November 2021.

Potter, Franz J. Gothic Chapbooks, Bluebooks and Shilling Shockers, 1797–1830, University of Wales Press, 2021.

Radcliffe, Mary Anne. The Adventures of Captain Duncan. London, Hurst, 1802.

Researcher: Yusuf Ragab Hacking

The Secret Oath

The Secret Oath: Or Blood-stained Dagger, a Romance

Author: Mary Anne Radcliffe
Publisher: Tegg and Castleman
Publication Year: 1802
Language: English
Book Dimensions: 11cm x 18cm
Pages: 68
University of Virginia Library Catalog Entry, Sadleir-Black Collection: PZ2.E575

This story written by Mary Anne Radcliffe in 1802 follows a family left destitute after the French Revolution and their quest to start a new life. The only thing in their way is a string of murders.

Material History

The Secret Oath or Blood-Stained Dagger, a Romance is the second story in volume one of The Entertainer. Seven stories make up the volume, each containing seventy-two pages, except for The Secret Oath (sixty-eight pages) and Frederic Staun, or the Revenge of Disappointment (four pages). Each time a new story starts, the page numbers restart, with the exception of Frederic Staun, or the Revenge of Disappointment, which continues pagination from the previous story, The Secret Oath, to result in a total of seventy-two pages. Each story has seventy-two pages because it matches the method of folding used to bind books at this time. The volume is bound in brown, acid-splattered leather and has gold lettering of The Entertainer on the spine. The text block has blue speckles for decoration. The Entertainer vol. 1 measures 18cm in height, 11cm in width, and 3cm in thickness.

In the front cover, there is a handwritten table of contents and a list of exact duplicates also in the Sadleir Black Collection. Overall, the pages of the book are in good condition. All the text in The Secret Oath is readable apart from a small hole with a diameter of about 0.5cm on page 61, but this does not affect the overall understanding of the text. The pages inThe Secret Oath or Blood-Stained Dagger, a Romance and Frederic Staun, or the Revenge of Disappointment are a slightly darker brown than the rest of the stories. This discoloration is caused by different types of paper used in the volume.

The pages in The Secret Oath use a consistent font and single-spaced lines. The margins differ due to folding techniques. The left-hand pages have side margins of 1cm while the right-hand pages have side margins of 0.5cm. The top margin for a page is either 1 or 2 cm. Each page has the title The Secret Oath on the top. The margin at the bottom of all the pages is 1cm. At the bottom of some right-hand pages, there are signature marks that indicate how the book should be folded. They start with “Ii” and end with “Oo3”. On the last page of the story, the word “Frederic” is present as a catch word for the book maker to know which story goes next. Frederic Staun, or the Revenge of Disappointment was added after The Secret Oath to make the section 72 pages for folding purposes.

At the start of The Secret Oath, there is a title page that reads “The // Secret Oath // or // Blood-Stained Dagger, // a Romance” with a black and white illustration of a house in front of the woods. To the left of the title page, there is another illustration depicting a character reaching for a dagger while looking at a statue of a woman and her baby. This black and white illustration of a woman bled on to the title page and can be seen in a faint brown outline.

Textual History

This edition was printed by J. H. Hart and published for Tegg and Castleman in London on November 1, 1802. There is another edition of this chapbook in the University of Virginia Special Collections Library printed by T. Plummer and published for T. Hurst in London on November 1, 1802. The chapbook has many existing editions both in libraries and as online scans. For instance, there is a version in volume one of the second edition of The Marvelous Magazine published by T. Hurst.

Handwritten table of contents in the flyleaf and endpaper of *The Entertainer*

The author of The Secret Oath is not present on the title page or frontispiece. However, another chapbook entitled Monkish Mysteries; Or, the Miraculous Escape: Containing the History and the Villanies of the Monk Bertrand; The Detection of His Impious Frauds, and Subsequent Repentance and Retribution includes a printed note that says: “The whole written, adjusted and compiled solely for this work, by Mrs. Mary Anne Radclife, of Wimbledon in Surrey, author of the Secret oath, or blood-stained dagger” (Radcliffe Monkish Mysteries 2). This connects Mary Anne Radclife, usually spelled “Radcliffe,” to the The Secret Oath. There is another book in the University of Virginia Special Collections Library that includes the same note connecting Mary Anne Radcliffe to The Secret Oath called The Adventures of Capt. Duncan, A Journey From Europe, Over the Arabian Deserts, to the British Settlements in India; : Containing, Among Other Particulars, an Account of the Perils He Experienced in Those Terrific Regions, the Eccentric Humors of His Tartarian Guide, His Shipwreck, and Distresses in the War With Hyder Ally, &C (Radcliffe Adventures 2).

Mary Anne Radcliffe was born in 1746 to James Clayton and Sarah née Bladderwick (Grundy). Her father died when she was four, and she was educated at Bar Convent in York, England. After fourteen years of life, she married Joseph Radcliffe, age thirty-five, in an elopement and had eight children with him throughout their marriage.

Her most known works include The Female Advocate (1799), Radcliffe’s New Novelist Pocket Magazine (1802), and Memoirs… in Familiar Letters to her Female Friend (1810). Some of these works are similar to The Secret Oath in the sense that they are sensationalized stories written for cheap entertainment, but others follow a feminist perspective on life and create arguments about more serious topics such as the shrinking job market for women and the risk of prostitution. Radcliffe was advertised in newspapers as an elegant entertainment writer, and her Radcliffe’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine was sold for six-pence at the time of its release (“Advertisements and Newspapers” 4). This magazine, which is more like a collection of stories, includes The Secret Oath. Radcliffe’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine was published by Thomas Hurst.

Isobel Grundy suggests that Radcliffe requested that her name remain out of some of her pieces, but that this was not always respected. Specifically, Radcliffe’s name was put on The Female Advocate despite her wish to remain anonymous. This connected her to Radcliffe’s New Novelist’s Pocket Magazine and other chapbooks. Her publisher was also known to switch published works with a different author’s name to Radcliffe’s name after the first edition of a book had been published. For example, The Mysterious Baron (1808) was switched from Eliza Ratcliffe to Mary Anne Radcliffe after its initial print (Grundy). The reason for these changes is unknown, but it is likely that the publisher was using the similarities between Radcliffe’s name and the more famous Ann Radcliffe, author of A Sicilian Romance (1790), to catch the eye of readers. Another possibility is that Radcliffe used a false name for some books in order to remain more anonymous.

After having eight children and publishing many works focusing on topics from thrilling murders to the issues of women, Radcliffe died of a health decline in August of 1818 and is buried in Old Calton cemetery, Edinburgh (Grundy).

Narrative Point of View

The Secret Oath is narrated in third-person past tense. The narrator is omniscient and never appears as a character in the text. The narration focuses on characters’ actions and emotions and uses long sentences separated by commas for each thought. The narrator does not focus on the setting and does not use descriptive language to describe the environment. The focus is on the actions of characters in the story and the feelings of each character.

Sample Passage:

They entered the old cabriolet, and after a rude journey arrived at Maschere, where they entered an Inn, and a surgeon was sent for to dress the Marquis’s wounds. – He pronounced it impossible to proceed on the journey without endangering his patient’s life ; in consequence of which, the Marchioness hired some apartments at a farm-house, on the road to Caffagiolo, contiguous to his surgeon. De Montfort had mental as well as bodily wounds to struggle with : he con-sidered himself as the murderer of Dorville–he, who had preserved his life, and illuminated the gloom of exile with the balm of friendship. – His daughter also felt a perpetual pang in the reflection that Dorville, whom she esteemed more than any man living, had been slain by her father’s hand ! (33–4)

This excerpt demonstrates how the narrator focuses on the emotions and actions of each character over any other aspect of the story. With its third-person point of view, the narration takes away any bias that a first-person perspective would have, but this does not take away all of the suspense. Omniscient narration here gives an insight to all the characters’ feelings and experiences, which tie into the universal knowledge of the narrator, but some details are left out throughout the novel to maintain suspense. How a person is feeling is not left a secret, but their fate is unknown until an action comes to determine it. This stylistic choice keeps the story mysterious while also providing insight to each character’s interiority.

Summary

A Secret Oath or Blood-Stained Dagger, a Romance follows an ex-Marquis named Albert de Montfort, his wife Madame de Montfort, and his daughter Serina. The book describes how the family is forced to flee from Paris, France in 1792 during the French revolution. After fourteen years of poverty following their escape, de Montfort accepts an invitation from his deceased father’s godson, M. Dodier, to stay at his chateau until the family can get back on their feet. De Montfort is hesitant to accept because M. Dodier received the de Montfort family fortune after the death of Albert de Montfort’s father, and there is a lack of trust between the two men. Serina convinces her father to accept the invitation and the family moves to the chateau. The house is completely empty except for Aquilina and Orsano Cormazzo, the mysterious caretakers of the property.

Frontispiece for *The Secret Oath* depicting Serina de Montfort

One day, de Montfort comes home covered in blood after gambling with friends. He claims that he was trying to save a dying man in the woods. Law enforcement accuses him of the murder, and they discover evidence in Madame de Montfort and Serina’s rooms that also connect them to the crime. De Montfort and his family are taken to prison in a faraway town, but one by one they avoid their sentence with the help of various people. Serina’s helper saves her under the condition that she marry Argand, M. Dodier’s son. Next, Madame de Montfort is released after the murder victim is revealed to have survived. She reunites with Serina after hearing rumors of her location. De Montfort was the last to be released. On the way to find his family, the living victim of the attack, Dorville, offers to help find his wife and daughter because he feels bad that de Montfort was sent to prison for no reason. De Montfort accepts, and eventually they find Madame and Serina. De Montfort makes it clear that Serina will not be marrying Argand because he does not want the man who took his family inheritance to take his daughter too. M. Dodier kicks the family out of the chateau, and Dorville offers to let the family stay in his mansion a few cities away.

They travel through France to get to Dorville’s home. Dorville and Serina become close. While staying in an apartment overnight, Serina wakes to a man in a black mask holding a dagger above her heart. The masked man realizes he has the wrong person and claims that if she keeps this visit a secret then her father may live, but if she says anything he will kill her father and Dorville. Serina swears the secret oath, and the man gives her an ebony crucifix with the word “Remember!” carved on the back as a reminder of her promise (21).

After her visit by the mysterious man, Serina goes to a church to confess. After she divulges her oath, the abbot demands that she stay in the church for six months to pray in darkness. She has no escape from her punishment and is brought to a garden to pray. In this garden, a mysterious man helps her escape. Once the pair is over the wall, there is a fight between new attackers and Serina’s helper. Serina’s helper reigns victorious in the fight. However, Serina’s father was planning on saving her too, and when he sees the man and Serina surrounded by bodies, de Montfort attacks the man and kills him. Serina sees that her helper was Dorville. She is extremely sad but must run from the church to avoid another imprisonment.

The family adopts the false name of Berthier to protect their identity. With the help of an attorney named Cattivo, they purchase an apartment and stay out of the public eye. Since the family has no money, de Montfort uses a ring that he won while gambling as payment. Cattivo takes a liking to Serina and demands her hand in marriage. The family says no, and Cattivo threatens to blackmail the Berthiers unless Serina marries him. They still say no, so Cattivo takes de Montfort to court and accuses him of stealing the ring that was used to pay for the apartment. The ring is found to belong to a Count Cuculli, a man de Montfort used to gamble with. The count arrives at court, recognizes de Montfort as the accused “M. Berthier”, and drops all charges because he trusts de Montfort’s integrity.

After de Montfort is released from jail, he receives a note that he should go to the count’s mansion. De Montfort runs over to the mansion and finds his wife and daughter. They tell de Montfort that the count discovered a plot to hurt Serina. The count decided to keep watch over their room while de Montfort was in jail awaiting release. Men came and attacked the two ladies, but the count stabbed one attacker, who was later revealed to be M. Dodier, and saved the women. Serina and Madame de Montfort stayed with the count until de Montfort was released. They continue to stay with the count as a family.

One day, Serina is basking in the sunlight when Dorville appears and starts talking to her. He rambles about how he is married to a sickly woman and how he was manipulated by another woman named Maria. Serina is in near hysterics that he is alive, so they agree to meet the next day and talk once she has calmed down. The next day, Dorville says that he never left his home until now, so the man that de Montfort killed in the church garden was not him. However, during this time, he was forced to marry a sickly woman even though they did not love each other. Serina is crushed that Dorville is married, but de Montfort is happy that Dorville is not dead and invites him to stay with them in the count’s house.

Sample text of page 63 of *The Secret Oath*

After talking all night about Dorville’s journey, the two men make connections about the past. During the time de Montfort thought he was dead, Dorville visited the house of Monsieur Beaulieu, a wealthy man with a much younger wife named Maria. Dorville was seduced by Maria and almost fell for her. However, he realized that she only wanted his money. Maria was known to have many men in her life, one of note being Cattivo. He confessed that he loved Serina to get out of the relationship. After this story is told, the men figure out that Maria is the person who is responsible for the attacks on Serina. Her jealousy has made her vengeful. It is revealed that she enlisted Cattivo to kill Serina. The men decide to go to the house of Maria to confront her.

At the house, Dorville learns nothing from Maria. While they talk, de Montfort witnesses the murder of Monsieur Beaulieu, Maria’s husband. De Montfort is accused of the murder. Dorville pressures Maria to testify in court on de Montfort’s behalf, and she agrees. She clears de Montfort’s name and blames the murder on Cattivo, the attorney who sold the Montfort’s their old apartment and who is also Maria’s lover. After Monsieur Beaulieu’s death, the men bring the rest of the Montfort family to the house of Monsieur Beaulieu. The motive behind some attacks is unclear until M. Dodier shows up to the house and asks to confess his crimes. He suffers from a stab wound that was inflicted a few days ago and fears that he will die. He admits that the entire plot to kill de Montfort was based on revenge because de Montfort said that his son could not marry Serina. He attempted to kill de Montfort in the woods of the chateau, but he accidentally attacked Dorville. This left a witness to his crimes, so M. Dodier tried to eliminate Dorville again, but this time he accidentally went to Serina’s room. He was the masked man that made her swear the secret oath. Before M. Dodier could say more, he died of the stab wound the count gave him while protecting Serina. In the end, Maria tries to flee the country with Cattivo to avoid imprisonment for her murder plot, but Cattivo murders Maria because she accused him in the trial of her husband’s death. Serina and Dorville get married after Dorville’s first wife died of sickness, and the entire family moved to England in search of financial prosperity.

Bibliography

“Advertisement and Notices.” Northampton Mercury, 28 Aug. 1802, 1–4. British Library Newspapers, link.gale.com/apps/doc/GR3218890636/BNCN?u=viva_uva&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=a13a0781. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

Grundy, Isobel. “Radcliffe, Mary Ann (b. c. 1746, d. in or after 1810), Writer.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 23 Sept. 2004, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/37876. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

Radcliffe, Mary Anne. The Adventures of Capt. Duncan, A Journey From Europe, Over the Arabian Deserts, to the British Settlements In India; : Containing, Among Other Particulars, an Account of the Perils He Experienced In Those Terrific Regions, the Eccentric Humors of His Tartarian Guide, His Shipwreck, and Distresses In the War With Hyder Ally, &C. London, T. Hurst, 1802. Nineteenth Century Collections Online,
https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u4351511. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

——. Monkish Mysteries; Or, the Miraculous Escape: Containing the History and the Villanies of the Monk Bertrand; :The Detection of His Impious Frauds, and Subsequent Repentance and Retribution. Nottingham, T. Hurst, 1802. Nineteenth Century Collections Online, https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u4351072. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

——. The Secret Oath: Or Blood-stained Dagger, a Romance. London 2nd ed., vol. 1, Printed for T. Hurst, 1802. Nineteenth Century Collections Online, https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u835942. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

——. The Secret Oath: Or Blood-stained Dagger, a Romance. London, Tegg and Castleman, 1802. Nineteenth Century Collections Online, https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u835019. Accessed 4 Nov. 2021.

Researcher: D. Smith

Paul and Virginia

The History of Paul and Virginia; or the Shipwreck

Author: Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
Publisher: T. Maiden, Ann Lemoine
Publication Year: 1802
Language: English
Book Dimensions: 10.8 x 17.8
Pages: 48
University of Virginia Library Catalog Entry, Sadleir-Black Collection: PZ2.S36 H 1802

This chapbook, set on the island of Mauritius, tells the forbidden love story of two best friends. The author, Bernardin, lived on this island for a short period and part of this story was inspired by an actual shipwreck he witnessed there.

Material History

The volume is 17.8 cm long, 10.8 cm wide. The book lacks a cover and the pages are held together by a half-worn binding spine. The first page is blank and does not include any information like the author’s name or title of the book. This shows that the book had a cover once but was torn off over time. There is a big sticker on the upper left of the first page indicating that the book is the property of the Sadleir-Black Collection. The last page of the book also acts as the last page of the story. There is a relatively larger “FINIS.” printed at the bottom center of the final page. Also printed at the very bottom of this page is “Printed by T. Maiden Sherbourne Lane,” indicating the exact location where the book was produced.

The book does not include any chapters. From beginning to end, the text is continuous and not interrupted by any titles or subtitles which explains why there is not a table of contents page at the beginning of the book.

Turning the pages requires full attention because they are very light and delicate. The first two pages have noticeable discoloration from age. Other pages have some brown and yellow spots resembling fingerprints, but they are mostly in a good condition. Also, on a few pages, there are some deformations in letters that make the reading challenging but not impossible.

At the top of the first page, there is a shortened title of the book, “Paul and Virginia.” This frontispiece page contains an illustration from one of the most thrilling incidents of the book. We see the devastated face of Paul and his companion mourning near Virginia’s dead body. Also, in the background, there is a sinking ship that gives some clue regarding how this incident might have occurred. Below the illustration, there is a caption: “The corpse of Virginia discovered upon the beach” and a page number (41) indicating where in the story this event occurs.

The title page follows, containing the full title of the book, “The History of Paul and Virginia or the Shipwreck.” The title is written with bold and varying font sizes. Some letters have extra inks on them which gives a spillover feeling. The title is followed by the author’s name which is the first and only time it appears. After the author’s name, there is a shipwreck illustration which is a similar version of the frontispiece. At the bottom of the page, the publication details are included which gives information about the publication location, the printer’s name, address of the publication facility, and the publication date. At the very bottom of the page, the price of the book included as “[Price Six-Pence.]”

Textual History

This chapbook is an abridgement of a much longer novel originally published in French by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Paul and Virginia was first published in 1788 as the fourth volume of Studies of Nature in the French language with the original title of Paul et Virginie. The book was translated to English in 1789, for the first time by Daniel Malthus as Paul and Mary: An Indian Story, published in London. The novel is considered the first extensive exotic novel in France, and nineteenth-century authors quoted the book many times. Even though Bernardin’s most famous work is Paul and Virginia, he published many other books as a volume of Studies of Nature. As a result, he became a very popular literary figure during the French Revolution. The king granted him the administration of “Garden of the King” in July 1972 as a result of his literary accomplishments. After the revolution, Bernardin served as a professor of republican morality in the Ecole Normale Supérievre (Cook).

This page includes a letter attributed to the novel’s main character Virginia

It is believed that, in 1777, Bernardin read selections from Paul and Virginia before its publication in the salon of Suzanne Necker (Cook). Hence, there is a good possibility that Bernardin started to work on his novel over ten years before its publication date. He finished the luxury quarto editing of the novel in 1806. This edition had gorgeous illustrations and designs but did not sell as much as expected. Cook notes that Paul and Virginia “has never been out of print.”

The story of Paul and Virginia is based on an island. A New York Times article, “The First Idea of Paul and Virginia,” explains that Bernardin was designated as an engineer on Madagascar in charge of the road construction team. After over five months of an exhausting voyage, he learned that he had been called in to manage the slave trade. He refused to go to Madagascar and remained instead on the Isle of France. He could not make any friends there because of his political opinions and lived in a solitary state with his only friend, a dog. He spent most of his time studying botany and natural history, and witnessed the wreck of a St. Gérant ship while he was living there. Everyone in the ship died except seven sailors. The Times article explains that the captain of the ship refused to take off his clothes and swim to the shore even though he had the opportunity. It is suggested that Bernardin watched all the incidents from the shore and that this story inspired the author greatly. When Bernardin wrote Paul et Virginie, he changed very few details of this incident.

Paul and Virginia was performed as an opera many times in Europe and North America, including the 1806 production Paul and Virginia: A Musical Entertainment, in Two Acts written by James Cobb. Even though the main scenario of the book was not changed, Cobb added some new characters to the script that do not appear in the book. Another notable opera adaptation was written by well-known French composer Victor Masse. Another New York Times article, “Affairs in France,” gives important details about how Bernardin’s character of Virginia was shaped. According to this article, in regards to the captain who went down with the shipwreck, “It would not be appropriate for a man of his position and dignity to arrive on shore entirely naked; besides he also has valuable state papers.” By contrast, Bernardin’s fictional Virginia was on the same ship and she actually swam to shore almost entirely naked. Virginia was not actually drowned because of her modesty, but the captain was.

Narrative Point of View

The History of Paul and Virginia is narrated in third person by an anonymous narrator with an omniscient point of view. The novel is written in the past tense without using flourished language. The narrator does not dive into the characters’ psychology; instead, the narrator uses simple expressive sentences to describe characters’ internal features and emotions. The story is told by using many flashbacks via Virginia’s letters to her mother which helps the novel to be more dramatic.

Sample Passage:

In this manner lived those children of nature. No care had troubled their peace, no intemperance had corrupted their blood, no misplaced passion had depraved their hearts. Love, innocence, and piety, possessed their souls: and those intellectual graces unfolded themselves in their features, their attitudes, and their motions. Still in the morning of life, they had all its blooming freshness: and surely such in the garden of Eden appeared our first parents, when coming from the hands of God, they first saw, and approached each other, and conversed together, like brother and sister. Virginia was gentle, modest, and confiding as Eve; and Paul, like Adam, united the stature of manhood with the simplicity of a child. (19)

In the novel, characters generally express themselves with dialogue, however, from time to time the narrator intervenes to portray their relationship in a wider context. The narration in this passage accounts for the intensity of Virginia and Paul’s affection for each other. The narrator justifies why it is morally and even Biblically right for Paul and Virginia to be together by emphasizing the innocence and purity of their relationship and aligning their romantic relationship with the bond of siblings, both of which are encompassed here by the comparison with Adam and Eve.

Summary

The novel starts with a long description of the island of Mauritius. The island is described as having a pleasant unbounded landscape that gives the feeling of having uninterrupted solitude to those who live there. The story of Paul and Virginia starts with the narration of an old man. He begins the story by telling important parts of Monsieur de la Tour’s life.

The opening page for *Paul and Virginia*

Monsieur de la Tour is a soldier in the French army. He decides to seek his fortune on the island of Mauritius and arrives there in 1726. He brings Madame la Tour with him to settle down and live a peaceful life. Monsieur and Madame de la Tour come from two different social classes. She belongs to a rich and noble family, while he belongs to an ordinary family without high social status. Even though her parents do not approve of this marriage, they marry without obtaining her parents’ permission. Soon, Monsieur de la Tour travels to Madagascar to purchase a few slaves to help him establish a plantation on the island. After landing in Madagascar, he becomes very ill and, after a while, he dies.

Madame de la Tour lives on the island on her own and learns that she is pregnant. She becomes friends with a young woman named Margaret who was abandoned by her husband when he learned she was pregnant. Margaret gives birth to a boy and Madame de la Tour gives him the name of Paul. After a short while, Madame de la Tour gives birth to a girl. This time, at the request of Madame, Margaret gives her the name of Virginia. The similar destiny of Madame and Margaret provides them with a strong friendship and they start to raise their children together. Paul and Virginia spend all their time together as if they are brother and sister.

After Paul and Virginia enter their teenage years, they begin to see each other as more than a friend. They start to express their emotions to each other with poetic descriptions. Even though both of them know there are sexual and romantic feelings between them, neither of them dares to advance their friendship to a romantic relationship at first. Virginia has a difficult time keeping her affection for Paul to herself. Madame de la Tour understands her daughter’s uneasiness and tells her that God placed them on earth to test their virtue and she will be rewarded after if she can be virtuous in this life. Virginia misinterprets her mother’s advice to be that it is not right to have a romantic relationship with Paul. Hence, she refuses to respond to Paul’s affection for her.

In the meantime, Margaret asks Madame about why do not they let their children marry since they have a strong attachment for each other. Madame de la Tour says that they are too young and poor to start a family together. She believes that they would not live a happy life until Paul comes of age to provide for his family by his labor. Virginia’s aunt wants her niece to return to France in order to give Virginia a proper education and help her to marry a nobleman. She also promises to leave all her fortune to Virginia. Madame de la Tour thinks this would be a good opportunity to separate Paul and Virginia until they come to an age where they can build a happy marriage. Virginia sees her mother’s request as a duty and decides to go to France.

One and a half years passes and, finally, a letter arrives for Madame de la Tour. Virginia says that even though she received a very good education on various subjects, she is still not happy to be so far away. Her aunt forces her to renounce the name of “la Tour” which she refuses to do out of respect to her father. In the meantime, Paul dreams about going to France, to be near Virginia and make a great fortune by serving the king. He believes that then Virginia’s aunt will allow them to get married.

After a while, Virginia sends her mother a letter about her aunt’s ill-treatment of her because of her request to marry Paul. The aunt disinherits Virginia and sends back her to Mauritius during hurricane season. Upon Virginia’s arrival on the island, a terrific hurricane appears. As a result, the ship is torn apart. Even though sailors tell Virginia to take her clothes off to be able to swim, she refuses to do so. She stays in the ship and drowns as Paul watches. After Virginia’s death, Paul’s health starts to decline rapidly. He becomes severely ill and dies two months later.

Bibliography

“Affairs in France.” The New York Times, 26 Nov. 1876, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1876/11/26/84623906.pdf

Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques-Henri. The History of Paul and Virginia; or the Shipwreck. T. Maiden and Ann Lemoine, 1802.

Cobb, J. Paul and Virginia: A musical entertainment in two acts. 1806.

Cook, Malcolm. “Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.” Writers of the French Enlightenment I, edited by Samia I. Spencer, Gale, 2005. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 313. Gale, Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1200012581/LitRC?u=viva_uva&sid=LitRC&xid=8404413d

“The First Idea of Paul and Virginia.” The New York Times, 8 No. 1874.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1874/11/08/105199480.pdf

Researcher: Ali Atabay

Don Algonah

Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo. A Romantic Tale

Author: Unknown
Publisher: T. Hurst
Publication Year: 1802
Language: English
Book Dimensions: 10cm x 17.5cm.
Pages: 71
University of Virginia Library Catalog Entry, Sadleir-Black Collection: PZ2 .D651 1802

Don Algonah: the Sorceress of Montillo, published in 1802 and republished several times, is a tale of adventure, magic, violence, and a quest for unforbidden love that takes place in Madrid, Spain.

Material History

Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo. A Romantic Tale consists of 71 pages and is approximately 10 cm by 17.5 cm. The author is unknown because there is no author name printed on any of the pages. At first glance, the book appears very aged because of the missing cover and discolored pages that are loosely hanging onto the binding. You must be careful while looking through the book as to not accidentally fold the brittle and thin pages. Some pages can be seen peeking out from the side because they are no longer attached to the rest of the book. The outer edges of the book are also discolored and shriveled. Surprisingly, none of the pages are missing and the text is still very clear and readable.

The title page for *Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo*

The original front and back cover of the book is missing, leaving a blank page on both sides. This is most likely because this book was originally part of a pamphlet consisting of multiple stories. It was very common for multiple stories to be printed into one pamphlet. As a result, some booksellers thought they could make a larger profit by selling the stories individually, so they would rip the stories out of the pamphlet. Although both front and back covers are missing, we can still see traces of brown, fuzzy leather with blue and gold designs on the binding. It is very likely that the covers of the book were made of the same leather material. There are also three small holes near the binding on every page and a piece of string strewn between a different set of holes. The pages were originally sewn with a needle, but someone pulled the pages apart and then bound it back together again. The blank front page also has the word “romance” written on the top left corner.

On page three there is a title page with the book’s full title printed at the top and a detailed black and white illustration of men sitting around a fire. There is another black and white illustration on the left page of a tall man with a knife. Both illustrations use hatching which is a technique used to create different shades. This book was probably produced very cheaply because non-colored illustrations were much cheaper. A previous owner of the book also handwrote their name on the top corner of page three.

Every page has a page number printed on the top. Some pages also have a capital letter followed by a number at the very bottom. The pages of a book were printed on a large sheet of paper and the book binder would have to fold the paper with multiple pages on the front and make and make sure the pages were in the right order. The letter and number pair was for the book binder to make sure the pages were in order without having to know the page numbers.

Textual History

Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo is the second edition published by T. Hurst in 1802. The first edition was published the same year. The book does not explicitly state who the author is, but the bottom of the title page mentions that the book was printed for T. Hurst and sold by J. Wallis. The authorship is unknown. Thomas Hurst was a publisher in London during the nineteenth century. The novel does not explicitly state who the illustrator is, but underneath the black and white image, the names Rhodes Sculp and Craig Pinx are printed in a tiny font. There are several other digitized books online with a similar illustration style on the cover and the name Rhodes Sculp written underneath.

The frontispiece for *Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo*

The book was printed by J. Cundee, a British printer located at Albion Press, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row in London. The book was originally printed in English as a chapbook. A chapbook is a small inexpensive booklet containing short literature. There is a third edition printed the same year, 1802, and it is the second story in volume I of The Marvellous Magazine and Compendium of Prodigies. The entire magazine comprises of four volumes and each volume consists of many gothic stories from the nineteenth century. All four volumes were published individually between 1802 and 1804. In the version of Don Algonah that appears in The Marvellous Magazine, the story is the same and there is a new illustration of an owl on the front title page.

The entire text was digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Alternates. The digital version includes an image of the vignette design on the front and back cover that is missing from the copy in the University of Virginia Special Collections Library. The book has also been reprinted multiple times in the twenty-first century. There are hardcover and paperback copies available to be ordered online through Amazon. These newer versions shortened the title to just Don Algonah. The space where the author’s name is usually written, just has “Algonah (Don, fict. name.).”

It is unknown whether or not the book sold well or poorly. A short snippet of the work was included in the Georgia Courier, a weekly newspaper for Albany, Doughtry County Georgia. On June 7, 1827 pages 13–16 of the book were printed in two columns of the newspaper and left to be continued (Georgia Courier). Michael Kelly, a playwright who produced dozens of works between 1797 and 1821, composed a play called Algonah, which was performed in Drury Lane, London on April 30, 1802 (“Reminiscences of Michael Kelly”). There are no details on the play in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, but it appeared the same year as Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo.

Although this book has been reprinted, digitized, and well preserved, this work has not been referenced frequently within academic scholarship. William Whyte Watt wrote a book published in 1932, called Shilling Shockers of the Gothic School: A Study of Chapbook Gothic Romances. In this book, Watt analyzes different gothic works including, Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo (29).

Narrative Point of View

Don Algonah: the Sorceress of Montillo is narrated in the third person for the majority of the text. There are also some interpolated tales in the middle of the story when some characters, such as D’Antares and Marano, share their past experiences. In these interpolated tales, the stories are told in first-person narration. During these moments when the character is sharing his own story, the narration focuses more on how that character feels as he relives his past experiences. When the characters finish telling their stories, the narration switches back to the third-person narrative. In both the interpolated tales and the third -person narration, there is a lot of dialogue between multiple characters.

Sample Passage of Third-Person Narration:

The Inquisitors themselves saw it, and looked terrified. –“Tell what the chamber contained!” exclaimed the Suprema, “or the rack shall force it from you!” –“I know nothing of the chamber alluded to,” replied the Don, hardily. “You deny also,” said the Suprema, “any knowledge of your two wives?” –“I do,” said Algonah. A sigh was heard from the corpse of Amaranta. (66)

Sample Passage of an Interpolated Tale told by D’Antares:

“Marano, every day more enraptured with the portrait, sought for the original every where: lamenting the singularity of his fate, which precluded him from knowing if his mistress were old or young, dead or alive. Quitting Grenada in about a fortnight after this adventure, we entered the inn yard of a village in Andalusia. — Here a travelling fortune-teller, mounted on a tub, was amusing the gaping countrymen with his nostrums and gestures. Observing us to smile, he turned to us and said, ‘Senors. I know that which one or both of you would give the world to know; mark that, Senors!’ Marano immediately whispered me that the speech applied to himself, and, continued he, ‘I will have this man to sup with us when the villagers are gone.’” (10)

The third-person narration stretches across multiple plots and characters. As the passage above indicates, this narration frequently relies on dialogue to express different characters’ emotions. Within this overarching third-person narration, the many personal tales told by the characters means that the narration jumps between different characters’ storylines, which can be disorienting. During the characters’ interpolated tales, they sometimes leave open questions that will not be answered until other characters relay their own separate experiences in the future. The interpolated tales span across a large period of time so they feel fast-paced, and they focus on specific characters, thus developing more individual complexity.

Summary

On the day of a grand festival in Madrid, Duke d’Axala hosts a large celebration and invites every wealthy family. Don Algonah and his daughter Aramenta arrive at the party at midnight. Olivaro immediately notices Aramenta and expresses to his friend, Marquis d’ Antares, his admiration for the girl. Marquis d’Antares proceeds to tell Olivario that Aramenta’s father is forcing her to live in a convent, leaving Olivaro in sadness.

This page shows the thread binding the pages together

Later that night, a fire erupts in a saloon and Olivaro runs to the scene to find Aramenta trapped in the building, so he saves her and carries her to a garden. When Aramenta awakes, she confirms to Olivario that she is retiring from the world to live a life of monastic seclusion. Before Olivaro can respond, Algonah appears and orders Aramenta to leave with him. When Olivaro is leaving the garden, he meets Marquis d’ Antares again, who asks Olivaro to follow him. When they both arrive at Marquis d’ Antares home, he tells Olivaro a story.

Marquis d’ Antares tells a story about his adventures with his close friend, Marano de Pinato. One day, the two men were on a small boat exploring Grenda when it suddenly began to storm. They lost sight of Grenada as the skies became dark, and they came across a ruined Moorish castle and decided to use it for shelter. As they look around the castle, Marano finds a dagger rusted with blood and he decides to preserve it because he believes it is the blood of an innocent soul. When the rain stops, they find out their boat had been destroyed by the storm. Marano tells Marquis d’ Antares that the same agent that led them to the castle will guide them back to Grenada. Marano says his belief in magic is confirmed by an event that happened to him nine months ago, and he proceeds to tell Marquis d’ Antares the story.

Marano’s story begins with him foraging for food for his comrades. During his search, he sees a lame soldier and Marano asks him why he is straggling behind his comrades. The soldier says that he has received a deadly blow in his heart and that Marano was the only person who could save him. The soldier asks Marano to swear to avenge his wound or a terrible fate will fall upon his house. Marano agrees and the wounded soldier disappears. Marano says that the dagger they found in the castle reminded him of this story.

The two friends wait in the castle until the next morning to find that the castle had been partly destroyed by a fire ordered by Philip to prevent resistance from the Moors. Marano also finds a small portrait of a beautiful woman. He proclaims his admiration for the woman in the portrait, and Marquis d’ Antares tells him that the lady is wearing a Moorish dress which means she most likely died from the cruel edict of Philip’s orders. The two men safely travel back to Grenada on foot.

This page shows discolorations on the margins

Marano becomes obsessed with the woman in the portrait and tries to find her everywhere. When the two friends leave Grenada for Andalusia, they meet a fortune teller, Rimanez. Marano shows Rimanez the portrait and asks him if the woman lives. Rimanez says the woman is gone forever and quickly leaves, but Marano and Marquis d’ Antares do not believe him. The two friends continue on their journey to Tolosa, where Marano complains about superstitious activities. One night a pale soldier appears at Marquis d’ Antares bedside and asks him to follow him into the woods. Marquis d’ Antares agrees and the soldier orders Marquis d’ Antares to observe something hidden in the branches of a tree. Suddenly, Marquis d’ Antares hears two men approach the tree and the wounded soldier disappears. The two men under the tree talk about losing a dagger to two travellers in a Moorish castle and a dreadful deed they committed. Marquis d’ Antares hears this and jumps out of the tree and stabs one of the murderers, Perez. The other man, Pedro, shoots Marquis d’ Antares with a pistol and escapes.

Two sisters, Clementia and Aramenta, find the wounded Marquis d’ Antares and takes him to the Castle of Montillo for assistance. Marano comes to the castle and tells his injured friend that he is the nephew of Don Algonah, the castle’s leader. Marquis d’ Antares learns from Marano that Algonha’s first wife, Juliana, died. He married his second wife, Lady Cleona, around the time of Philip’s persecution of the Moors. She also died, leaving a daughter, Amaranta. Vertola, an old stewardess living in the castle, sees Marano’s small portrait and says that it is Lady Juliana. Vertola tells the two friends about Lady Juliana’s suspicious death. On the day her coffin was screwed, Lucilia, Juliana’s maid, saw Juliana kneeling in her old bedroom. Algonah caught Lucilla and carried her to her chamber. After Lucilla told Vertola this story, he never heard from her again. Vertola continues to talk about Algonah’s second wife. Lady Cleona was married to Count Alvarez and had a daughter with him. Algonah was a friend of Count Alvarez and fell in love with Cleona. The edict of Philip at the time tried to exile Moorish families, so Don Alvarez attempted to escape to Algnoah’s castle, disguised as a soldier. Unfortunately, Don Alvarez was murdered along the way by assassins. Algonah then transported the Countess and her daughter to Grenada. Shortly after, he married Lady Cleo in his castle. During the wedding reception, the figure of a murdered Alvarez threatened Algonah. The first daughter of Lady Cleona was sent to Grenada by Algonah, and was reported to have died.

During Marquis d’ Antares stay at the castle, he begins to feel affection towards one of Algonah’s daughters, Clementia. When Algonah arrives home to his castle, the two men decide to see what was in the chambers of the castle. As Marquis d’ Antares is travelling across the stairs, he hears Algonah and the assassin, Pedro, conducting a plan to keep the two friends at the castle for a few days longer so that Pedro could assassinate them. The next morning, the two men immediately leave the Castle of Montillo. Marquis d’ Antares and Marano say their sad goodbyes and separate to leave for their individual homes.

When Marquis d’ Antares finishes his story, Olivaro tells Marquis d’ Antares that they will free Clementia and Amaranta from Algonah. Marquis d’ Antares is excited to hear this and he visits the palace of Count de Bellara where Aramenta is staying and requests to speak to her. He tells her about Olivaro’s plans to marry her so she can be free. Right after Marquis d’ Antares leaves, Algonah confuses Marquis d’ Antares as Aramenta’s lover. He is so upset that he orders his daughter to be sent to the convent that night. When Olivaro hears of this news he asks his cousin Emelina to help Amarenta escape, who agrees to enter the convent to help her cousin. Olivaro requests Amarenta to meet him in the garden for her escape. When the day arrives for the two lovers to meet, Amarenta and Emelina meet Olivaro in the garden. Before they could escape, Amarenta is stabbed by Pedro hiding in the bushes. Pedro tries to escape and Olivaro chases after him. Algonah is waiting outside the convent and accidentally stabs Pedro, mistaking him for Olivaro. Before Algonah could plunge the sword again, Marano fires a pistol at Algonah. Olivaro rushes back to Amaranta, where she dies in his arms. The Inquisition appears at the murder scene and arrests everyone.

The final page of the story shows some rips and holes

Marano tells his story about finally finding his mistress, Seraphino, after he and Marquis d’ Antares went on their separate ways. Seraphino was a slave in a castle owned by Lady Juliana’s brother, Solyman. Marano expresses his love to Seraphino, and he finds out that Seraphino is Count Alvarez’s daughter who was sent to Grenada and sold as a slave. Rimanez and Lady Cleo also arrive at Solyman’s castle and the conjurer explains how he was hired by Algonah to kill Lady Cleona. He pitied the lady, so he spread a rumor that she had drowned and then confined her in a castle for all these years. Marano, Rimanez, Seraphino, and Lady Cleo are travelling together when they find Lady Juliana locked in the eastern chamber of the Montillo castle. Juliana explains how Algonah was the only person who knew about the secret passage. Her maid and old stewardesses were also locked up because they found out Algonah had buried a wax figure in her coffin. The group then set off to Madrid.

During the examination, all of Algonah’s past wrongdoings are revealed. Algonah stabs himself with a dagger and dies. During the trial, a sorceress also revealed that the soldier who was haunting Marano was Count Alvarez, and he wanted his remains to be buried.

After the trial ends, Marano performs the funeral rites for the remains of Count Alvarez and buries his daughter Amarnata beside him. Algonah’s widows get to choose which apartments of the castle they want to live in. Clementia and Marquis d’ Antares are reunited again and Marama is happily in love with Seraphino. After Amaranta is respectfully buried, Emelina consents to marry Olivaro. The three friends and their relatives live the rest of their lives in happiness.

Bibliography

Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo. A Romantic Tale. London: Printed for T. Hurst, 1802.

“Don Algonah, Or the Sorceress of Montillo: A Romantic Tale.” Georgia Courier, 7 June 1827.

The Marvellous Magazine and Compendium of Prodigies. London: Printed for T. Hurst, 1802.

“Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, of the King’s Theatre, and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Including a Period of nearly Half a Century; with Original Anecdotes of Many Distinguished Persons, Political, Literary, and Musical.” The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, vol. 7, no. 28, 1825, pp. 475-498.

Watt, William Whyte, 1912-. Shilling Shockers of the Gothic School: a Study of Chapbook Gothic Romances. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932.

Researcher: Helen Lin

The Black Forest

The Black Forest; Or, the Cavern of Horrors

Author: Unknown
Publisher: Ann Lemoine, and J. Roe
Publication Year: 1802
Language: English
Book Dimensions: 11.5cm x 18.5 cm
Pages: 38
University of Virginia Library Catalog Entry, Sadleir-Black Collection: PZ2 .B4561 1802

In this deceivingly short story with a complicated publication history, love, secrets, mystery, and murder abound. Borrowed almost entirely from the Cavern of Death, this book touches on strong gothic themes familiar amongst decades of other novels within its genre.

Material History

The Black Forest; Or, the Cavern of Horrors. A Gothic Romance is a German mystery, translated from German into this English version. The author of this book is unknown and the only material origins exist on a single title page which appears 10 physical pages in, following a group of blank pages and a frontispiece. The text was originally printed in London in 1802 by T. Maiden at Sherbourne-Lane for publishers: Ann Lemoine, White-Rose Court. Coleman-Street, And J. Roe, No. 90, and Hounddtich. The title page indicates The Black Forest was “Sold by all Booksellers in the United Kingdom.” This happily adorned book sold for a universal price of six-pence indicated on the title page under the publisher and printer information. On this same page, the unknown author or illustrator included an intricate watercolor and pencil drawing of a foregrounded tree with large, protruding roots accompanied by what appears to be a brick castle in the background. The drawing lacks a caption, explanation, or citation.

The book is a beautiful one, seemingly unharmed by the trials and tribulations of time. From the outside, it looks fairly untouched. The bright red binding would catch any onlooker’s eye among the stacks. The attractive binding is made of red leather and is adorned with two gold embellishments on either side of the book’s matching gilded title which reads in bold letters a shortened name: THE BLACK FOREST. Moving from the red binding to the cover, the book becomes even more impressive with its colorfully marbled display of green, blue, yellow and red swirls. The cover is smooth and in the corners lie two more triangles of matching red leather material. The Black Forest lies within two 11.5 by 18.5 cm unique covers and fills 1 cm of space widthwise. But this measurement deceives readers looking for a read of considerable length.

The frontispiece for *The Black Forest* depicting Sir Henry’s dream.

The book contains just 38 pages of text and one page of illustration, but despite the few pages the actual story occupies, the book holds many more physical pages following the text. The rest of them are completely blank (despite a single “g” written in pencil on one of the last). These pages, unlike the rest, appear not only blank, but completely untouched. The side of the binding which holds the blank pages is very stiff and the pages are pristine. The only thing that conveys these pages are old is their yellow staining due to aging. As for the 38 occupied pages, they are more worn and soft; some pages have yellow staining due to age and some oddly remain pristinely white. Interestingly, the text is noticeably small. The words are tightly packed onto each page and the margins are quite thin.

Despite the single “g” written faintly in pencil on one of the final blank pages, the book has no marks of personal ownership. Prior to the main text, there is hand-drawn, hand-painted watercolor illustration in the first few pages of the book. It exhibits a skeleton holding a reddened sword near a man in formal wear and it suggests the skeleton is moving towards the man while the man backs away in fear. The image’s setting is a dark room lit by a lantern. The caption below reads: “The terror of Henry at the appearance of a Skeleton waving a Bloody Sword.” There is a very faint marking just below the right side of the illustration that reads “S. Sharpese” which is most likely the illustrator’s signature. However, another, even fainter, marking exists on the right side under the image which may read “W. Gidell” but it is nearly indistinguishable. A third signature lies underneath the caption but the name is illegible, all that is clear is “Fig” at the start of the name. The frontispiece is protected by a single sheet of lighter tissue paper that lies over top of it.

It appears much care was taken in the making of this book, with its hand-made watercolor frontispiece, its marbled cover, and its pleasant and pristine binding. Essentially no marks were made by reader intervention and the book remains very close to its original condition, so it seems that much care was also taken in the usage of this book. Whether the story excites or not, this now 200-year-old book is one with much to say beyond what the actual text communicates.

Textual History

The Black Forest: Or, the Cavern of Horrors. A Gothic Romance. From the German is listed in the Sadleir-Black Special Collections Library catalogue as having been published by Ann Lemoine in 1802, though no publication date appears on the title page. The book first entered the publishing world as a chapbook. The same story can be found in the Sadleir-Black Collection bound to Bruce’s voyage to Naples, also published in London 1802. Both versions indicate no author but are said to have been translated “From the German” on their title pages. Which German book it was translated from is still unknown. According to A History of Guilty Pleasure: Chapbooks and the Lemoines, Ann Lemoine was “the first chapbook publisher to use colored illustrations and, for many years, the only one offering colored editions” (Bearden-White 313). The Black Forest was sold for 4 pence and 6 pence. The version held in the University of Virginia’s collection sold for 6 pence and contains two beautifully colored illustrations.

Unsurprisingly, The Black Forest: Or, the Cavern of Horrors is in fact a plagiarized version of an older text, The Cavern of Death: A Moral Tale. While the general framework narrative of these two versions remains the same, the characters’ names and plot points shift. In The Cavern of Death, Sir Albert (as opposed to Sir Henry de Mountford) is summoned by a skeleton to discover the truth of the cavern whereas in The Black Forest Sir Henry stumbles upon the cavern and discovers the skeleton which leads to the exposure of the truth. This is just one example of the slight changes made to the extracted plot.

The Cavern of Death first appeared in 1795 in a London newspaper called The True Briton. Multiple forms of this original text can be found in the Sadleir-Black Collection, each claiming to have been published at the same time in two different cities. The most common publication city amongst all of them is Baltimore where it was printed and sold by “Bonsal & Niles, 173, Market-street” as a chapbook. The other is Philadelphia where it was printed by and for “William W. Woodward, Green Sign of Franklin’s Head, no. 16, Chesnut Street.” Most publications accredit the original version to The True Briton, where the story first appeared. Professor Allen W. Grove, in the introduction of his 2005 edited version of The Cavern of Death, claims the original chapbook borrowed themes from older texts such as The Castle of Otranto (1765) and The Old English Baron (1778) (3). Grove hypothesizes that The Cavern of Death provided elements, such as the white plume deceiving character identities and Sir Constance declaring her love to an eavesdropping Sir Albert, found similarly in successful gothic novels such as Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance and Matthew Lewis’s The Monk (3). He also labels The True Briton as a “certainly…uncommon place to find a novel,” thus adding to the intrigue of this text’s origins (7).

One more iteration of The Cavern of Death popped up after The Black Forest: Or, the Cavern of Horrors. In his introduction, Grove cites this additional titleas The Black Forest; or, The Cavern of Death, A Bohemian Romance which he claims was published in 1830 and consisted of the same story “stripped of [its] sentimental trappings” (8). Essentially, the later versions of The Cavern of Death were cut down to fewer and fewer words, the bones of the dramatic storyline forming the remains. This title, with the inclusion of “A Bohemian Romance” is briefly mentioned in Franz Potter’s book The Monster Made by Man: A Compendium of Gothic Adaptations—which is the source Groves cites from (128). Interestingly, in the same paragraph Potter mentions The Black Forest; or, The Cavern of Death, A Bohemian Romance, he also mentions a compilation of stories entitled Legends of Terror! and Tales of the Wonderful and Wild! The first 1826 collection of this book does not include any version of The Cavern of Death. However, around 1840 another publication of Legends of Terror! was published by G. Creed (71, Chancery Lane) and Holborn and it is in this second edition that the final reincarnation of The Cavern of Death: A Moral Tale resides as The Black Forest; or, The Cavern of Death, a Bohemian Romance on page 65, where the main character Sir Albert enters (as opposed to Sir Henry), emulating the original version over the second version.

Today, The Black Forest is not available in print but its source text, The Cavern of Death, is available as a paperback published by Valancourt Books and edited by Allen Groves. Additionally, archival digital copies are available for The Cavern of Death, The Black Forest, and Legends of Terror! through Google Books.

Narrative Point of View

The Black Forest: Or, The Cavern of Horrors is a written in the third-person point of view of an anonymous, omniscient narrator who never appears in the text. Most often the narrator follows the main character, Sir Henry, throughout the text, seeing the world through his eyes. However, we get a few glances at the intentions and actions of others, such as Elinor, while Sir Henry remains ignorant. More than once, the text uses dramatic irony to create some degree of suspense. Furthermore, the narration is not overly complex, despite the archaic writing style, and most often centers around the story’s plot. The narrator takes time to portray settings and scenery in great detail and takes up small amounts of the novel’s pages to reflect on character emotions. However, the largest share of the text consists of dialogue between characters and Sir Henry. In fact, nearly all that is unbeknownst to Sir Henry throughout the text is revealed via characters’ storytelling and conversation. The omniscient narrator withholds secrets that are revealed by characters themselves in the final moments of the book. However, the narrator displays his all-knowingness even while withholding information by dropping hints of the truths uncovered at the novel’s end.

Sample Passage of Third-Person Narration:

The deafening noise of the torrent filled the soul of Sir Henry with an unknown horror: he descended precipitately from the bank, and retreated to a rock, which seemed on one side the boundary of the Cavern; against which he leaned, while his imagination, unrelieved by an visible object, and wholly occupied in the recollection of his dream, was left at liberty to represent to him now, the hideous phantom hovering in the dusky air, and now, the fleshless warrior, shunning his embrace, and waving high the fatal sword. (32)

Sample Passage of The Baron telling his own story:

“Rudolph, Baron of Gotha, was thy father. He was my brother, my elder brother; and from the Holy Land was he returning, to claim the inheritance which, at the death of our common parents, devolved of right to him; when I, covetous to possess it, met him in this Forrest … Often, at the still and solemn hour of midnight, has the spirit of my murdered brother visited me; sometimes in silence, pointing to his wounds, and waving his bloody sword.” (35–36)

The third-person narrative style of The Black Forest invites readers to sympathize with Sir Henry, as the novel most closely follows his personal life, while also allowing readers to see from a wider bird’s-eye view. In using third-person narration over first-person narration, the unknown author allows readers to be plucked up out of one scene and deposited into the next, effectively enabling readers to know more than the characters. This narrative style, as well as the past tense writing style, presents the characters as defenseless to predetermined events. For example, Sir Henry and Theresa, with the devious help of Elinor, form a plan to escape the castle of Gotha together. While they believe their plan to be an effective one, what the two do not know (but what we the readers do) is that they have been deceived by Elinor, their plan will fail, Theresa will be captured, and Sir Henry will be threatened with death. Thus, the omniscience of the narrator—both as a surveyor of all the characters and as retrospective point of view—often belittles the characters, displaying them as both naïve and foolish.

Interestingly, the narrator is also able to deceive us as readers, perhaps belittling us in the process of using the Baron’s character to reveal the novel’s full truth—that the true heir to the castle of Gotha is Sir Henry—after withholding it for the entirety of the book. Additionally, the narrator teases us by dropping clues to this truth: The Baron’s interest in Sir Henry’s ring and his home life, Sir Henry’s dream of what is revealed to be his father’s skeleton, and the dark cloud that forms above the Cavern. In doing so, the novel flips its original use of dramatic irony. While we once had the power of knowledge, in the end it is the Baron who reveals the story’s hidden truths. It is the character who holds the power of knowledge. Thus, the novel sanctions and subsequently eschews our power as readers. It does so through the use of the Baron’s sub-narrative presented through dialogue, which holds a lot of power in this novel. In most cases, dialogue between characters or to an audience is what reveals secrets and truths throughout the novel. In the novel secrets are coded as power-wielding as they determine who lives, who dies, and who becomes the Baron of Gotha. Thus, while the narrator appears to hold the power in telling the novel’s story, it is the characters confessions to each other that hold it all.

Summary

The story begins with two men, Sir Henry de Mountford and his servant Peter, who traverse the Black Forest as nighttime approaches. Henry thinks of his former love and Peter indulges him, questioning why he ever chose to leave Leipzig, the town where this woman, Theresa, still resides. Sir Henry explains it is because he could not offer her a “rank worthy of her merit” (A2). As they continue to discuss a big, dark cloud-like figure descends upon them through the trees. The meteor-like object lands at the entrance of a deep, dark cavern. Sir Henry deliberates whether to enter or not and settles upon the decision to return the next day with lights but to continue on to the Castle of Gotha, where he originally intended to go, for the rest of the night.

This page shows the first, and only, chapter of *The Black Forest*

Soon they arrive at the castle to find a celebration, a kind of engagement party for the Baron and an unnamed woman. Sir Henry is welcomed with warm embraces by Lord Edgar, son of the Baron of Gotha. He leads him to the Great Hall of the Castle and presents him to his father who is hesitant to welcome Sir Henry with excitement and instead remains eerily silent. Later at the dinner table, Sir Henry notices The Baron eyeing him suspiciously. He also takes great interest in a valuable ruby ring Sir Henry wears that is the one relic he has to remember his late father.

Following dinner, Sir Henry retires to his room and, after some time, falls asleep. He has a vivid nightmare in which a ghost overwhelms the very dining hall where he has just eaten dinner. Then a cloud, like the one seen in the forest, emits a mist that removes all the people who surround him, and Sir Henry is left alone to face it. It moves to embrace him but at the very moment they touch, the phantom disappears, and a skeleton emerges in its place. The skeleton waves a bloody sword in the air saying, “Thou sword must receive from this cold hand, ere I can rest at peace, or thou restored to thy just inheritance” and then it too vanishes (11). Sir Henry awakens from fear of the dream in a cold sweat.

In the morning, the Baron invites Sir Henry to breakfast in his room. They begin their conversation by discussing Sir Henry’s origins. He explains that his father died before he was born, and his mother died from despair of her husband’s death before Sir Henry came to the age when he could remember her. When the conversation finds a natural end, Sir Henry goes to find Lord Edgar as he has promised to discuss some unspecified troubles he has been experiencing. They both walk to the Forest as they discussed the night before. When they arrive, Lord Edgar proceeds to tell him that he is in love with his father’s fiancé. He explains that immediately upon encountering the woman his father is set to marry, he discovered the enchantment of her beauty and the truth of her youth (she looked to not exceed the age of Lord Edgar!). He declares the only way he can have this woman for himself and maintain his fortunes would be to become the Baron of Gotha himself, implying he must murder his father. He asks Sir Henry to be the one to do it. Sir Henry, offended and appalled by the plan, refuses to act in accordance. It is then revealed that the woman Lord Edgar speaks of is Lady Theresa, Sir Henry’s former lover!

Sir Henry, infuriated by what he has just heard and unable to bear it further, declares his friendship with Lord Edgar over and makes his way deeper into the Forest. He dreadfully considers the two possible fates of Theresa and resolves to find her at once. He must wait until evening to see her so to pass the time he walks along the perimeter of the castle. Soon after he begins he hears the voice of Theresa and her maid, Elinor. Theresa laments her aversion to the marriage in long sobs. Elinor asks where her affections truly lie, and Theresa reveals that the day she met Lord Edgar he wore a “casque” which she believes once belonged to the man who she once loved (21).

Knowing that this casque belongs to himself, Sir Henry reveals himself and his love for her. Astonished by the sight of him at this very moment, Theresa inquires how he could possibly end up at the castle of Kruitzner. He declares it is the love he feels for her and impatience to revisit her that led him there. After a few euphoric moments together, Theresa returns to her tears, remembering the reality of her situation. Sir Henry consoles her fears by suggesting that they run away together and escape the tormenting marriage which her father imposed. Though Sir Henry cannot offer her a life of luxury, he promises her one of love.

A sample page (17) from *The Black Forest*

Elinor who remained silent since the entry of Sir Henry until this moment interjects to support his proposal. In response, Theresa consents to his protection and the three of them formulate a plan to free her. Elinor decides she will bring Sir Henry the key to the castle garden in the forest by distinguishing him in the night via a silver plume which he will stick in his hat.

What Theresa and Sir Henry don’t know is that Elinor acts as an accomplice to Lord Edgar. She viewed the confession of love between the two as a dual betrayal to the friendship of Lord Edgar and rather than heading to the cottage in the forest where she had agreed to meet Sir Henry with the key, she goes to the Castle of Gotha. She reveals everything to Lord Edgar, including the escape plan. She then hands him the key to the garden and a silver plume to wear on his head, so Theresa will mistakenly run to him in the night and he can take her where he pleases. Elinor then runs to meet Sir Henry and tells him that Theresa will be unable to meet him tonight, but the plan remains set to follow tomorrow, a lie that will force him to fall prey to the Baron and his forces when they find out, via Elinor, that he intends to steal Theresa away.

That night Theresa and the deceptive Elinor execute the original plan. Just as she was told, Theresa locates a man with a silver plume on his hat and descends from her window into his abrasive arms. Unable to see his face or hear his voice, she follows his arms and ascends his horse. Then they speed away.

Meanwhile Sir Henry decides to go for a walk. He stumbles upon the cavern of horrors (from the title) once again and resolves to enter it. He enters the cavern and looks around. Immersed in darkness Sir Henry is unable to see anything except a small chasm in the rock which, as he approaches, reveals a narrow passageway. He follows it and, at the end, discovers a sword attached to a hand which runs into the body of a skeleton like the one in his dream! At this discovery he exclaims, “Yes! Injured spirit! Thou, whom I know not by what name to address, but who hast, questionless, led me hither, and art now invisibly present to my invocation! I receive thy gift! And I swear to allow myself no rest, till the vengeance shall be completed, in which, though by what mysterious connection as yet I comprehend not, thou hast taught me to believe my own destiny involved!” (33). As he says this the flame which led him down the pathway extinguishes, and Sir Henry sinks to the ground, senseless of his surroundings for a few moments. After regaining his senses, he hears more sounds and a cry of horror which exclaims, “Blood! A cataract of Blood” (33). He approaches the sounds to find two men, mangled and dead under the weight of a large fragment of rock. He finds another man groaning in agony on the floor. He looks to help the man and discovers it to be the Baron of Gotha! The Baron, incredibly disoriented by a spiritual force, does not recognize Sir Henry. Sir Henry lifts the Baron and leads him from the cave but before they can leave a man jumps from a crack and admits to being sent by the Baron to assassinate Sir Henry. In a moment of guilt, the Baron explains that the skeleton in the cavern belonged to Sir Henry’s father who was murdered by the Baron himself. He continues to say Sir Henry’s father was Rudolph, Baron of Gotha, his older brother. Many years prior, Rudolph was returning from a trip to claim his inheritance when the present-day Baron, ripe with jealousy and greed, gathered a group of ruffians and murdered him so that he could covet the inheritance for himself. Once Rudolph was dead, the ruffians tried to pry his sword from his hand, but it would not budge. The younger brother commanded that the sword be left with the body in the cavern, for its discovery would reveal that the murder was committed by the new owner of the sword. Ever since, the Baron experienced apparitions of his brother pointing to his wounds and waving his sword and insisting that his demise would be by the hand of his brother’s heir, yielding the sword of their father. The Baron has since made attempts to retrieve it, but failed. So too has he sought an heir of his brother, but without success. It wasn’t until the morning Sir Henry arrived at the Castle of Gotha that The Baron discovered an heir of Rudolph existed! That day the Baron resolved to assassinate Sir Henry which explains his position in the Cavern awaiting Sir Henry with two accomplices, one of whom was Peter (who is revealed to be one of the ruffians who murdered Rudolph and the betrayer of Sir Henry).

As the Baron completes his story, a group of men on horses approach. They hold a corpse which they reveal to be Lord Edgar. At this discovery, the Baron plunges his late brother’s sword into his chest and dies, fulfilling the prophecy. The horseman explain that they accidentally attacked and killed Lord Edgar, mistaking him for Sir Henry. Sir Henry demands he be brought back to the castle where he is reunited with Theresa and Elinor, who confesses to her own crimes.

In the end, being the proper heir to the Castle of Gotha, Sir Henry is made the new Baron. He requests the hand of Theresa in marriage, knowing it will be accepted by her father now that he is in a place of security and wealth. His request is met with enthusiasm and the young lovers marry after the proper, honorable burial of Henry’s father, Rudolph, the wronged Baron of Gotha.

Bibliography

Bearden-White, Roy. “A History of Guilty Pleasure: Chapbooks and the Lemoines.” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 103, no. 3, 2009, pp. 284–318.

The Black Forest; or, The Cavern of Horrors. A Gothic Romance. From the German. London, Ann Lemoine and J. Roe, 1802.

The Cavern of Death. A Moral Tale. H. Colbert, 1795.

Grove, Allen W. The Cavern of Death. Valancourt Books, 2005.

Legends of Terror: And Tales of the Wonderful and the Wild. Being a Complete Collection of Legendary Tales, National Romances, and Traditional Relics, of Every Country … G. Creed, 1840.

Legends of Terror!: And Tales of the Wonderful and Wild ; Original and Select, in Prose and Verse. Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1826.

Researcher: Eva Louise Ridder Ebbesen

Oswick, The Bold Outlaw

Oswick, the Bold Outlaw: A Tale of the Eighth Century.

Author: Unknown
Publisher: T. Hurst
Publication Year: 1802
Language: English
Book Dimensions: 12.5 cm x 18 cm
Pages: 85
University of Virginia Library Catalog Entry, Sadleir-Black Collection: PZ2 .O675 1802

This 1802 novel details a tale of violence, manipulation, and deceit, as an outlaw attempts to evade his capture and destined fate. Will poetic justice be served or will evil continue to reign?

Material History

This image shows the lack of front cover and delicate state of the binding of pages

This edition of Oswick, The Bold Outlaw, A Tale Of The Eighth Century is rather worn, with no front cover, back cover, or substantial binding. The pages are held together by weathered remnants of paper binding, with a few pages falling loose. Upon opening the book, the reader is met with an intricate illustration, the only departure from the otherwise simple and consistent printing. This frontispiece depicts a man with a sword standing over a slain body in the midst of trees. The man who has been slain seems to have been a knight of sorts, as his helmet is lying beside his body on the ground. The image is composed entirely of line-work, with all shading being a manipulation of the density of lines, with there being either an abundance or absence of lines. The image is captioned with the following: “They beheld Blight standing over the mangled body of Egbert: his countenance betrayed the violent emotions of his mind—agitated by remorse—pg. 21”

The title page features the only appearance of the title in the entire book. There is no mention of the author, and thus the author of this work is unknown. However, “printed for T. Hurst, Paternoster-row” does appear on the title page, followed by “By J.D. Dewick, aldersgate-street” in much smaller, almost miniscule font, suggesting that such is not the author but rather the publisher.

The novel is 85 pages long, and is printed in a simplistic manner, on textured, rough, yellowed paper, with the edges browning. The pages feature a page number on the top and justified blocks of text, with large margins and small font, in a rather uniform fashion for the entirety of the 85 pages of the novel. However, some of the blocks of text on certain pages are unevenly placed, with some being crooked and having larger margins than others. It is to be noted that other versions of this novel have been found, which are printed as chapbooks and only feature thirty-some pages. One feature that can be seen in this edition is the appearance of letters in small font followed by a number at the bottom of certain pages. At the time, this was a mechanism to indicate how to correctly line up and fold the pages when printing. The book features no chapters.

This image shows pages of sample text, with markings of age and irregular margins

Other irregularities of the book are merely a result of wear and age. The image featured on the back of the first page has left a slightly darkened imprint on the front of the second page. The frontispiece and title page are the most worn, being significantly darker and browner than the rest of the pages. Every page features three small holes in the middle left/right, towards the spine, as the pages were likely originally bound through these holes. There is a uniform brown spot on the top right of pages 8 through 15, as if something was spilt. The pages towards the end of the book are significantly whiter, firmer, and less worn, suggesting that the novel was not read all the way through much. There is a notable hole on page 79. The text is faded in certain parts, with no pattern. The simplistic pages and the absence of an author suggest the book was cheaply printed.

Textual History

Oswick, the Bold Outlaw: A Tale of the Eighth Century has many versions in circulation. In addition to the 86-page edition published in 1802 by T. Hurst, there is also a chapbook version of Oswick. One version of this chapbook was published in 1806 in a volume of The Entertainer III and under the title, Surprising Achievements of Oswick, the Bold Outlaw, Chieftain of a Band of Robbers: Containing Also an Interesting Account of Enna, His Fair Captive, as Related by Her Son to King Alfred. A Tale of the Eighth Century. Another chapbook, again with the shorter title of Oswick, the Bold Outlaw: A Tale of the Eight Century,was published by Dean and Munday in 1823; this chapbook has 38 pages and a colored illustration instead of the black and white illustration.

T. Hurst, the publisher of the 1802 edition, published many other gothic texts in the early nineteenth century. The publishers Dean and Munday also published many chapbooks in the early nineteenth century, primarily between 1810 and 1855. Dean and Munday were known as pioneers of moveable books for children, which were books with interactive features such as pop-ups and flaps. The company was a small family business, founded in 1702, and later growing to a larger scale in the eighteenth century.

While some university library catalog entries note that this title appears in A Gothic Bibliography by Montague Summers on page 455, it in fact does not. The title noted on that page is Oswick the Outlaw which is a different text than Oswick the Bold Outlaw. Oswick the Outlaw was written by G Smith, Jr. and published by Southwark : G. Smith and Co. in 1815, is 24 pages, and is a children’s story that was performed as a play.

The frontispiece and title page for *Oswick, The Bold Outlaw*

The title page of the 1802 work contains a five-line poem. This is an excerpt from King Arthur: An Heroick Poem in Twelve Books by Sir Richard Blackmore M. D., published in 1697. The original poem is as follows:

Hell’s greatest Masters all their Skill combin’d
To form and cultivate so fierce a Mind,
Till their great Work was to Perfection brought,
A finish’d Monster form’d without a Fault.
No Flaw of Goodness, no deforming Vein
Or Streak of Vertue did their Offspring stain.

However, the lines included in the front of the book exclude the third line. The chapbook editions feature a different variation of only 4 lines.

There are no translations of this work and no traces of the reception of this book from the nineteenth century. In addition, its printing as a chapbook suggests it was a cheap work. There are no modern reprintings of the work or digital editions available. There is no scholarship on this text, also suggesting that it was not particularly popular.

Narrative Point of View

Oswick, the Bold Outlaw: A Tale of the Eighth Century is narrated anonymously in third person. The sentences generally lack significant amounts of description or insight into the characters’ thoughts and feelings, and rather focus mainly on plot development and observable actions. The description that is offered is akin to that which might be expected of a casual audience member of a play describing a scene, noting the anxiety on a character’s face or the pace of someone’s steps. The narration frequently consists of long, compound sentences comprised of short fragments bound together by many commas, colons, and semicolons, especially when describing a series of events taking place in succession, and many times punctuated with a period only at the end of the paragraph.

Sample Passage:

Oswick never before had seen the inside of a dungeon, and he shuddered. Blight was discovered extended upon his back in the damp vault ; his legs and hands were chained to the ground ; a basket of coarse bread was by his side, and a pitcher of stinking water ; pestiferous animals drew their train along the ground, and across his body ; a lamp burned in one corner of the dungeon, that emitted but a faint light, and materially added to the gloomy horrors of the place. (50)

The third-person narration plays a significant role in amplifying the suspense of the plot since much of the plot is spent with Oswick, the protagonist, incognito and attempting to avoid his capture. The narrator explains, “Oswick … beheld written in large characters, the promise of a great reward for his apprehension; and he stopped to read on, which ran thus: ‘Ten thousand crowns reward are offered to him … who will bring in the head … [of] Oswick the Outlaw’” (44). Here, the repetition of Oswick’s name in describing his actions and juxtaposing it against the mention of his name in a wanted poster emphasize the urgent and dire situation of Oswick and the shock and fear of seeing one’s own name being hunted. Furthermore, the staccato pace of the narration coincides with the pace of the dialogue to create a generally fast-paced tone, adding to the thrill of the plot. The style of narration also emulates that of a myth or tall tale by boasting the grandeur and fearful reverence of Oswick, as if he is a mythical villain.

Summary

The novel begins with the narrative of a King, Alfred, traveling through parts of his constituency to better understand what the people want. While doing so, one night, the King decides to take a detour off his route in favor of the beautiful scenery surrounding him. He quickly loses his way, day turns to night, and a storm afflicts him, forcing him to seek shelter in a stranger’s home. Alfred is warmly invited in, but upon being shown his room, finds a trembling boy under his bed, clutching a dagger. Alfred demands the boy to make clear his intentions and finds out that his mother, Enna, sent the boy to supply the dagger as a means of protection for Alfred as he is actually within the home of a notorious bandit, Oswick, and will be killed as he sleeps.

Enna was indeed right, as Oswick and his gang attack Alfred later in his chamber in an attempt to kill him. Alfred and the boy are able to undermine and overpower the assailers, killing Oswick and Blight, a member of his gang. Oswick unfortunately kills Enna.

As news of Oswick’s demise spreads, the town erupts in celebration. Oswick had been a heartless tyrant and all of his constituents lived in constant fear. After the dust settles, the boy, Egwald, begins to relay his story and the story of Oswick to Alfred.

Egwald, Enna, and his father, Egbert, had been the first victims of Oswick’s. In a similar situation as Alfred, they were forced to spend the night at Oswick’s because of a storm. Upon first glance at Enna, Oswick, astonished by her beauty, fell in love. However, his love was a violent one, as he prohibited her from leaving her chamber that night, stating that she was not allowed to continue her journey that night.

Egbert was killed by Oswick, leaving Enna and Egwald entirely at his mercy. He spared Enna because of his love for her, and honored her passionate pleas to spare her child as well. Enna and Egwald were then forced to live within the confines of a dungeon, until the unlikely night that Enna was permitted to make her journey. In the dungeon Enna was violated by Oswick and spent the majority of her years in a deep depression.

Egwald then relays how Oswick rose to power. He and his banditti gained a notorious reputation by making a pact that no one would ever leave the banditti’s chambers alive. As the banditti slay stranger after stranger, one of them, Gilbert, began to try to lead a revolution within the banditti to overthrow the tyranny of Oswick. Gilbert faltered as he was about to kill Oswick, overcome in a moment of compassion. Left alive, Oswick ensnared Gilbert in a manipulative plan to frame him, thus resulting in his death as revenge for his lack of loyalty. In doing so, Oswick accidentally ensnared himself as well and needed to go to great lengths to reestablish his credibility as a vicious monster. The tale followed his adventures of manipulation under disguise as he attempted to evade apprehension and regain his status. Along the way, he was betrayed by many of his own, who are overpowered by the allure of the monetary reward offered for Oswick’s capture. The novel comes to a close with Oswick scarcely escaping his arrest by own of his own comrades, with the plot coming full circle to the fateful night of the storm which forced Alfred into Oswick’s home.

Bibliography

Blackmore, Sir Richard. King Arthur: An Heroick Poem in Twelve Books. The Camelot Project. University of Rochester. https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/blackmore-king-arthur-I

Oswick, the Bold Outlaw: A Tale, of the Eighth Century. London, Dean and Munday, 1823.

Oswick, the Bold Outlaw: A Tale of the Eighth Century. London, T. Hurst, 1802.

Surprising Achievements of Oswick, the Bold Outlaw, Chieftain of a Band of Robbers: Containing Also an Interesting Account of Enna, His Fair Captive, As Related by Her Son to King Alfred. A Tale of the Eighth Century. Printed by Dewick and Clarke, for T. Hughes, 1806.

Researcher: Archisha Singh

The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows

The Life, Voyages, and Surprising Adventures, of Mary Jane Meadows, a Woman of Uncommon Talents, Spirit, and Resolution

Author: Unknown
Publisher: Ann Lemoine
Publication Year: 1802
Language: English
Book Dimensions: 10.5cm x 17.3cm
Pages: 72
University of Virginia Library Catalog Entry, Sadleir-Black Collection: PZ2 .M43 L 1802

An adaptation of Charles Dibdin’s 1796 novel, Hannah Hewit, or The Female Crusoe, this 1802 chapbook features international travel, shipwrecks, a pet lion, and—shocker—a woman who wears pants!

Material History

The first thing you might notice upon looking at The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows is that it lacks a cover. These pages are held together only by the remnants of binding on the spine. The page that suffices as the cover is completely blank and bereft of any information, such as title or author. This implies that there was at one point a cover, most likely paperback given the nature of the text being identified as a chapbook. The back of this text acts as the final page of this novel ending with a definitive “FINIS.” centered under the last line at the bottom of the page. Last page, in reference to this text, refers to the last page attached to the pamphlet itself, however, there are multiple pages that follow it. These are unattached to the whole text but connected to each other, completely blank, and falling apart. These pages are referred to as endleaves, and are not originally in the publication, but added by the bookbinder. While this copy was bound long ago and the cover has been thrown out, the endleaves remain in place, though unattached to the rest of the chapbook.

The information lacking on the outside of the text can be found immediately upon opening it. The first page comprises of an illustration of the main character on one of her many adventures, captioned “Mary attacked by a Baboon at the door of her hut on the uninhabited Island” with a page number (Page 36) that corresponds to the event illustrated. Notable about the illustration is its tropical setting, the presence of a baboon, and the fact that the lady depicted is wearing pants and a large, feathered hat. Given the genre and time period of this novel, these elements are very distinctive. The bottom of the page containing this illustration also states “Published for IRoe, 25 May 1802.”

The next page contains the long-awaited title of the novel: “The Life, Voyages, and Surprising Adventures, of Mary Jane Meadows.” The title depicted on this page, however, is not so truncated. It includes an extended title and subtitle that appear in varying capitalizations and fonts, written as follows: “The Life, Voyages, and Surprising Adventures, of Mary Jane Meadows, a Woman of Uncommon Talents, Spirit, and Resolution Who, After experiencing s series of extraordinary changes in Life, from the highest Splendour and Affluence, to the most abject Distress and Poverty; at last shipped herself for India, in the most unfortunate Grosvenor, and was Cast away on the dreary Coast of Africa; where, after travelling through vast Deserts and the kingdom of Caffraria in the most imminent danger, arrived on the borders of the South Sea, where she was again Cast away upon an uninhabited Island, and lived intirely by herself for several Years.” This expansively descriptive title is then followed by a statement that the text is “Written by Her Own Hand,” implying that the author (or the pseudonym of the author at least) is Mary Jane Meadows. Under this, publication information is given, including the place of publication, London; the printer, J. Bonsor, Salisbury Square; the publisher, Ann Lemoine; her address, White-Rose Court, Coleman-Street; and the seller, T. Hurst, Paternoster-Row. The last thing on this content rich page is the price of this pamphlet when it was sold originally, “One Shilling.”

A passage on this page is separated from the rest of the text and is made distinctive by quotation marks, as it is a poem attributed to another author.

Following these descriptive pages, the back of the title page is left blank and then the story begins immediately. The text is not split into chapters and therefore does not have a table of contents or chapter headings, with the first page simply being headed with an abbreviated title of the text: “Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows.” Page numbers appear on the top of the page, enumerating pages 4–72, as well as a heading identifying the pamphlet with “ADVENTURES OF” on the left-side of the page and “MARY JANE MEADOWS” on the right side. The thick, stained, and browning paper, while definitely showing signs of age, does not impede one’s ability to actually read the text. The font is small but also readable. “I” appears in bold in every instance that it is used, emphasizing the autobiographical narrative feeling of the text. The margins are fairly small, though not uniform with the text on page 42 going all the way down the page. This was a result of the binding method used and the inexactitude of cutting pages by hand. The chapbook itself is 10.5 cm wide and 17.3 cm long.

There are many poems separated from the rest of the text with indentation of the entire passage, but without quotation marks. For example, there are such passages on pages 32, 34-35, 37-38, 41, and 46. A passage was also separated in much the same manner, but was also made distinctive by quotation marks on page 51. A notable stain is also present on page 47, brown in color, yet somewhat translucent so it does not impede any of the words. There is also a semi-circular brown stain on page 60. There is a notable color change of the pages beginning at page 62, as they take on a much more yellow hue as opposed to white. The final page, which concludes in “FINIS.,” ends on the left side of the page, leaving the heading incomplete. It simply states “ADVENTURES OF,” with none of the subsequent unattached pages containing the missing “MARY JANE MEADOWS.”

Textual History

The history of The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows is one that depends on the actual facts of history more than originally expected. With the fantastical elements of this book giving the sequence of events a sense of improbability, the context of this chapbook is actually steeped in fact. The catalyst of the plot of this novel is a shipwreck of the Grosvenor with many unfortunates aboard, including our protagonist Mary Jane Meadows. This shipwreck was actually a widely publicized, historical event. In 1782, the ship that bore the same name as our fictional one crashed on the coast of Africa. The shipwreck of the Grosvenor bore the infamy and intrigue in late eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century Britain that the Titanic shipwreck did in twentieth-century America. It spawned many pieces of literature, factual and fictional, that exploited the nation’s rapture with trauma. Using this event, and the public interest in the fact that some of the survivors were women, this book participates in the female Crusoe genre that furthers the dynamic portrayal of literary women.

Page 42, where the text extends all the way to the bottom of the page

Given that this chapbook is actually an adaptation of a three-volume romantic work, we must first turn our attention to Charles Dibdin’s Hannah Hewit, or The Female Crusoe. Hannah Hewit followed closely on the heels of the 1782 shipwreck itself, being published in 1796. It not only took advantage of the audience captivated by the tragedy of the Grosvenor, but also tapped into a genre of female Robinsinades (characters paralleled to Robinson Crusoe) that was yet to be explored fully. Dibdin, Hannah Hewit’s author, wrote this “female Crusoe” in such a way that it was believed to be a satire of the capabilities of women inspired by the antifeminist wave that swept through Britain in response to feminist propaganda. He gave Hannah independence and ability, but stretched it to such a degree that it was laughable, as well as trivializing female authors by saying that they wrote merely because it was fashionable.

By recasting the author as the protagonist herself, however, The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows, subverts the satirical agenda and makes the purpose more favorable to women. Rather than capitalizing on the public’s basest interests, this novel elevates the plot and story to one that has literary merit and cultural significance. Mary Jane also bears an important distinction from Hannah Hewit in that she is more realistically dressed for the circumstances in self-fashioned pants, dramatically viewed as cross-dressing at the time.

While critical reactions to The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows are largely unknown, reviews of Hannah Hewit from the time period are largely negative due to its ridiculous nature. It was adapted into a two-act musical show that was also not well received. The legacy of Hannah Hewit, however, is not all negative. It inspired new, and the reissuing of previously written, female Crusoe books. In particular, this chapbook adaptation, The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows, furthered the accessibility of the plot to the lower class and lower-middle class (with the price being incredibly low at one shilling) and arguably elevated the quality of the novel.

Carl Thompson discusses many of these points in his 2008 article on shipwrecks and their literary impact. His scholarly work on the Grosvenor and its literary impact as well as his subsequent high opinion of The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows is particularly compelling. He even goes so far as to say it is “more credible (than Hannah Hewit)” and “animated by a distinctly feminist agenda” (Thompson 16). He also speculates about the author of The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows identity, supposing her to be Sarah Scudgell Wilkinson—an editor and writer for the publisher Ann Lemoine. Ann Lemoine published many of the prominent books in the female Crusoe genre, including The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows, and was presumably able to relate to the independent female characters as a female business owner. She tended to publish primarily “blue books,” or short Gothic romances.

With The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows having only one edition, it is interesting to note that there are different copies in existence that have engravings or bookplates. An engraving by Isaac Cruikshank, a prominent artist at the time who frequently did book etchings, is found in a version of the book held at the Princeton University. Additionally, a copy with a bookplate of Sarah Herbert Williams is held at the Newberry Library in Chicago. This bookplate is a mark of ownership made in Williams’ copy of the book, which he acquired and branded most likely in the 1920s and which now resides in Chicago. Interest in Gothic literature as well as shipwrecks has held The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows in academic circles, with copies being held at the University of Delaware, Harvard University, Princeton University, Newberry Library, New York Public Library, Cambridge University, the University of Oxford, the Library of Congress, and the University of Virginia. The copy held at the Library of Congress, however, was declared missing in circumstances as shrouded in mystery as the disappearance of Mary Jane Meadows herself.

Narrative Point of View

The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows is distinct in narration as it is first-person and claims to be autobiographical. The narrator is portrayed as the author herself and is the protagonist in her story. The narration is succinct and factual. At times the narration of the plot is interrupted by poems that portray the emotion of the scene. The author of these pomes is unattributed, and it can be speculated that Mary Jane is the joint author and narrator of those as well. While the narrator’s language is representative of the early nineteenth century time period, it is also active in voice and clear in prose, making it easily understandable. This story is proposed to have been written in Mary Jane’s journal as she lives the events of the story itself.

Sample Passage:

In this manner I went on through the dreary rainy season, living mostly within, and keeping a journal against time, the common enemy of mankind. But I now met with some interruption, for I was seized with a vertigo and a slight fever; a temporary delirium took place, which kept me upon my bed near a week, at the end of which I tried to bustle about as well as my strength would allow. Could I have been comfortably situated, I have no doubt but I should have escaped the illness, or been well in a day or two; but owing to the great dampness and steam which surrounded me, for as the rain continued to fall, it penetrated the pores of the rock, which caused me one cold after another, till I grew so weak, and so reduced in substance, that I began seriously to think, that my unfortunate days were numbered, and would soon close without any witness to my departure. (38)

Despite the fantastical elements of the tale, it is clear by the factual and descriptive tone that the narrator is trustworthy, which casts an air of realism over the story furthered by its basis in an actual event—the shipwreck of the Grosvenor. The details she includes such as her “vertigo” and “slight fever” also depicts a level of specificity that enables the reader to believe a full account of the story is being given, with no falsities or omissions. Our narrator’s presence as the main character and author has the contradictory roles of supporting and subverting this realism. As the story is portrayed by someone said to have lived it, it seems as if it cannot be anything but true. It cannot be believed, however, that this story was once actually Mary Jane’s personal journals, and even if it were, her personal bias could make her narration unreliable. For instance, her proposition that she could have “escaped the illness” had she been “comfortably situated” may be her own egotism or self-delusion talking. While the realism of the fictional plot remains intact, the potential factuality does not. The other effect of the narrative being relayed autobiographically and supposedly from her own journal is that it is also personal, emotional, and has the feeling of being told to the reader individually. There is little reason to distrust the narration because the journals are Mary’s own personal log of history, in addition to the musings that help her pass the time. Though she supposes that her “unfortunate days were numbered, and would soon close without any witness to my departure,” the reader is in fact cast as the “witness,” bearing evidence to the story of Mary Jane. Therefore, while the narrator is trustworthy and the story she weaves realistic and portrayed as evidentiary, The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows clearly cannot help but remind readers throughout that it remains a work of fiction.

Summary

The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows begins with a backstory of Mary herself and how she came to be married to her husband, Meadows. Being a woman with few surviving family members, with parents being dead and a brother being absent, she married for the purposes of convenience and economy. With this in mind, she and her husband go directly into business. Her husband, Meadows, gets into hardware and both of them opening a “warehouse, wholesale and retail” in an upper scale part of England (4). With Meadows being the businessman, it is Mary that is the mechanism of innovation and fashion. Their wild success in this enterprise enabled Mary to spend money in ways “which frigid prudence might have called extravagance” (4). This carelessness with their wealth went so far as to lead them to make a bad business deal, and succeeded in landing Meadows in jail with Mary and her three children nearly destitute. After their scrape with the law, Mary and her family went on the run for nearly four years. Eventually their debts, being unfairly handled, landed Meadows back in jail where he happened upon Mary’s brother. Both Meadows and Mary’s brother were enabled to go free, but a bad bond purchase impelled Mary and Meadows to move to France with their children in the hopes of escaping more legal persecution.

The opening page of
*The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows.*

Despite these unfortunate circumstances, Meadows had been a consistently well-tempered husband whom Mary loved to such a degree that she withstood their economic and legal troubles with the attitude that she “could not think of living any better than with (her) husband” (6). Things took a turn, however, when Mary bore another child in Paris whom Meadows inexplicably neglected. To Mary, “he was no more Mark Meadows, the affectionate husband” (13). Convinced that Mary had been unfaithful, with no evidence to that fact, Meadows flees to India, leaving Mary alone and accused of a crime of adultery which she did not commit. Knowing that her husband still loved her due to a note he had left her, Mary decides to voyage to India after having lived with a well-off family in the intermittent time.

Arriving in India and not finding Meadows to be there, she determines to take a ship back to England despite the admonishments of her brother, whom she was lodging with. The wiles of the tumultuous ocean, however, would not permit her safe return. Mary and the other passengers of this disaster-fated ship become deserted on the coast of Africa. Many treacherous circumstances and instances of barbarism, in the form of the uncontrollable wilderness and equally as tempestuous natives, cause casualties among Mary’s party of unfortunates. Mary, however, manages to survive the tempers of Africa until such a time came that a member among the natives, who was originally Dutch, had to save Mary from imminent danger. This imminent danger came in the form of the Caffre, a group of natives, that kidnap the rest of her party. Mary escapes this dangerous circumstance and Africa all together by receiving passage from the island with her native savior.

The ocean, once again proving itself to be a perfidious enemy, shipwrecks Mary on an island of an unknown nature and takes the lives of her saviors. This island, however, proved to be of a much more civilized nature, and Mary, being alone on it, was master of innovation enough to not only survive, but to survive in comfort. Her inventions sustain her life in the form of an extremely durable house that she crafted and many other useful tools she found need for. Forethought and resourcefulness engender the continuance of her life and strength of spirit, despite having to face wild animals, elemental demons (particularly that of torrential rain), and the unkind companion of illness. Throughout her time on this isolated island, Mary, being a woman of industry, writes a journal chronicling her time apart from society. These journals will manifest eventually into this book.

The continuity of Mary’s island routine is eventually interrupted by another shipwreck on the shores of what has been, up to this point, her island alone. Mary desperately tries to save the lives of the passengers aboard the ship as they attempt to make it ashore, but there is little she can do. To her horror and chagrin, all of the passengers appear to have died in their desperate attempts to live. After this horrific event, Mary boards the skeletal ship that is now but a graveyard and puts the remains of the once living to rest. Whilst on the ship, she scavenges for supplies and discovers a most unwelcome surprise—her husband’s chest of things. This discovery sends her into a state of shock and depression that almost takes her life as she considers the possibility that her husband has met his watery grave. Needing confirmation of this tragic fact she boards the ship once more and finds documentation in the form of work logs and forms of employment to the effect that her husband was in fact on the ship at the time of its descent. The despair she feels at this tragedy is only stemmed by the passage of time and the life of a lion cub, whom she cares for and who cares for her in turn.

A sample page showing a quotation that utilizes indentations without quotation marks

While this lion becomes an important companion to her, she attempts to deal with the passing of her husband by way of reading his bible and writing away the passage of time in her journal. In another emotionally devastating turn of events, her only living companion, Leo the lion, dies in the very place she first encountered him. Before this event could take too much of an emotional toll, however, Mary is discovered by her very much alive husband. Instead of drowning within sight of his tragic wife, Meadows was rescued by the coincidence of a passing ship and managed to find his way back to her by way of even larger coincidences. He just so happened to cross paths with her brother and their friend, and find their way back to the island on which her husband had seen smoke signals, generated by Mary, emanating from.

The sharing of the histories of their time in separation, immediately told upon reunion at the island, finally reveals the origin of their unhappy situation. The original charges of infidelity that propelled this whole narrative into being were planted in Meadow’s head by a treacherous woman, Mrs. Wilson, that had designs upon Meadows. While she does not fulfil her plans due to the set of strange circumstances that come into play, she does separate the unfortunate couple for a significant amount of time filled with hardship. Wilson, an employee Meadows and Mary had helped out of a rough situation earlier on, also shares his story in the conclusion of this novel. While Mary was shipwrecked multiple times and Meadows too was failingly sailing the seas, Wilson fell in love with an Iroquois woman while he was deployed in the Americas. After their daring escape from the colonies together, his new bride then perished by the bite of a serpent upon their arrival in Canada. Her death propelled Wilson to abandon Quebec in favor of France—a country which held no sentimental grief for his young wife lately perished. There he met with Mary’s brother and subsequently Meadows. This group eventually found their way back to Mary in a reunion as joyful as the rest of the circumstances of the story are unhappy. Leaving the island and returning to London settles the unrest of the novel in a way most final, with the last sentiment of Mary that her story “might have happened to anyone” and that she was “born for an example and benefit to others” (72).

Bibliography

The Adventures of Mary Jane Meadows. London, A. Lemoine, 1802.

Dibdin, Charles. Hannah Hewit. London, Charles Dibdin, 1796.

Thompson, Carl. “The Grosvenor Shipwreck and the Figure of the Female Crusoe: Hannah Hewit, Mary Jane Meadows, and Romantic-Era Feminist and Anti-Feminist Debate.” English Studies in Africa, vol. 51, no. 2, 2008, pp. 9–20.

Material History

Textual History

Narrative Point of View

Summary

Bibliography

The Secret Oath: Or Blood-stained Dagger, a Romance

Material History

Textual History

Narrative Point of View

Summary

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The History of Paul and Virginia; or the Shipwreck

Material History

Textual History

Narrative Point of View

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Don Algonah: Or the Sorceress of Montillo. A Romantic Tale

Material History

Textual History

Narrative Point of View

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The Black Forest; Or, the Cavern of Horrors

Material History

Textual History

Narrative Point of View

Summary

Bibliography

Oswick, the Bold Outlaw: A Tale of the Eighth Century.

Material History

Textual History

Narrative Point of View

Summary

Bibliography

The Life, Voyages, and Surprising Adventures, of Mary Jane Meadows, a Woman of Uncommon Talents, Spirit, and Resolution

Material History

Textual History

Narrative Point of View

Summary

Bibliography

Researcher: Grace Breiner