Recent reading

[regshoe]

The Lyon in Mourning, collected by Robert Forbes, volume 2 (1748-50). More very interesting Jacobite historical bits and pieces. I'm really getting to admire Forbes as a historian: not only did he obviously put a great deal of work into his 'collection', he's scrupulous about accuracy and detail, noting where different accounts of the same events contradict each other and stating his increased confidence in points on which independent accounts do agree, and he mentions several times his readiness to hear stories about the good conduct of Hanoverians, because he wants to be fair to his enemies. Highlights of the second volume include accounts kept by Prince Charles's Master of Household, in case you ever want to know how many chickens or how much flour the Jacobites ate on any given day of the march through England; an account of how an attempt to capture the Prince failed due to a small number of people opportunistically pretending to be the entire Jacobite army in defence of him; and a great deal of poetry of somewhat doubtful quality, some of it in Latin.

This volume is less focussed on the Prince and his escape than the first, and there's more information about what happened to everyone else after Culloden, some of it making for frankly difficult reading; but there are also some accounts of miraculous and heroic escapes, and much of kindness amidst the cruelty—Anne Leith, a woman who did a great deal to help the prisoners at Inverness, recounts her experiences there, including what I think is the story that D. K. Broster had in mind when she mentioned an officer court-martialled for showing kindness to the prisoners (he brought them writing materials, allowing them to communicate with Mrs Leith and other friends, and would go on guard when it wasn't his turn to spare them from the attentions of less well-disposed officers). There's also a lot to be gleaned from Forbes's letters about life in and around Edinburgh after the Rising. Jacobitism was clearly very much alive, and apparently the authorities in the city were, amongst other things, repeatedly bothered by the appearance of white cockades and other Jacobite symbols on the statue of a lion adorning the Parliament House. And the letters can be enjoyable for what they reveal about their writers as well. Forbes was apparently in the habit of signing himself by silly fake names when writing to his close friends; 'Donald Hatebreeks, of Tartanhall' colourfully conveys his opinion of the proscription of Highland dress!

Over the Gate by Miss Read (1964). We're back to the usual format of the Fairacre books, with Miss Read as the first-person narrator. This book is all about the local stories she hears from the inhabitants of the village, typically told to her 'over the gate' while stopping for a chat at the end of the garden. Despite the occasional questionable period attitude, and some slight confusion over the timeline (we're now nine years after the publication of the first Fairacre book, and the present-day ones are clearly intended to be set contemporarily, but some of the same schoolchild characters appear in all of them), I enjoyed this one a lot. I love Miss Read's quiet sense of humour, and the strong sense of place that makes Fairacre so memorable was strengthened by all the local folklore in this book. I quite agree with Miss Read when she considers the idea of leaving Fairacre for professional opportunities elsewhere and then decides that she couldn't possibly. The double layer of fiction on the stories recounted to Miss Read is used to good effect, with ambiguity over how much really happened as narrated—some of the stories are mundane, others are decidedly unbelievable (amongst these was what has to be the best interpretation of the idea of 'weight loss' I've ever read).

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

and much of kindness amidst the cruelty

It's always so interesting to read accounts of these difficult times in history, that try to remain objective and don't take the easy way out of saying that there was a good and a bad side and just leaving it at that. Broster is really great at portraying all the nuances in different people, and it makes sense that she used these collected accounts. I also appreciate reading the real experiences of people who took part in the events. It's the closest thing we have to hearing people telling their own stories in their own words, and it's priceless.

As for officers showing kindness to prisoners... just wait until you read "Flemington"! *hands you a virtual tissue 6 pack*

'Donald Hatebreeks, of Tartanhall' colourfully conveys his opinion of the proscription of Highland dress!

Haha, that's very snarky and delightful! :D

[regshoe]

Yeah, absolutely—reading this sort of thing you get all the little trivial details that surround the big events you read about in history books, and it's a brilliant way to appreciate the complexity and also, I suppose, the reality of the past.

As for officers showing kindness to prisoners... just wait until you read "Flemington"! *hands you a virtual tissue 6 pack*

Haha, I'm sure that'll be fun... *takes tissues to use over The Wounded Name, which I'm currently reading and which looks like presenting some not dissimilar opportunities*

[luzula]

Oooh, I look forward to your review of The Wounded Name. : )

Where did you find the second volume of The Lyon in Mourning, by the way? I can only find Volume 1 on Gutenberg.

[regshoe]

They're all on the Internet Archive—here is volume 2, here is volume 3 and here's the itinerary of Prince Charles included as a supplement. :)

[luzula]

Sigh, I wish they were available as epub/html instead...

[regshoe]

It would certainly have been easier writing this review if I could've searched the text for the bits I wanted... In theory, however, anyone with access to OCR software could take those PDFs and make a text file, since it's all uncontroversially public domain.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I don't know if this is helpful, but archive.org's "full text" version is searchable! Also, this! :D I found it easier to browse, because you can see the different sections faster! I've only poked and it here and there and haven't read the whole thing yet, so I might be wrong, but the search seems to work OK?

[regshoe]

Oh, those do both look good—thank you! The archive.org 'full text' looks like a non-proofread conversion of the scans—the quality isn't great but I can find what I'm looking for with a search.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Haha, I'm sure that'll be fun... *takes tissues to use over The Wounded Name, which I'm currently reading and which looks like presenting some not dissimilar opportunities*

Ohhh, I can't wait to read your review of it! Is it too obvious/spoiler-ish to ask if the title has anything to do with Shakespeare? I remember Broster used him in epigraphs before, and I'm curious! I hope it's not too sad, though! (although sometimes a sad book is just the thing, isn't it?)

[regshoe]

Yes! She quotes from Hamlet ('O good Horatio, what a wounded name/Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!) at the beginning of the book :D

As for sad, so far I don't think it has any emotions other than head-over-heels infatuation and iddy hurt/comfort, but we'll have to see how the ending works out...

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Yes! She quotes from Hamlet ('O good Horatio, what a wounded name/Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!) at the beginning of the book :D

*heart eyes* Ohh, does that mean we get a Hamlet+Horatio type of character dynamics? I have only looked at brief blurbs to avoid spoilers, so fingers crossed it has a nicer ending than "Hamlet"... hopefully like the other use of "wounded name" I can think of, which is much nicer: poor wounded name, my breast as a bed will lodge thee, etc. etc.--I am horribly paraphrasing Shakes ;) because I'm too lazy to get up and look for my book, but it's somewhere in "The two gentlemen of Verona", and I think it fits with your "head-over-heels infatuation and iddy hurt/comfort" description, which sounds great and very tempting! <3 Or maybe Broster meant both and is trolling her readers! I wouldn't put it past her! ;)

[regshoe]

I've not yet seen or read either Hamlet or The Two Gentlemen of Verona, so I can't say—although if these relationships are anything like this one I probably should :D

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Well, I'm a bit biased about Shakespeare ;) so of course I recommend them! Especially Hamlet, which has a very intense relationship between two male characters, a very interesting political plot, and a very haunting ending that stays in your memory!! It's one of my favourite of his plays to re-read! (I don't know how to talk about it in a better/deeper way without spoilers, I should take lessons from you and your reviews, haha) Oh and "The two gentlemen" is more of a comedy, and it involves Shakespeare's typical confusions and misundersandings and friendships and love-struck people, and a woman disguising herself as a man! But the best thing, in my opinion, is the dog character, who steals the show, and I approve! :D

I'm very curious about "The wouded name" now! I have another short story collection by Violet Jacob on the go at the mo, but I might read this one later, because a bit of hurt/comfort and infatuation sure sounds like the kind of self-indulgent things that make me feel better!

[regshoe]

Those do sound good—thanks for the recs :D

[hyarrowen]

Miss Read is such fun, though as you say, of her era. She's got some very sharp wit, for sure. I have a theory that she lives not far from Miss Marple - they've both got an eye for observation.

I'm looking forward to your review of The Wounded Name. I don't think I could cope with reading it again - it's too rich a diet! - but am always interested to hear other people's views on it.

[regshoe]

I have a theory that she lives not far from Miss Marple - they've both got an eye for observation.

Aww, I like this theory :D

It is certainly a bit rich—that stuff about jumping straight into the iddy hurt/comfort and not letting up really wasn't an exaggeration...!