Flight of the Heron read-along: Part II chapters 1-2

[regshoe]

Charlie is my darling, the Young Chevalier...

Flight of the Heron (under the title The Jacobite Trilogy) is doing very well in Yuletide sign-ups—3 requests and 4 offers at present :D

Next week we'll read the second half of Part II, chapters 3 and 4.

Comments

[regshoe]

I think these two chapters are great fun :D

Epigraph notes: The epigraph to part II is from the Jacobite song 'To Daunton Me', which was published in 'Jacobite Relics of Scotland', second series, by James Hogg (1819), here. Not to be confused with the Robert Burns poem of the same title, which is otherwise completely different! The Scots word 'wanton' means 'overjoy, delight'. Hogg gives his source as 'Mr Moir's collection', but if this collection was ever published I haven't been able to find any record of it, so the actual origin of the song remains mysterious. I'm not aware of any recordings.

First, an important question: What is the 'short, pregnant word' beginning with S that Charles was about to call Ewen? I don't know, it's been bugging me ever since I first read the book and if anyone here can figure it out I'll be very grateful!

Anyway—we move forward in time and history, the Jacobites are doing well, and chapter 1 opens with one of Broster's lovely and lively passages of historical detail. It's possible I have a high tolerance for historical exposition in general, but I do think this is how to do it right. She conveys a lovely sense of Edinburgh as a setting, as well, for all that it's very different from the wild Highland landscape of Part I—all too-tall houses and winding streets and shadowy corners.

And now that the Jacobites have secured their early successes, Ewen too is doing well, and we're back in his POV again for the first time since the prologue. I do like seeing him here in his full triumphant Jacobite setting: proud and happy and responsible; being rude to Strickland, even prepared to argue with the Prince himself.

Speaking of which, the Prince himself! The man all this fuss was about finally appears, and I think Broster paints a very vivid picture of him in these chapters: quick-tempered but not without enough political shrewdness to keep it under control; charming (I like his swift recovery from learning that his errand in search of Craigmains is pointless: 'Have I not gained the pleasure of your acquaintance, and of Miss Cochran’s, not to speak of drinking the best claret I have tasted since I came to Edinburgh?'); full of gaiety, high spirits, ready classical and Biblical references and a sense of adventure. I think he comes across as very much someone who knows he's the main character of this bit of history.

I love Ewen and Charles's interactions, from their argument onwards—and poor Ewen's frustration at being forced to become the wise and moderate voice of reason ('old head on young shoulders') is terribly funny. Broster uses her omniscient POV very effectively here to comment on the characters and their situation from the outside, both seriously ( Their eyes met, the warm Southern brown and the blue—I wonder what Ewen is actually thinking in this moment) and for humour (During this touching scene of reconciliation it was evident from various discreet but not too patient taps upon the door that the excluded person on the other side still desired admittance).

I like Isobel Cochran! Both ardently loyal and sensible.

Secret passages with a hidden entrance in the panelling :D This book is so much fun. I love the tense adventure of the second half of chapter 2, when we get some quick thinking from Ewen—and then that amazing cliffhanger of an ending!...

[luzula]

Oh, oops, forgot to read the chapters...will do so now.

Their eyes met, the warm Southern brown and the blue

I don't know if you noticed that in White Cockades, but Edward Prime-Stevenson obviously thinks the Prince has blue eyes! I trust Broster's research over his...

[regshoe]

Oh, that's a good point! Hmm, most of the portraits of him do seem to agree that he had brown eyes, although in this one they look grey.

[hyarrowen]

A friend long ago suggested that the short, pregnant word is 'spy'.

I love these two chapters - the old, windy city, the dark and the crowding buildings. It's claustrophobic and tense as soon as they get out of the ballromm. Most especially I love Lady Easterhall and Miss Cochran, resourceful, tough Jacobite ladies both.

Ewen thinks that it would take a certain amount of skill and courage to lead a raid from the Castle, and behold! Thrff jub gheaf hc. Gung fxvyyshy naq pbhentrbhf fbyqvre ur'f rapbhagrerq orsber. Gur raqvat bs Puncgre VV vf n terng yvar, gubhtu V qba'g yvxr gung Xrvgu vf fb hacyrnfnag gb gur fretrnag jura ur ernyvfrf gur zvfgnxr va vqragvgl. Ubj jnf gur fretrnag fhccbfrq gb xabj juc vg jnf be jnfa'g? Rira Xrvgu qbrfa'g ernyvfr jub ur'f tbg ng svefg. Vg'f cebonoyl gur bayl guvat V qvfyvxr nobhg Xrvgu.

[luzula]

'Spy'? That's certainly an idea...and it would of course be supremely insulting! But I don't think the circumstances really fit--nothing in BPC's thoughts, which Broster does show us, indicates that he thinks Ewen isn't loyal, just that he's loyal in his own irritating, overprotective way. I would have expected something more along the lines of 'nursemaid', but that's too long and doesn't begin with 's'.

Not replying in rot13 since it's not a spoiler for future chapters, but: I do wonder why Keith uses the title 'Prince' at the end! Properly he should say 'Pretender'. A little slip of the tongue from spending too much time among Jacobites, Keith? *g*

[regshoe]

Yeah, I agree with luzula about 'spy'—the problem seems to be that Ewen is being interfering and over-solicitous about the Prince's safety, not that his loyalty is in question. (His 'something that no gentleman can possibly call another' makes me wonder if it's a word that was in established use as an insult, as it were—in which case it could be some obscure term common amongst eighteenth-century gentlemen but not much in use now! Who knows...).

Anyway—Ewen thinks that it would take a certain amount of skill and courage to lead a raid from the Castle, and behold!

Haha, good point :D But poor Keith must have been pretty disappointed at thinking he'd got Charles himself (I can imagine the message reaching him in a way that implied more certainty, e.g. perhaps the supposed Prince had confirmed his own identity) and then finding out he hadn't. He is certainly a bit rude there!

[hyarrowen]

The poet Patricia Beer was similarly confused. In her memoir, Mrs Beer's House, she says that her sister suggested 'shit.' Which nearly caused a lively argument. But I think that if a poet can't figure it out, the rest of us have very little chance.

[regshoe]

The other thing that makes me think it's not 'spy' is what comes before: 'I did not think that I was hampering myself with a...' —hampering yourself with a spy would be a strange way to put it, as opposed to being endangered/undermined/betrayed by one. It makes me feel better to know a poet mentioning this in a serious book couldn't figure it out either...!

(Surely if it was anything beginning with SH, she'd write 'sh---' rather than 's---'—anyway...)

[luzula]

Surely one would not say 'hampering myself with a shit'.

Okay, I've gone through all the S words in this slang dictionary, and found these insults:

SAUCE BOX. A term of familiar raillery, signifying a bold
or forward person.
SCAB. A worthless man or woman.
SCOUNDREL. A man void of every principle of honour.
SCRUB. A low mean fellow, employed in all sorts of dirty work.
SLAG. A slack-mettled fellow, one not ready to resent an
affront.

The only one that fits the situation is 'sauce box', but I don't know if it really sounds right. Possibly 'scab', but that does seem a bit harsh! 'Slag' is about the opposite of Ewen at that point. : )

[regshoe]

Excellent research :D Although I agree that none of them really fit—'a term of familiar raillery' doesn't sound like the serious insult Charles was about to use, and 'scab' seems too generic as well as too harsh.

[hyarrowen]

The Beer sisters, and their mother, were reading the book in the early 1930s, much closer in time to publication date than we are, and they couldn't work it out. It'll probably remain forever a mystery. Personally I'm still inclined to 'spy' - in the sense of "You're Lochiel's eyes and ears amongst my staff and that's going to curtail my freedom to do whatever I like," rather than the espionage/enemy agent sense. I suppose 'snitch' would be nearer the mark in present-day lingo. It's obviously a dreadful insult anyway.

[regshoe]

The 1930s? Such a missed opportunity that they didn't just write to Broster and ask her!

in the sense of "You're Lochiel's eyes and ears amongst my staff and that's going to curtail my freedom to do whatever I like," rather than the espionage/enemy agent sense

Hmm, that does make more sense! Perhaps it is...

[cahn]

"Snitch" was my guess as to the mysterious s-word! Though maybe it's too modern a word for that?

[hyarrowen]

Online etymology says "informer," 1785, probably from underworld slang meaning "the nose" (1700), which apparently developed from an earlier meaning "fillip on the nose" (1670s). Snitcher in same sense is from 1827. More etymologically-inclined persons might be able to share more light on it!

So it's not far off the date, but perhaps a bit too slangy for a Prince who grew up in Rome.

Definitely getting there, though.

[ethelmay]

I thought "shit" or "sod."

[luzula]

I looked up the origin of 'sod', and wow, I didn't know it was originally short for 'sodomite'! According to the OED, the earliest use is from 1814, but there are still examples of it used that way in the 20th century. And then later in the 19th century it also became 'a general term of abuse or contempt for a person (originally a man), esp. someone irritating, difficult, or troublesome', which is pretty much what I thought it meant, though it's not a word in my active vocabulary.

[ethelmay]

The OED's earliest use isn't necessarily the earliest there is, just the earliest the definition-writers were able to find - they are always on the lookout for earlier ones. One difficulty that occurs to me is that there may have been some overlap with "sot" (for which there are far earlier attestations), which could mean a foolish fellow as well as a drunken one. But I think there's a definite implication that they can't spell it out, because it's rude, which does argue for something more like "shit" or "sod" than like "spy." However well "spy" fits otherwise (and in fact I do think it's one of the most likely possibilities), I wouldn't have thought it would be so unmentionable an insult. And I like the idea of Broster working in a glancing reference to sodomy without saying so.

[killclaudio]

Oh, I actually quite like the suggestion of 'spy'? The Prince is annoyed at Ewen butting in where he isn't wanted and asking questions, and there aren't that many short words beginning with 's' that would express that.

I did wonder if the word might be 'scrub', which seems to be a sort of all-purpose insult for someone stupid and useless, but that doesn't really fit the scene, since Ewen is actually being ultra competent - too competent, in the Prince's view. :)

[luzula]

The definition of 'scrub' I found from the 18th century was 'a low mean fellow, employed in all sorts of dirty work,' which doesn't really fit! But yeah, 'spy' interpreted that way instead of as an enemy agent does work better.

[impala_chick]

Yes, I loved how the story pivoted to one of political intrigue! And Ewen is so different from Keith, so this was a good reminder of how Ewen can be forthright and almost pushy when faced with others who he thinks are doing something wrong... Even the prince! He was hardly like that with Keith.

[regshoe]

Very true!—I do like how Broster uses the changes in POV to show us the characters in such different lights in different contexts.

[luzula]

I like the title of this part ('Floodtide'). And the melody of the song should go like this, if it's the same as 'To Daunton Me'.

There might have been a sense of doomed gaiety to the scene at the ball, given how things will go later in the war, but since Broster rather goes for the comedy in the historical exposition that comes before it, we get a lighter tone. Which I appreciate! I like Ewen and Alison's banter, and then the whole atmosphere of spy antics, with disguises, secret passages, etc. It's a lot of fun, and I also enjoy seeing what Ewen's loyalty to the Prince means in practice: it doesn't mean uncritical devotion. He's quite willing to argue with BPC when he thinks he's wrong, and isn't willing to be insulted.

And of course there's Keith turning up again! Of which more in the next chapter. : D

O'Sullivan doesn't look very sympathetic through Ewen's eyes, which is realistic in the sense that there was definitely some dissension among BPC's followers. O'Sullivan wasn't just quartermaster in the sense that he was responsible for supplies--he was also responsible for coordinating staff work. According to Duffy he was very competent, and the quick tempo of the invasion of England was partly his work.

'The nightly stenches of Edinburgh proper', heh. There was a great description in a 1730's collection of letters from an English officer in Scotland that I recently read, saying how 10 pm was apparently the agreed-upon time for everyone to pour the contents of their chamber-pots from their windows. The hapless visitor did not know that this was a bad time to be out in the street...

I had to look up the Darnley reference ('Ewen went into the bedchamber which had once been the ill-fated Darnley's'), which I didn't know, and here it is.

Do you think amber is a good color for Ewen? Hmm. I guess it's a warm color that might go along with his auburn hair, but my instinct would have been blue or green, to contrast more with his hair. But really I don't know how people chose colors back then...and it's not like I'm great at fashion, anyway.

[hyarrowen]

I looked up colours for red haired, blue eyed people last year, and came up with blue and green, yes, and also dark brown and snuff-colour. I don't think either of those last two would be very suitable for a ball, but amber is close enough to snuff-colour that it might work.

[luzula]

Ah, my instincts were right, then. : ) Keith, on the other hand, looks good in red, I think...

[hyarrowen]

Keith looks good in anything.

:D

[luzula]

Hee! I am a huge fan of Keith myself, but I think you may in fact be his greatest fan. : D

[regshoe]

Yes, I like the light tone of the ball—less knowledge of what's going to happen later and more of an immediate sense of things as they are in this historical moment, which works well.

Oh dear, those chamber-pots are a good historical detail!

I suppose Ewen's hair being powdered would affect what colours he might wear with it—amber-colour and grey could go together fairly well. But I don't have any idea about eighteenth-century colour tastes either!

[luzula]

Oh, of course--his hair is powdered, I forgot that! And it would affect the color. Such a weird thing to do...

[regshoe]

Such a weird thing to do...

Fashion! :D

[impala_chick]

Now I'm trying to Google pictures of what powdered hair looked like...

[regshoe]

The historical fashion/hairstyling side of Youtube has some videos of people demonstrating the use of hair powder—here's one using a real 18th century hairdressing manual. Very interesting context...!

[luzula]

Oh my god. I hadn't actually realized what went into making those hair styles. *boggles* The person in that video is brave! I'm not sure I'd dare to try that--well, I couldn't, since my hair is less than a centimeter long, but I wouldn't dare if I had long hair. Somehow it seems typical that women had to go through all that, and men could just put on a wig!

Well, I had actually already planned in an upcoming fic to write more about the time in Edinburgh, some of it from Alison's POV, so I've got to work this in. : ) But surely Alison doesn't have a hairdo like this in the scenes at Ardroy? It seems impractical.

*checks the book* We have Who was this pretty Miss Grant with the blue fillet in her dark hair? And a fillet is a ribbon to tie up the hair, according to the OED. So it seems her hair isn't powdered. I wonder if she would wear a snood, which unmarried Scottish women seem to have done?

[regshoe]

I have to imagine that hairstyles like that were largely a way for very grand ladies to show off how much leisure time and how many skilled servants they had—surely women like Alison would have worn much simpler styles most of the time. Certainly the portraits of women in the illustrations to Damn' Rebel Bitches look a little bit simpler.

The snood is nice! I shall picture something like that.

[ethelmay]

Having red hair would also affect his complexion, which was presumably not powdered. The 1788 Trumbull portrait of Thomas Jefferson shows him with an amber sort of waistcoat.

[impala_chick]

Oh interesting info. I liked how Ewen is not just a blind follower too, which definitely goes with what we know about him so far. I was a little confused about the animosity towards some of BPCs crew, like O'Sullivan. that made for some funny situations though.

[killclaudio]

I really enjoyed all the language in these chapters, especially the Scots and the mixing in of French phrases. 'Go braw' is such a wonderful expression, and when I looked it up I found out that if you're having lovely weather it's a 'braw day', so I will now be using that. :) (I already knew 'dreich', the opposite, which unfortunately is the weather we're having right now.)

Have you seen Green's Dictionary of Slang and Timelines of Slang? FotH doesn't use a lot of slang, but I'm having fun reading all the 18th century insults.

[regshoe]

'Braw' and its relatives are a fascinating group of words—Scots 'braw' is related to English 'brave' and Swedish 'bra' (which means 'good' in the sense of good quality), and the spread of different meanings in different contexts and languages are a really interesting demonstration of how words shift over time.

Ooh, those slang links look great—a nice fic resource...!

[luzula]

Regshoe: I didn't actually know it was related to 'bra'! But of course.

I do like that 'braw' is used for Alison--my first association to it is the meaning that is given as 'Handsome, of fine physique; “stout, able-bodied, fit for warfare”' in the Scots dictionary, but then there's 'Well or gaily dressed; fine, as applied to clothes', which I suppose is the meaning Broster is using here, and also just generally 'worthy'.

I had Alison thinking that Ewen has a braw backside when he's naked in one of my fics. *g* Which I hope is correct usage.

Thanks for the slang links! Also, here's a slang dictionary from 1788.

[cahn]

Eeeee these chapters were great, ramping up the conflict! I enjoyed seeing the other side to BPC after all the Jacobites have been building him up as The Most Awesome Guy Ever, and that Ewen is seeing it as well. But poor Ewen! trying to be sensible and cautious and everyone else just mowing right over him!

And also that cliffhanger, aaaaa! I promised myself I couldn't read further until I posted on these chapters :D

[regshoe]

Broster's attitude to the historical view of the Jacobites, and the French Royalists in her other books, is interesting—certainly she does take the romantic view of things a lot, but she is also very much capable of criticising the major figures at the centre of events.

I hope you enjoy the next chapter :D

[luzula]

So glad you're enjoying the book! : D