regshoe

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.