In the first three volumes of Sons of the Viscount and the Daughters of the Earl, we have read about the protracted angst of two couples who can't marry each other because of a feud between two noble families, and another pair of lovers, Elvira and Sidney, who are parted forever because she married someone else. Sidney is now married to Julia, a sweet and deserving girl. 
   The unhappy Cecil (a girl) and Robert, Lord Desmond, along with Henry Fortescue and Angeline de Courci, are unable to marry because more than twenty years ago Emma, (Robert's mother and Angeline's aunt), could not marry Viscount Fortescue (Cecil and Henry's father), because of the family feud described in earlier posts. What is needed--obviously--is for Emma, now widowed, to go to her old sweetheart Viscount Fortescue and beg him to put aside the family feud so the young people can marry. This solution does not occur to her. What can I do to help? she asks her unhappy son, all bewildered. What could I possibly do?...
       “Oh, my adored mother! I would die sooner than you should be put to the trial… [Robert answers]. I cannot tell you—I would not for the world you should suppose me capable of wishing to expose you to such a painful task.”
    “And will you refuse to give me the information I demand? Then, Angeline, I must appeal to you.”
   “Oh, not to me, dear aunt, not to me, I would not wound you by the mention of such an idea.” ​

  In the two previous posts, I gave a synopsis of the first two volumes of The Sons of the Viscount and the Daughters of the Earl (1813), a book I could not resist on account on its title.  I tried to do the last two volumes in one blog post, but with so many plot lines and so many couples, I will stick with one volume per post.
​   As I finish the third volume, I am disappointed that there haven't been any big revelations or plot twists. Not that any of the characters were implying that there was some Big Secret. We continue with the angst of the secret forbidden love some young people are holding in their hearts, due to the obduracy of Viscount Fortescue. Everyone says he's a great guy, very humane, very just, very intelligent--it's just that he will not consider dropping the family feud with the De Courcis. I've provided an updated family tree below the break.
   If angst and some fine purple prose is your thing, there is plenty to be had in this book. Everybody is pining for somebody....  

     In my previous blog post, I gave a synopsis of Volume I of Selina Davenport's four-volume epic The Sons of the Viscount and the Daughters of the Earl (1813). That post lays out the scandalous events that led to a lasting feud between the Fortescues and the De Courcis. Viscount Fortescue sternly forbids his two sons and his daughter to have anything to do with the De Courcis, which is unfortunate, as each of them is in love with a member of the De Courci family.
    Meanwhile, Emma, Lady Desmond, formerly Emma De Courci, is back from Ireland. She had to give up her first love, none other than Viscount Fortescue. Now that she is a widow and he is a widower, you would think they'd fly to each other's arms. Or at least meet for lunch. But no. As she explains (?) to her son Robert, "I will never obtrude myself on the notice of the Viscount.”
   Nor will Viscount Fortescue obtrude himself on her notice because.... because.... oh, it's because he's obeying the edict of his late father, who told him to never speak to a De Courci again. Even though dad is long gone, he won't break his promise. So that's our impediment.
    As a result of the feud, Emma's son Robert, Lord Desmond, pines in vain for the lovely Cecil Fortescue.  His uncle, the current Earl Fortescue, hoped Robert would marry his ward and niece Angeline. (If it's confusing for you, check out the family tree after the break). But no, there's no spark there between the cousins. they are just very good friends and they hang out together. Angeline is quietly and decorously pining for Henry Fortescue, a married man.

    The Sons of the Viscount and the Daughters of the Earl came out at the same time as Pride and Prejudice but Austen's fresh, witty masterwork feels like it comes from a different era.
​   Selina Davenport's novel is a four-volume paean to traditional themes (filial obedience/filial tyranny), conventional heroine behaviour (fainting and weeping), metaphor-laden prose (“smile of expectation” and “the sigh of parental anxiety”) and trite descriptions ("odoriferous shrubs," "umbrageous trees"). But it never received a review when it came out, which must have been disappointing for the author, and I thought I could blog as I read and post my predictions, to see if I was right about where the story was going. With a title like the Sons of the Viscount and the Daughters of the Earl (hereinafter SofVatDofE), I imagine we have a story that was marketed to the gentry and the working classes, all about "the dissipations of the fashionable world," so here we go with volume one...
    The main characters are two teenage sisters, the lively and vain Lady Elvira and the sweet and pensive Lady Angeline, daughters of the late Earl Fortescue. They live on one side of the lake. On the other side of the lake is the dwelling of Viscount De Courci, who has two sons, the lively and impulsive Reginald and the intelligent and thoughtful Henry, plus one daughter, the lovely young Cecil. Cecil is named after her deceased aunt, who was the victim of a tragedy that led to an exceedingly bitter family feud, which I'll get back to. To assist you with following along with the plot, I have created a family tree of the main characters beneath the break....​