| This blog explores social attitudes in Jane Austen's time, discusses her novels, reviews forgotten 18th century novels, and throws some occasional shade at the modern academy. The introductory post is here. My "six simple questions for academics" post is here. |
CMP#203 The Sons of the Viscount and the Daughters of the Earl, Volume II
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.
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.
| Dotted lines with broken hearts represent thwarted relationships. Elvira married someone else rather than wait for Sidney. Henry is married to his cousin Lucinda though he loves Angelina, but Robert is hanging on in hopes of marrying Cecil. Julia (friend of the family) pines for Sidney. One bit of good news: with the two families awkwardly living next to each other, the servants Phoebe and Robarts are reunited. Phoebe went with her mistress 22 years ago to Ireland, and Robarts, the valet of Viscount Fortescue, has pined for her ever since. |
More angst
Off on the side, there is Julia Aveland, friend of Cecil, who is a sympathetic listener to Sidney, as he struggles with his broken heart after Elvira threw him over and married Everard Wrottesley for his wealth and social standing.
Most of volume II is about the angst of the various parties as they go from tea party to dinner party to ballroom to morning visit in London, catching sight of each other. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and "starting" and turning of a deathly paleness. Just because you're rich, titled and good-looking doesn't mean you can't be miserable.
I was looking forward to the masquerade ball, but it was not that big of an event. Sidney disguised himself as a female gypsy fortune teller (just like Rochester would later do in Jane Eyre) and went around telling fortunes. He told Lady Elvira that she had cruelly thrown over the man who loved her, and then he ran around being very cheerful, to show that she hadn't lacerated his heart.
Most precious treasures
Lady Elvira's younger sister, the gentle Lady Angeline, is much admired by the many wealthy, eligible, handsome nobleman running all over London. She turns down a highly eligible Marquis, because she does not esteem him as she esteems Henry, whom she cannot have because he's married to his cousin Lucinda.
Lady Angeline secretly hangs on to a book that belongs to Henry and she snapped a sprig of myrtle from the Fortescue country estate and is growing it in a pot. She hangs on to these precious treasures even though he is married. In any other book, this would be considered as wrong-doing, but the author absolves her: “Innocent, and free from guile… Lady Angeline had never felt a wish relating to [Henry] which his wife would have disapproved of; yet she could not relinquish the volume or the myrtle."
His Heart's On Fire
Lady Elvira is not happy that Sidney appears to be getting over her. Now that she is married, she indulges her feelings of regret. When she learns the Fortescues have taken a nice little lodge for the spring months just outside of London, she takes the house next door, so they will encounter each other in the adjoining gardens. And they do. Sidney's resolve is briefly conquered.
Off on the side, there is Julia Aveland, friend of Cecil, who is a sympathetic listener to Sidney, as he struggles with his broken heart after Elvira threw him over and married Everard Wrottesley for his wealth and social standing.
Most of volume II is about the angst of the various parties as they go from tea party to dinner party to ballroom to morning visit in London, catching sight of each other. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and "starting" and turning of a deathly paleness. Just because you're rich, titled and good-looking doesn't mean you can't be miserable.
I was looking forward to the masquerade ball, but it was not that big of an event. Sidney disguised himself as a female gypsy fortune teller (just like Rochester would later do in Jane Eyre) and went around telling fortunes. He told Lady Elvira that she had cruelly thrown over the man who loved her, and then he ran around being very cheerful, to show that she hadn't lacerated his heart.
Most precious treasures
Lady Elvira's younger sister, the gentle Lady Angeline, is much admired by the many wealthy, eligible, handsome nobleman running all over London. She turns down a highly eligible Marquis, because she does not esteem him as she esteems Henry, whom she cannot have because he's married to his cousin Lucinda.
Lady Angeline secretly hangs on to a book that belongs to Henry and she snapped a sprig of myrtle from the Fortescue country estate and is growing it in a pot. She hangs on to these precious treasures even though he is married. In any other book, this would be considered as wrong-doing, but the author absolves her: “Innocent, and free from guile… Lady Angeline had never felt a wish relating to [Henry] which his wife would have disapproved of; yet she could not relinquish the volume or the myrtle."
His Heart's On Fire
Lady Elvira is not happy that Sidney appears to be getting over her. Now that she is married, she indulges her feelings of regret. When she learns the Fortescues have taken a nice little lodge for the spring months just outside of London, she takes the house next door, so they will encounter each other in the adjoining gardens. And they do. Sidney's resolve is briefly conquered.
| “He unfastened the gate which separated them, and caught her passionately to his heart. “Am I awake,” said he, still pressing her luxurious person in his arms, “or do I dream? …Does [Elvira’s] heart still beat with fondness for the man she abandoned? Oh! Elvira, once adored, once idolized, am I still dear to you? “Alas!” replied the beautiful enchantress, “it is vain to deny that you alone possess my affection. Yes, dearest Sidney, too late have I discovered that in resigning you I resigned all that was valuable in this life.” Sidney was no longer master of himself: his arms enfolded one of the most lovely, the most fascinating of women; his eyes beheld the finest features in the world, softened by the most languishing tenderness…” “Prudence, religion, honour, and morality, all were forgotten, and he alone remembered that his lips were pressed to those of the beautiful Elvira—that his head rested on the downy pillow of her throbbing bosom.” |  I can just imagine a roomful of milliner's apprentices thrilling over this titillating scene! They would not have been able to purchase this novel, priced at at hefty one pound, four shillings, but they could all chip in and borrow it from a circulating library. |
Sidney pulls himself together, runs inside, and tries to calm himself down by working on a Greek translation (as one does), then goes back to basking in Julia's sympathy, with no apparent thought about what he's doing to her by allowing her to sit there and adore him.
Meanwhile, Lucinda, Henry's wife, can't give up the dissipations of London...
Meanwhile, Lucinda, Henry's wife, can't give up the dissipations of London...
"naturally very delicate"
We are getting lots of foreshadowing about Lucinda! She is expecting a baby in October but cannot give up the social whirl. More than once, we get things like this: “contrary to the entreaties of Henry, and the advice of her physician, [Lucinda] danced with as much spirit and vivacity as usual, regardless of her present situation and the fears of her family. The paleness of her check, and the languor of her appearance, however, alarmed her husband the Viscount.” Even her father-in-law pleads with her: “Your constitution is infinitely too delicate to bear this eternal round of dissipation.” She is determined to go to an important social event at the end of May and she sulks at the prospect of spending the summer months in the country.
As we close out Volume II, Uncle Reginald, (Earl De Courci) and his nephew Lord Desmond are pelting off to the Earl's country estate because he has gotten word that his son Reginald, whom he cast off in volume one for marrying beneath him, is dangerously ill. Angeline and Emma and Robert plead with him to forgive Reginald, his only son, and recognize Mary as his wife and the future Countess.
We are getting lots of foreshadowing about Lucinda! She is expecting a baby in October but cannot give up the social whirl. More than once, we get things like this: “contrary to the entreaties of Henry, and the advice of her physician, [Lucinda] danced with as much spirit and vivacity as usual, regardless of her present situation and the fears of her family. The paleness of her check, and the languor of her appearance, however, alarmed her husband the Viscount.” Even her father-in-law pleads with her: “Your constitution is infinitely too delicate to bear this eternal round of dissipation.” She is determined to go to an important social event at the end of May and she sulks at the prospect of spending the summer months in the country.
As we close out Volume II, Uncle Reginald, (Earl De Courci) and his nephew Lord Desmond are pelting off to the Earl's country estate because he has gotten word that his son Reginald, whom he cast off in volume one for marrying beneath him, is dangerously ill. Angeline and Emma and Robert plead with him to forgive Reginald, his only son, and recognize Mary as his wife and the future Countess.
Novels and novel-reading
So far, we've been told that Elvira liked to read romances, and Lucinda, Henry's giddy wife, loves to read novels. She turns down a healthy walk in the fresh air with her husband because “I have got into the middle of the last new novel, and I am quite mad to finish it.”
Isn't it funny how novelists denigrated novels in the pages of their novels? (as mentioned in Jane Austen's famous "defense of the novel")? If a girl reads novels in a novel, it's generally a sign that she is shallow and silly. Lady Angeline by contrast, reads poetry and Henry's copy of Petrarch, presumably in the early Renaissance Italian.
The characters also referred to themselves as people in a novel in volume I. “Here you are, more than half inclined to fall desperately in love with the only woman in the world you ought to hate and avoid," Elvira laughs as Sidney falls in love with her. "What a pretty scene this would make in a romance. I dare say Mrs. Radcliffe would be glad of the hint.” Angeline for her part modestly declaims to “shine as a heroine.”
So far, we've been told that Elvira liked to read romances, and Lucinda, Henry's giddy wife, loves to read novels. She turns down a healthy walk in the fresh air with her husband because “I have got into the middle of the last new novel, and I am quite mad to finish it.”
Isn't it funny how novelists denigrated novels in the pages of their novels? (as mentioned in Jane Austen's famous "defense of the novel")? If a girl reads novels in a novel, it's generally a sign that she is shallow and silly. Lady Angeline by contrast, reads poetry and Henry's copy of Petrarch, presumably in the early Renaissance Italian.
The characters also referred to themselves as people in a novel in volume I. “Here you are, more than half inclined to fall desperately in love with the only woman in the world you ought to hate and avoid," Elvira laughs as Sidney falls in love with her. "What a pretty scene this would make in a romance. I dare say Mrs. Radcliffe would be glad of the hint.” Angeline for her part modestly declaims to “shine as a heroine.”
Awkward family reunion All images Bing AI So.... before volume 3.... some predictions
Will Lady Elvira reform herself before it's too late? And by "too late," I mean, before she loses her reputation and dies? Repentance or death are the only two options. Is Reginald's illness caused by remorse for disobeying his father and how does that affect his marriage? Will the Reginald/Mary marriage pull through? (Pretty awkward, considering she was sexually propositioned by her now father-in-law). Will Julia be rewarded in the end with Sidney, or will she suffer from unrequited love? I can't tell at this point.
I wouldn't place any bets on Lucinda surviving Volume III. She is about to give birth and she has undermined her health. That of course will leave Henry a widower.
One more thing.... we know Elvira and Angeline's father is dead; he fell off his horse. But are we sure the older Cecil, the girl who he seduced before their wedding night, is dead? She died off stage, off in Wales or somewhere. What if she shows up? What if she had a child from her one night of premarital passion with Earl de Courci? That child would be a few years older than Sidney and Elvira. and would be the half-brother or half-sister to all of them, I think. In other words, I hope for some more twists and impediments in the next two volumes.
Will Lady Elvira reform herself before it's too late? And by "too late," I mean, before she loses her reputation and dies? Repentance or death are the only two options. Is Reginald's illness caused by remorse for disobeying his father and how does that affect his marriage? Will the Reginald/Mary marriage pull through? (Pretty awkward, considering she was sexually propositioned by her now father-in-law). Will Julia be rewarded in the end with Sidney, or will she suffer from unrequited love? I can't tell at this point.
I wouldn't place any bets on Lucinda surviving Volume III. She is about to give birth and she has undermined her health. That of course will leave Henry a widower.
One more thing.... we know Elvira and Angeline's father is dead; he fell off his horse. But are we sure the older Cecil, the girl who he seduced before their wedding night, is dead? She died off stage, off in Wales or somewhere. What if she shows up? What if she had a child from her one night of premarital passion with Earl de Courci? That child would be a few years older than Sidney and Elvira. and would be the half-brother or half-sister to all of them, I think. In other words, I hope for some more twists and impediments in the next two volumes.
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