| 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. Spoilers abound in my discussion of these forgotten novels, and I discuss 18th-century attitudes which I do not necessarily endorse. |
CMP#250 Book Review: Scenes of Life (1805), an anti-Jacobin novel
Mr. Darnley haranguing. Portraits by ChatGPT Scenes of Life (1805) by Thomas Harral, is my first anti-Jacobin novel, which is surprising, considering that I’ve read about 150 sentimental novels so far. I’ve read some novels that mention the French Revolution, but this is the first novel that really nails its colours to the mast—this was written for the express purpose of combating the pernicious and radical new ideas that threatened to seep across the Channel and poison the traditional virtues of British public and private life.
The way author Thomas Harral has gone about it, is to write a conventional sentimental novel featuring a brother and sister who lose their father and their fortune, but triumph in the end. Interspersed throughout the story are long editorials from the narrator and several of the male characters as well, who collectively have a lot to say about female education, the dangerous immorality of German plays, and the “trash” from radical writers Thomas Paine, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. As one reviewer explained, the author's intention is “the laudable one of bringing into contempt the ridiculous and disgusting tenets of modern philosophers, as they prevailed a few years ago, when their progress bid fair to overthrow, with the altar and the throne, the moral system of all civilized nations.” The reviewers thought that in 1805, Harral was late to the arena, the crisis was over and the foe vanquished.
The way author Thomas Harral has gone about it, is to write a conventional sentimental novel featuring a brother and sister who lose their father and their fortune, but triumph in the end. Interspersed throughout the story are long editorials from the narrator and several of the male characters as well, who collectively have a lot to say about female education, the dangerous immorality of German plays, and the “trash” from radical writers Thomas Paine, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. As one reviewer explained, the author's intention is “the laudable one of bringing into contempt the ridiculous and disgusting tenets of modern philosophers, as they prevailed a few years ago, when their progress bid fair to overthrow, with the altar and the throne, the moral system of all civilized nations.” The reviewers thought that in 1805, Harral was late to the arena, the crisis was over and the foe vanquished.
Motto on title page I enjoyed the crackling editorials, to be honest. The regular narrative prose had too many trite metaphors like “the balm of consolation,” and poetic mini-quotes sprinkled like currants all through the pages. However, Harral could not or would not integrate his battle against the dangerous ideas of the radicals into the plot of his tale. His two young heroines, Emily Stanley and Joanna Mountford, and his one older heroine, Miss Burton, are never in any danger of being seduced by the treacherous wiles of the “new philosophy.” They are all three of them pillars of rectitude. His two male leads, Frederick Stanley and Henry Maitland, are definitely in no danger of falling under the influence of dangerous radicals like Thomas Paine, or becoming Methodists or something like that. Heaven forbid! Frederick does go astray, but not because of radical ideas about liberté, égalité, fraternité. He briefly falls into gambling and loses what little cash he and his sister Emily have left after an employee at his father's bank stole their family's money.
To atone for his moral lapse, Frederick impulsively signs up for the Royal Navy—I gather, as a common seaman, even though he is a baronet—and heads out to Portugal. There, he swashbuckles heroically, and helps to rescue an Englishman who has recently escaped years of captivity as an Algerine slave.
Meanwhile, Joanna, the girl Frederick loves, has left her mother’s roof because she cannot abide her horrible stepfather, Mr. Berrington. Joanna moves in with Emily and Emily’s maiden aunt Miss Burton. It’s typical for authors to make fun of spinsters, the author points out, but why should we?
“Ladies of this class are seldom regarded with an eye of complacency. The scowl of suspicion, the sneer of ridicule, or the smile of contempt, is too frequently levelled at these unfortunate females…”
It’s not Miss Burton’s fault that she lost the man she loved when he set out to sail to a Mediterranean port all those years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. Says the author, “Women are said to be more constant in their attachments, particularly their love attachments, than men…” Hmmm. I know a Jane Austen character who would agree with that sentiment.
Meanwhile, Joanna, the girl Frederick loves, has left her mother’s roof because she cannot abide her horrible stepfather, Mr. Berrington. Joanna moves in with Emily and Emily’s maiden aunt Miss Burton. It’s typical for authors to make fun of spinsters, the author points out, but why should we?
“Ladies of this class are seldom regarded with an eye of complacency. The scowl of suspicion, the sneer of ridicule, or the smile of contempt, is too frequently levelled at these unfortunate females…”
It’s not Miss Burton’s fault that she lost the man she loved when he set out to sail to a Mediterranean port all those years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. Says the author, “Women are said to be more constant in their attachments, particularly their love attachments, than men…” Hmmm. I know a Jane Austen character who would agree with that sentiment.
Frederick's sister Emily is a sweet and delicate creature, who “blushed and trembled, though she scarcely knew why” when her brother’s friend Henry Maitland alluded to being in love with--someone. Joanna is a more decisive character. In fact, the author gives her a forthright speech when she accepts Frederick’s proposal of marriage, which make for an interesting contrast from Austen’s famously elided proposal scenes:
| “First, sir, convince me that you deserve my love. When you have done that, my word is pledged that it shall not be withheld. But remember, Sir Frederick,” continued she, with marked solemnity, laying her hand on her bosom, “this heart is virtuous; I trust in heaven for its ever remaining so. Never shall it be the sport of vanity, the plaything of libertinism. Its affections are pure, they are warm, they are lasting, but the man who shall once presume to treat them with levity or disrespect, though he were dearer to my soul than existence, should not for another moment boast their possession. I would tear his image from my breast forever.” |
But while Frederick is away, Joanna is kidnapped by Mr. Huntley, an associate of her evil, scheming stepfather. None of her friends know what has happened to her. Huntley does not make an assault upon her virtue, but she can’t escape from the farmhouse where she is held. Luckily, she manages to get a servant to smuggle a letter out.
Huntley was planning to force Joanna to marry him, as one does, but the tables re turned when he is arrested and thrown into prison for sedition and fraternization with radicals and rebels. We get no details about this interesting turn of events. It also turns out he was the one who forged Joanna’s uncle’s will, stealing her inheritance, while her stepfather helped a bank employee steal large sums of money from the Stanleys.
Huntley was planning to force Joanna to marry him, as one does, but the tables re turned when he is arrested and thrown into prison for sedition and fraternization with radicals and rebels. We get no details about this interesting turn of events. It also turns out he was the one who forged Joanna’s uncle’s will, stealing her inheritance, while her stepfather helped a bank employee steal large sums of money from the Stanleys.
Other features
Before we get everything sorted out, I should mention some other features of his novel. The author gives us:
Harral's satire is heavy-handed, as when he tries to imitate the speaking style of his ideological opponents. Usually though, he dispenses with satire and attacks the threatening ideas he's battling directly, in the form of narrative editorials or speeches from Henry and his friends. And the author, I am sorry to say, occasionally commits poetry. The contemporary reviews of Scenes for Life were not kind about the poems.
Before we get everything sorted out, I should mention some other features of his novel. The author gives us:
- some scenes from the land war against France, in the form of letters from Frederick and Emily’s father (before he’s killed in battle, that is). These appear to include actual details from the era—for example, an account of the discovery of the body of a beautiful French soldier who turns out to be a young woman, killed by a musket ball.
- a public debate dominated by radicals and a parody of a sermon by a Methodist preacher.
- an unrelated short story set in Turkey which I skipped over, but which takes up several chapters.
- a lengthy animadversion from one character against the polluting influence of German plays, with their lax approach to morals which I will feature in the next post. One of the plays Mr. Darnley condemns is Lovers' Vows, which featured in Mansfield Park. Mr. Maitland is against private theatricals as well: “Where such absurdity and indecency—if I may not be permitted the term obscenity—is allowed, virtue must soon be contaminated. The smallest speck sullies the pure white of ermine; and the least approach to vice degrades the female heart.”
- two portraits of tyrannical husbands—the author shows great empathy for Mr. Berrington and Mr. Smith’s wives.
Harral's satire is heavy-handed, as when he tries to imitate the speaking style of his ideological opponents. Usually though, he dispenses with satire and attacks the threatening ideas he's battling directly, in the form of narrative editorials or speeches from Henry and his friends. And the author, I am sorry to say, occasionally commits poetry. The contemporary reviews of Scenes for Life were not kind about the poems.
HEA
Well, in the end Joanna is rescued and she recovers her purloined inheritance. Emily marries Henry Maitland (he does have some good qualities, to be fair, always ready to help a friend, and so on). Frederick is promised a lucrative post in the civil service by his grateful captain, and Miss Burton discovers that the man Frederick rescued from Algerine captivity is none other than her long-lost Edward! Three marriages take place, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Well, in the end Joanna is rescued and she recovers her purloined inheritance. Emily marries Henry Maitland (he does have some good qualities, to be fair, always ready to help a friend, and so on). Frederick is promised a lucrative post in the civil service by his grateful captain, and Miss Burton discovers that the man Frederick rescued from Algerine captivity is none other than her long-lost Edward! Three marriages take place, and everyone lives happily ever after.
About the author:
Thomas Harral (1769?--1853?) was an editor of newspapers and periodicals who encouraged and published the work of women writers such as Susannah Moodie, known in Canadian literary history as the author of Roughing It in the Bush. He was also a theatre critic who actually got into a street brawl over a poor review of a play. He was an ardent Tory and royalist, who took the side of the Prince Regent against his estranged wife. One source says Harral “was the natural son of Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, son of George III and Queen Charlotte.” I can’t find independent confirmation of this. A Thomas Harral baptized in Surrey in 1769 was registered as the son of William and Elizabeth Harral.
Harral edited and contributed to an illustrated edition of The History of London. The engraving on the right is the Duke of York column.
The Critical Review remarked that the characters appeared to be just walking points of view: "They appear to be introduced merely as vehicles of sentiment, as instruments of conversation; but their adventures excite little interest, and the topics which they discuss are of such a nature that it matters not into whose mouth they are put, nor in what chapter they are introduced... Perhaps our author did not intend to surprize by rapidity of incident, or to awaken curiosity by variety of adventure, but to thread a collection of dissertations together, and under the license of modern fashion, to call them a novel.”
I've learned from Ann H. Jones's book Ideas and Innovations: Best Sellers of Jane Austen's Age, that "Menippean satire" describes a work of art in which the characters are basically walking, talking, points of view.
Thomas Harral (1769?--1853?) was an editor of newspapers and periodicals who encouraged and published the work of women writers such as Susannah Moodie, known in Canadian literary history as the author of Roughing It in the Bush. He was also a theatre critic who actually got into a street brawl over a poor review of a play. He was an ardent Tory and royalist, who took the side of the Prince Regent against his estranged wife. One source says Harral “was the natural son of Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, son of George III and Queen Charlotte.” I can’t find independent confirmation of this. A Thomas Harral baptized in Surrey in 1769 was registered as the son of William and Elizabeth Harral.
Harral edited and contributed to an illustrated edition of The History of London. The engraving on the right is the Duke of York column.
The Critical Review remarked that the characters appeared to be just walking points of view: "They appear to be introduced merely as vehicles of sentiment, as instruments of conversation; but their adventures excite little interest, and the topics which they discuss are of such a nature that it matters not into whose mouth they are put, nor in what chapter they are introduced... Perhaps our author did not intend to surprize by rapidity of incident, or to awaken curiosity by variety of adventure, but to thread a collection of dissertations together, and under the license of modern fashion, to call them a novel.”
I've learned from Ann H. Jones's book Ideas and Innovations: Best Sellers of Jane Austen's Age, that "Menippean satire" describes a work of art in which the characters are basically walking, talking, points of view.
Algerine Slaves
Unlike some other novels I've read, we are given no details about Edward's captivity in Algiers. It is presented as a fact of life with which readers were familiar--European ships were often captured by North African corsairs and their crew and passengers were enslaved. “Historians estimate that over one million Europeans were enslaved by Barbary pirates between the 16th and 19th centuries.”
Edward somehow managed to escape with jewels secreted about his person. While discussing a gothic play called Castle Spectre, Mr. Darnley also makes a brief sarcastic aside about slavery in the West Indies, as though to insinuate that it's foolish to countenance slave uprisings.
Unlike some other novels I've read, we are given no details about Edward's captivity in Algiers. It is presented as a fact of life with which readers were familiar--European ships were often captured by North African corsairs and their crew and passengers were enslaved. “Historians estimate that over one million Europeans were enslaved by Barbary pirates between the 16th and 19th centuries.”
Edward somehow managed to escape with jewels secreted about his person. While discussing a gothic play called Castle Spectre, Mr. Darnley also makes a brief sarcastic aside about slavery in the West Indies, as though to insinuate that it's foolish to countenance slave uprisings.
Scenes of Life can be placed alongside better-known socially conservative and evangelical works such as Elizabeth Hamilton's Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800) or Mary Brunton's Discipline (1815).
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