treaseproject (treaseproject) wrote,
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Elizabeth Rundle Charles' Daventry and Drayton series

Charles, E. R. (1867 (facsimile in 2006)). The Draytons and the Davenants: a story of the Civil Wars. London, Eilbron Classics facsimile of T. Nelson and Sons. Truly excellent novel in two parts of which the second is On Both Sides of the Sea. This is a story of the lead up to the war, and the war years, ending with the execution of Charles I and the decision of the Royalist Daventry's to go into exile. In some ways it's a standard "two families divided" story, but it is very beautifully told, from the point of view of two daughters of the house, Olive of the Puritan Davenants, and Lettice, of the Royalist Daventries. The stories are enhanced by the focus on ideology and philosophy so that among the Davenants Aunt Dorothy is low Church of England, wedded to the liturgy, while her nephews and neices are loyal to the moderate puritan counsel of George Herbert, while cousin Placidia is a hypocritical Puritan who thinks she can bargain (rather than convenant) with God (125) and of whom Olive complains bitterly that "in later days it became the fashio to assert that characters of that stamp formed the staple of our Commonwealth" (172). Of the Daventry's Lady Lucy, painted and patched as she is, yet she has (in what is a crucial quote) a religion of "tender, devotional emotions, , minute cermonial and gorgeous ritual. When braced up by the Christian principle it was unspeakably beautifyl and attractive. The Puritan religion was one of principle and doctrine. When inspired by divine love, it was gloriously deep and strong." (174) And in the household is -- eventually-- shelted the stubbord young Quaker, Annis, who will listen and listen and listen until you think she is convinced and will then explain why you are all wrong. This book begins with Olive writing in America, but rapidly moves back to England. The book begins with the education of Roger and his sister Olive, and its radical nature: "With respect to kings and queens being the only true subjects for history, also, Roger was very scornful. He had lately been paying a visit to Mr. John Hampden, Mr. Oliver Cromwell and others of my father's friend, and he had returned fll of indignation against the tyranny of the court and the prelates. The nation, he said, wise men thought, was not made for the king, but the king for the nation. And, to say nothing of the Greek history, the Bble was certainly not filled up with kings and queens, but with shepherds, herdsmen, preachers, and soldiers; or if with kings, with kings who had been shepherds and soldiers, and who were saints, and heroes as well as kings. All which reasoning decided me to make my next entry [in my diary] concering the calf of the brindled cow..." (11-12) A lovely indication of the tension which their education brings into a household ruled by the conservative Aunt Dorothy is her reaction to Gallieo: "That Signor Gallileo was a very dangerous person," she said, "He said the sun went round, and the earth stood stil, which was contrary at once to common senses, and the senses and Scripture; and if chits like Roger and me were allowed to enter on such false philosophy at our age, where should we have wandered by hers?" (32) As the war approaches, censorship begins to make their lives difficult. Their father notes to Aunt Dorothy that she shoudl take good care of her beloved coy of Foxe's book of martyrs for a reprint has been forbidden under penalty of death. (104) The war itself has the effect we might expect: The Daventrys support the King, the Davenants Parliament. We mostly see this aspect through Olive's eyes and when the king conquers Oxfordshire we see the bitterness, and her realisation that far from cowing the countryside, the lootings of the Royal party only stiffened resistance, "Resistance not desperate, but hopeful; for we could not but deem a king who would indiscriminately ravage whole counties of his kingdom, must look on it as an alien territory already lost to the crown."(405) and like Yonge, notes that while the Roundheads descrated the churches, "The ruins Prince Ruperts troops wrought were in poor men's homes" (406) Charles, E. R. (1868). On Both Sides of the Sea: A story of the Commonwealth and Restoration. London, T. Nelson. Continuing the Daventrys and the Davenants. The previous book ended up with the trial of the King, this one begins with his execution. Roger is one of the guards at the scaffold and Lettice eschews him forever, while pledging to remain true. The Daventrys head for France (and Lettice's brother begins a life as a soldier of fortune at the various courts, her father is part of Charles II's court) and the Davenants stay home, as part of the new Commonwealth. Some of the story is about the tensions in the family (Aunt Dorothy is horrified the King is dead, Roger feels it had become necessary). Some just about Olive as she married at the end of the previous book and is now raising her family and taking her place in the neighborhood as a reliable woman. The story is worth reding for it is one of the more honest accounts. The yeoman, Job, serves in Ireland, "We have had to do terrible things in righteousness" he writes and talks of the slaughter the English troops have meted out. Lettice talks of the problems of being a protected protestant in France while all aroud her French protestants are persecuted. Olive also takes time to talk of Cromwell's achievements, of the pirates defeated, and rise of England as a power, but also of the opressions "For the wheel ent round quickly in those days." with new people persecuted for their beliefs. "A quarter century accompished it all. But no one saw the wheel turning. each revolution, as it came, seemd the last. For there was a pause between each. And in the pause the people who were uppermost looked round on the earth and shouted "Now the Kingdom is come, and the world will stand still;" while the people underneath looked to heaven and sighed, "Will the years of peace never come? O Lord how long?" (290) The book ends with a long mourning for Cromwell, for what he achieved, and for the way he was treated in death, and then a lengthy and bitter account of the Restoration. At one point even Aunt Dorothy is in prison for the sin of holding pubiic worship in her house. As in the earlier book, Hampden and Cromwell are friends of the family, in this book several of the family come into contact with Bunyan. A particular bitterness is that Lettice and Roger, now married, are hounded and their house distrained for his allegiances. Eventually migration is decided on, and the book ends with the family in America, crowing--in a very spiritual way--at the over throw of James II. Lane, J. (1937 (this edition 1950)). Sir Devi- May-Care. London, Andrew Dakers Ltd. This is a great deal of fun because Lane picks a character too absorbed in his own affairs, and too isolated from politics, to embroil in the wars, and in doing so no longer has to wriggle half so much. Nigel Fitzhead is a Cornish country squire who still operates a feudal system with villeins etc. He is almost tricked into loaning money to Parliament but is saved in time by the mercenary who has come drumming up support for the King. Fitzhead is a supporter because that's what you do, fight for your king. He is completely uninterested in politics. He has a good war, except that he kills his own son who is fighting for Parliament, in battle (194); goes into exile with Prince Rupert and becomes a pirate; comes back and becomes a Hampstead heath highwayman, discovers his milk and water wife died defending his home; and eventually is killed just after the Restoration by the mercenary who he challenges to a fight. And there is quite a lot of alluded to sex including an argument with the mercenary over who gets the bar girl (her willingness being constantly insisted on)/ Some nice quotes: "I do not traffic in high politics. This, and this only, I know--that when the King calls, I answer." (43) "And because Nigel was just a simple Cornish squire, he had imagined his King as a child might imagine him--a regal pomp about him, heralds and trumpets, a crowned head, and a throne; let men say what they would, he had been certain that Charles would be tall of stature, in keeping with the loftiness of his character." (130) He sums up the characteristics of the Cavaliers Lane is elswhere rather coy about. Regretting he had refused a woman and liquor after Naseby he declares: "I wish I had that woman and that liquor... The love of life, life with its defeats and triumpg, is a precious weapon; your saints who moan for the world beyond may find themselves there before they are ready, and begin to think them that they missed the right road. But our Cavaliers, maugre all their undiscipline and weak numbers and love of quarrelling, they know how to appreciate life,and she responds to them... Whilst we can take the worst life sends us with a laugh, and still continue to relieve nature with a willing wench and taste with relish and grattitude the juice of the grape, and lose a battle without loss of manners, we'll defy all the forces of hell decked out in scarlet uniforms." (208) And when victory comes, Fitzhead is dissilussioned: "Yes, the King was magnificent; but unfamiliar. The King had come back, but not the old King; he was still Charles, but not the Charles of the Cavaliers; the Restoration was here, but not the Restoration dreamed of by old warriors. On the King's right hand had ridden, not Rupert, but General Monck, a canting, hard bitten mercenary, who had played for his own interests, and had won; yes, that was it; it was not Royalism which was victorious; it was expediency." (336) This entry was originally posted at http://treaseproject.dreamwidth.org/3284.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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