D.W. Wilkin's Blog, page 45
June 23, 2016
Regency Personalities Series-Sir Charles Brian Blagden
Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
Sir Charles Brian Blagden
17 April 1748 – 26 March 1820
Charles Brian Blagden
Sir Charles Brian Blagden was a British physician and scientist. He served as a medical officer in the Army (1776–1780) and later held the position of Secretary of the Royal Society (1784–1797). Blagden won the Copley Medal in 1788 and was knighted in 1792.
He died in Arcueil, France in 1820, and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
In June 1783, Blagden, then assistant to Henry Cavendish, visited Antoine Lavoisier in Paris and described how Cavendish had created water by burning “inflammable air”. Lavoisier’s dissatisfaction with the Cavendish’s “dephlogistinization” theory led him to the concept of a chemical reaction, which he reported to the Royal Academy of Sciences on 24 June 1783, effectively founding modern chemistry. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1789.
Blagden experimented on human ability to withstand high temperatures. In his report to the Royal Society in 1775, he was first to recognise the role of perspiration in thermoregulation.
Blagden’s experiments on how dissolved substances like salt affected the freezing point of water led to the discovery that the freezing point of a solution decreases in direct proportion to the concentration of the solution, now called Blagden’s Law.
Space Opera Books presents ECO Agents:Save The Planet a Young Adult Adventure
First ECO Agents book available
Those who follow me for a long time know that I also write in other fields aside from Regency Romance and the historical novels I do.
A few months ago, before the end of last year and after 2011 NaNoWriMo, (where I wrote the first draft of another Regency) I started work on a project with my younger brother Douglas (All three of my brothers are younger brothers.)
The premise, as he is now an educator but once was a full on scientist at the NHI and FBI (Very cloak and dagger chemistry.) was that with the world having become green, and more green aware every week, why not have a group of prodigies, studying at a higher learning educational facility tackle the ills that have now begun to beset the world.
So it is now released. We are trickling it out to the major online channels and through Amazon it will be available in trade paperback. Available at Amazon for your Kindle, or your Kindle apps and other online bookstores. For $5.99 you can get this collaboration between the brothers Wilkin. Or get it for every teenager you know who has access to a Kindle or other eReader.
Barnes and Noble for your Nook Smashwords iBookstore for your Apple iDevices Amazon for your Kindle
Five young people are all that stands between a better world and corporate destruction. Parker, Priya, JCubed, Guillermo and Jennifer are not just your average high school students. They are ECOAgents, trusted the world over with protecting the planet.
Our Earth is in trouble. Humanity has damaged our home. Billionaire scientist turned educator, Dr. Daniel Phillips-Lee, is using his vast resources to reverse this situation. Zedadiah Carter, leader of the Earth’s most powerful company, is only getting richer, harvesting resources, with the aid of not so trustworthy employees.
When the company threatens part of the world’s water supply, covering up their involvement is business as usual. The Ecological Conservation Organization’s Academy of Higher Learning and Scientific Achievement, or simply the ECO Academy, high in the hills of Malibu, California overlooking the Pacific Ocean, is the envy of educational institutions worldwide.
The teenage students of the ECO Academy, among the best and brightest the planet has to offer, have decided they cannot just watch the world self-destruct. They will meet this challenge head on as they begin to heal the planet.
Feedback
If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it
June 22, 2016
Regency Personalities Series-Elizabeth Smith-Stanley Countess of Derby
Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
Elizabeth Smith-Stanley Countess of Derby
26 January 1753 – 14 March 1797
Elizabeth Smith-Stanley
Elizabeth Smith-Stanley Countess of Derby was the eligible eldest daughter of the 6th Duke of Hamilton, she married the 12th Earl of Derby in 1774, giving birth to three children. Lady Derby was popular among society and considered a leader of fashion alongside the Duchess of Devonshire.
Five years after the marriage, Lady Derby embarked in a very public affair with the 3rd Duke of Dorset. She eventually separated from her husband, which caused a scandal and led to her effective exile from society, especially after it was learned that she would not be marrying the Duke. Lady Derby moved abroad, only returning once her husband attracted embarrassing press attention for his very public relationship with the actress Elizabeth Farren, whom he married soon after Lady Derby’s death in 1797.
On 26 January 1753, Lady Elizabeth Hamilton was born as the eldest child of James Hamilton, 6th Duke of Hamilton by his wife Elizabeth Gunning. Two younger brothers followed, and her father died in early 1758. The Duchess of Hamilton, considered one of the most beautiful women of the day, remarried in 1759 to John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne (later Duke of Argyll). This marriage gave Lady Elizabeth three younger half-brothers and two younger half-sisters.
By the time of her first London season, Lady Elizabeth (also known as Betty) was considered very eligible, with her name being linked to many young noblemen. In 1773, the wealthy Lord Edward Smith-Stanley came of age and pursued “a brief and fervent courtship” with Lady Elizabeth, holding an opulent party in her honour. The following year, during their engagement, he held an even more extravagant party with the young couple dressed in Anthony van Dyck-style costumes. On 23 June 1774, the two were married. Playwright John Burgoyne hosted a “glittering” assembly after the wedding, in which he wrote the comedy The Maid of the Oaks in honour of the occasion. The extravagant event included choreographed dancers, acrobatic troupes, famous opera singers, and – for the grand finale – a mock wedding attended by nymphs with Lady Elizabeth presented at its altar.
Elizabeth gave birth in quick succession to a son and two daughters. Lord Smith-Stanley succeeded his grandfather in 1776, becoming Earl of Derby, while Elizabeth became his Countess. With her new elevated rank, Lady Derby was popular in the beau monde and her actions garnered significant press attention. Along with the Duchess of Devonshire, she was considered a leader of fashion. In 1777, she organised a cricket match in which the two teams were populated with upper-class women, unusual for the time period.
During or near 1776, a painting of the family was done by Angelica Kauffman. Lady Derby’s mother is most likely the one responsible for commissioning this work, or it may have been gifted to her. Kauffman painted two versions of a sitting portrait of the earl, countess, and their son; one of these works is kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, though it is not on display to the public, while the other is in the custody of the family’s descendants. Sometime between 1776 and 1778, George Romney painted Lady Derby; the work is now displayed in the National Portrait Gallery.
In early 1778, rumours began spreading that Lady Derby was having an affair with John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset, “the most notorious rake of the day.” His descendent Victoria Sackville-West later claimed that Sackville would disguise himself as a gardener at the Derby country estate of Knowsley Hall and climb through the Countess’ window at night, though another descendent, Robert Sackville-West, 7th Baron Sackville, believes this improbable. By May 1778, rumours of the affair were appearing in the press. That year, Lady Derby’s mother – unsuccessfully attempting to put down the rumours and show everyone there was nothing to hide – accompanied her daughter to the theatre. By August 1778, the Countess was openly living apart from her husband in the country amidst gossip that she was suing for divorce.
The affair shocked society and left her ostracised, though Dorset still remained friends with her husband and was even invited to Knowsley on occasion. Lady Derby lost much of the social capital associated with her status. At first, it was assumed that she and the Duke of Dorset would soon be marrying; this caused many of her acquaintances to refrain from snubbing her for fear that she would be returning with a higher status. During this short period, Lady Derby remained in the country while her husband ignored the situation and continued as he normally would have. However, over a year after the separation, the Earl of Derby announced his refusal to divorce his wife. Lady Derby’s return to society as a duchess – previously plausible – was ruined, as she was not freed to remarry. The children remained with the earl. Alan G. Crosby posits that “Derby’s steadfast refusal to divorce his wife and to grant her access to their children not only added to the sensation but also ruined the rest of her life.” Becoming a “chronic invalid,” she avoided London society and lived abroad until 1783; meanwhile, her family attempted to persuade the earl to allow for a reconciliation with his wife.
During this period, Lord Derby began a high profile – but unconsummated – relationship with the actress Elizabeth Farren. From 1781 onwards, the affair was much caricatured in the press, with Derby being comically described as a desperate man unable to convince Farren to a private audience. Amidst this attention, Lady Derby quietly returned to London and gradually began appearing at events, later moving in with her brother the 8th Duke of Hamilton. By 1784, she was accepted in society enough to again be seen accompanying the Duchess of Devonshire. According to historian Hannah Greig, it appears that Lady Derby’s social fate was tied to her estranged husband’s – as Lord Derby’s social capital decreased, hers went up.
No reconciliation ever occurred between husband and wife; instead, the Earl and Farren waited expectedly for Lady Derby’s death, which would free him for remarriage. The Countess of Derby died on 14 March 1797 of tuberculosis, and her widowed husband married Farren less than two months later, following her retirement from the stage. It is suggest that Lady Derby’s social crime was not that she openly consorted with the Duke, but that she left her husband, while Robert Sackville-West, 7th Baron Sackville states that her mistake was in not conducting the affair more privately.
Lady Derby gave birth to three children:
Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (21 April 1775 – 30 June 1851); married his cousin Charlotte Margaret Hornby, daughter of Reverend Geoffrey Hornby and the Hon. Elizabeth Smith-Stanley
Lady Charlotte (17 October 1776 – 25 November 1805); married her cousin Edmund Hornby, Esq., son of Reverend Geoffrey Hornby and the Hon. Elizabeth Smith-Stanley
Lady Elizabeth Henrietta (29 April 1778 – ?); married Thomas Cole, Esq.
Historian Peter Thomson suggests that the third child, Lady Elizabeth Henrietta, was the result of Lady Derby’s affair with Dorset. Despite this, the Earl of Derby cared for the child after his wife left him.
Space Opera Books Presents A Trolling We Will Go Omnibus:The Latter Years
A Trolling We Will Go Omnibus:The Latter Years
Not only do I write Regency and Romance, but I also have delved into Fantasy.
The Trolling series, is the story of a man, Humphrey. We meet him as he has left youth and become a man with a man’s responsibilities. He is a woodcutter for a small village. It is a living, but it is not necessarily a great living. It does give him strength, muscles.
We follow him in a series of stories that encompass the stages of life. We see him when he starts his family, when he has older sons and the father son dynamic is tested.
We see him when his children begin to marry and have children, and at the end of his life when those he has loved, and those who were his friends proceed him over the threshold into death.
All this while he serves a kingdom troubled by monsters. Troubles that he and his friends will learn to deal with and rectify.
Here are the last two books together as one longer novel.
Trolling, Trolling, Trolling Fly Hides! and We’ll All Go a Trolling.
Available in a variety of formats.
For $5.99 you can get this fantasy adventure.
Barnes and Noble for your Nook
The stories of Humphrey and Gwendolyn. Published separately in: Trolling, Trolling, Trolling Fly Hides! and We’ll All Go a Trolling. These are the tales of how a simple Woodcutter who became a king and an overly educated girl who became his queen helped save the kingdom of Torahn from an ancient evil. Now with the aid of their children and their grandchildren.
Long forgotten is the way to fight the Trolls. Beasts that breed faster than rabbits it seems, and when they decide to migrate to the lands of humans, their seeming invulnerability spell doom for all in the kingdom of Torahn. Not only Torahn but all the human kingdoms that border the great mountains that divide the continent.
The Kingdom of Torahn has settled down to peace, but the many years of war to acheive that peace has seen to changes in the nearby Teantellen Mountains. Always when you think the Trolls have also sought peace, you are fooled for now, forced by Dragons at the highest peaks, the Trolls are marching again.
Now Humphrey is old, too old to lead and must pass these cares to his sons. Will they be as able as he always has been. He can advise, but he does not have the strength he used to have. Nor does Gwendolyn back in the Capital. Here are tales of how leaders we know and are familiar with must learn to trust the next generation to come.
Feedback
If you have any commentary, thoughts, ideas about the book (especially if you buy it, read it and like it
June 21, 2016
Regency Personalities Series-Rudolph Ackermann
Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
Rudolph Ackermann
20 April 1764 – 30 March 1834
Rudolph Ackermann
Rudolph Ackermann attended the Latin school in Stollberg, but his wish to study at the university was made impossible by lack of financial means, and he therefore became a saddler like his father.
He worked as a saddler and coach-builder in different German cities, then moved to Paris, and then London, where in 1795 he established a print-shop and drawing-school in The Strand. Ackermann set up a lithographic press and began a trade in prints. He later began to manufacture colours and thick carton paper for landscape and miniature painters.
In 1809 he applied his press to the illustration of his Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, which appeared monthly until 1829, when forty volumes had appeared. Thomas Rowlandson and other distinguished artists were regular contributors. Repository documented the changing classicising fashions in dress and furniture of the Regency. He also introduced the fashion of the once popular Literary Annuals, beginning in 1823 with Forget-Me-Not; and he published many illustrated volumes of topography and travel, including The Microcosm of London (3 volumes, 1808–1811), Westminster Abbey (2 volumes, 1812), The Rhine (1820) and The World in Miniature (43 volumes, 1821–6).
In 1801 he patented a method for rendering paper and cloth waterproof and erected a factory in Chelsea to make it. He was one of the first to illuminate his own premises with gas. Indeed, the introduction of lighting by gas owed much to him. After the Battle of Leipzig, Ackermann collected nearly a quarter of a million pounds sterling for the German casualties. He also patented the Ackermann steering geometry. He was buried at St Clement Danes in The Strand, London.
An Unofficial Guide to how to win the Scenarios of Soaked the 1st Expansion for Rollercoaster Tycoon 3
An Unofficial Guide to how to win the Scenarios of Soaked
I have been a fan of this series of computer games since early in its release of the very first game. That game was done by one programmer, Chris Sawyer, and it was the first I recall of an internet hit. Websites were put up in dedication to this game where people showed off their creations, based on real amusement parks. These sites were funded by individuals, an expense that was not necessarily as cheap then as it is now. Nor as easy to program then as it might be to build a web page now.
Prima Books released game guides for each iteration of the game, Rollercoaster Tycoon 1, Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (RCT3) but not for the expansion sets. And unlike the first two works, the third guide was riddle with incorrect solutions. As I played the game that frustrated me. And I took to the forums that Atari, the game publisher hosted to see if I could find a way to solve those scenarios that the Prima Guide had written up in error. Not finding any good advice, I created my own for the scenarios that the “Official” Guide had gotten wrong.
Solutions that if you followed my advice you would win the scenario and move on. But if you followed the “Official” version you would fail and not be able to complete the game. My style and format being different than the folks at Prima, I continued for all the Scenarios that they had gotten right as well, though my solutions cut to the chase and got you to the winner’s circle more quickly, more directly.
My contributions to the “Official” Forum, got me a place as a playtester for both expansions to the game, Soaked and Wild. And for each of these games, I wrote the guides during the play testing phase so all the play testers could solve the scenarios, and then once again after the official release to make changes in the formula in case our aiding to perfect the game had changed matters. For this, Atari and Frontier (the actual programmers of the game) placed me within the game itself.
And for the longest time, these have been free at the “Official” Forums, as well as my own website dedicated to the game. But a short time ago, I noticed that Atari, after one of its bankruptcies had deleted their forums. So now I am releasing the Guide for one and all. I have added new material and it is near 100 pages, just for the first of the three games. It is available for the Kindle at present for $2.99.
(Click on the picture to purchase)
Not only are all 9 Scenarios covered, but there are sections covering every Cheat Code, Custom Scenery, the famous Small Park Competition, the Advanced Fireworks Editor, the Flying Camera Route Editor which are all the techniques every amusement park designer needs to make a fantastic park in Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.
Scenarios for Soaked!
1) Captain Blackheart’s Cove
2) Oasis of Fun
3) Lost Atlantis
4) Monster Lake
5) Fountain of Youth
6) World of the Sea
7) Treasure Island
8) Mountain Spring
9) Castaway Getaway
June 20, 2016
Regency Personalities Series-Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy
Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy
10 June 1796 – 16 February 1858
Charles Augustus FitzRoy
Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy was born in England, the eldest son of General Lord Charles FitzRoy and Frances Mundy. His grandfather, Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, was the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1768 to 1770.
Charles’ half brother Robert FitzRoy would become a pioneering meteorologist and surveyor, Captain of HMS Beagle, and later Governor of New Zealand.
The young Charles FitzRoy was educated at the Harrow School in London, before receiving a commission in the Royal Horse Guards regiment of the British Army at the age of 16. Just after his 19th birthday, FitzRoy’s regiment took part in the Battle of Waterloo, where as an extra aide-de-camp on Wellington’s staff he was wounded. He travelled to Lower Canada with the Duke of Richmond in 1818. On 11 March 1820, he married Lady Mary Lennox (daughter of the Duke of Richmond), just after his promotion to Captain. In 1825, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and appointed Deputy Adjutant General of the Cape Colony (now the Cape of Good Hope).
Sir Charles was appointed as the eleventh Governor of Prince Edward Island off the coast of Canada on 31 March 1837, and was granted a knighthood just before his departure. He returned to England in 1841 and shortly afterwards was made Governor of the Leeward Islands in the West Indies until 1845.
Sir Charles was chosen as the tenth Governor of the colony of New South Wales by Lord Stanley in 1845. FitzRoy replaced Sir George Gipps as governor who had been a strong ruler but had provoked the animosity of many in the colony. It is likely that FitzRoy was chosen because he tended to be more appeasing in his approach. FitzRoy, his wife and his son George arrived in the colony on board HMS Carysfort on 2 August 1846. His wife and other children joined them later.
Soon after his arrival he was asked to use his influence to procure the disallowance of an act of the Tasmanian legislature imposing a duty of 15% on products imported from New South Wales. Fitzroy brought before the British government the advisability of some superior functionary being appointed, to whom all measures passed by local legislatures should be referred before being assented to. In the long discussion over the separation of the Port Phillip district, Fitzroy showed tact and himself favoured bi-cameral legislatures for the new constitutions. The need for some type of federation between the various colonies was recognised, and as a step towards this Fitzroy was given a commission in 1850 appointing him governor-general of the Australian colonies. During his governorship great steps were made in the development of New South Wales. Transportation of convicts ceased, the Sydney University was founded, a branch of the royal mint was established and responsible government was granted. In 1847, Fitzroy served briefly as Governor of the Colony of North Australia, although his lieutenant-governor, George Barney had the main responsibility for establishing the new colony under FitzRoy’s direction.
After sixteen months in the colony, Sir Charles’ wife Mary was killed in a coach accident on 7 December 1847. A distraught FitzRoy considered resigning and returning to England, but his finances did not permit it.
In 1851 he named Grafton, New South Wales, after his grandfather Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton.
Sir Charles remained in New South Wales for eight eventful years, which saw many changes take place in the Australian colonies, not in the least being the first tentative steps towards Federation of the Australian states. In 1853, FitzRoy was appointed as Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, South Australia and Victoria – essentially a pre-Federation Governor-General of Australia, with wide-ranging powers to intervene in inter-colonial disputes.
On 28 January 1855 he departed Australia and returned to England. On 11 September, his eldest son Augustus (a Captain in the Royal Regiment of Artillery) was killed in the Crimean War. On 11 December, he married Margaret Gordon (widow of a Melbourne land agent).
Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy died in London on 16 February 1858 at the age of 61.
Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy married, firstly, Lady Mary Lennox (15 August 1790 – 7 December 1847), first-born child of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, on 11 March 1820. They had 4 children:
Captain Augustus Charles Lennox FitzRoy (20 September 1821 – 11 September 1855)
Mary Caroline FitzRoy (20 December 1823 – 22 November 1895)
George Henry FitzRoy (13 September 1826 – 8 July 1868)
Commander Arthur George FitzRoy (20 March 1827 – 9 January 1861)
Lady Mary died from a carriage accident in Parramatta Park, outside Government House, in 1847. Within a year of her death, rumours were circulated about the colony of New South Wales about FitzRoy’s ‘womanising’ ways. In 1850, FitzRoy made a visit to Berrima, to inspect the Fitzroy IronWorks. The Governor stayed at the Surveyor General’s Inn, operated by former boxing champion Edward “Ned” Chalker (sometimes Charker). Ned’s step-daughter, Mary Ann Chalker, who was 18 at the time, worked there. Nine months later, she gave birth to a son, named Charles Augustus FitzRoy, after his father, the Governor. This boy was, later, adopted by ex-convict John Fitzsimons and his family.
Charles Augustus FitzRoy Fitzsimons (9 November 1850 – 19 July 1921)
Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy married, secondly (after his return to England), Margaret Gordon, on 11 December 1855. There was no issue from this marriage.
Caution’s Heir from Regency Assembly Press-Now available everywhere!
Caution’s Heir is now available at all our internet retailers and also in physical form as well
The Trade Paperback version is now available for purchase here @ $15.99 (but as of this writing, it looks like Amazon has still discounted it 10%)
Caution’s Heir is also available digitally for $4.99 @ the iBookstore, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Smashwords.
The image for the cover is a Cruikshank, A Game of Whist; Tom & Jerry among the ‘Swell Broad Coves.’ Tom and Jerry was a very popular series of stories at the time.
Teaching a boor a lesson is one thing.
Winning all that the man owns is more than Lord Arthur Herrington expects. Especially when he finds that his winnings include the boor’s daughter!
The Duke of Northampshire spent fortunes in his youth. The reality of which his son, Arthur the Earl of Daventry, learns all too well when sent off to school with nothing in his pocket. Learning to fill that pocket leads him on a road to frugality and his becoming a sober man of Town. A sober but very much respected member of the Ton.
Lady Louisa Booth did not have much hope for her father, known in the country for his profligate ways. Yet when the man inherited her gallant uncle’s title and wealth, she hoped he would reform. Alas, that was not to be the case.
When she learned everything was lost, including her beloved home, she made it her purpose to ensure that Lord Arthur was not indifferent to her plight. An unmarried young woman cast adrift in society without a protector. A role that Arthur never thought to be cast as. A role he had little idea if he could rise to such occasion. Yet would Louisa find Arthur to be that one true benefactor? Would Arthur make this obligation something more? Would a game of chance lead to love?
Today, the iBookstore is added, HERE
Get for your Kindle, Here
In Trade Paperback, Here
Digitally from Smashwords, Here
For your Sony Kobo, Here
Or for your Nook, Here
From our tale:
Chapter One
St. Oswald’s church was bleak, yet beautiful all in one breath. 13th century arches that soared a tad more than twenty feet above the nave provided a sense of grandeur, permanence and gravitas. These prevailed within, while the turret-topped tower without, once visible for miles around now vied with mature trees to gain the eye of passers-by.
On sunny days stain-glass windows, paid for by a Plantagenet Baron who lived four hundred years before and now only remembered because of this gift, cast charming rainbow beams across the inner sanctum. And on grey overcast days ghostly shadows danced along the aisle.
As per the custom of parish churches the first three pews were set-aside for the gentry. On this day the second pew, behind the seat reserved for the Marquess of Hroek, who hadn’t attended since the passing of his son and heir, was Louisa Booth his niece and her companion Mrs Bottomworth.
Mrs Bottomworth was a stocky matron on the good side of fifty. Barely on the good side of fifty. But one would not say that was an unfortunate thing for she wore her years well and kept her charge free of trouble. Mrs Bottomworth’s charge was an only child, who would still have been in the schoolroom excepting the fact of the death of her mother some years earlier. This had aged the girl quickly, and made her hostess to her father’s household. The Honourable Hector Booth, third son of the previous Marquess, maintained a modest house on his income of 300 pounds. That was quite a nice sum for just the man and one daughter, with but five servants. They lived in a small, two floor house with four rooms. It should be noted that this of course left two bedchambers that were not inhabited by family members. As the Honourable Mr Booth saved his excess pounds for certain small vices that confined themselves with drink and the occasional wager on a horse, these two rooms were seldom opened.
Mrs Bottomworth had thought to make use of one of the empty rooms when she took up her position, but the Honourable Hector Booth advised and instructed her to share his daughter’s room. For the last four years this is what she had done. When two such as these shared a room, it was natural that they would either become best of friends, or resent each other entirely. Happily the former occurred as Louisa was in need of a confidant to fill the void left in her mother’s absence, and Mrs Bottomworth had a similar void as her two daughters had grown and gone on to make their own lives.
The Honourable Mr Booth took little effort in concerning himself with such matters as he was ever about his brother’s house, or ensconced in a comfortable seat at either the local tavern or the Inn. If those locations had felt he was too warm for them, he would make a circuit of what friends and acquaintances he had in the county. The Honourable Mr Booth would spend an hour or two with a neighbour discussing dogs or hunters, neither of which he could afford to keep, though he did borrow a fine mount of his brother to ride to the hunt. The Marquess took little notice, having reduced his view of the world by degrees when first his beloved younger brother who was of an age between the surviving Honourable Mr Booth had perished shortly after the Marquess’ marriage. Their brother had fallen in the tropics of a fever. Then the Marquess had lost his second child, a little girl in her infancy, his wife but a few years after, and most recently his son and heir to the wars with Napoleon.
This caused the Honourable Mr Booth to be heir to Hroek, a situation that had occurred after he had lost his own wife. With that tragedy, Mr Booth had found more time to make friends with all sorts of new bottles, though not to a degree that it was considered remarkable beyond a polite word. Mr Booth was not a drunkard. He was confronting his grief with a sociability that was acceptable in the county.
Louisa, however, was cast further adrift. No father to turn to. No uncle who had been the patriarch of the family her entire life. And certainly now no feminine examples to follow but her companion and governess, Mrs Bottomworth. That Mrs Bottomworth was an excellent choice for the task was more due to acts of the Marquess, still able to think clearly at the time she was employed, than to the Honourable Mr Booth. Mr Booth was amenable to any suggestion of his elder brother for that man controlled his purse, and as Mr Booth was consumed with grief, while the Marquess had adapted to various causes of grief prior to the final straw of his heir’s death, the Marquess of Hroek clearly saw a solution to what was a problem.
Now in her pew, where once as a young girl she had been surrounded by her cousins, parents, uncles and aunt, she sat alone except for her best of friends. Louisa was full of life in her pew, her cheeks a shade of pink that contrasted with auburn hair, which glistened as sunlight that flowed though the coloured panes of glass touched it from beneath her bonnet. Blue eyes shown over a small straight nose, her teeth were straight, though two incisors were ever so slightly bigger than one would attribute to a gallery beauty painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
She was four inches taller than five feet, so rather tall for a young woman, but her genes bred true, and many a girl of the aristocracy was slightly taller than those women who were of humbler origins. Her back was straight and for an observant man, of which there were some few in the county, her figure might be discussed. The wrath though of her uncle the Marquess would not wish to be bourne should it be found out that her form had become a topic amongst the young men. Noteworthy though was that she had a figure that men thought inspiring enough to tempt that wrath, and think on it. A full bosom was high on her chest, below her heart shaped face. She was lean of form, though her hips flared just enough that one could see definition in her torso. Certainly a beauty Sir Thomas’ brushes would wish the honour to meet.
The vicar Mr Spotslet had at one time in his early days in the community, discussed the Sunday sermons with the Marquess. Mr Spotslet had enjoyed long discussions of theology, philosophy, natural history and the holy writ that were then thoughtfully couched in terms to be made accessible by the parish. The lassitude that had overtaken the Marquess had caused those interviews to become shortened and infrequent and as such the sermons suffered, as many were wont to note. There had been dialogues that Mr Spotslet had engaged in with the attendees of his masses. Now he seemed to have lost his way and delivered soliloquies.
This day Mr Spotslet indulged in a speech that talked to the vices of gambling. The local sports, of which the Honourable Mr Booth was an intimate, had raced their best through the village green the previous Wednesday for but a prize of one quid, and this small bet had caused pandemonium when Mrs McCaster had fallen in the street with her washing spread everywhere and trampled by the horses. Not much further along the path, Mr Smith the grocer’s delivery for the vicar himself was dropped by the boy and turned into detritus as that too was stampeded over. A natural choice for a sermon, yet only two of the culprits were in attendance this day. The rest had managed to find reasons to avoid the Mass.
Louisa squirmed a little in her seat the moment she realised that her father had been one of the men that the sermon was speaking of. Was she not the centre of everyone’s gaze at such a time? Her father having refused to attend for some years, and her uncle unable due to his illness. She was the representative of the much reduced family. Not only was it expected that the parish would look to her as the Booth of Hroek, but with her father’s actions called to the attentions of all, it was natural that they look at her again. This time in a light that did not reflect well on her father and she knew that she had no control over that at all.
Mrs Bottomworth, who might have been lightly resting her eyes, Louisa would credit her in such a generous way, came to tensing at the mention of the incident. Louisa did not want to bring her friend to full wakefulness, but Mrs Bottomworth realised what was occurring and the direction that the sermon was taking. Louisa’s companion took her hand and patted it reassuringly.
“Perhaps a social call on Lady Walker?” Mrs Bottomworth suggested as they walked back to the house after services. The house which sat just within the estate boundaries was four hundred feet off the main bridal way that led to Hroek Castle. A small road had been cleared from the gatehouse to the house that Mr Booth now maintained, and this the two women travelled.
Louisa generally appreciated visits such as this as she had gotten older, and certainly several of the adults in the neighbourhood showed a kindly interest in her education and the development of her social manners. “I think I shall go to the castle and read to my uncle.” A task that she had done each day of the last fortnight but one.
“We have not talked, but you and the Marquess had an interview with the doctors.” Mrs Bottomworth had tried to comfort her charge after that, but Louisa had waved her hand and gone to sit quietly under a yew tree that had a grand vista of the park leading to Hroek Castle.
“Uncle will be most lucky if he should be with us come Michaelmas.”
“That will be a sad day when we lose such a friend.” These were words of comfort. Mrs Bottomworth had been well encouraged in her charge by the Marquess but one could not say that they interacted greatly with one another. The Marquess ensured that his brother heeded the suggestions and advisements of Mrs Bottomworth as the Honourable Mr Booth left to his own devices would have kept his daughter in the nursery and would have forgotten to send a governess to provide her with instruction.
“Indeed, my uncle may not have been one of the great men of England, but he is well regarded in the county.” Often with that statement followed the next, “Warmly remembered is it when the Prince Regent came and stayed for a fortnight of sport and entertainment.” This had been many years before, and certainly before any of the tragedies beset the line of the Booths.
“Yes, I have heard it said with great earnestness. But come let us change your clothes and then we shall go up to the great house. I shall have Mallow fetch the gig so we may proceed all the more expeditiously.”
“That would be good, but we will have to use the dogcart. Father was to take the gig to see Sir Mark today, or so he said at breakfast.” Where Louisa knew he would drink the Baronet’s sherry for a couple hours before thinking to return, unless he was asked to stay for dinner.
June 19, 2016
Regency Personalities Series-William Stevens
Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
William Stevens
2 March 1732 – 7 February 1807
William Stevens was an English hosier and lay writer on religious topics from a High Church perspective, the biographer and editor of the works of William Jones of Nayland.
Born in the parish of St. Saviour’s, Southwark, he was son of a tradesman. His mother was sister of the Rev. Samuel Horne of Otham, Kent. He was educated at Maidstone with his cousin, George Horne, later bishop of Norwich. In August 1746 he was apprenticed to a hosier in Old Broad Street named Hookham, whose partner he afterwards became; Hookham’s daughter married John Frere, and was mother of John Hookham Frere. After Hookham’s death Stevens became the senior partner, but in 1801 he gave up most of his interest in the business, and a few years later retired altogether.
Stevens identified himself with the clergy who acknowledged William Jones of Nayland as their leader. He joined with Jones and others in forming a ‘Society for the Reformation of Principles,’ to counteract the influence of the French Revolution. The society published a collection of tracts for the younger clergy, and originated the British Critic, a quarterly journal.
Stevens acted for many years as treasurer of Queen Anne’s Bounty, supported the work of the church societies, and interested himself in the position of the episcopal church in Scotland. Stevens died at his house in Old Broad Street, and was buried in Otham churchyard. He left the bulk of his property to his cousin, William Horne, the rector of Otham.
Stevens acquired a good knowledge of French, Hebrew, and the classics. His main interest was theology. He maintained a correspondence with Bishop George Horne, and suggested the plan which Horne later used in his Letters on Infidelity, which were dedicated to Stevens. On Horne’s death, Stevens published three volumes of his sermons, and supplied William Jones of Nayland with materials for Jones’ biography of Horne.
In 1772 Stevens wrote A new and faithful Translation of Letters from M. l’Abbé de ——, Hebrew Professor in the University of ——, to the Rev. Benjamin Kennicott. In this anonymous brochure he followed up Horne’s attack on Benjamin Kennicott’s project of a revised Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The next year he published, in opposition to the recent effort to get rid of subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles, An Essay on the Nature and Constitution of the Christian Church, wherein are set forth the form of its government, the extent of its powers, and the limits of our obedience, by a Layman. A new edition of Stevens’s ‘Essay’ appeared in 1799, and it was reissued by the SPCK in vol. iv. of their ‘Religious Tracts’ in 1800, in 1807, and in 1833.
In 1776 Stevens published A Discourse on the English Revolution, extracted from a late eminent writer, and applied to the present time; and in the following year attacked Richard Watson, in Strictures on a Sermon entitled the Principles of the Revolution vindicated. In 1795 Jones dedicated to Stevens his Life of Bishop Horne. In 1800, in a Review of the Review of a new Preface to the Second Edition of Mr. Jones’s Life of Bishop Horne, Stevens defended his cousin from an attack in the British Critic. It was signed “Ain” (Hebrew for “Nobody”), and suggested the title of a collection of Stevens’s pamphlets issued in 1805 as Oudenos erga, Nobody’s Works. A club was also founded in his honour under the name “Nobody’s Friends” about 1800. It met three times a year. Sir Richard Richards was the first president, and it contained well-known clergymen, barristers, and doctors.
Stevens’s final publication was his edition of William Jones’s works published in 1801 in twelve octavo volumes. Prefixed to it was a life of Jones in the style of Izaak Walton (part of which had already appeared in the Anti-Jacobin Review). Daniel Wray described Stevens as “a tory of the old Filmer stamp”.
RAP (Regency Assembly Press) in need of Beta-Readers
Regency Assembly
Press
is looking for
Beta Readers
One novel is ready for Beta Reading
We have a continuation of Pride and Prejudice with Ms Caroline Bingley and her fortune at stake:
Do we think that Mr Hurst married his Bingley Bride without incentive? It is highly probable that Caroline Bingley, even though she has a sharp, acerbic tongue, still is in possession of a fortune and an astute fortune hunter who deciphers this may soon be on the road to, if not a happy marriage, one with financial security.
Please respond or send an email if you are interested
