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The King's Men a Tale of To-morrow
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276 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1884
8 people want to read
About the author
F.J. Stimson
43 booksFrederic Jesup Stimson American writer and lawyer, who served as the first United States Ambassador to Argentina from 1915 to 1921.
He was a Harvard Law graduate and writer of several influential books on law, and also a novelist specializing in historical romances, sometimes writing under the pen name J.S. of Dale.
He was a Harvard Law graduate and writer of several influential books on law, and also a novelist specializing in historical romances, sometimes writing under the pen name J.S. of Dale.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 9, 2025
SUMMARY + REVIEW
---------------------------------------------‐---
This early science fiction work focuses on the attempt to overthrow the government and reinstate the monarchy in a post-monarchy england-- withe the royalists as the good guys, and the "demagogues" casted as the villains. (Supposedly... more about that later.) It reads like an early spy thriller similar to works by William Lequeux and Erskine Childers, with very few actual sci-fi elements beside the hypothetical dystopian government. It does not feel nearly as much like the dystopian / invasion sci-fi narrative I thought it was going to be.
It's a bit hard to pin down what exactly the author meant to be the book's political position. The government is obviously seen as bad in the book, and yet it does a number of things, such as allowing anybody to walk into the main governmental building and speak to the prime minister to raise complaints, which seem unequivically positive. In contrast, the king they are trying to reinstate seems like a bumbling fool who can't do anything himself and believes everything he hears. Surprisingly, I actually think this negative portrayal is intentional on the book's part.
The book's ending seems to support this more complex view of the situation. But if you want to know what happens, just read my full summary below.
This book, overall, was actually a fairly solid thriller of political intrigue.
FULL CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SUMMARY
========================================
Chapter 1 - Ripon House - Geoffrey Ripon sits by the fire, reminiscing about the usurpation of the monarchy in England, King George V who was exiled to America, and all the other political developments of the last half-century. He recieves a telegram from Margaret Windosr asking if she could come over there from America.
Chapter 2 - Richard Lincoln - Some more history is delved into. Richard Lincoln is introduced; he recieves a nomination for presidency of the British Republic.
Chapter 3 - My Lady's Chamber - Maggie Windsor comes to Geoffrey Ripon's house (which she now owns). He shows her a secret chamber, hoping to find a ghost. Inside they find a book open to the famous "Kind hearts are more than coronets" Line by Tennyson, and a sword hidden in the wall, which seems to be meant for Geoffrey. Jarley Jawkins is also mentioned for the first time.
Chapter 4 - Jarley Jawkins - Jarley Jawkins arrives at Ripon House and speaks to Mr Windsor, Maggie's father. They speak of Maggie's thoughts about marriage (Geoffrey seems like a good option) and also Jarley rattles off a list of guests which will be arriving shortly, including Sir John Dacre, whom Maria in the previous chapter said was a good man (despite not seeming to be a royalist.)
Chapter 5 - "Jawkin's Jollities" - The party in Ripon House. A ton of conversations between characters. Geoffrey talks with Mrs. Carey, who despite being married, is an old flame of Geoffrey's which still burns for him. Sir John Dacre, Featherstone, and a gang of men converse with Geoffrey. Through secret messages and handsigns it becomes implied that they want to inveigle him in some secret group, and so they arrange an innocent trip for the next day.
Chapter 6 - The Royalists - Sir John Dacre takes Geoffrey Ripon on a walk around the moonlit sea-cliffs and into the little porter-house after the party, and spills the beans about the plan of revolution. Geoffrey agrees to partake. There is even a tiny bit of actual argument for monarchy in England, as John Dacre says that Britain was not raised with democracy, whereas America was raised with it-- therefore, britain needs her king back. At the same time, Mrs. Carey, who secretly loves Geoffrey, overhears their conversation from the closet, and when they momentarily vacate the room she steals a list of conspirators and runs away with it. Geoffrey notices the paper is gone but stupidly suspects nothing is wrong. I suppose he was shown as a bit of an unskeptical person.
Chapter 7 - A Four-In-Hand and one in the bush - A lighter chapter, to counteract the last one, where Geoffrey rides in a carriage drawn by four horses with both Maggie and Mrs. Carey, who leaves no subtlety for her attraction to him, and even breaks down crying, on the overturbed alter of a ruined church (which of course, the church has been wholly disestablished) no less. They also arrive at Goodwood house, the seat of the Duke of Richmond, who currently has fled to Russia, where he gives boxing lessons; and in the meantime, his estate was bought by the government and will become a lunatic asylum.
Chapter 8 - Spretae injuria formae - Mrs. Casey proves to be new and corrupted kind of woman much different from the old-fashioned ideal, who tries to charge Jarley money for kissing her hand. Jarley Jawkins leers at Mrs. Carey, and asks for her hand, but she rejects his advances. Denied her wish to go to America and try to ingratiate herself with the king by Jarley, who threatens to cut off her money, and smitten with jealousy at Geoffrey's non- reciprocation, she brings the list of conspirators to the president (who is such a man of the people, anybody is allowed in his office) and tells him everything.
Chapter 9 - "The course of true love" - Geoffrey confesses his love for Maggie, who despite loving him. Distrusts his offer and believes that he is cheating on her with Mrs. Carey. They have a tearful goodbye, as Geoffrey says she'll probably never see him again, as he is going to go try to reclaim King George V from America just tomorrow. Mary Lincoln is revealed to be in love with John Dacre, and they are said to have a conversation about the glory days of the monarchy. Then Maggie confides with Maggie about her troubles with Geoffrey. Soapy drama.
Chapter 10 - King George The Fifth - Mrs. Carey attends a ceremony held by the demagogues, where they speechify against the king (Finally! A real glance at who the villains are!) And afterwards, drives off to meet the king's banker, Mr. Bugbee, who stands to lose his job both if the king is reinstated and if he is killed. Mrs. Carey wants the king to go back to America so she could continue to influence him. She tricks Mr. Bugbee into paying her 20 thousand pounds, then sees the king himself is in the other room. She kneels, and tells him that he has been betrayed and must leave soon. He immediately believes her and they leave. So Mrs. Carey successfully tricks Mr. Bugbee and has her way.
Chapter 11 - The raising of the flag - The Royalists gather to raise their king's flag and begin their revolt. But they barely raise the flag before they find out not only that the king has flown the coop, but that they have been discovered by Devereux, the brilliant general of the British republic only now introduced. A couple of shots are fired, one or two men fall, and Sir John Dacre is possibly killed.
Chapter 12 - In the lion's mouth - Riots break out and are quickly subdued at the news of the short-lived royalist revolt. The royalists are put on trial. Richard Lincoln advocates for the death sentence to be ignored. Dacre, still alive, is sentenced to be shot, and the rest sentenced to prison for 15 years. (For sedition, that's pretty good.)
Chapter 13 - An unfinished task - John Dacre is publicly executed by a firing squad.
Chapter 14 - The Last Royalist - Reynolds sees Geoffrey in prison and takes a message of his to Maggie in America, as well as to see the king. On the boat there, he encounters Mrs. Carey, who now, through romance, has taken the king totally under her control. (Between this and blindly fleeing London purely on her word earlier, the king seems like a bit of an airhead. Should he really be in power?) Reynolds does not even attempt to tell the king what Mrs. Carey is doing (I'm actually not sure he knows all that Mrs. Carey did, so maybe it checks out. But he still knows Mrs. Carey is manipulating the king. ((It is also stated that England did not pursue the king back to america for ethical reason. I'm liking this regime more and more.))) Reynolds goes to Mr. Windsor's house in america and delivers Geoffrey's message to Maggie, explaining how he recieved 15 years in prison, and accusing Mrs. Carey of betraying the king back to america. She cries.
Chapter 15 - Love laughs at locksmiths - The four main characters, Geoffrey, Duke, Sydney, and Featherstone are imprisoned in Dartmoor (Gives me flashbacks to reading Lord of the Sea.) Then, their imprisonment and escape, after recieving a letter from America informing them that they will be waiting with a carriage. Syndey bravely sacrifices himself to buy the rest time while fleeing from the wardens, by crossing nine canals with a plank of wood. Thrilling chapter, compared to the rest of the book.
Chapter 16 - Mrs. Carey's husband - We are suddenly introduced to Mrs. Carey's husband, a corrupt gambler and former employee of the british government. It makes sense to introduce him late to emphasize how faithless Mrs. Carey is to him, and how of little importance he is. It sort of reveals the check to masculinity that the new woman was seen to be assuming in victorian times. Anyway, he gets drunk one night and sees the president. (Again, the president allows anybody-- even raving drunks-- to see him! How demure.) He demands his former office back, but when he is denied, and it is also revealed to him that his wife is a spy, he gets angry, and throws an iron inkwell at the president, cutting his head and causing him to fall onto the table. (Made me imagine when Donald Trump's ear was shot last year.), before being torn away by the police. Here I see a little bit of the author's point against demagogic practices poking through. He is saying that if the government is not treated as sacred, then the people's worst instincts come to usurp authority, if they don't master the country.
Chapter 17 - At the Court of St. James - News of Mrs. Casey's involvement in political intrigue and her deception run wild in America, however, she gains public sympathy, since in America "everything is controlled by girls". Women are all necesarily sympathetic to her. It seems here we have another argument against democracy from the author; it gives women voices. In this chapter, we see the king's lazy happy life in America, marred as it is due to having to change residences and find cushy employment due to a (totally relative) lack of money. Mrs. Casey and he still dote on each other. Mrs. Casey spots Jarley Jawkins at a party, and dhe guesses that he must be trying to pull a revenge on her. She also meets Maggie Windsor at said party. Lastly, Geoffrey Ripon returns to meet the king, who is surprised he is no longer in prison, and he gives him the sword he found in Ripon house before leaving.
Chapter 18 - Two Cards Played - Jarley tells the king that Mrs. Casey has duped him and the revolutionaries. Of course, he believes him easily. A quick discourse over the nature of good and evil manifesting in human beings, and how an impulse between good and evil motivated her to visit Geoffrey and throw herself at his feet one last time. But as he leaves her there she sees the noble image of him handing the sword at the king's feet. She returns to the king's apartment, where Jarley tricks her into admitting dishonesty to Jarley, her husband, and the king all at once. She storms away, and the king forms an alliance with Jarley Jawkins.
Chapter 19 - A woman's end - Geoffrey walks past pictures of Mrs. Carey at the shop. I thought it would be better if its was Mrs. Carey doing the walking, and shedding a tear contemplating how she has whored herself out to everybody to the extent that she does not know who she is anymore. Anyway, he meets Mr. Carey, who is armed with a gun and determined now to kill his wife. He tracks her down, but finds she boarded a steamer for Brazil, and Jarley Jawkins is also on board. Dejected, he takes a train to start a new life.
Chapter 20 - "From chain to chain" - Sydney sends a letter from Dartmoor, talking happily about his physical development and the reading he is getting done. It is also dated 198-, revealing when this story takes place. Mother Goose's rhyme is alluded to, and the Duke admits that he despises the king and what he has become. Mary Windsor worries that Geoffrey will never return to her, and right then he does; and they hug, determining, probably, to marry.
Chapter 21 - Nulla Vestigia Retrorsum - Geoffrey and Mary wed. Years pass, and they repurchase Ripon House; the king dies, and his only daughter marries a commoner. Richard Lincoln is now prime minister; Mary, Geoffrey, Richard, and Maggie are talking by the fireplace at Ripon house. Mrs. Casey and Jarley have not been heard from, Sydney was pardoned and married a widow, and Mr. Bugbee died of a bite from a tarantula. Richard Lincoln seems to be a good prime minister who is sympathetic to everybody, and it seems the government is going in a better direction. Maybe the ultimate moral of the story is about finding a balance between two extremes, the antiquated worship of an old, bloated king, and the rampant perversity of subversive progress.
---------------------------------------------‐---
This early science fiction work focuses on the attempt to overthrow the government and reinstate the monarchy in a post-monarchy england-- withe the royalists as the good guys, and the "demagogues" casted as the villains. (Supposedly... more about that later.) It reads like an early spy thriller similar to works by William Lequeux and Erskine Childers, with very few actual sci-fi elements beside the hypothetical dystopian government. It does not feel nearly as much like the dystopian / invasion sci-fi narrative I thought it was going to be.
It's a bit hard to pin down what exactly the author meant to be the book's political position. The government is obviously seen as bad in the book, and yet it does a number of things, such as allowing anybody to walk into the main governmental building and speak to the prime minister to raise complaints, which seem unequivically positive. In contrast, the king they are trying to reinstate seems like a bumbling fool who can't do anything himself and believes everything he hears. Surprisingly, I actually think this negative portrayal is intentional on the book's part.
The book's ending seems to support this more complex view of the situation. But if you want to know what happens, just read my full summary below.
This book, overall, was actually a fairly solid thriller of political intrigue.
FULL CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SUMMARY
========================================
Chapter 1 - Ripon House - Geoffrey Ripon sits by the fire, reminiscing about the usurpation of the monarchy in England, King George V who was exiled to America, and all the other political developments of the last half-century. He recieves a telegram from Margaret Windosr asking if she could come over there from America.
Chapter 2 - Richard Lincoln - Some more history is delved into. Richard Lincoln is introduced; he recieves a nomination for presidency of the British Republic.
Chapter 3 - My Lady's Chamber - Maggie Windsor comes to Geoffrey Ripon's house (which she now owns). He shows her a secret chamber, hoping to find a ghost. Inside they find a book open to the famous "Kind hearts are more than coronets" Line by Tennyson, and a sword hidden in the wall, which seems to be meant for Geoffrey. Jarley Jawkins is also mentioned for the first time.
Chapter 4 - Jarley Jawkins - Jarley Jawkins arrives at Ripon House and speaks to Mr Windsor, Maggie's father. They speak of Maggie's thoughts about marriage (Geoffrey seems like a good option) and also Jarley rattles off a list of guests which will be arriving shortly, including Sir John Dacre, whom Maria in the previous chapter said was a good man (despite not seeming to be a royalist.)
Chapter 5 - "Jawkin's Jollities" - The party in Ripon House. A ton of conversations between characters. Geoffrey talks with Mrs. Carey, who despite being married, is an old flame of Geoffrey's which still burns for him. Sir John Dacre, Featherstone, and a gang of men converse with Geoffrey. Through secret messages and handsigns it becomes implied that they want to inveigle him in some secret group, and so they arrange an innocent trip for the next day.
Chapter 6 - The Royalists - Sir John Dacre takes Geoffrey Ripon on a walk around the moonlit sea-cliffs and into the little porter-house after the party, and spills the beans about the plan of revolution. Geoffrey agrees to partake. There is even a tiny bit of actual argument for monarchy in England, as John Dacre says that Britain was not raised with democracy, whereas America was raised with it-- therefore, britain needs her king back. At the same time, Mrs. Carey, who secretly loves Geoffrey, overhears their conversation from the closet, and when they momentarily vacate the room she steals a list of conspirators and runs away with it. Geoffrey notices the paper is gone but stupidly suspects nothing is wrong. I suppose he was shown as a bit of an unskeptical person.
Chapter 7 - A Four-In-Hand and one in the bush - A lighter chapter, to counteract the last one, where Geoffrey rides in a carriage drawn by four horses with both Maggie and Mrs. Carey, who leaves no subtlety for her attraction to him, and even breaks down crying, on the overturbed alter of a ruined church (which of course, the church has been wholly disestablished) no less. They also arrive at Goodwood house, the seat of the Duke of Richmond, who currently has fled to Russia, where he gives boxing lessons; and in the meantime, his estate was bought by the government and will become a lunatic asylum.
Chapter 8 - Spretae injuria formae - Mrs. Casey proves to be new and corrupted kind of woman much different from the old-fashioned ideal, who tries to charge Jarley money for kissing her hand. Jarley Jawkins leers at Mrs. Carey, and asks for her hand, but she rejects his advances. Denied her wish to go to America and try to ingratiate herself with the king by Jarley, who threatens to cut off her money, and smitten with jealousy at Geoffrey's non- reciprocation, she brings the list of conspirators to the president (who is such a man of the people, anybody is allowed in his office) and tells him everything.
Chapter 9 - "The course of true love" - Geoffrey confesses his love for Maggie, who despite loving him. Distrusts his offer and believes that he is cheating on her with Mrs. Carey. They have a tearful goodbye, as Geoffrey says she'll probably never see him again, as he is going to go try to reclaim King George V from America just tomorrow. Mary Lincoln is revealed to be in love with John Dacre, and they are said to have a conversation about the glory days of the monarchy. Then Maggie confides with Maggie about her troubles with Geoffrey. Soapy drama.
Chapter 10 - King George The Fifth - Mrs. Carey attends a ceremony held by the demagogues, where they speechify against the king (Finally! A real glance at who the villains are!) And afterwards, drives off to meet the king's banker, Mr. Bugbee, who stands to lose his job both if the king is reinstated and if he is killed. Mrs. Carey wants the king to go back to America so she could continue to influence him. She tricks Mr. Bugbee into paying her 20 thousand pounds, then sees the king himself is in the other room. She kneels, and tells him that he has been betrayed and must leave soon. He immediately believes her and they leave. So Mrs. Carey successfully tricks Mr. Bugbee and has her way.
Chapter 11 - The raising of the flag - The Royalists gather to raise their king's flag and begin their revolt. But they barely raise the flag before they find out not only that the king has flown the coop, but that they have been discovered by Devereux, the brilliant general of the British republic only now introduced. A couple of shots are fired, one or two men fall, and Sir John Dacre is possibly killed.
Chapter 12 - In the lion's mouth - Riots break out and are quickly subdued at the news of the short-lived royalist revolt. The royalists are put on trial. Richard Lincoln advocates for the death sentence to be ignored. Dacre, still alive, is sentenced to be shot, and the rest sentenced to prison for 15 years. (For sedition, that's pretty good.)
Chapter 13 - An unfinished task - John Dacre is publicly executed by a firing squad.
Chapter 14 - The Last Royalist - Reynolds sees Geoffrey in prison and takes a message of his to Maggie in America, as well as to see the king. On the boat there, he encounters Mrs. Carey, who now, through romance, has taken the king totally under her control. (Between this and blindly fleeing London purely on her word earlier, the king seems like a bit of an airhead. Should he really be in power?) Reynolds does not even attempt to tell the king what Mrs. Carey is doing (I'm actually not sure he knows all that Mrs. Carey did, so maybe it checks out. But he still knows Mrs. Carey is manipulating the king. ((It is also stated that England did not pursue the king back to america for ethical reason. I'm liking this regime more and more.))) Reynolds goes to Mr. Windsor's house in america and delivers Geoffrey's message to Maggie, explaining how he recieved 15 years in prison, and accusing Mrs. Carey of betraying the king back to america. She cries.
Chapter 15 - Love laughs at locksmiths - The four main characters, Geoffrey, Duke, Sydney, and Featherstone are imprisoned in Dartmoor (Gives me flashbacks to reading Lord of the Sea.) Then, their imprisonment and escape, after recieving a letter from America informing them that they will be waiting with a carriage. Syndey bravely sacrifices himself to buy the rest time while fleeing from the wardens, by crossing nine canals with a plank of wood. Thrilling chapter, compared to the rest of the book.
Chapter 16 - Mrs. Carey's husband - We are suddenly introduced to Mrs. Carey's husband, a corrupt gambler and former employee of the british government. It makes sense to introduce him late to emphasize how faithless Mrs. Carey is to him, and how of little importance he is. It sort of reveals the check to masculinity that the new woman was seen to be assuming in victorian times. Anyway, he gets drunk one night and sees the president. (Again, the president allows anybody-- even raving drunks-- to see him! How demure.) He demands his former office back, but when he is denied, and it is also revealed to him that his wife is a spy, he gets angry, and throws an iron inkwell at the president, cutting his head and causing him to fall onto the table. (Made me imagine when Donald Trump's ear was shot last year.), before being torn away by the police. Here I see a little bit of the author's point against demagogic practices poking through. He is saying that if the government is not treated as sacred, then the people's worst instincts come to usurp authority, if they don't master the country.
Chapter 17 - At the Court of St. James - News of Mrs. Casey's involvement in political intrigue and her deception run wild in America, however, she gains public sympathy, since in America "everything is controlled by girls". Women are all necesarily sympathetic to her. It seems here we have another argument against democracy from the author; it gives women voices. In this chapter, we see the king's lazy happy life in America, marred as it is due to having to change residences and find cushy employment due to a (totally relative) lack of money. Mrs. Casey and he still dote on each other. Mrs. Casey spots Jarley Jawkins at a party, and dhe guesses that he must be trying to pull a revenge on her. She also meets Maggie Windsor at said party. Lastly, Geoffrey Ripon returns to meet the king, who is surprised he is no longer in prison, and he gives him the sword he found in Ripon house before leaving.
Chapter 18 - Two Cards Played - Jarley tells the king that Mrs. Casey has duped him and the revolutionaries. Of course, he believes him easily. A quick discourse over the nature of good and evil manifesting in human beings, and how an impulse between good and evil motivated her to visit Geoffrey and throw herself at his feet one last time. But as he leaves her there she sees the noble image of him handing the sword at the king's feet. She returns to the king's apartment, where Jarley tricks her into admitting dishonesty to Jarley, her husband, and the king all at once. She storms away, and the king forms an alliance with Jarley Jawkins.
Chapter 19 - A woman's end - Geoffrey walks past pictures of Mrs. Carey at the shop. I thought it would be better if its was Mrs. Carey doing the walking, and shedding a tear contemplating how she has whored herself out to everybody to the extent that she does not know who she is anymore. Anyway, he meets Mr. Carey, who is armed with a gun and determined now to kill his wife. He tracks her down, but finds she boarded a steamer for Brazil, and Jarley Jawkins is also on board. Dejected, he takes a train to start a new life.
Chapter 20 - "From chain to chain" - Sydney sends a letter from Dartmoor, talking happily about his physical development and the reading he is getting done. It is also dated 198-, revealing when this story takes place. Mother Goose's rhyme is alluded to, and the Duke admits that he despises the king and what he has become. Mary Windsor worries that Geoffrey will never return to her, and right then he does; and they hug, determining, probably, to marry.
Chapter 21 - Nulla Vestigia Retrorsum - Geoffrey and Mary wed. Years pass, and they repurchase Ripon House; the king dies, and his only daughter marries a commoner. Richard Lincoln is now prime minister; Mary, Geoffrey, Richard, and Maggie are talking by the fireplace at Ripon house. Mrs. Casey and Jarley have not been heard from, Sydney was pardoned and married a widow, and Mr. Bugbee died of a bite from a tarantula. Richard Lincoln seems to be a good prime minister who is sympathetic to everybody, and it seems the government is going in a better direction. Maybe the ultimate moral of the story is about finding a balance between two extremes, the antiquated worship of an old, bloated king, and the rampant perversity of subversive progress.
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