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A Fountain Sealed
This novel is a romance about the young George III's alleged marriage to a beautiful Quakeress.
301 pages, Hardcover
First published May 20, 2009
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About the author
Walter Besant
926 books8 followersSir Walter Besant was a novelist and historian from London. His sister-in-law was Annie Besant. The son of a merchant, he was born in Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire and attended school at St Paul's, Southsea, Stockwell Grammar, London and King's College London. In 1855, he was admitted as a pensioner to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1859 as 18th wrangler. After a year as Mathematical Master at Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancashire and a year at Leamington College, he spent 6 years as professor of mathematics at the Royal College, Mauritius. A breakdown in health compelled him to resign, and he returned to England and settled in London in 1867. He took the duties of Secretary to the Palestine Exploration Fund, which he held 1868-85. In 1871, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 2, 2018
Affable romance based on an unusual footnote from the annals of the British royal family.
A rumour persists to this day that George III secretly married a beautiful Quakeress named Hannah Swiftfoot before he became king. The facts are muddled, the timing unlikely, the woman herself all but lost to history.
Besant's Quakeress is named Nancy Walden, meeting and falling in love with the Prince of Wales in the year 1860 when he was already twenty-two, seven years later than the original scandal would have it. This also handily placed the dalliance on the very eve of his coronation.
Throughout their affair Nancy remains ignorant of his true identity, a point which Besant, with his customarily carefree plotting, stretched beyond the point of reflecting any credit upon the intelligence of his heroine. (He takes her to the palace, he shows her the private rooms, he even introduces her to the king for heaven's sake!)
I can't say that Besant's portrayal of the young George did him many favours either. He certainly behaved like a gentleman, but was the real George III this much of a philistine? Maybe he was.
I noticed that the author couldn't resist a scene in which the future king quoted lines he once spoke in real-life from the prologue of a play he performed in as a child:
"What, tho' a boy! It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, in England bred".
If Besant had any other purpose in mind beyond writing a romance it was to denigrate the dreary and exclusive Society of Friends, especially in comparison to the inclusive Church of England. Daniel Fox is dismissed as an 'illiterate,' thus the Quaker's rejection of literature and song.
The first time George III met his actual wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was on their wedding day. They had fifteen children and he never took a mistress.
Funny old world.
A rumour persists to this day that George III secretly married a beautiful Quakeress named Hannah Swiftfoot before he became king. The facts are muddled, the timing unlikely, the woman herself all but lost to history.
Besant's Quakeress is named Nancy Walden, meeting and falling in love with the Prince of Wales in the year 1860 when he was already twenty-two, seven years later than the original scandal would have it. This also handily placed the dalliance on the very eve of his coronation.
Throughout their affair Nancy remains ignorant of his true identity, a point which Besant, with his customarily carefree plotting, stretched beyond the point of reflecting any credit upon the intelligence of his heroine. (He takes her to the palace, he shows her the private rooms, he even introduces her to the king for heaven's sake!)
I can't say that Besant's portrayal of the young George did him many favours either. He certainly behaved like a gentleman, but was the real George III this much of a philistine? Maybe he was.
I noticed that the author couldn't resist a scene in which the future king quoted lines he once spoke in real-life from the prologue of a play he performed in as a child:
"What, tho' a boy! It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, in England bred".
If Besant had any other purpose in mind beyond writing a romance it was to denigrate the dreary and exclusive Society of Friends, especially in comparison to the inclusive Church of England. Daniel Fox is dismissed as an 'illiterate,' thus the Quaker's rejection of literature and song.
The first time George III met his actual wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was on their wedding day. They had fifteen children and he never took a mistress.
Funny old world.
Displaying 1 of 1 review