Frank Fairlegh: Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil

by Frank E. Smedley

Frank Fairlegh - Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1899. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1850

About the author

Francis Edward Smedley (4 October 1818 – 1 May 1864) was an English novelist. His name appears in print usually as Frank E. Smedley.

Reviews

[Mark Saxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Victorian super-seller long neglected. Smedley was no Dickens, but I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and Cruikshank's first edition plates are a hoot.

[Anthony Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a rattling good mid-nineteenth century yarn in the Boy’s Own school chums tradition without excursions into imperial foreign parts. A domestic English drama of virtue rewarded and vice getting its just deserts.

The virtuous are Frank Fairlegh (son of a poor clergyman), our hero; Mr Frederick Coleman (son of a successful county solicitor), Mr Harry Oaklands (indolent, but good-hearted son of landed gentry), and Mr George Lawless (expelled from Eton, easily led, but at fundamentally a good sort and devoted to horses and speedy conveyances). They are joined by an old gentleman, Mr Frampton (possibly, I thought, a device copied by Dickens for Magwitch, though Mr Frampton’s background is without blemish). And on the female side there are Frank’s sister, Fanny, Miss Clara Saville, and Miss Lucy Markham. You can see the pattern shaping up to a happy ending.

The vicious are Mr Richard Cumberland (a spoiled idler who takes to gaming and gambling and scheming), his creepy uncle, Mr Vernor, and the old-fashioned sadistic, cynical, reckless and purposeless cad, Mr Stephen Wilford.

The plot is straightforward, following the characters from their school on the south coast, through university at Cambridge and into early professional engagements. In all their doings their manhood is challenged and tested in one way or another. As the novel develops, a plot concerning Vernor, Cumberland, Clara Saville and Mr Frampton develops: this struck me as in the Dickens / Bleak House mould, though I have to wonder whether the kind of illegal shenanigans involved were an accurate and/or typical characteristic of legal cases of the age. Truly dastardly stuff, in any case. There are duels and the mid-1800s equivalent of the car chase; there are balls and ‘wine parties’ and jolly japes, earnest hard work and moments of hunting and riding for pleasure and adventure, the secret exchanges of letters, maidens rescued at the last moment and villains soundly horsewhipped – you know the sort of stuff.

And it’s all written in an easy, engaging style. Sometimes I found the narrative longwinded when dealing with philosophical and romantic reflection, but overall a most enjoyable read if you like this sort of stuff from Victorian England. Smedley was, according to the OCEL, a popular writer, and it’s easy to see why.

[I have no idea why Goodreads has come up with a book jacket that apparently shows Roman ruins. It has no relevance to the novel. My edition is a nice original and has illustrations by Cruikshank, and is in a plain blue binding. Only £6 secondhand - bargain.]