William Blackwood first edition - 1828
Amelia Gillespie Smyth (1788-1876) is another author I had never heard of until my search last year for early 19th century Scottish authors. She was born in Vienna, where her father, Sir Robert Murray Keith, was a diplomat. At twenty, she married Robert Gillespie, a major in the County Militia and a Deputy Lieutenant, who assumed the name of Smyth, as his wife was the heiress of Gibliston, Fife. Amelia was a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, before moving to England after her husband's death in 1855. She wrote short stories and books for children, as well as works on History and Scripture. She also compiled, in two volumes, Memoirs and Correspondence of Sir Robert Murray Keith in 1849.
Amelia Gillespie Smyth
The Tales, dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, consist of four stories of uneven length. Four men meet in one of the remotest and least accessible parts of Ross-shire. They are there in quest of grouse and happiness from the farthest extremity of the Island. The four comprise of Colonel Richard Sullivan - of Irish extraction and Irish warmth of heart; Frederick, an Englishman, though but a stickit soldier, had served in Spain and travelled in Italy; Ned Vernon, another Englishman, who was once a diplomatist; and a young lawyer, Master Hamilton, of very rising fame and promising talents...at whose suggestion the present shooting-party had been originally projected. Completely exhausted by the end of the first week, hidebound due to incessant rain, the Colonel suggests that they all write their adventures down.
The first, and by far the longest, is The Return. The young lawyer recounts the story of an elderly (he is only 47!) uncle, Sir Walter Hamilton, back from thirty years residence in India, first in the army and then in trade. He is now a wealthy man, but a brief marriage ended in the death of his wife and infant. He returns with another name - Buchanan - and much changed, so that few recognise him (he is bald by now!). As the tale unfolds, he meets up with past friends and various members of his family. I never really engaged with any of the characters and found too many purple passages for my liking. There was a throwaway anti-Roman Catholic remark - Presbyterian worship in Scotland being better calculated to swell the heart with genuine devotion, than the most gorgeous procession ever devised by our pomp-loving sister of Rome. There are moments of levity: Ten thousand a-year, and a case of fine teeth, entitled Miss Hawtayne to indulge, particularly among her male intimates, in that absolutely plebeian or exclusively patrician accomplishment, a loud laugh...a fine tall person, and white hand and arm, rendered the harp a favourite engine of display with Miss Hawtayne. After much toing and froing, Sir Walter purchases Marknows, the old family estate, which included the old Castle of Oakenshaws, for the benefit of his nephew and niece. It is a solid tale without a sparkle.
As for the other three stories, they are much shorter. My Last Days in Rome (a mere 40 pages), narrated by Frederick, is a simple tale where he gives up a transient passion for an impoverished Spanish girl Isidora (now a menial polisher of pearls) so that she can marry her equally down and out copier of paintings, the Castilian Christoval. There is a (possibly) anti-Semitic aside - among the group below, I detected the sharp faces of one or two Shylock-looking creditors, whom it would have been a joy to my heart to defraud of their bond... Frederick also provides the couple with financial support. A slight story which, however, is worth the short time needed to read it.
Adventures of an Attaché is Ned Vernon's story. He is sent to Scotland to be under the tutelage of his uncle, Sir William Somerville, well versed in military and diplomatic affairs. The 22 year-old travels to Europe in the company of his uncle, aunt and cousin Horatia - who blended in the happiest manner, both in person and character, the best features of both her parents. They tour Holland and the site of Waterloo, before arriving at the Court of X. Here, its Duke takes a shine to Horatia, as does the son of a deceased friend of Sir William - the young Baron Ernest de Vilmerghan. Ned, in turn, fancies Albertine, Ernest's sister. Luckily, the course of true love eventually runs smooth. Albertine, seemingly too often downcast and unwell, wanted to marry (and does) a Frenchman, Louis La Rochecour. Vernon comes to his senses: I wondered at the blindness which had rendered me so long insensible to all that could embellish and shed perpetual sunshine over the quiet path of domestic life. Thus, he marries Horatia and gladdened the declining years of my own with a daughter...
Richard Sullivan's story is rather blandly entitled A Day in the Isle of Wight. However, it's not a bad one. Two boys, both bright, meet at Arbury Hall - on the whole, a good school. Their Master decides that the winner of the annual prize should be decided by the boys, not himself. Richard, a volatile youth, rescues a young boy, Harry Edwards, who has the deciding vote, from a swamp. He catches a fever and, while recovering, hears that he only did it to win the vote! He accosts his rival, Edmund Penrose, and knocks him to the ground, occasioning a deep wound on his forehead. The tales shifts to some years later. Sullivan is now a major in the British Army. He befriends an elegant English mother and her daughter, desperate for news of their son/half-brother stationed in South America. Madame de Castro (now widowed twice) and daughter Inez get on very well with Richard until, having seen a painting of him, realises the brother is Edmund! Worse, news comes that Edmund has been killed; Richard does not tell the two women. On a walk to Undercliff, despair changes to delight. Penrose appears (the dead man was wrongly named!), forgives Richard, who will clearly marry Inez. Convoluted? Unlikely? Too coincidental? No matter, it was an enjoyable short story.
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