The History of Henry Esmond

The estate of Castlewood, in Virginia, which was given to our ancestors by King Charles the First, as some return for the sacrifices made in his Majesty's cause by the Esmond family, lies in Westmoreland county, between the rivers Potomac and Rappahannock, and was once as great as an English Principality, though in the early times its revenues were but small.

Orphan loyalty through Mohun tragedy, Marlborough wars, Beatrix/Stuart failure, and Virginia exile closes historical romance as colonial memoir, so plot scores 89.

where she was sure to have a ring of admirers round her, crowding to listen to her repartees as much as to admire her beauty; and where she spoke and listened to much free talk, such as one never would have thought the lips or ears of Rachel Castlewood's daughter would have uttered or heard.

Henry, Rachel, Beatrix, Castlewood, Mohun, and Marlborough carry Augustan types with novelistic interiority, so cast scores 92.

Our duke was as calm at the mouth of the cannon as at the door of a drawing-room. Perhaps he could not have been the great man he was, had he had a heart either for love or hatred, or pity or fear, or regret or remorse.

Three books dilate through campaign then compress on Beatrix/Stuart failure and Virginia turn, so pace scores 86.

The actors in the old tragedies, as we read, piped their iambics to a tune, speaking from under a mask, and wearing stilts and a great head-dress. 'Twas thought the dignity of the Tragic Muse required these appurtenances, and that she was not to move except to a measure and cadence.

Queen Anne pastiche — tragic-mask preface, Kneller scorn, Marlborough calm — is Thackeray's most sustained stylistic impersonation, so prose scores 94.

The estate of Castlewood, in Virginia, which was given to our ancestors by King Charles the First, as some return for the sacrifices made in his Majesty's cause by the Esmond family, lies in Westmoreland county, between the rivers Potomac and Rappahannock, and was once as great as an English Principality, though in the early times its revenues were but small.

Castlewood Hall, Flanders, Kensington/Windsor, and Virginia plantation map England and colony as one Jacobite-family geography, so world scores 91.

The actors in the old tragedies, as we read, piped their iambics to a tune, speaking from under a mask, and wearing stilts and a great head-dress.

Mask-and-stilt preface announces antique memoir dignity before the orphan plot, so hook scores 88.

HENRY ESMOND, ESQ. A COLONEL IN THE SERVICE OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN ANNE WRITTEN BY HIMSELF … The writer of a book which copies the manners and language of Queen Anne's time, must not omit the Dedication.

First-person historical novel as Queen Anne colonel's memoir — pastiche as form, not costume — advances beyond Scott's third-person romance, so innov scores 93.

The estate of Castlewood, in Virginia, which was given to our ancestors by King Charles the First, as some return for the sacrifices made in his Majesty's cause by the Esmond family, lies in Westmoreland county, between the rivers Potomac and Rappahannock.

Colonial estate as Charles I reward closes exile as settlement rather than battlefield victory — quieter than Adsum, formally complete — so ending scores 87.