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| The Duke and Duchess of Omnium and their new pair of bay horses |
After plodding my way through the two Phineas Finn books, I was looking for something a bit more exhilarating from the Prime Minister. And it didn’t take long to please. We have the usual cast of characters, a cad and an obvious bounder trying to get into the under garments of an innocent English virgin, the girl’s out of touch and slightly crusty father doing his best to stop him by demanding obedience from his daughter and an aunt who should protect the girl but who seems smitten by the cad and therefore gives him greater access to the girl than is good for her. Somewhere in the background is the suitor who the father prefers, but the mention of who fills the girl with disdain.
Also in the background we have the Pallisers, with Plantagenet being asked to lead a coalition government and Glencora entertaining on a grand scale and at tremendous expense in his support. Phineas Finn has a post in the coalition government and is sent off to Ireland to manage things there. His wife, now Mrs Finn but who was Madame Max Goesler, stays in London and helps Glencora with the entertaining, while Lizzie Eustace pops up on the free dinner circuit in the capital.
Much to everyone’s surprise the coalition holds and Glencora’s entertaining intensifies. We find the bounder has managed to worm his way into Glencora’s attention which adds to his already established reputation as a greasy dago. The particular character’s name is Ferdinand Lopez and all we know about him so far is, an allusion of wealth, uncertain parentage and that he certainly isn’t an English gentleman.
The young lady who he has his eye on is Emily Wharton and it is fair to say she has fallen for him hook, line and sinker. Her poor father, Abel Wharton QC, realises that he is fighting a losing battle and that ultimately he will have to give in to his daughter’s wishes. He would rather she married Arthur Fletcher, who is an English gentleman and made of all the right stuff, but Abel has to tell Arthur that he believes Emily will wear him down such that he agrees to her marrying Lopez and on that basis Arthur talks to Emily and releases her from any understanding that they may have had.
This is all very “Can You Forgive Her”, although Arthur seems more prepared to accept his fate than John Grey was in the earlier book. With Arthur out the way, Lopez continues to work on Emily and Abel continues to anticipate her fate, with things coming to a head when Emily's brother is attacked late at night in London only to be rescued by Lopez. At this point Abel runs out of arguments to stop Emily seeing Lopez, and we realise the sound of wedding bells can't be far away.
At the same time the Palliser political machine has moved out of London to the ducal seat at Gatherum Castle with Plantagenet becoming increasingly disillusioned with his lot as he finds the job of Prime Minister boring and Glencora's entertaining "vulgar".
While at Gatherum Lopez continues to come to the attention of Glencora and even ends up being tipped as the Pallisers' choice when the parliamentary seat at Silverbridge becomes vacant. You may recall that the MP for Silverbridge is our old friend John Grey from can you forgive her , but apparently he is off to Persia on an important diplomatic mission and has had to resign his seat.
Lopez marries Emily in November and they honeymooned in Italy over the winter months. It is not a totally happy time for Emily as her relatives in Herefordshire do not attend the wedding as it was their preference that she should marry Arthur. Even her best friend, Mary Wharton, turned down the opportunity of being Emily's bridesmaid.
"a self-seeking, intriguing adventurer who did not know honesty from dishonesty when he saw them together"
One of the themes developed in the story is that of Emily's dowry. While Abel Wharton goes to get lengths to try and understand Lopez's pedigree, he does not challenge his business and ask the all important question "will you be able to keep my daughter in the style to which she has become accustomed?" Lopez for his part does not want to rock the boat (we are told Lopez is "a self-seeking, intriguing adventurer who did not know honesty from dishonesty when he saw them together") but assumes Abel will ultimately be generous to his daughter, and of course his son in law.
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Emily marries Lopez at the church in Vere Street
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Lopez gives himself two weeks of honeymoon bliss before starting work on Emily with regard to the unspecified nature of her mystery dowry.
"Post equitem sedet atra cura" (behind the horseman sits black care)
While they are away Lopez cajoles Emily to write to her father and ask him what his intentions are with regard to her fortune and to ask for an immediate £3000. (This is getting on for half a million pounds in todays money). Her father's reply follows them to Florence and confirms that he will let Lopez have the sum he requested. The letter states that Abel believes that he has done his duty by Lopez and that the matter is now closed. Lopez is disappointed that he hadn't asked for more. Lopez is beginning to show his true colours, and as readers we begin to look forward to the time when he gets his comeuppance.
The story then turns back to the Pallisers at Gatherum Castle and an unfortunate incident in which Major Pountney, one of life's chancers, accosts Plantagenet while he is walking in the grounds with Lady Rosina (one of Glencora's guests Plantagenet approves of). Major Pountney has the affrontery to approach the the Duke and ask if he might be considered to be the "Duke's candidate" at the forthcoming Silverbridge by-election.
Now it needs to be said that Silverbridge had historically been considered a "pocket borough" and that, despite the various Reform Bills, the "Duke's candidate" was likely to be elected. This certainly appeared to be the case when John Grey was elected in "Can You Forgive Her". Nevertheless this was not a system that Plantagenet agreed with especially when it meant that a person such as Major Pountney could approach him, The Prime Minister, in such an unbecoming and impertinent way.
Of course because it is Glencora who has invited the Major to the Castle he feels that she is to blame for the insult he feels he has suffered. He tells her that he will have nothing to do with the by-election and that neither must she. Glencora for her part cannot understand why Plantagenet would give up his privilege in this way and quotes examples of other pocket boroughs to him. Plantagenet holds firm and adds that as long as he is Prime Minister he will no longer entertain guests in his own house.
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Plantagenet is not happy
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When Ferdinand returns from honeymoon he finds a letter waiting for him from Glencora. Glencora explains the new situation to him and that "no candidate will appear as favoured from hence". But, she adds, that as the news that he was to have been the preferred candidate must already have leaked out he was bound to have an advantage. She suggest Sprugeon, the ironmonger, will be proud to nominate him.
Now faced with election expenses, Lopez unsuccessfully approaches Emily's father to cover his costs. His troubles are heightened when he realises that opposing him in the by-election will be Emily’s old beau Arthur Fletcher. Arthur decides to write to Emily and explain that his opposition to Ferdinand was not intentional but was the result of a commitment he had made and which he couldn’t now get out of.
Ferdinand is very upset at Arthur’s letter, and states that he is prepared to horse whip him for his impudence. Now the whole thrust of the novel is that Arthur has acted reasonably, certainly Emily thinks so, and that Ferdinand response is unreasonable. Personally I wasn't so sure, and if Arthur's sole intention was to inform Emily that his standing for election against Ferdinand in Silverbridge was simply down to happenchance, he could have done that by writing to Ferdinand, rather than his old lover Emily.
The sending, receiving and interpretation of the letter is a key turning point in the novel. Emily begins to see Ferdinand's character in a different light based on her faith in Arthur to do the right thing; basically she knows Arthur better than she knows her husband.
Ferdinand wheedles a meeting with the Duchess but she refuses to discuss the by-election with him. Ferdinand even suspects that Arthur has been to see the Duke, and threatens to expose them if this is the case.
Glencora meanwhile had cut back on her entertaining and reflected on Plantagenet's instruction and asked him if she could speak to Sprugeon about the election. "Not a word!" was his stern reply.
In parliament things were not going well for the coalition. The Liberal faction wanted to extend the county suffrage to effect a slight redistribution of parliamentary seats while the conservative leader of the coalition in the commons wanted to build more war ships. A compromise was reached for the Queens Speech, which satisfied neither faction.
So these are not happy times for either Glencora or Plantagenet, especially when she goes against his word and speaks discreetly to Sprugeon in favour of Mr Lopez. Of course this gets back to Plantagenet and they have a blazing row at the Castle, and Glencora gets the better of Plantagenet with a use of clever argument and womanly wiles. Glencora even suggests that she might have to go in for women's rights.
We've spoken before about how the Palliser novels portray the role of women in Victorian England and again here we see two strong female characters, Glencora and Emily, not prepared to do as their husbands instruct them to do when the instruction appears to contradict their notion of right and wrong.
The by-election goes ahead. The Duke reinforces the fact that he does not have either of the candidates "in his pocket" by having a letter published to that effect. Although Sprugeon interpreted the letter his way, by suggesting that as Prime Minister the Duke had to say that, this interpretation was not widely held in Silverbridge such that the local brewer, Mr Du Boung, joined the battle as a Conservative who was prepared to support the Duke's coalition.
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"You had better walk on"
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The election is marred by Lopez refusing to shake hands with Arthur when they meet out on the campaign trail, which led to the Du Boung faction that the other two candidates were unfit to represent Silverbridge. Things get worse for Lopez when he is persuaded to retire from the contest by Mr Du Boung and Mr Sprugeon. Before Lopez leaves Silverbridge there is another altercation with Arthur in which the two parties are kept apart by the presence of a local policeman.
Ultimately Arthur is returned as the member for Silverbridge, beating Du Boung by 315 votes to 308.
Back in London Lopez lets the wrong that he feels he has suffered fester but wastes no time in getting Emily's father to pay his election expenses for him. In return Mr Wharton asks Lopez to act as a bridge with his son Everett who he has fallen out with over debts incurred playing whist. Lopez uses this an opportunity to drive a subtle wedge between Everett and his father, rather than build a bridge.
Of course news of the altercation at Silverbridge between Lopez and Arthur reaches London and spreads out across the country. Arthur meets Mr Wharton in London and gives his side of the story. Mr Wharton explains how Everett has quarrelled with him and Arthur encourages him to write to Everett and invite him to come and see him. Arthur realises that Everett's action is out of character and tells Abel not to trust Lopez. Arthur feels unable to interfere at this time.
In cabinet things were still not going well for the coalition government; the war ships were not built but neither was any progress made on readjustment of the county suffrage. But Glencora was continuing with her entertaining, both in London and at "the Horns" in Richmond, a place we'd last visited with Phineas in Phineas Finn.
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The Silverbridge Heroes meet as friends?
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By a quirk of fate Emily and Lopez attend the Horns on the same occasion as Arthur (who is the new favourite of the Duchess) and all three are greeted by the Duchess at the same time. Arthur shakes hands with Emily which really winds Ferdinand up.
Ferdinand tries to take Emily away from the crowd to extract a promise from her that she will never speak to Arthur again. Emily is prepared to agree to his instruction but only on the basis that Arthur is allowed to know why. She suggests that she should tell her father so that he can tell Arthur, but this is not acceptable to Lopez who takes Emily home, absolutely black with rage. Lopez realises that he cannot afford to quarrel with Mr Wharton. Their early exit does not go unnoticed by the hostess and her other guests.
The next exit comes from the leader of the House of Commons, who is upset about his warships and the fact that he is not invited to dinner by the Duchess. He thinks others will follow him but in the end he goes out on his own in a move which is generally seen as favourable to the Duke's Government. But "The People's Banner" comes out in support of the man who has resigned as once more Quintus Slide makes his oily progress back into the story.
Toward the end of Volume I Emily begins to acknowledge to herself that she has made a mistake in marrying Lopez, especially when he encourages her to "get round" he father for more money. She realises things are going wrong for him when he says they must give up their home and move back to Manchester Square to live with her father.
Mr Wharton readily agrees to Ferdinand and Emily moving in with him when Emily suggests it too him, although Ferdinand tries to assure him that it was Emily's idea to care for her father. Ferdinand feared that the father might think that his son-in-law could not afford to look after his daughter.
In fact as Volume I closes we see that Abel Wharton has not been taken in, but was "able to almost read Lopez to the bottom, - not however giving the man credit for dishonesty so deep or cleverness so great as he possessed."
Can the Prime Minister survive; will Emily find happiness; will Lopez get his hands on Abel's fortune? We will see how this unfolds in Volume II.
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©Harveywetdog/Author - David Robinson CEng FIET
David spent approaching 50 years in Her Majesty's Electricity Supply Industry before retiring
He was part of the highly successful design team on the Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station Project before spending 25 years producing safety cases to keep our aging AGR fleet generating for the good of the nation
He is responsible for the Harveywetdog YouTube Channel which he maintains as an outlet for his creative talents
David has twice experienced blood cancer treatment but absolutely refuses to be a victim
All views are of course his own but might be influenced by the medication he's had to take
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