The Corvey Novels Project at the University of Nebraska
— Studies in British Literature of the Romantic Period —
{
Susannah Gunning
Mrs. Gunning. Delves; a Welch Tale. By Mrs. Gunning
London: Allen and West, 1796.
Contemporary Reviews
British Critic, 9 (1797), 559
(Art. 23.) Delves, a Welsh Tale. By Mrs. Gunning. In 2 Vols. 12mo.
10s. Allen and West. 1796.
If we allow that this novel possesses
the same degree of merit with Mrs. Gunning's other publications, we shall
have said all that we can warrant; and, probably, as much as the author, or
our readers, will expect.
Critical Review, ns, v18 (1796), 236. [not seen]
English Review, 28 (1796), 175-77
(Art. XXIV.) Delves; a Welch Tale. In Two Volumes. By Mrs. Gunning.
pp. 631. 12mo. London: printed for Allen and West, Paternoster Row. 1796.
Delves, the hero of this tale, is , for
family reasons, ignorant who his real parents are. He is bred, with much care,
in the house of an old servant, from whence, about the age of thirteen, he
determines to depart, after having received an affront in a family where he
usually visited, and where his heart was thus early engaged. He goes through
numerous adventures highly entertaining, but which would lose much of their
effect by being related in so short and concise a manner as the limits of
our publication prescribe. As a specimen of the style, we will give an extract
from that part of the work where Delves and his faithful dog Trimbush set
out together on their first adventure, after having taken a French leave (as
it is called) at home:
'For the
first three hours we pursued our unknown way on a full gallop; that is to
say, we ran every step of it. The best ponies in the world could not have
held out without a bit and a drop to help them on. No bit or drop had we,
except to chew the end of repentance, and swallow our own bitter tears, deserve
well to be called refreshment. I shall always speak in the plural number,
for I am sure Trimbush's inconveniences were very little inferior to those
I experienced. I proposed to him that we should slacken our pace, to which
he joyfully assented; assuring me, by wagging his tail, that he infinitely
preferred a trot to a gallop. He was still better pleased when my strength
would only permit me to creep, as he had then [176] time to scrape acquaintance,
though a very transitory one, with several dogs of condition.
'Sometimes we were in lanes, sometimes
in fields, here a house and there a house, thinly scattered: but, like other
unlucky wights who never call after Fortune till she is out of hearing, we
passed them all; and let me with contrition confess it, that my burning blushes,
kindled by shame, would not let me ask assistance as long as I could do without
it.
'Trimbush looked at me.—I shall never
forget the glance of his expressive large eyes.—'What would you advise
me to do, Trimbush?' said I, in a tone of despair.—We were standing still
under a large tree when I called him to council. He mounted his bear-like
paws on my shoulders, gave a languid bark, and laid down at my feet. I threw
myself by his side; my aching head fell on his shaggy hide, and for two hours
we both slept profoundly.
'My dreams were very much disturbed. I
saw in them Paper Owen, Winifred, Mr. Darcy, the Colonel, the colonel's Lady,
and the horrible pedagogue, and every one of them ready to tear me in pieces.
My terrors, in waking from this frightful vision, were inconceivable; the
earth seemed to shake under me; and having heard Paper talk of earthquakes,
I expected to be swallowed up out of hand. I groaned piteously, and awakened
my friend, who, I believe, might have thought me a little unreasonable, because
he had not, like me, been initiated into the mysteries of philosophy, and
probably never heard of such a thing as an earthquake. He exerted his best
abilities to divert my fears, by jumping round me, and barking at the moon,
which was just then peeping out from under the right arm of night; and the
earth by this time having recovered its firmness, I sat bolt upright.—I
once more jumped on my feet, and giving Trimbush three hearty hugs round the
neck, in pity that neither he nor I had eaten any thing since our morning
repast, I said to him, my dear companion, let us make the best of our moonshine,
and try if we cannot by morning meet with something to satisfy our hunger.
We walked on now to the right, then to the left, without opening our mouths
to each other, till aurora, who for some time had stood blinking on the top
of the distnat mountains, lowering her topsails, hit me such a slap in the
face, as made me cry out, Delves, thou canst go no further. In short, the
heat was so intolerable, that I laid down with Trimbush, as before, for my
pillow, whose loud snoring very soon sent me to rest, and my dreams were no
longer disturbed by the phantoms of those dear friends, who were not snatched
from me, but from whom I had departed.
'My situation was near a hedge, on the
outside of which passed a narrow lane. I mention this circumstance, as it
was the means of introducing me to a glimmering, but momentary comfort.
'The heavy sound of cart-wheels rumbling
through this friendly lane made me start. It was worse than the earthquake.
I fancied it must be Papa coming after me in his gig, drawn by Nutmeg, and
[177]perhaps Mother Winifred sitting beside him.—Quaking and trembling,
I ventured to peep through the hedge—and saw—oh, reader! if thou
hast ever felt the excruciating pangs of hunger as I then felt them—guess
what were my transports when I saw the carter sitting on the shafts with a
great piece of bread and cheese in his hands, which he seemed to devour with
so much greediness, that, fearing it would be all gone if I waited to look
for a gap or a style, I fairly bolted through the hedge, leaving some of my
skin on the briars to answer for the trespass.—The nut which harbours
a maggot will not contain an elephant. Trimbush, who had the vanity to conceive
himself as slim as his pupil, entered the breach I had made and, sticking
in the middle, set up such a howl, as forced me, in spite of tyrant appetite,
to turn back and release him, but not till I had implored the clown, for God's
sake, not to eat all his bread and cheese till I had let go my dog.—'Aren't
you a pretty blackguard,' says he, 'to think I don't know no better than to
give my bread and cheese to strangers?'—This incivility did not much
discompose me; I knew the moment my second was at liberty I need not be my
own provider: so with my head turned over my shoulder to watch the carter's
motions, I worked so hard with both hands that Trimbush, in two seconds, feeling
himself at liberty, set up a roar of thanksgiving, the deepness of his tones,
or the immensity of his size, or the starvation of our looks, and why not
the latter? it is unlike a Christian to put the worst construction on any
man's conduct; kindness, if you dig keep, may be found under a rough exterior.—I
can't stand arguing the matter; but so it was, that when I repeated my cries
to the carter that he would stop and give me some of his bread and cheese,
he actually did stop.-This was not all; for seeing the tears trickle down
my cheeks, he told me, if I wanted a ride in my way to school, he would let
me sit at the cart's tail and welcome; but as to his bread and cheese, he
still persisted he could never think of giving that out of his own mouth to
strangers, who did not seem likely to do the same for him.'
Our hero, after he met with the carter,
met with numberless friends and enemies; and, at last, he is owned by his
own relations, who are people of condition.
------
In the course of this entertaining
novel there is much character and interest; and we are greatly mistaken if
some are not drawn from real life, particularly those of Lady Wilimina Raymond
and Mr. Marchmore, who resemble a certain lord and lady of ton. The anecdote
may explain for whom they were intended. There appears an old soldier, whose
character resembles that of Corporal Trim in Tristram Shandy.
-Prepared by Margaret Case Croskery, Ohio Northern University, July 2003