Jane Harvey

The Castle of Tynemouth. A Tale. By Jane Harvey. 2 vols.

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme; and Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806.

 

Synopsis of The Castle of Tynemouth

 

The novel begins with a long chapter on the history of Tynemouth. Tynemouth is a real town, castle, and monastery in Northumberland, near the Tyne River. The history begins in the times of Roman emperors, who stationed here owing to the strength of its fortifications. Its monastery is said to house the body of St. Oswin. It is a picturesque, rocky place by the sea and the "mouth of the Tyne."

The novel takes place in the early 1490's. The widowed Earl of Wooler, William de Norton has decided to move to Tynemouth, where he has been appointed governor after the death of his friend, Sir Robert Lilburne. He takes his teenaged children Rosetta and Ida, along with their Aunt Judith (sister of their mother.) Rosetta and Ida are excited about living in a castle, but Judith is horrified. She is incurably superstitious, and is sure something terrible will happen.

When they arrive at the castle, they meet several important characters; The previous governor's son, Mitford Lilburne, who has become the Earl's ward, the deputy governor, Major Shipperdson, their neighbors, Mr. Thornton, his daughter, Elfrida, and his ward, Clifford Oswald, and Father Vincent. They learn that the castle and the area around it is said to be haunted and under a curse.

The young teenagers; Rosetta, Ida, Elfrida, Mitford, and Clifford become great friends but eventually a romantic problem arises. Major Shipperdson is in love with Elfrida, Elfrida is in love with Clifford, Clifford is in love with Rosetta, and Rosetta is in love with Mitford. Fortunately for Rosetta, Mitford returns her love, but the rest are in agony.

The summer after their arrival, a war breaks out in France, which requires the Earl, Ida and Mitford to take part in the hostilities. The ladies are to be left to the care of Major Shipperdson (who we have come to find out is quite a bad apple) and Clifford. Mitford has by this time declared his love to Rosetta and she has accepted his proposal. For days, Mitford tries to talk to the Earl about it, but he is so busy that Mitford never gets to ask for her hand formally. So for now, their engagement remains secret.

Before their departure, Mitford is to be knighted. The night before his knighting, he was to spend the hours watching over his arms in the church of St. Oswin. The next day he has disappeared and when he is finally found he is agitated and won't tell anyone what has happened. He refuses to be knighted, however, claiming that he does not deserve a knighthood now. The mystery has begun.

The men leave the next day, and Mitford is so shamed by this whole mysterious occurrence that he does not even say goodbye to Rosetta. While they are away, Rosetta, Elfrida, and Clifford are depressed with the others gone. They find no pleasure in their usual routines. Soon Shipperdson's nephew and ward, Edward O'Bryen, arrives at the castle to serve as the surgeon to the garrison of Tynemouth. Shipperdson is hoping to get Edward married to Rosetta while he himself pursues Elfrida. Both girls refuse.

Meanwhile, the war does not last long, so Lilburne, Ida, and the Earl decide to take a tour of France. While in Paris, the Earl falls in love with a widowed countess, Madame de Montmiril. Ida has heard rumors of her questionable past and urges the Earl to beware, but the Earl proposes anyway. The countess accepts and after the two are married they make plans to go back to Tynemouth. Ida and Lilburne decide to continue their tour of France.

Back at Tynemouth, one night Rosetta is walking on the beach and sees an apparition in the cleft of a rock. The being looks like Mitford, but she believes that Mitford is in Paris. She thinks it is an omen of his death and becomes melancholy.

The Earl arrives home with his new wife and she immediately is jealous of Rosetta for her beauty and for the attention she receives from all that behold her. When Father Vincent meets her, he seems to recognize her and inexplicably recoils with horror. Lady Wooler and Shipperdson become close companions and concoct a scheme to have Edward and Rosetta married. The countess convinces the Earl that Rosetta is insane and that Father Vincent and Judith have caused her madness. She claims that they worship the devil and practice witchcraft. The Earl believes her story, and so they have Rosetta locked in her room while Judith is imprisoned. Meanwhile, Father Vincent has disappeared before they could get their hands on him.

Rosetta sees the apparition again when Clifford releases her from her captivity and they try escaping through the subterraneous passage through the rock where she originally saw the phantom. On the other side, they expect, a "friend" will meet them to take them by boat to Hartley. Unfortunately, Lady Wooler finds out about these arrangements and she, Shipperdson, O'Bryen, and several soldiers catch up with them in the passage where Clifford and Rosetta have stopped for a rest. Clifford is stabbed in the battle to save Rosetta.

Clifford is taken to prison, while Rosetta is taken back to her apartment in the castle. The next day Judith is tried for witchcraft and found guilty. She is sentenced to burn at the stake. Clifford is tried by a military tribunal for assaulting and wounding his superior officer and found guilty. He is to be shot the day before Judith's execution. Meanwhile, word has reached Mr. Thornton that his daughter, Elfrida has been kidnapped.

At the same time, in France, Ida and Lilburne are headed for Normandy against Ida's wishes. We understand that Lilburne has something he must do there and it has something to do with the secret he's been keeping since they left England. In Rouen they stay in a house and find out that the people who live there are part of a gang of Banditti. Lilburne is waiting for letters from England, so they can't leave yet. When the letter comes that he's been waiting for, Lilburne is overjoyed and tells Ida that his worries are over.

Lilburne is about to unveil the mystery when they hear a scream downstairs. The Banditti are terrorizing a woman and a teenage girl, whom they promptly rescue. Before the fight is over, Lilburne is wounded in the chest. The woman is Madame de Montandre and the girl is her orphan ward, Orpheline. Ida falls in love with Orpheline and when Lilburne says his name, Madame de Montandre faints. It turns out that Madame de Montandre is Lilburne's stepmother.

Ida receives an anonymous letter from England while Mitford is recovering, a letter that relates what has happened at Tynemouth. He sets out immediately, leaving Lilburne to heal. Madame de Montandre promises Ida that she and Orpheline will accompany Mitford back to Tynemouth when he is healed.

When Ida arrives at Tynemouth, he is attacked by Shipperdson's men. When he reaches the shore he finds out that Judith is about to be set alight. He gets Judith out of the fire and Shipperdson calls on the garrison to attack the rescuers. The soldiers refuse to obey, taking Ida's side over Shipperdson. Shipperdson runs off, Judith is tended to, Ida finds out that Clifford escaped before he was executed, and he gets the key to Rosetta's room where brother and sister are reunited.

The Earl finally convinces Ida that Lady Wooler and Shipperdson were behind the scheme and that Rosetta is not insane. Shipperdson, Lady Wooler, and O'Bryen are nowhere to be found.

Lilburne, Madame de Montandre and Orpheline are headed back to Tynemouth when they run in to Clifford and Elfrida at an Inn. Apparently Clifford has saved Elfrida from her kidnapper, who turns out to be none other than Major Shipperdson. Here Lilburne relates his mysterious story to Clifford.

The night that Mitford was watching his arms in the church, he was intruded on by a young man named Charles, who claimed to be his brother. Mitford didn't believe him so they fought and Mitford wounded Charles so badly that he went to France thinking that he had killed this man. Now, with the appearance of Madame de Montandre, Mitford knows that Charles really is his brother. The letter he received from England, in Rouen, was from Father Vincent (who knew the whole story) and it informed him that Charles had survived.

Clifford now informs Lilburne that he knows this already and that he and Charles are acquainted. It was Charles who was to help Clifford and Rosetta escape in the subterraneous passage (It was Charles that Rosetta saw by the sea and in the subterraneous passage, we now understand. He looked like Mitford because he is his brother.)

When they get back to Tynemouth everyone is reunited and it turns out that Orpheline is really the noble daughter of Father Vincent, named Vincentina. Meanwhile, Shipperdson, Lady Wooler and O'Bryen plot to blow up the castle and monastery but are thwarted by Clifford and company.

In the end, Shipperdson and O'Bryen die on their way escaping to France, Lady Wooler dies by poisoning, Rosetta and Mitford are married, Ida and Vincentina are married, Clifford and Elfrida are married, and Judith marries Mr. Thornton.

-Prepared by Calli Lounsbury, University of Nebraska, December 2002.