Mary Meeke

Mrs. Meeke. The Spanish Campaign; or, The Jew. A Novel. 3 vols.

London: A. K. Newman and Co., 1815.

 

Synopsis of The Spanish Campaign

This is a tale of the good fortunes of the fictional character named Charles Franklin. The story begins with young teenage Charles rescuing his rich uncle (also named Charles Franklin) who has fallen into the edge of a pond and risks certain death from drowning. The elder Charles declares this to be an act of heroism and promises to repay it kindly.

Here is a good time to include the Franklin family history: Charles Franklin's grandfather was named sir George Franklin. He was the youngest son of a poor corn mill worker. He became a clerk to his father's boss at a young age, was favored by his boss, eventually becoming a partner. He married his boss's daughter, who lacked many of the features that make them desirable to men, simply for the sake of advancement in rank and fortune. He inherited everything, prospered, advanced in rank, became sheriff, then mayor, then baronet, which is how he acquired the 'Sir' in his name. Once he became rich and advanced in rank he disowned his father's family. He and his wife produced two children, Charles and George.

Sir George's eldest son Charles was his favorite, and also the smartest. However, he was estranged from his father and written out of the will over some trivial disagreement and went off to become a lawyer. He made his fortune off of the less fortunate, representing them in civil cases and taking a large portion of their awarded rulings. When sir George Franklin died his second son (also George) inherited all of his money and his title of baronet. However, on his deathbed, Sir George the senior told Sir George the junior to give his brother Charles fifty thousand pounds. The younger George 'misheard' him and only gave Charles five thousand pounds. Somehow Charles discovered that he had been cheated and so bears a grudge against his brother sir George for the rest of his life.

A bad investor and not a smart man, Sir George squandered most of his inheritance in a short period of time. He married the daughter of a rich man in hopes of winning a substantial dowry, and they have nine children, one of whom is young Charles, the focus of this story. In the meantime Sir George's brother Charles has become very rich in his profession.

Thirty years after the death of Sir George Franklin sr., and under pressure from his wife, Sir George attempts to reconcile with his brother Charles in hopes that he will endow Sir George's children with his fortune. They reconcile their differences, and Charles Franklin (the elder), who has no heir, begins to visit Sir George's house in the country regularly to pick his favorite nephews to include in his will. This concludes the family history portion of the synopsis.

Charles the elder adopts Charles Franklin the younger, and makes him his sole heir. He sends him to a good school with the best tutors, and gives him a meager allowance, making him account for every penny. It becomes apparent to Charles jr. that Charles sr. is very tight with his money. People refer to him with various nicknames including "the miser," "the Jew," "blockhead," and "old cent per cent." Charles jr. is very benevolent by nature and dislikes the constraints of frugalty which are placed on him by his mentor.

His uncle makes arrangements for Charles to be married to the sister of a rich Earl, assuring that he will become independently wealthy and make his way into parliament. Charles jr. expresses gratitude for the arrangement but is quietly reserved about the prospect. He learns from a friend from school that the Earl is in debt to his uncle for over twenty thousand pounds, which he cannot pay, and that he has promised his sister into marriage as a form of repayment. Charles jr. does not like the arrangement but is reluctant to go against the wishes of is uncle for fear that he will turn him out penniless. Charles jr. is beginning to doubt whether he will ever see an inheritance from the old man anyway, because he fears that his uncle will likely change his mind and favor another brother or give it to charity before he dies.

At this point the parish officer from Charles' school shows up at his uncle's house demanding money to pay for the expenses associated with the birth of a baby Charles jr. has fathered out of wedlock. Charles jr. admits having had sex with the mother, but declares the father could be one of any number of gentlemen. Charles sr. is outraged by the this and turns him out. Charles goes willingly and happily, distressed only by the humiliation to his family.

That same night, Charles meets his friend James Frazer, who has just joined the English army. Charles is talked into joining with him, and Mr. Frazer makes the necessary arrangements, and he also loans Charles the money needed to buy clothing and equipment. It turns out that their colonel is Charles' mother's cousin, who has romantic feelings for her, and so he naturally favors Charles. They all sail for Portugal. Meanwhile, Charles Franklin sr. is feeling guilty and now regrets sending his nephew away.

Charles is successful in the art of war. He proves valiant in battle, courageous, athletic, well liked, etc. He is captured by the French, through no fault of his own, of course, and held prisoner in a nearby castle. He has so much charisma even his captors love him, and he becomes good friends with the commanding officer of the French. He learns that the owner of the castle is a Spanish duke, who has a beautiful daughter and who is very rich. The French General lusts after the daughter, named Donna Victoria, but because the duke doesn't approve of the relationship he hides his daughter. The General imprisoned the Duke and took over the castle, and iproceeds with a relentless search for the daughter so he can have his way with her. It turns out that Donna Victoria has been hiding inside a secret passage inside the castle all along and she helps Charles to escape. He returns with 65 English soldiers and sneaks into the castle through the same secret passage through which he left. Chalres and his force take over the castle from within, very valiantly and without any complications. They pack up all of Donna Victoria's treasures and head back to the English camp victorious.

After a brief courtship Charles secretly marries Donna Victoria, purely to look out for her best interests and to protect her and without any aspirations of personal gain. It turns out that she is enormously rich and that she has an even wealthier grandfather for whom she is the sole heir. At this point she discloses to him that he is Jewish, which makes her part Jewish. But Charles assures her that he can look past this little 'blemish'. They decide it would be best for her to pack up her treasure and head for London to live with her grandfather until Charles has concluded his tour of duty. Unfortunately, while Charles is escorting her to Lisbon, there is a tragic accident and she is killed.

At this point the author devotes an entire chapter to describing the vast treasures Charles has inherited from his wife of one week. It should be noted here that the last real conflict in the plot line of the novel occurred when Charles was held prisoner in Donna Victoria's father's castle. He escapes from the castle at the end of the first volume. During the next two volumes there is relatively little substantial conflict or plot development; the story simply outlines how he stumbles into one fortune after another.

Charles is promoted to captain. In the meantime his brothers John and George jr. are courting his uncle Charles for the inheritance that was originally slated for young Charles. Charles keeps it a secret from is family that he has become rich by his marriage to Donna Victoria. Charles' father dies, and leaves everything including the title of baronet to his brother George, now sir George. His brother Sir George gives meager sums of his inheritance to his mother and siblings, including Charles. It is clear that he has fallen short of benevolence and has left his family insufficient means to maintain their current lifestyle in the interest of self-gain. The Franklin family is very upset with Sir George jr. for his selfish nature. Charles sends his favorite brother Edward 100 pounds to help with school, which is the same amount Sir George sent him. Charles becomes known to his family as Quixote. At the conclusion of volume two he is given about six months leave from his service in the army and returns home to London with his hoards.

The third volume of the novel takes place entirely in England. Charles meets his new rich Jewish grandfather-in-law named Levi who welcomes him with open arms. He helps Charles with his financial affairs and they get along very well. Levi turns out to be very benevolent, the opposite of Charles' uncle, who is ironically nicknamed "the Jew." Charles becomes the sole heir to Levi and Levi buys him a house in London.

Meanwhile Charles' brothers John and Sir George are competing in vain for their uncle Charles' inheritance. Uncle Charles pays much attention to what he hears of his nephew Charles, and is increasingly impressed by him. He is disappointed by John and Sir George and does not like either one of them. Charles tries to visit his brothers but is snubbed by both of them. He is received well by his mother and youngest sister Louisa, and by his favorite brother Edward. To these he is very generous with his new fortune. When the greedy brothers John and Sir George find out about his new fortunes they are very upset.

Charles meets lady Susan Delaney who is the sister of the earl he was to marry in the first volume. He thinks she is beautiful and they fall in love. He buys her wonderful home in the country from her and then asks her to marry him. He reconciles with his uncle Charles who has changed his ways and becomes benevolent but is in very bad health. Because of his marriage to Lady Susan he becomes lord Malton and lord Mobray. His uncle dies and he inherits everything he had. The story ends with the narrator's advice that avarice is bad "since, of all vices, avarice is the one most abhorred by all benevolent minds."

- Prepared by William Thomas, University of Nebraska, December 1, 2002