Reuben and Rachel Synopsis

The Corvey Novels Project at the University of Nebraska

— Studies in British Literature of the Romantic Period —

Susanna Rowson

Mrs. Rowson. Reuben and Rachel; or, Tales of Old Times. ANovel. In Two Volumes. By Mrs. Rowson.

London: Printed at the Minerva-Press, for William Lane,1799

Synopsis of Reuben and Rachel

This novel covers a great deal of historical time and geographic space. It begins in sixteenth-century Wales, where the widowed Isabelle has retired with her daughter Columbia, her adopted daughter Mina, and her servant Cora, "a native of South America." Isabelle possesses a picture of a beautiful Indian maid, and explains to Columbia that it is a portrait of her grandmother, an Indian queen who "reigned unmolested, till the adventurous spirit of your great ancestor, Columbus, prompted him to seek in distant seas for unknown worlds" (1: 17). This piques Columbia's interest, and she gets Cora to tell her the story.

Cora possesses a packet of papers relative to the story, which the narrative includes. The papers begin with letters from Columbus to his wife Beatina in 1490, describing his proposed voyages. Through a series of letters, the reader is presented with Columbus's first-hand account of his voyages to the new world. On a subsequent voyage, Columbus travels to Peru with his son Ferdinando, who falls in love with the princess Orrabella, the woman from Isabelle's portrait. The couple marries, and Isabelle is their daughter.

Eventually Isabelle ends up in the Spanish court, where she meets and falls in love with Sir Thomas Arundel, an English Protestant. They marry, and she converts from Catholicism. Arundel "was a favourite with our young King Edward the VIth, and greatly beloved by the Protector Duke of Somerset. They favoured the Reformers very much" (1: 119). But through a plot by Bishop Gardiner and others Arundel is discredited and beheaded for treason. After this Arundel's widow, Isabelle, retreats from court to Wales.

Back in the present, Columbia and Mina awaken in the middle of the night and believe they see two phantoms. These turn out to be Sir Egbert Gorges and his servant, Protestants who are hiding from the persecutions of Mary Tudor. Also in hiding is young Henry Dudley, the son of the executed Lady Jane Grey. But Mary's people eventually find and seize Dudley. Isabelle travels to court to plead for the boy with little success. But the problem is resolved when Mary dies and Elizabeth inherits the throne.

Years pass. Isabelle and Cora die, Columbia marries Sir Egbert. She dies "in the fiftieth year of her age, after having given birth to five children; Ferdinando, heir to his father's title and estate; Elizabeth, who was married to Lord Henry Dudley; Jane, who died in her infancy; Edward, who, embracing the service of his country in a nautical profession, and in the year 1585, embarking with the brave and enterprising Sir Francis Drake, perished in the attack against St. Domingo; and Beatina, who married into the ancient and respectable family of the Penns" (1: 207).

In 1624, Sir Ferdinando becomes involved in schemes to settle a colony in America. His daughter, Isabelle, had previously secretly married his sister Elizabeth's son, Henry. Their son Edward makes a voyage to New England in 1632, then returns to England. In 1641 he marries Lady Arrabella Ruthven, "and the troubles in England soon after increasing, on account of the persecution of Dissenters, whose religious tenets Dudley favoured, he sold his estates; and…embarked for New Hampshire" (1: 230).

In 1661, Edward's home is attacked by Indians, and two of his children, William and Rachel, are taken captive. They remain with the tribe for many years, and William becomes a powerful figure. He marries Oberea, the daughter of the sachem Otooganoo, and they have a son named Reuben. Rachel, in the mean time, falls in love with the young warrior Yankoo.

During a war with the settlers, Yankoo takes William and Rachel's long-lost father Edward captive. William recognizes his father and tries to protect him, but Yankoo kills him. Rachel then decides to leave the tribe and return to her parents. Edward, Arabella, Rachel, Oberea, and Reuben all go to the English settlement. When Edward dies, Arabella decides to return the family to England.

When Reuben reaches adulthood, he marries the Quaker Cassiah Penn. Cassiah dies shortly after giving birth to twins, who she names Reuben and Rachel. The twins Reuben and Rachel, presumably the titular figures, are raised by their widowed father Reuben and their spinster aunt Rachel.

Volume two opens with Reuben senior traveling to Pennsylvania. He dies on his return voyage, and his son Reuben then travels to Pennsylvania to look into the state of his father's affairs. Soon after this aunt Rachel also dies, and young Rachel is left on her own. The remainder of the novel sticks pretty closely to Rachel's adventures in England, turning from epic family chronicle to a more domestic courtship genre.

Rachel secretly marries Hamden Auberry, but are later separated by circumstances. Meanwhile, Reuben investigates his father's estate, which has been usurped by a treacherous friend. He is taken captive by Indians briefly, where he encounters a group of French people who have been naturalized by the tribe. Through the help of his friend Steadfast Trueman, Reuben is restored to freedom and his father's estate. He marries Jessy Oliver, Rachel is reunited with Hamden, and everyone settles in Pennsylvania happily.