Richard Carvel
Encyclopedia
Richard Carvel is a historical novel by the American novelist Winston Churchill
. It was first published in 1899, and was exceptionally successful, selling around two million copies and making the author a rich man. The novel takes the form of the memoirs of an eighteenth-century gentleman, the Richard Carvel of the title, and runs to eight volumes. It is set partly in Maryland
and partly in London, England
, during the American revolutionary era
.
The novel opens with a fictitious foreword, a brief note dated 1876, in which the purported editor of the memoirs, Daniel Clapsaddle Carvel, claims that they are just as his grandfather, Richard Carvel, wrote them, all the more realistic for their imperfections.
Volume One
The first volume concerns Richard Carvel's boyhood and schooldays. Orphaned at an early age, Richard is raised by his grandfather, Lionel Carvel of Carvel Hall, a wealthy loyalist respected by all sections of the community. Richard describes their way of life, his growing love for his neighbor, Dorothy Manners, and the hostility of his uncle, Grafton Carvel. Richard witnesses a demonstration against a tax collector in Annapolis as a result of the Stamp Act 1765
and grieves his grandfather by his adoption of revolutionary political views.
Volume Two
Mr Allen, Richard's new tutor, tricks him into deceiving his ailing grandfather. Richard is tormented by the coquettishness of Dorothy. At Richard's eighteenth birthday party, he learns that she is to go to England.
Volume Three
With the third volume, the main action of the novel begins. Through the scheming of Grafton Carvel and Mr Allen, Richard fights a duel with Lord Comyn. He is wounded, but becomes fast friends with the lord. His grandfather learns that his political opinions are unchanged but forgives him, partly through the intercession of Colonel Washington
. After his recovery, Richard is attacked on the road and kidnapped. He is taken aboard a pirate ship, the Black Moll. There is a fight with a brigantine
, in which the pirate ship sinks.
Volume Four
In the fourth volume, the protagonist continues to meet with sudden reversals of fortune. Richard is rescued and befriended by the captain of the brigantine, John Paul, who is sailing to Solway
. In Scotland, John Paul is shunned, and vows to turn his back on his country. They take a post chaise to London, and in Windsor
meet Horace Walpole. In London they are imprisoned in a sponging-house
, from where they are rescued by Lord Comyn and Dorothy.
Volume Five
Volumes five and six are set in London, where the glamor and corruption of fashionable society forms a contrast with the plain and honest values of the emerging republic, embodied in the protagonist. Richard is introduced to London society, where Dorothy is an admired beauty. He makes friends with Charles James Fox
and incurs the enmity of the Duke of Chartersea. Richard declares his love to Dorothy but is rejected.
Volume Six
Richard risks his life in a wager but survives against the odds. He visits the House of Commons
, and hears Edmund Burke
and Fox speak. At Vauxhall Gardens
he is tricked into a duel with the Duke, while Lord Comyn is injured saving him from a second assailant. Later he hears that his grandfather has died, and that his uncle Grafton has inherited the estate, leaving him penniless.
Volume Seven
Richard returns to America, where he learns his grandfather had believed him dead. Rejecting Grafton's overtures, he accepts a place as Mr Swain's factor, and for the next few years faithfully tends the Swain estate, Gordon's Pride. In 1774, the discontent among the colonists begins to escalate.
Volume Eight
The final volume sees the dual, interlinked fruition of the two principal aspects of the novel: the political and the romantic. With the coming of war, Richard sets out to fight for his country. He meets John Paul, now calling himself John Paul Jones
, and plans to join the nascent American navy. The early years of the war are represented by a summary by Daniel Clapsaddle Carvel, and Richard's narrative resumes at the start of the North Sea action
between the Bonhomme Richard
, captained by Jones, and the Serapis
. Richard is severely wounded, and Jones arranges for him to be nursed by Dorothy. The end of the book sees Richard back in Maryland as master of Carvel Hall, married to his childhood sweetheart.
The Carvel Hall servants
Historical figures
Others
, like Richard Carvel, was part of a sequence of novels set at crucial periods of American history. While not otherwise a sequel, its heroine, Virginia Carvel, is the great-granddaughter of the protagonist of the earlier novel.
His 'diary' is mentioned in the book.
The review in the New York Tribune
described the book as "a serious historical novel, embracing a romantic courtship and many events on land and sea, in Maryland and in England, which involve famous personages like Washington, Fox and Horace Walpole." The reviewer took issue with the characterization, saying that the principal characters fail "to get themselves bodied forth in absolute reality," but concluded that "Richard Carvel is a remarkably workmanlike production, considering the present limitations of the author."
A letter from George Middleton
to the New York Times praises Richard Carvel for its dramatic qualities, for its portrayal of past times, and for the character of Dorothy Manners, "the most fascinating female character that has appeared in the recent novels".
In November 1899, Richard Carvel provoked a mild controversy in the pages of the New York Times Saturday Review when an anonymous letter writer pointed out certain similarities between the "now famous" novel and Hugh Wynne - Free Quaker by Silas Weir Mitchell
, making a veiled accusation of plagiarism. This was rebutted by another correspondent, who pointed out that the first draft of Richard Carvel had been completed five years earlier, two years before the publication of Hugh Wynne. A further letter also drew (unfavorable) comparisons between Churchill's novel and Thackeray's The Virginians
.
A later assessment considers the authenticity of the narrative the reason for its remarkable success: "Richard Carvel (1899) is a romantic historical novel of the American Revolutionary period. Though carefully written, the book has the episodic structure characteristic of Churchill. It became a best seller because of the conscientious research that gave remarkable authenticity to events and characters".
between September 1900 and January 1901. There were 129 performances in all. Richard Carvel was played by John Drew and Dorothy Manners by Ida Conquest
. The play was produced by Charles Frohman
at the Empire Theatre
.
Waltzes from the play were published as sheet music under the title Richard Carvel Waltzes, with a picture of the character in eighteenth-century dress.
A silent film based on the novel was mooted and started production around 1915, but its IMDb entry notes: "There is no reliable documentation that a film bearing this title was ever completed or released."
. When the novel achieved its outstanding success, an enterprising developer turned the house into a 200-room hotel and called it Carvel Hall after the Carvels' country house. The Carvel Hall Hotel became very popular, notably with visiting midshipmen, as it was near the United States Naval Academy
. However, the house was not the model for the Carvel Hall of the novel, nor for the Carvels' town house. Julian Street had this to say in his 1917 travel book American Adventures:
The Tribune in late 1899 reported that Winston Churchill was building a house in Vermont
which he proposed to call Carvel Hall.
Winston Churchill (novelist)
Winston Churchill was an American novelist.-Biography:Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Edward Spalding and Emma Bell Churchill. He attended Smith Academy in Missouri and the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1894...
. It was first published in 1899, and was exceptionally successful, selling around two million copies and making the author a rich man. The novel takes the form of the memoirs of an eighteenth-century gentleman, the Richard Carvel of the title, and runs to eight volumes. It is set partly in Maryland
Province of Maryland
The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S...
and partly in London, England
18th century London
The 18th century was a period of rapid growth for London, reflecting an increasing national population, the early stirrings of the Industrial Revolution, and London's role at the centre of the evolving British Empire....
, during the American revolutionary era
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
.
Plot summary
ForewordThe novel opens with a fictitious foreword, a brief note dated 1876, in which the purported editor of the memoirs, Daniel Clapsaddle Carvel, claims that they are just as his grandfather, Richard Carvel, wrote them, all the more realistic for their imperfections.
Volume One
The first volume concerns Richard Carvel's boyhood and schooldays. Orphaned at an early age, Richard is raised by his grandfather, Lionel Carvel of Carvel Hall, a wealthy loyalist respected by all sections of the community. Richard describes their way of life, his growing love for his neighbor, Dorothy Manners, and the hostility of his uncle, Grafton Carvel. Richard witnesses a demonstration against a tax collector in Annapolis as a result of the Stamp Act 1765
Stamp Act 1765
The Stamp Act 1765 was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp...
and grieves his grandfather by his adoption of revolutionary political views.
Volume Two
Mr Allen, Richard's new tutor, tricks him into deceiving his ailing grandfather. Richard is tormented by the coquettishness of Dorothy. At Richard's eighteenth birthday party, he learns that she is to go to England.
Volume Three
With the third volume, the main action of the novel begins. Through the scheming of Grafton Carvel and Mr Allen, Richard fights a duel with Lord Comyn. He is wounded, but becomes fast friends with the lord. His grandfather learns that his political opinions are unchanged but forgives him, partly through the intercession of Colonel Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. After his recovery, Richard is attacked on the road and kidnapped. He is taken aboard a pirate ship, the Black Moll. There is a fight with a brigantine
Brigantine
In sailing, a brigantine or hermaphrodite brig is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.-Origins of the term:...
, in which the pirate ship sinks.
Volume Four
In the fourth volume, the protagonist continues to meet with sudden reversals of fortune. Richard is rescued and befriended by the captain of the brigantine, John Paul, who is sailing to Solway
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...
. In Scotland, John Paul is shunned, and vows to turn his back on his country. They take a post chaise to London, and in Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
meet Horace Walpole. In London they are imprisoned in a sponging-house
Sponging-house
A sponging-house was a place of temporary confinement for debtors in the United Kingdom. If someone were to get into debt, their creditor would lay a complaint with the sheriff, the sheriff sent his bailiffs, and the debtor would be taken to the local sponging-house. This was not a debtor's prison,...
, from where they are rescued by Lord Comyn and Dorothy.
Volume Five
Volumes five and six are set in London, where the glamor and corruption of fashionable society forms a contrast with the plain and honest values of the emerging republic, embodied in the protagonist. Richard is introduced to London society, where Dorothy is an admired beauty. He makes friends with Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
and incurs the enmity of the Duke of Chartersea. Richard declares his love to Dorothy but is rejected.
Volume Six
Richard risks his life in a wager but survives against the odds. He visits the House of Commons
House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of the Parliament of Scotland, as one of the most significant...
, and hears Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
and Fox speak. At Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens was a pleasure garden, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London, England from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, the site was believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660 with the first mention being...
he is tricked into a duel with the Duke, while Lord Comyn is injured saving him from a second assailant. Later he hears that his grandfather has died, and that his uncle Grafton has inherited the estate, leaving him penniless.
Volume Seven
Richard returns to America, where he learns his grandfather had believed him dead. Rejecting Grafton's overtures, he accepts a place as Mr Swain's factor, and for the next few years faithfully tends the Swain estate, Gordon's Pride. In 1774, the discontent among the colonists begins to escalate.
Volume Eight
The final volume sees the dual, interlinked fruition of the two principal aspects of the novel: the political and the romantic. With the coming of war, Richard sets out to fight for his country. He meets John Paul, now calling himself John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...
, and plans to join the nascent American navy. The early years of the war are represented by a summary by Daniel Clapsaddle Carvel, and Richard's narrative resumes at the start of the North Sea action
Battle of Flamborough Head
The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779, in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between an American Continental Navy squadron led by John Paul Jones and the two British escort vessels protecting a large merchant convoy...
between the Bonhomme Richard
USS Bonhomme Richard (1765)
|-External links:** Clive Cussler recounts his elusive search for the Bonhomme Richard....
, captained by Jones, and the Serapis
HMS Serapis (1779)
HMS Serapis was a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth rate. Daniel Brent built her at Greenland South Dockyard, Rotherhithe and launched her in 1779. She was armed with 44 guns . Serapis was named after the god Serapis in Greek and Egyptian mythology...
. Richard is severely wounded, and Jones arranges for him to be nursed by Dorothy. The end of the book sees Richard back in Maryland as master of Carvel Hall, married to his childhood sweetheart.
Characters
The Carvels- Richard Carvel, the narrator, a headstrong and hot-tempered young man
- Lionel Carvel, Richard's grandfather, a wealthy shipowner, loyal to the Crown
- Captain Jack Carvel, Lionel's older son, Richard's father, a brave and reckless soldier, killed in the French warFrench and Indian WarThe French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
when Richard is a small child - Elizabeth Carvel, Richard's mother, adopted by the Carvels as a child after a shipwreck
- Grafton Carvel, Lionel's younger son, jealous, manipulative and unscrupulous; estranged from the family after questioning Elizabeth's parentage
- Caroline Carvel, Grafton's wife, the daughter of a successful grocer
- Philip Carvel, the son of Grafton and Caroline, Richard's cousin
- Daniel Clapsaddle Carvel, Richard's grandson, the editor of his grandfather's memoirs
The Carvel Hall servants
- Mrs. Willis, the housekeeper
- Scipio, the butler
- Chess, the cook
- Harvey, the coachman and head groom
- Hugo, Richard's personal servant
Historical figures
- George WashingtonGeorge WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
- John Paul, later John Paul JonesJohn Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...
, a sea captain - Horace Walpole, a cultured man-about-town
- Charles James FoxCharles James FoxCharles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
, an English politician and inveterate gambler - Lord BaltimoreFrederick Calvert, 6th Baron BaltimoreFrederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore, 4th Proprietor of Maryland was an English nobleman and last in the line of Barons Baltimore...
- David GarrickDavid GarrickDavid Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
, an actor - Edmund BurkeEdmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
, a Whig politician and orator
Others
- Captain Daniel Clapsaddle, a close friend of the Carvel family
- Dorothy Manners, Richard's capricious childhood playmate, later a society beauty
- Marmaduke Manners, Dorothy's foppish father
- Dr Courtenay, a Maryland macaroniMacaroni (fashion)A macaroni in mid-18th century England, was a fashionable fellow who dressed and even spoke in an outlandishly affected and epicene manner. The term pejoratively referred to a man who "exceeded the ordinary bounds of fashion" in terms of clothes, fastidious eating and gambling...
who courts Dorothy - Patty Swain, Richard's friend, a sympathetic Maryland girl
- Henry Swain, Patty's father, a Whig lawyer
- Tom Swain, Patty's brother, a drunken wastrel
- Mr Allen, an amoral, self-serving clergyman, tutor to Philip and Richard
- Jack, Lord Comyn, Richard's friend, a great-hearted English nobleman
- The Duke of Chartersea, a dissolute aristocrat
- Banks, Richard's faithful English servant
Link with The Crisis
Churchill's 1901 novel, The CrisisThe Crisis (novel)
The Crisis is an historical novel published in 1901 by the American novelist Winston Churchill.It is set in the years leading up to the first battles of the U.S. Civil War, mostly in the divided state of Missouri...
, like Richard Carvel, was part of a sequence of novels set at crucial periods of American history. While not otherwise a sequel, its heroine, Virginia Carvel, is the great-granddaughter of the protagonist of the earlier novel.
His 'diary' is mentioned in the book.
Reception and literary significance
The review for the New York Times Saturday Review in July 1899 described Richard Carvel as "a notable novel... an event of importance in American fiction", going on to say that it was "the most extensive piece of semi-historical fiction which has yet come from an American hand... the skill with which the materials have been handled justifies the largeness of the plan".The review in the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
described the book as "a serious historical novel, embracing a romantic courtship and many events on land and sea, in Maryland and in England, which involve famous personages like Washington, Fox and Horace Walpole." The reviewer took issue with the characterization, saying that the principal characters fail "to get themselves bodied forth in absolute reality," but concluded that "Richard Carvel is a remarkably workmanlike production, considering the present limitations of the author."
A letter from George Middleton
George Middleton (playwright)
George Middleton was an American playwright, director, and producer.-Career:He was famous for his plays The Failures and Adam and Eva...
to the New York Times praises Richard Carvel for its dramatic qualities, for its portrayal of past times, and for the character of Dorothy Manners, "the most fascinating female character that has appeared in the recent novels".
In November 1899, Richard Carvel provoked a mild controversy in the pages of the New York Times Saturday Review when an anonymous letter writer pointed out certain similarities between the "now famous" novel and Hugh Wynne - Free Quaker by Silas Weir Mitchell
Silas Weir Mitchell
Silas Weir Mitchell was an American physician and writer.He was son of a physician, John Kearsley Mitchell , and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, making a veiled accusation of plagiarism. This was rebutted by another correspondent, who pointed out that the first draft of Richard Carvel had been completed five years earlier, two years before the publication of Hugh Wynne. A further letter also drew (unfavorable) comparisons between Churchill's novel and Thackeray's The Virginians
The Virginians
The Virginians: A Tale of the Last Century is a historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray which forms a sequel to his Henry Esmond and is also loosely linked to Pendennis. It tells the story of Henry Esmond's twin grandsons, George and Henry Warrington...
.
A later assessment considers the authenticity of the narrative the reason for its remarkable success: "Richard Carvel (1899) is a romantic historical novel of the American Revolutionary period. Though carefully written, the book has the episodic structure characteristic of Churchill. It became a best seller because of the conscientious research that gave remarkable authenticity to events and characters".
Adaptations
Edward E. Rose adapted the novel for the stage, and Richard Carvel, the play, appeared on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
between September 1900 and January 1901. There were 129 performances in all. Richard Carvel was played by John Drew and Dorothy Manners by Ida Conquest
Ida Conquest
Ida Conquest was a leading lady of Broadway in the late 19th century and early 20th century.-Appearance & family:...
. The play was produced by Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
at the Empire Theatre
Empire Theatre (New York City)
The Empire Theatre in New York City was a prominent Broadway theatre in the first half of the twentieth century. It opened in 1893 with a performance of The Girl I Left Behind Me by David Belasco. The Empire continued to present both original plays and revivals until 1953. Its final show, in May...
.
Waltzes from the play were published as sheet music under the title Richard Carvel Waltzes, with a picture of the character in eighteenth-century dress.
A silent film based on the novel was mooted and started production around 1915, but its IMDb entry notes: "There is no reliable documentation that a film bearing this title was ever completed or released."
Carvel Hall
When Winston Churchill wrote Richard Carvel, he was staying as a paying guest at a Georgian mansion in Annapolis now known as the William Paca HousePaca House and Garden
The William Paca House is an 18th century Georgian mansion in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. William Paca was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and a three-term Governor of Maryland. The house was built between 1763 and 1765 and its architecture was largely designed by Paca himself...
. When the novel achieved its outstanding success, an enterprising developer turned the house into a 200-room hotel and called it Carvel Hall after the Carvels' country house. The Carvel Hall Hotel became very popular, notably with visiting midshipmen, as it was near the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
. However, the house was not the model for the Carvel Hall of the novel, nor for the Carvels' town house. Julian Street had this to say in his 1917 travel book American Adventures:
"The Paca house, which as a hotel has acquired the name Carvel Hall, is the house that Winston Churchill had in mind as the Manners house, of his novel "Richard Carvel." A good idea of the house, as it was, may be obtained by visiting the Brice house, next door, for the two are almost twins. When Mr. Churchill was a cadet at Annapolis, before the modern part of the Carvel Hall hotel was built, there were the remains of terraced gardens back of the old mansion, stepping down to an old spring house, and a rivulet which flowed through the grounds was full of watercress. The book describes a party at the house and in these gardens. The Chase house on Maryland AvenueChase-Lloyd HouseThe Chase-Lloyd House in Annapolis, Maryland is a brick three-story Georgian mansion dating from 1769-1774 with interiors by William Buckland . Its construction was started for Samuel Chase, who would later be a signatory to the Declaration of Independence and Associate Justice of the Supreme...
was the one Mr. Churchill thought of as the home of Lionel Carvel, and he described the view from upper windows of this house, over the Harwood house, across the way, to the Severn."
The Tribune in late 1899 reported that Winston Churchill was building a house in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
which he proposed to call Carvel Hall.