📖 About This Book · Starvecrow Farm · by Stanley J. Weyman
First published in 1905 by LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. NEW YORK LONDON AND BOMBAY
Setting: Lake District, 1819 – a period of post-war economic depression, political unrest, and radical agitation.
Key Themes: elopement and romantic idealism · class conflict · political radicalism · surveillance and authority · women's independence.
Major Characters: Henrietta (young heroine, impulsive and romantic) · Alan Stewart / Walterson (her lover, radical, bigamist) · Mrs. Gilson (landlady, blunt and perceptive) · Mr. Bishop (Bow Street runner) · Bess Hinkson (milkmaid) · Modest Ann (waiting-maid).
Plot Arc: The novel follows the elopement of Henrietta and Alan Stewart, their flight through the Lake District, and the shadow of pursuit and political conspiracy that hangs over their romance.
Chapter V · A Jezebel
Summary
- Henrietta reads the letter confirming Stewart (Walterson) has a wife and four children. She is devastated but refuses to accept it at first.
- Bishop explains that the letter came from Stewart's wife, a former waiting-maid in Hounslow who put him on the scent. Stewart has been in hiding for three years and has not supported his family.
- Mrs. Gilson dismisses Bishop and leaves Henrietta alone. The landlady shows a rare moment of mercy by mending the fire while Henrietta composes herself.
- Henrietta reflects bitterly on how Stewart fooled her, a low-born agitator and murderer who exploited her romantic tastes and inexperience. She now faces the shame of returning home and facing her family, the lover she jilted, and society's cruel judgment.
- Downstairs, the news of Stewart's escape and the £600 reward has drawn a crowd. Rumours about Henrietta circulate wildly — some believe she is a London Jezebel, others a frenzied Radical woman's club leader, others a casual light-o'-love destined to hang.
- Mrs. Gilson disperses the crowd with her formidable presence. Modest Ann brings alarming news: the justice of the peace, Bishop, and the gaoler from Appleby have arrived, and a chaise is ordered to take Henrietta to Kendal gaol that night. Mrs. Gilson refuses to allow a chaise to leave on that errand, declaring, "They'll talk to me before they do!"
📖 Glossary of Period Terms
- Akimbo
- With hands on the hips and elbows bent outward, in defiance or confrontation.
- Two bites of a cherry
- To delay or be indecisive when a single decisive action is needed.
- Rustics
- Country people or peasants; rural labourers of the lower classes.
- Gaol
- An archaic spelling of "jail", a prison or place of confinement.
- Whalebone
- A flexible, horn-like material from baleen whales, used for corset stays and other stiffening.
- Victuals
- Food or provisions; supplies of edible goods.
Analysis
- The Pain of Betrayal: This chapter marks Henrietta's emotional low point. The revelation that Stewart is not only a conspirator but a married man with children shatters her romantic illusions. Weyman uses extended interior monologue to show her transformation: her "girlish hopes and dreams" are destroyed, and her innocence is tainted by proximity to deception. The "bloom of her innocence" is gone, replaced by a harder, more knowing awareness.
- Mrs. Gilson's Complex Character: The landlady is brutally blunt but not without mercy. Her act of mending the fire while Henrietta composes herself is a small but telling gesture of pity. Her refusal to allow a chaise to take Henrietta to jail shows a fierce sense of justice that overrides her harsh exterior. She is the novel's moral anchor, unromantic but principled.
- The Power of Reputation: Henrietta's fear of social shame is as acute as her heartbreak. The loss of her reputation, "the smirks of the men and the sneers of the women", haunts her more than the loss of Stewart. This reflects the period's double standard: a woman's honour was her most valuable possession, and its loss was irrevocable.
- Rumour and the Mob: The crowd gathered at the inn embodies the gossip and cruelty of provincial society. The rumours about Henrietta, from "Jezebel" to "Radical" to "light-o'-love", show how quickly a woman's reputation can be destroyed by idle talk. The reference to women's clubs marching to Windsor to drag the king to the scaffold reflects the genuine panic among the governing classes about the radical movement.
- The Law and Its Limits: Weyman's digression on the state of policing in 1819 explains why Bishop needs local help and why the justice system is so haphazard. Parish constables were often incompetent or corrupt, chosen to "save the rates." This context makes Mrs. Gilson's defiance of the authorities more plausible, she is a local power in her own right, not afraid to challenge the law.
The sum of £600 offered for Stewart's capture was an enormous amount in 1819 — roughly equivalent to £60,000–£80,000 in today's money. This reflects the seriousness with which the government viewed political radicalism. The reward was larger than most annual incomes: a skilled labourer earned about £40–£50 per year, and a country parson perhaps £150–£200. Old Hinkson the miser, mentioned in the chapter, would "have bartered his soul" for such a sum, showing how the reward could corrupt ordinary people and turn neighbours against each other.
"Fish-fags" was a derogatory term for the working-class women who sold fish in the markets of Paris, particularly the famous Halles. They were known for their loud, coarse language and their involvement in the French Revolution — most notably the Women's March on Versailles in October 1789, when thousands of market women marched to the royal palace and forced the royal family to return to Paris. The fear among British conservatives was that similar women's clubs were springing up in Lancashire, and that they might one day march to Windsor and drag the blind, mad King George III to the scaffold — a vivid expression of the panic that radicalism inspired in the propertied classes.
"Salutation books" were guidebooks on letter-writing etiquette, containing models for the proper way to begin (salutation) and end (complimentary close) a letter. These were part of a wider genre of "conduct books" that taught the rules of polite society. In the 19th century, knowing the correct form of address was a mark of good breeding. The "wizened chap of a clerk that makes up the Salutation books" is a minor official who, among other duties, would produce these guides — a sign of the growing market for self-improvement literature among the emerging middle class.
Henrietta recalls Oliver Goldsmith's poem "When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly" (from The Vicar of Wakefield, 1766). The poem warns: "When lovely woman stoops to folly, / And finds too late that men betray, / What charm can soothe her melancholy, / What art can wash her guilt away?" The "penalty" Henrietta fears is the irreversible loss of reputation. The poem reflects the double standard of the period — a woman's reputation was fragile and easily destroyed, while a man's could survive almost any transgression. Weyman uses this reference to show how deeply ingrained this social code is in Henrietta's consciousness.
The "Lowther country" refers to the Lake District region dominated by the Lowther family, one of the most powerful aristocratic dynasties in the north of England. The Lowthers were staunch Tories and opponents of parliamentary reform. Their influence extended over politics, land, and patronage in Cumbria and Westmorland. For "Radicals" in the Lowther country to be "at a discount" means that anyone with radical sympathies would be looked upon with suspicion and hostility — the Lowthers' power made open dissent dangerous. This explains why the locals are so eager to help Bishop: they are loyal to the established order and suspicious of outsiders.
The "rates" were local property taxes levied by parishes, the most important of which was the poor rate — a tax that funded relief for the poor, the elderly, and the unemployed under the Old Poor Law system.
Parish constables were unpaid or very poorly paid officials, appointed by the parish vestry (a council of ratepayers). To "save the rates" meant to keep local taxes as low as possible by appointing the cheapest possible officials — even if they were incompetent. Weyman explains: "There were parish constables; but where these were not cobblers, which was strangely often the case, they were men past work, appointed to save the rates."
The result was a law enforcement system that was notoriously ineffective. Cobblers (shoemakers), elderly men past their prime, and others who would work for next to nothing were put in charge of catching criminals. If a crime occurred, the victim had to pursue the offender themselves — forming a hue and cry — because the constable was often useless.
This explains the terrors of lonely houses in the period: if you were robbed or attacked, you could not rely on the parish constable to help. The system prioritised economy over safety, leaving rural communities to fend for themselves.
Parish constables were unpaid or very poorly paid officials, appointed by the parish vestry (a council of ratepayers). To "save the rates" meant to keep local taxes as low as possible by appointing the cheapest possible officials — even if they were incompetent. Weyman explains: "There were parish constables; but where these were not cobblers, which was strangely often the case, they were men past work, appointed to save the rates."
The result was a law enforcement system that was notoriously ineffective. Cobblers (shoemakers), elderly men past their prime, and others who would work for next to nothing were put in charge of catching criminals. If a crime occurred, the victim had to pursue the offender themselves — forming a hue and cry — because the constable was often useless.
This explains the terrors of lonely houses in the period: if you were robbed or attacked, you could not rely on the parish constable to help. The system prioritised economy over safety, leaving rural communities to fend for themselves.
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