📖 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) · Alan Stewart / Walterson (radical, bigamist) · Mrs. Gilson (landlady) · Captain Anthony Clyne (naval officer, conservative) · Bess Hinkson (milkmaid, radical) · Tyson (apothecary) · Old Hinkson (miser).
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 VIII · Starvecrow Farm
Summary
- Tyson, the Troutbeck apothecary, storms away from the inn in a rage after Mrs. Gilson's public humiliation. He climbs through a wooded dell, crossing a stream, and makes his way toward Troutbeck.
- He arrives at Starvecrow Farm, a bleak and barren house on a windswept ridge. The farm is described as ugly and poverty-stricken, a byword for misery in the district.
- Old Hinkson, the miser, lets him in. The household is mean and squalid. Tyson bribes the old man with a scrap of paper to get him to bed, then confronts Bess Hinkson about the dog being chained at the gate.
- Bess is dismissive and contemptuous of Tyson. She reveals her radical political views: she dreams of the French Revolution, of "white necks under the knife" and of knitting while heads fall into baskets. She despises the gentry and longs for a day when the class system will be overturned.
- Bess taunts Tyson about his lack of spirit, calling him "no lad" for her. She hints that something is happening in the wider world — radical agitation, mobs marching, men drilling — and suggests that the time for action is coming.
- When a noise is heard upstairs, Tyson becomes suspicious. Bess dismisses it as the cat and refuses to let him investigate. She drives him out of the house, locking the door behind him. Tyson leaves in a temper, aware that something is being concealed.
📖 Glossary of Period Terms
- Dell
- A small, wooded valley or hollow; a secluded, often shady depression in the landscape.
- Curlew
- A large wading bird with a long, curved bill, known for its mournful, haunting call.
- Dingle
- A deep, narrow wooded valley or ravine.
- Sentry-box
- A small, narrow shelter for a sentry on guard duty; used here to describe the gaunt, isolated shape of the farmhouse.
- To sough
- To make a moaning, whistling or rushing sound, especially wind passing through trees or over a surface.
- Settle
- A long wooden bench with a high back, often placed beside a fireplace in a cottage or farmhouse kitchen.
Analysis
- Starvecrow Farm as Symbol: The name "Starvecrow" is suggestive — "starve" and "crow" combine to evoke a place so barren that even crows would starve. The farm's ugliness and poverty reflect the lives of its inhabitants: Hinkson the miser, who hoards his wealth while living in squalor, and Bess, whose radical resentment is born of her environment. The farm is a physical embodiment of the social and economic deprivation that fuels the radical movement.
- Bess as a Radical Voice: Bess Hinkson is the novel's representative of revolutionary sentiment. Her references to the French Revolution, her hatred of the gentry and her dream of "white necks under the knife" are shocking and dangerous. Weyman uses her to show that radicalism is not confined to the cities — it has penetrated even the remotest corners of the Lake District. The social order is unstable, and revolution is a real possibility.
- Class and Resentment: Bess's speech to Tyson is a litany of class grievances. She resents the gentry's condescension, the curate's superiority and the overseers' authority. Her hatred is personal and visceral. She is not a political theorist but a woman whose envy and rage have found a political language.
- Tyson's Weakness: Tyson is caught between his desire for Bess and his fear of the consequences. He is a bully who is easily cowed. Bess sees through him and despises him. His inability to act on his desires or his resentments makes him a figure of comic contempt, but also a warning: men like Tyson are the raw material of revolution, and Bess is the spark that could ignite them.
- The Gothic Atmosphere: The journey to Starvecrow Farm is described in Gothic terms: the dark dell, the screaming curlew, the gaunt house resembling a sentry-box, the wind soughing through the firs. This atmosphere of dread and mystery is heightened by the mystery of the noise upstairs. Weyman uses Gothic conventions to create suspense and to suggest that the house harbours secrets.
- The Mystery of the Upstairs Room: The chapter ends with a classic Gothic device: a mysterious noise, a locked door and a suspicious character who is prevented from investigating. The reader is left wondering who — or what — is hidden upstairs.
Bess's reference to "white necks under the knife" and women knitting while heads fall into baskets evokes the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution (1793–1794). The "knitting women" (the tricoteuses) were a real phenomenon: women who sat beside the guillotine in Paris, knitting while watching executions. They became a symbol of the revolution's bloodthirsty mob.
"It's the still sow sups the brose" is a Northern English/Scots proverb meaning: "The quiet person gets the reward" or "The silent one gets the prize."
Brose is a traditional Scottish/Northern English dish made from oatmeal mixed with boiling water or milk, sometimes with butter or salt — a simple, humble porridge-like food. The proverb means that the person who keeps quiet and doesn't make a fuss is often the one who ends up benefiting.
Brose is a traditional Scottish/Northern English dish made from oatmeal mixed with boiling water or milk, sometimes with butter or salt — a simple, humble porridge-like food. The proverb means that the person who keeps quiet and doesn't make a fuss is often the one who ends up benefiting.
A notching stick was a primitive tally stick used by illiterate or semi-literate people to keep count of money, debts or transactions. Each notch cut into the stick represented a unit — a shilling, a pound, a sheep, a bushel of grain. The stick served as a physical record, a kind of memory bank for those who could not read or write.
In the novel, Hinkson "consulted the stick he was notching" to calculate that £4 a month equals £48 a year. The stick is his ledger, his account book, his only trusted record. It is a primitive tool for a primitive man.
In the novel, Hinkson "consulted the stick he was notching" to calculate that £4 a month equals £48 a year. The stick is his ledger, his account book, his only trusted record. It is a primitive tool for a primitive man.
Bess's mention of "stacks burning" and "mobs marching" and "men drilling" reflects the reality of Britain in 1819. In the years after Waterloo, there were widespread disturbances: arson, machine-breaking, strikes and secret drilling by radical groups. The government feared a revolution modelled on the French example, and the Peterloo Massacre was a direct response to this fear.
Bess's knowledge of these events suggests that she is connected to the radical underground. Her father's miserliness may be a cover for the farm's real purpose: a refuge for fugitives and a meeting place for conspirators. The chained dog, the locked door and the mysterious noise upstairs all point to the presence of someone who is hiding from the authorities.
Bess's knowledge of these events suggests that she is connected to the radical underground. Her father's miserliness may be a cover for the farm's real purpose: a refuge for fugitives and a meeting place for conspirators. The chained dog, the locked door and the mysterious noise upstairs all point to the presence of someone who is hiding from the authorities.
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