Group read: Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth
Charlas75 Books Challenge for 2015
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2lyzard
Hello, all! - welcome to the group read of Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent.
Maria Edgeworth was an important author of the late 18th and early 19th century, writing novel's, children's literature and non-fiction works on education which were hugely influential. Like Fanny Burney, Edgeworth was a major influence upon Jane Austen*---also like Burney, her career was partially controlled by her domineering father, who insisted upon "editing" much of her work. What she might have achieved if left to her own devices is a matter for debate.
(*Austen pays tribute to these two in that famous speech in Northanger Abbey: "Oh! It is only a novel!" replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. "It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda"; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language..." Cecilia and Camilla are by Burney, Belinda by Edgeworth.)
Castle Rackrent is a short work first published in 1800. Various claims are made for it, and it may indeed by regarded as the first "regional" novel, and possibly the first Anglo-Irish novel as well. Maria Edgeworth was born in England but lived much of the time in Ireland from her mid-teens onwards. She wrote and submitted Castle Rackrent for publication without her father's knowledge, and it is therefore one of her few works not subjected to "editing".
However, Maria Edgeworth herself seems to have had second thoughts about her short work, which now exists in two different forms---unannotated, with the Irish narrator Thady Quirk allowed to speak without editorialisation, and with the addition of footnotes and a glossary added shortly before publication.
Edgeworth's belated tweaking of her short work exemplifies the ambivalence often expressed in the Anglo-Irish novel. Present simultaneously are an angry awareness of the damage done to Ireland by absentee landlords, often English, and by the "rackrenting" system referenced in her title**, and an exasperated sense that the Irish did themselves no favours with their behaviour and attitude.
This split-vision is replicated in the two narrative voices of Castle Rackrent, with Thady Quirk's telling of the history of the Rackrent family repeatedly interrupted and corrected by the unmistakeably English "editor".
It is difficult to know which version of Castle Rackrent is more revealing---and since the work is so short, reading both is an option! Thady Quirk is a fascinatingly amoral character, devoted to "the family" regardless of how little "the family" deserves it; while the presence of the English editor captures an important facet of Anglo-Irish writing generally.
(**Those of you who took part in the tutored read of Phineas Finn will recall that Irish tenant rights was the issue on which Phineas' career finally came a cropper, indicating that nothing much had changed in Ireland between the dates of Castle Rackrent's action and those of Phineas Finn.)
Maria Edgeworth was an important author of the late 18th and early 19th century, writing novel's, children's literature and non-fiction works on education which were hugely influential. Like Fanny Burney, Edgeworth was a major influence upon Jane Austen*---also like Burney, her career was partially controlled by her domineering father, who insisted upon "editing" much of her work. What she might have achieved if left to her own devices is a matter for debate.
(*Austen pays tribute to these two in that famous speech in Northanger Abbey: "Oh! It is only a novel!" replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. "It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda"; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language..." Cecilia and Camilla are by Burney, Belinda by Edgeworth.)
Castle Rackrent is a short work first published in 1800. Various claims are made for it, and it may indeed by regarded as the first "regional" novel, and possibly the first Anglo-Irish novel as well. Maria Edgeworth was born in England but lived much of the time in Ireland from her mid-teens onwards. She wrote and submitted Castle Rackrent for publication without her father's knowledge, and it is therefore one of her few works not subjected to "editing".
However, Maria Edgeworth herself seems to have had second thoughts about her short work, which now exists in two different forms---unannotated, with the Irish narrator Thady Quirk allowed to speak without editorialisation, and with the addition of footnotes and a glossary added shortly before publication.
Edgeworth's belated tweaking of her short work exemplifies the ambivalence often expressed in the Anglo-Irish novel. Present simultaneously are an angry awareness of the damage done to Ireland by absentee landlords, often English, and by the "rackrenting" system referenced in her title**, and an exasperated sense that the Irish did themselves no favours with their behaviour and attitude.
This split-vision is replicated in the two narrative voices of Castle Rackrent, with Thady Quirk's telling of the history of the Rackrent family repeatedly interrupted and corrected by the unmistakeably English "editor".
It is difficult to know which version of Castle Rackrent is more revealing---and since the work is so short, reading both is an option! Thady Quirk is a fascinatingly amoral character, devoted to "the family" regardless of how little "the family" deserves it; while the presence of the English editor captures an important facet of Anglo-Irish writing generally.
(**Those of you who took part in the tutored read of Phineas Finn will recall that Irish tenant rights was the issue on which Phineas' career finally came a cropper, indicating that nothing much had changed in Ireland between the dates of Castle Rackrent's action and those of Phineas Finn.)
3lyzard
Because Castle Rackrent is so short, I think we won't put any rules on this group read, not try to work through the text as we normally would. Instead, please feel free to post any comments or questions as they occur to you.
4cbl_tn
I will start it as soon as I finish Doomsday Book - hopefully within the next couple of days!
6lyzard
Another important thing we need to keep in mind when reading Castle Rackrent is the dates of its action and its writing.
The Acts Of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, coming into effect on 1st January 1801. The Union was under debate while Edgeworth was writing her novel and probably inspired her to do so.
However, the other critical date, which Edgeworth highlights in the full title of her novel, is 1782. In that year there were various legal changes made that released the Irish Parliament from a number of historical restrictions placed upon it, in particular a statute that prevented the Irish Parliament from meeting until its proposed legislation had been approved both by Ireland's Lord Deputy and Privy Council and by England's monarch and Privy Council.
This was "Irish independence" of a sort, but it didn't last. Only a Protestant minority was permitted to hold political power, which provoked resentment from the Catholic majority, leading to the Republican uprising of 1798. The uprising was a very violent event, with French involvement---there had always been a fear in Britain that the Irish might move towards Catholic emancipation, break away and ally with the French---and ultimately it backfired as it altered local feeling towards rather than away from the Union. After being defeated the first time it was voted upon in parliament (pre-uprising), the vote for Union was passed in 1800.
So Edgeworth bookends these events with her two dates, and reminds her readers of what happened in between without mentioning it.
The Acts Of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, coming into effect on 1st January 1801. The Union was under debate while Edgeworth was writing her novel and probably inspired her to do so.
However, the other critical date, which Edgeworth highlights in the full title of her novel, is 1782. In that year there were various legal changes made that released the Irish Parliament from a number of historical restrictions placed upon it, in particular a statute that prevented the Irish Parliament from meeting until its proposed legislation had been approved both by Ireland's Lord Deputy and Privy Council and by England's monarch and Privy Council.
This was "Irish independence" of a sort, but it didn't last. Only a Protestant minority was permitted to hold political power, which provoked resentment from the Catholic majority, leading to the Republican uprising of 1798. The uprising was a very violent event, with French involvement---there had always been a fear in Britain that the Irish might move towards Catholic emancipation, break away and ally with the French---and ultimately it backfired as it altered local feeling towards rather than away from the Union. After being defeated the first time it was voted upon in parliament (pre-uprising), the vote for Union was passed in 1800.
So Edgeworth bookends these events with her two dates, and reminds her readers of what happened in between without mentioning it.
7cbl_tn
I read the first section this evening and I got the gist of it even though some unfamiliar terms and expressions weren't addressed in either the glossary or the end notes.
Sir Patrick O'Shaughlin inherited the state from Sir Tallyhoo Rackrent, who was cousin-german to him. When I Googled the definition, most of the online dictionaries say this is a first cousin. Is that correct, or is there a more specific definition?
Names like Rackrent and Skinflint and Castle Stopgap remind me of Trollope and his Quiverfulls, Fillgraves, etc.
I thought this passage about Sir Murtagh's wife was interesting:
...{she} knew to a tub of butter every thing the tenants had, all round. They knew her way, and what with fear of driving for rent and sir Murtagh's law-suits, they were kept in such good order, they never thought of coming near Castle Stopgap without a present of something or other-nothing too much or too little for my lady--eggs--honey--butter--meal--fish--game, growse, and herrings, fresh or salt--all went for someting. As for their young pigs, we had them, and the best bacon and hams they could make up, with all young chickens in spring, but they were a set of poor wretches, and we had nothing but misfortunes with them, always breaking and running away--
And this one about Sir Kit's wife:
The short and the long of it was, I couldn't tell what to make of her, so I left her to herself, and went straight down to the servants' hall to learn something for certain about her. :)
I am curious about the multiple references to "cars". The automobile wouldn't be invented for another century, and it's a bit early for it to refer to locomotives.
Sir Kit was was said to have "killed his man before he came of age". I assume this means that he was a good enough shot that he killed someone in a duel before he turned 21?
Sir Patrick O'Shaughlin inherited the state from Sir Tallyhoo Rackrent, who was cousin-german to him. When I Googled the definition, most of the online dictionaries say this is a first cousin. Is that correct, or is there a more specific definition?
Names like Rackrent and Skinflint and Castle Stopgap remind me of Trollope and his Quiverfulls, Fillgraves, etc.
I thought this passage about Sir Murtagh's wife was interesting:
...{she} knew to a tub of butter every thing the tenants had, all round. They knew her way, and what with fear of driving for rent and sir Murtagh's law-suits, they were kept in such good order, they never thought of coming near Castle Stopgap without a present of something or other-nothing too much or too little for my lady--eggs--honey--butter--meal--fish--game, growse, and herrings, fresh or salt--all went for someting. As for their young pigs, we had them, and the best bacon and hams they could make up, with all young chickens in spring, but they were a set of poor wretches, and we had nothing but misfortunes with them, always breaking and running away--
And this one about Sir Kit's wife:
The short and the long of it was, I couldn't tell what to make of her, so I left her to herself, and went straight down to the servants' hall to learn something for certain about her. :)
I am curious about the multiple references to "cars". The automobile wouldn't be invented for another century, and it's a bit early for it to refer to locomotives.
Sir Kit was was said to have "killed his man before he came of age". I assume this means that he was a good enough shot that he killed someone in a duel before he turned 21?
8lyzard
Nice start, Carrie! :)
Also spelled cousin-germain, with some debate over the origin ("German" is probably a corruption of "germaine", derived from the Latin term "germanus", meaning of the same family or the same stock.) It was a term probably used at the time because "cousin" was a broadly inclusive word describing all sorts of degrees of relationship; "cousin-german" meant somebody who was actually your first cousin (someone we would simply call "cousin").
The joke here is that "the family" to which Thady is so devoted are not real Rackrents at all---a Rackrent is succeeded by an O'Shaughlin, on the condition that he legally changes his name. Inheritance on these terms were not always legally possible and many titles died out specifically because there was no male relative of the same surname. (So someone would inherit the property but not the title.) This sort of issue crops up in much 18th and early 19th century literature.
Meaningful character / place names were also common in 18th century literature although not often used as overtly comedically as Edgeworth does.
Yes, we can hardly blame those unfortunate tenants for taking to their heels! :)
A "car" is a two-wheeled (or occasionally no-wheeled) conveyance. A simple "car" was used for transporting goods; a "jaunting-car" was a small one-horse carriage capable of carrying two or four passengers, who sat either facing outwards (an "outside car") or each other (an "inside car"). A "covered car" had an oilskin over it which protected from the weather, but couldn't be seen out of. Later on the term "car" was also applied to four-wheeled, longer-bodied carriages meant to convey multiple people.
Yes, "killed his man" means killed his opponent in a duel, and "came of age" means turned 21.
Also spelled cousin-germain, with some debate over the origin ("German" is probably a corruption of "germaine", derived from the Latin term "germanus", meaning of the same family or the same stock.) It was a term probably used at the time because "cousin" was a broadly inclusive word describing all sorts of degrees of relationship; "cousin-german" meant somebody who was actually your first cousin (someone we would simply call "cousin").
The joke here is that "the family" to which Thady is so devoted are not real Rackrents at all---a Rackrent is succeeded by an O'Shaughlin, on the condition that he legally changes his name. Inheritance on these terms were not always legally possible and many titles died out specifically because there was no male relative of the same surname. (So someone would inherit the property but not the title.) This sort of issue crops up in much 18th and early 19th century literature.
Meaningful character / place names were also common in 18th century literature although not often used as overtly comedically as Edgeworth does.
Yes, we can hardly blame those unfortunate tenants for taking to their heels! :)
A "car" is a two-wheeled (or occasionally no-wheeled) conveyance. A simple "car" was used for transporting goods; a "jaunting-car" was a small one-horse carriage capable of carrying two or four passengers, who sat either facing outwards (an "outside car") or each other (an "inside car"). A "covered car" had an oilskin over it which protected from the weather, but couldn't be seen out of. Later on the term "car" was also applied to four-wheeled, longer-bodied carriages meant to convey multiple people.
Yes, "killed his man" means killed his opponent in a duel, and "came of age" means turned 21.
9cbl_tn
>8 lyzard: That expression "killed his man before he came of age" keeps reminding me of Davy Crockett, who according to the song "killed him a bear when he was only three". Sir Kit is anything but a folk hero, though!
10Smiler69
I started the book last night. Thanks for the introduction Liz. I've read up to comment #6, but as I've only read part of the first section of Thady's narrative, am skipping the rest for now.
I took some time to read the introduction in my OUP edition to get a sense of what the glossary and additional portions were meant to add to the work (additionally to your comments, that is). When I started reading Thady's narrative, I did refer to the footnotes and glossary for the first couple of pages, but then found them a) terribly long and b) they interrupted the narrative so that I kept losing the thread of his tale.
While some of the glossary additions seem helpful to understand some of the terms Thady uses which are specific to the Irish culture and practices of the time, quite a lot seems to err quite far from the original story, so after trying to read both narrative and additions for the first few pages, I think I will start over and read through the narrative first, and then will return for a second pass for the additional comments, as you've suggested we do in >2 lyzard:.
I knew this was a short work because my edition is only 176 pages, but in addition to that, the text of the main narrative at least in printed in a HUGE font, so that I found my reading glasses were actually all wrong for it! (the footnotes and glossary are of a normals size, so I will put them on again for those.)
I took some time to read the introduction in my OUP edition to get a sense of what the glossary and additional portions were meant to add to the work (additionally to your comments, that is). When I started reading Thady's narrative, I did refer to the footnotes and glossary for the first couple of pages, but then found them a) terribly long and b) they interrupted the narrative so that I kept losing the thread of his tale.
While some of the glossary additions seem helpful to understand some of the terms Thady uses which are specific to the Irish culture and practices of the time, quite a lot seems to err quite far from the original story, so after trying to read both narrative and additions for the first few pages, I think I will start over and read through the narrative first, and then will return for a second pass for the additional comments, as you've suggested we do in >2 lyzard:.
I knew this was a short work because my edition is only 176 pages, but in addition to that, the text of the main narrative at least in printed in a HUGE font, so that I found my reading glasses were actually all wrong for it! (the footnotes and glossary are of a normals size, so I will put them on again for those.)
11souloftherose
Just stopping by to say I still haven't started and probably won't start now until the second half of the month (it's a short book right?) so will come back and comment when I have. Sorry.
12streamsong
It is very short, isn't it? It could probably easily be read in one sitting.
The copy I've ordered has not yet arrived, but I've been reading it online at Project Gutenberg with one tab open to the narrative and a second tab open to the glossary, which is working very well.
There is something about the broad regional humor that is reminding me of Mark Twain. It might only be the incident of attending one's own funeral - but I think Twain would have liked Thady. I checked out Twain's legacy library. There's no Edgeworth in sight although the library is only partially entered.
The copy I've ordered has not yet arrived, but I've been reading it online at Project Gutenberg with one tab open to the narrative and a second tab open to the glossary, which is working very well.
There is something about the broad regional humor that is reminding me of Mark Twain. It might only be the incident of attending one's own funeral - but I think Twain would have liked Thady. I checked out Twain's legacy library. There's no Edgeworth in sight although the library is only partially entered.
13cbl_tn
>12 streamsong: I had the same thought about the funeral obsequies in Huckleberry Finn.
14Smiler69
I finished the first part in no time at all last night, just concentrating on Thady's narrative as I had planned to, and enjoying rereading the first bits I'd already attempted to read the first time, which were lost amid the sea of footnotes and glossary details. I don't usually 'do' accents in my head when I'm reading from a book, but somehow could very well 'hear' Thady's Irish brogue, which comes through so brilliantly in Maria Edgeworth's prose; she's created a very convincing character!
15kac522
I finished the book last night (a very old edition from 1903, paired with "The Absentee"). I found it a curious little piece, but I was so surprised at the end to read Edgeworth's definition of an Irish "wake." Not like any Irish wake I've been to, but almost exactly like the ritual I just watched last week on "Call the Midwife", which centers around an Irish gypsy family living in London in the early 1960s. An elderly woman of the tribe dies in her caravan, and the community sets her little cabin on fire. I was perplexed by this scene when I first saw it, but now I understand it completely. I also loved the anecdote about the woman who wore a piece of tile from the roof of her house on her head, until she was "churched." I'd heard of "churching" before, and this was certainly an innovative way to get "out" of the house before the baby was officially baptized.
16lyzard
Sorry for dropping out on you, people! The last few days have been a bit...difficult.
>9 cbl_tn:
You're right about that, Carrie!
>10 Smiler69:
Welcome, Ilana! That's exactly how I read it, too. I get a definite sense of cold feet about the footnotes. We must remember that no-one had really written anything like this before, so it's understandable that Edgeworth might have had doubts about her own work---although the huge popularity of Castle Rackrent during the 19th century shows that she was wrong about that.
>11 souloftherose:
No problems, Heather - though truly, this is a very short work, really just a short novella, so you can probably fit it in more easily than you realise. :)
>12 streamsong:
Welcome, Janet! That's an interesting comparison with Twain, and I think there is a resemblance in terms of the hard-edge to the humour that each presents.
Though of course there's also an odd sort of contradiction there, because the person most immediately influenced by Edgeworth was Walter Scott, whose romanticising of the past Twain was very critical of.
>14 Smiler69:
Agreed, Ilana! Amazing to think she was the first to do it when the writing is so deft and realistic.
>15 kac522:
Thank you for joining us, Karen - that's very interesting about the persistence of such customs.
>9 cbl_tn:
You're right about that, Carrie!
>10 Smiler69:
Welcome, Ilana! That's exactly how I read it, too. I get a definite sense of cold feet about the footnotes. We must remember that no-one had really written anything like this before, so it's understandable that Edgeworth might have had doubts about her own work---although the huge popularity of Castle Rackrent during the 19th century shows that she was wrong about that.
>11 souloftherose:
No problems, Heather - though truly, this is a very short work, really just a short novella, so you can probably fit it in more easily than you realise. :)
>12 streamsong:
Welcome, Janet! That's an interesting comparison with Twain, and I think there is a resemblance in terms of the hard-edge to the humour that each presents.
Though of course there's also an odd sort of contradiction there, because the person most immediately influenced by Edgeworth was Walter Scott, whose romanticising of the past Twain was very critical of.
>14 Smiler69:
Agreed, Ilana! Amazing to think she was the first to do it when the writing is so deft and realistic.
>15 kac522:
Thank you for joining us, Karen - that's very interesting about the persistence of such customs.
17streamsong
>16 lyzard: That's an interesting comment. Do you think Edgeworth is romanticizing in Rackrent? All I see is the satire, but I freely admit I don't know the era very well.
18lyzard
No, I don't - I think she and Twain were working along the same lines, making their points through satire (though staying close enough to the truth to be uncomfortable); whereas Scott's regionalism, though he took his cue from Edgeworth, was ultimately put to a very different purpose, building Scotland up through romanticising its past.
19streamsong
>18 lyzard: staying close enough to the truth to be uncomfortable ... I like that phrase! Thanks for your explanation.
20souloftherose
Well, I've finished Castle Rackrent. I think I enjoyed it more once I'd finished than I did whilst reading it (if that makes sense). I didn't follow Ilana's (>14 Smiler69:) method of reading the narrative without the glossary and footnotes but I think I would have preferred the book without the extra notes. For me the satire worked without them and the glossary and footnotes felt a bit heavy handed at times.
My Penguin Classics edition also includes Ennui which I might go on to read before returning the book to the library.
Thanks to Liz for the background and helpful comments above.
My Penguin Classics edition also includes Ennui which I might go on to read before returning the book to the library.
Thanks to Liz for the background and helpful comments above.
21lyzard
Goodness me!---I'm very sorry, people, I didn't mean to drop out on you like that (again!), but the last few weeks have been very difficult.
>20 souloftherose:
Heather, that makes perfect sense and I agree with you. To me the annotations indicate two things, firstly that this being one of Edgeworth's very few genuinely independent writing projects, with no interference from her father, at the last moment she got very cold feet; and secondly, that like a lot of writers in this area, she genuinely believed that the English couldn't understand the Irish without "help". So while it's a stronger work without the interruptions, those interruptions do tell a story of their own.
>20 souloftherose:
Heather, that makes perfect sense and I agree with you. To me the annotations indicate two things, firstly that this being one of Edgeworth's very few genuinely independent writing projects, with no interference from her father, at the last moment she got very cold feet; and secondly, that like a lot of writers in this area, she genuinely believed that the English couldn't understand the Irish without "help". So while it's a stronger work without the interruptions, those interruptions do tell a story of their own.
22lyzard
There were a few things I wanted to highlight about Castle Rackrent overall, and would be interested in hearing your thoughts about:
The first is the novel's attitude to the unfortunate Lady Kit, both as a wife and as Jew. Edgeworth takes pains to spell out that this imprisonment was based on a true story, and disturbingly this was far from the only such incident of its kind---there was also the case of the notorious Earl of Belvedere, who took it into his head that his wife was having an affair with his brother and locked her up for 31 years---she wasn't released until after his death. Not surprisingly she had severe emotional and psychological problems, and died not long after she was freed. Quite a few 19th century Irish set stories include an interlude of wife imprisonment, and this sort of thing became associated with Ireland and Irish lawlessness. (For example, Thackeray's Barry Lyndon locks his wife up at one point, because he's worried if she gets away she'll divorce him and take her fortune back.)
Of course in the context of Lady Kit, the locking-up is doubly excused within narrative because she's Jewish as well as "disobedient".
I'm curious to know what people make of this point. To me, like much of the book, we're supposed to take away the opposite of what Thady thinks he's telling us. It's interesting to note that early in the 19th century, quite a number of English works were quite critical of anti-Semitism; unfortunately over the course of the century this point shifted to the other extreme, with anti-Semitic attitudes become not just acceptable, but commonplace.
All of which brings us to Castle Rackrent's enduring point of debate---just how reliable a narrator is Thady? Ever since this work first appeared there have been arguments over Thady's sincerity, how far we are supposed to buy into his devotion to "the family", and whether he is really as oblivious to Jason's manoeuvring as he professes to be.
The portrait here of the Rackrent family and the constant, generational abuse of the Irish land, the bleeding of estates to fund the selfish pleasures of the landlords (and the spending of their money in England!) underscores the reason why at this time many people, Irish as well as English, felt that Ireland needed English governance, and how the Act of Union came about.
The first is the novel's attitude to the unfortunate Lady Kit, both as a wife and as Jew. Edgeworth takes pains to spell out that this imprisonment was based on a true story, and disturbingly this was far from the only such incident of its kind---there was also the case of the notorious Earl of Belvedere, who took it into his head that his wife was having an affair with his brother and locked her up for 31 years---she wasn't released until after his death. Not surprisingly she had severe emotional and psychological problems, and died not long after she was freed. Quite a few 19th century Irish set stories include an interlude of wife imprisonment, and this sort of thing became associated with Ireland and Irish lawlessness. (For example, Thackeray's Barry Lyndon locks his wife up at one point, because he's worried if she gets away she'll divorce him and take her fortune back.)
Of course in the context of Lady Kit, the locking-up is doubly excused within narrative because she's Jewish as well as "disobedient".
I'm curious to know what people make of this point. To me, like much of the book, we're supposed to take away the opposite of what Thady thinks he's telling us. It's interesting to note that early in the 19th century, quite a number of English works were quite critical of anti-Semitism; unfortunately over the course of the century this point shifted to the other extreme, with anti-Semitic attitudes become not just acceptable, but commonplace.
All of which brings us to Castle Rackrent's enduring point of debate---just how reliable a narrator is Thady? Ever since this work first appeared there have been arguments over Thady's sincerity, how far we are supposed to buy into his devotion to "the family", and whether he is really as oblivious to Jason's manoeuvring as he professes to be.
The portrait here of the Rackrent family and the constant, generational abuse of the Irish land, the bleeding of estates to fund the selfish pleasures of the landlords (and the spending of their money in England!) underscores the reason why at this time many people, Irish as well as English, felt that Ireland needed English governance, and how the Act of Union came about.
23cbl_tn
The portrait here of the Rackrent family and the constant, generational abuse of the Irish land, the bleeding of estates to fund the selfish pleasures of the landlords (and the spending of their money in England!) underscores the reason why at this time many people, Irish as well as English, felt that Ireland needed English governance, and how the Act of Union came about.
Are the landlords Irish or English? I thought they were English after Cromwell's era, but then my knowledge of Irish history is minimal.
Are the landlords Irish or English? I thought they were English after Cromwell's era, but then my knowledge of Irish history is minimal.
24lyzard
They were Anglo-Irish. :)
Ireland was about the dispossession of the Catholics; the landowners were predominantly Protestant. After the "Williamite Wars" towards the end of the 17th century, Irish land was confiscated by the crown and given to English Protestants, whose descendants became the Anglo-Irish ruling class. So they were Irish, but affiliated with England. Their tenants were wholly Irish and predominantly Catholic.
Basically the landowners were born and bred in Ireland but tended to leave their estates under the charge of stewards and agents while they lived in England. Absentee landlordism was the overriding cause of many of the local abuses, and a major grievance for the Irish - hence Maria Edgeworth's The Absentee. It was hoped that the passing of the Act of Union would bring about reform in this area, but as we saw in Trollope's Phineas Finn, 60-odd years later absentee landlords and the situation of the Irish tenant were still a political hot potato.
We should note that the Edgeworths were themselves Anglo-Irish, and so Maria had an inside perspective on the abuses she was describing (and we see, in the tone of the annotations, the "split-vision" that was a hallmark of the situation).
Ireland was about the dispossession of the Catholics; the landowners were predominantly Protestant. After the "Williamite Wars" towards the end of the 17th century, Irish land was confiscated by the crown and given to English Protestants, whose descendants became the Anglo-Irish ruling class. So they were Irish, but affiliated with England. Their tenants were wholly Irish and predominantly Catholic.
Basically the landowners were born and bred in Ireland but tended to leave their estates under the charge of stewards and agents while they lived in England. Absentee landlordism was the overriding cause of many of the local abuses, and a major grievance for the Irish - hence Maria Edgeworth's The Absentee. It was hoped that the passing of the Act of Union would bring about reform in this area, but as we saw in Trollope's Phineas Finn, 60-odd years later absentee landlords and the situation of the Irish tenant were still a political hot potato.
We should note that the Edgeworths were themselves Anglo-Irish, and so Maria had an inside perspective on the abuses she was describing (and we see, in the tone of the annotations, the "split-vision" that was a hallmark of the situation).
25kac522
My Byrne ancestors were Irish tenant farmers on the Lord Fitzwilliam Estate in Coolafancy, County Wicklow. You can read about Lord Fitzwilliam (apparently a "liberal" landlord) and what he did for his Irish tenants ("The Surplus People") during the Great Famine, here: http://www.countywicklowheritage.org/page/the_surplus_people
Passage was provided for my family to "Upper Canada": Barrie, Simcoe County, Ontario. After about 20 years in Canada, they emigrated to Erie, Pennsylvania.
Passage was provided for my family to "Upper Canada": Barrie, Simcoe County, Ontario. After about 20 years in Canada, they emigrated to Erie, Pennsylvania.
26lyzard
Thanks very much for that, Kathy - very interesting, and provides great context for Castle Rackrent. The difficulties of the Irish tenants and the ways in which they were exploited are well summed up there, though it certainly does sound as if Lord Fitzwilliam was the exception to the rule as far as Anglo-Irish landlords went.
I can imagine that "Upper Canada" was a shock for your ancestors, though they were obviously a hardy breed. :)
I can imagine that "Upper Canada" was a shock for your ancestors, though they were obviously a hardy breed. :)
