Rare. ESTC, OCLC, and COPAC together record copies of this German edition at the BL, Bodleian, Royal Danish Library, and seven German libraries. First printed in London in the same year (along with a “new edition in the same year” in London, a Dublin printing and another in Go¨rliz (Germany) in 1795). All editions are recorded in only a handful of copies in ESTC.
An engaging novel by an anonymous female novelist, originally published in London for a circulating library during a time of exploding demand by female readers. The novel tells the story of a determined young woman’s escapades as she dodges an unhappy marriage arranged by her father. Clever heroines (made even cleverer - and more dangerous - by reading novels), hilariously clumsy antagonists, and various plot twists accompany the reader along Belinda’s journey to find true love.
The first edition of this book was printed in London for “G. Allen, at his Circulating Library” in 1789. It was quickly followed by this first German printing as well as another in Dublin and a second edition in London within a year, plus a second German printing in Görlitz in 1795. Circulating libraries around this time were experiencing a massive growth in popularity, due in no small part to increasing female readership. Female authors, often writing anonymously in the same way as Mrs. C (or sometimes simply as “a lady”), supplied these libraries with large numbers of novels, a book format for which there was high demand now that they could be read and then returned rather than bought outright. Of course, these “feminine” books and the libraries that held them were often disdained by educated men as frivolous and inferior, a fact which Mrs. C is well aware of but clearly unbothered by: she writes in the dedication to this book: “so many of these Works have been already produced by the Pens of Ladies, that the Majority of Critics deem them unworthy their Perusal: but **if Ladies supply the Stage, why not the Library?”.** The misguided father of the novel’s heroine also declares at one point that his daughter’s disobedience is clearly caused by the fact that, “she has filled her head with romances… this comes of encouraging circulating libraries” (p. 76); as he is later shown the error of his ways, the reader can conclude that he may also have been wrong about the influence of libraries being negative.
A contemporary review in The Critical Reviews similarly derides the novel as being nothing more than “the story on which Cibber’s comedy, ‘Love makes a Man’ is founded, or rather the play of Beaumont and Fletcher [The Elder Brother], from which Cibber stole the first part of his comedy”; however, despite the novel and play sharing the initial plot line of a girl being told to marry the less desirable of two brothers, it is the novel alone that carries on to tell the story of a heroine successfully controlling her own destiny through her own planning and the support of other intelligent and courageous women in her life. The Critical Review does though remark: “This novel is a little fascinating, for it has kept us nearly an hour from better employment, without novelty, of sentiment, character or situation” (p.250)
It is highly probable that G. Allen himself was not unfamiliar with ignoring prejudiced criticism of the works he printed: he was surely aware of public opinion of his circulating library, but he may also have been the same George Allen who previously worked as a bookseller in Paternoster Row and was briefly imprisoned in 1773 for, as he describes in the General Evening Post, “publishing a humourous print in [the Covent-Garden Magazine], which a scandalous informer thought proper to represent as an infamous publication, tending to prejudice the morals of the rising generation”. Just as the Covent-Garden Magazine continued to be published after this episode, The Fair Fugitive was clearly popular enough despite its detractors to warrant a new edition being published quickly after the first- as a 1790 advertisement printed in several London newspapers attests, “It would be an insult on the public, to say anything in praise of the above most celebrated Novels [including The Fair Fugitive], as the continual demand for them is the most sufficient proof of their superiority”.
When this demand made its way to Germany, it was met by bookseller Franz Heinrich Bispink (1749-1820), an ex-Franciscan monk who later became a professor at the University of Halle. Halle was an important centre of culture and education in 18th century Germany, heavily influenced by the work of Lutheran theologian August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), who was responsible for founding (among other institutions) a publishing house, library, and several schools. His system of providing education for all, regardless of gender or social class, continues to influence the German education system today.
The dedication preceding The Fair Fugitive is addressed “To Her Grace the Duchess of Marlborough”, Caroline Spencer (1743-1811), wife of the 4th Duke of Marlborough. The author humbly notes that “your Grace has patronised many Works of Literature”, and promises that for her next work “there is no Person I would sooner inscribe it to than his Grace your Husband”, flattering both Marlboroughs as important patrons of the arts.
The novel introduces the main characters through a conversation between two men. The first is on the search for a husband for his beautiful and accomplished young daughter, while the other happens to be the father of two sons. Unfortunately, “two… is exactly one too many” (p. 2), and it is decided that the match will be made with the elder son, who is set to inherit his father’s title and is more popular in society than his bookish brother. Having thus agreed, the fathers “had not an idea that any obstacles could possibly arise to prevent the accomplishment of their plan” (p. 7). However, they are quickly disabused of this notion when their three children meet: Belinda realises immediately that her intended groom Charles is “not merely a conceited coxcomb, but… a most despicable wretch, who for the sake of interest would not scruple to marry his great grandmother were it not fortunately forbid”, and that “no power on earth should compel her to marry him” (p. 75). The soft-spoken and intelligent younger brother Edmond, however, “struck [her] as the most elegant creature [she] had ever beheld” (p. 32), and unbeknownst to the fathers or indeed to each other, it is this pair that immediately falls in love.
Belinda’s father, wishing to assert his parental authority over his daughter’s “female perverseness”, is just as determined to force her marriage to Charles as she is to avoid it. Realising as much, the quick-witted and resourceful Belinda hatches a plan to escape her father’s house before the wedding, leaving him and Charles to work out what happened for themselves. Charles is baffled, thinking that he surely couldn’t be “‘the kind of being from whom a lady would run away’…he cast an eye on his friend the mirror who confirmed his assertion” (p. 116), and the two men pursue her, ending up on a comical wild goose chase across the country thanks to the clever scheming of Belinda’s protective best friend Lady Sedley. All seems lost when Belinda’s true hiding place is eventually betrayed, but yet another plot twist awaits in the form of an objector at Charles and Belinda’s wedding- “the lawful, though much injured wife of the faithless, the perjured Charles Maynard” (p. 188)! This revelation forces Charles to flee the country, leaving both fathers to realise their mistakes and apologise to Belinda, who is now free to marry her chosen Edmond. Even Lady Sedley is forgiven for her role in orchestrating chaos during Belinda’s exile, and the entire group of friends and family (sans the disgraced Charles) is able to joyfully celebrate and move forward together- with the men having no doubt learned their lesson about respecting the rights and wishes of their female loved ones.
“If excess of joy could kill, Edmond must have died; he did not, therefore we have proved the assertion, that such have occasionally been its effects, false…. [Belinda] was lead to church in the character of Miss Mennill, and returned from it in that of Mrs. Maynard, fully persuaded there was not a happier woman than herself in the three kingdoms.”
