Saturday, 10 June—Return of a Fellow Old Friend

My love and friendships mayhaps be faded or inseparable.

I have been with Daniel since we entered Trinity as we were close as lovers. It has been years since I departed from Benjamin Hawkins, a friend from Eton and a grandson of the Marquis of Stratsberry. I saw Benjamin as my older brother since I never had older brothers as I only have older cousins who are all ladies as I only have Alexander as my brother yet three years younger than me. Benjamin has been sending letters after we separated since he stayed in Woolwich upon preparation for joining the military. From the letters he sent me, he announced his courtship with Lady Désirée de Guerre, second youngest daughter of the Marquis de Guerre, a fellow friend of my family through society. Her father was the companion of the late King of France, who earned his title of Marquis during his exile from a revolution; yet her mother was a lady-in-waiting of the poor late Queen of France that was executed by the revolutionaries, a year after the king’s execution.

It was unfortunate that the war begun after the year of the revolution in France. The war is ongoing when my father was sent away from his own family as he has not returned hither since he earned his title as the Earl of St Ives. The only hope I have is to make sure my father returns alive to his own country, after the dreaded war has ended, so my dear friends in Eton: Benjamin, William, &c.

Monday, 12 June—Invitation to the Ball

A year had passed after my father earned the title as Earl of St Ives; and at the same time, I earned the title of Viscount Mousehole as the eldest surviving son of an earl. Father has not returned hither as a year passed after earning these honourable titles since he went away for a war against the Emperor of the French and his brother the King of Spain. Despite his own absence, he often sends letters to each of us for two months, as a sign of his survival from this dreadful war.

Despite the melancholy that I recalled of my father’s absence, we were invited to a cotillion ball hosted by the Marquis of Stratsberry on his estate. The ball shall start by Saturday evening; yet I was gay upon to see my dear friend Benjamin and his grandfather again as we journeyed to a place, further north from the south of England.

Sunday, 18 June—A Ball in Manchester

I was accompanied by Uncle Charles and Mother to the ball yesterday evening as we stayed in Stratsberry with other people who claimed to have connections with my father or my uncle Charles. The Marquis and Marquise de Guerre were only seen in the ball despite their daughter Lady Désirée’s absence from the ball; yet the Marquis and Marquise shown humility as she was staying at Willowcombe as she often rejected invitations to cotillion balls, with the exceptions of balls that were hosted by her dear Mother and Father.

I approached Benjamin for a sip of wine before he introduced me to Miss Elinor O’Vile, the eldest daughter of Sir Seamus O’Vile, Bt. and a dear friend of Lady Désirée de Guerre. The name of O’Vile was familiar as it was the surname of Mr Gilbert O’Vile, a renowned dramatist known for his play Pluto and Proserpine: A Romance. I was keen upon dancing with her at the ball as I offered her a dance which she accepted by writing our names in our dance card before we danced once but not twice; yet she convinced me to visit Edgemont Hall during this week.

Wednesday, 21 June—A Long Stay to Edgemont

As I arrived at Edgemont with my mother, Elinor introduced us to her father as a new friend of hers; for she had left to seek her cousin Oliver and her pug Isobel. Oliver was left by his father, to be raised by his uncle, aunt, and his cousins Elinor and Abigail. Sir Seamus never ought to question the young lad’s father and mother as it seems that his father left for war; or mayhaps he and his poor wife were both deceased; or maybe his father was poor or quite busy with his own work.

I left Elinor from the drawing room as I was touring Edgemont with her father and his manservant as he guided me to the other rooms and the garden since I quite enjoyed the plain old shrubbery of the garden; yet Sir Seamus begged me to come inside to stay hither for a fortnight; but Mother would leave hither by tomorrow as I must remain hither for fortnight.

Thursday, 22 June—Mother’s Departure 

We breakfasted at past eight o’clock as Mother and I preferred the simplest pleasure of buns and coffee despite our status. Sir Seamus never showed much of his wealth more than he offered his generosity with mere simplicity hither for a countess and her eldest son; yet his family could show their extravagance towards the Marquis de Guerre and his family; but it was not too much for a baronet. Before her departure, Mother gave me and Elinor’s family her greatest adieu as she had announced that she shall be visiting the Marquis and Marquise in Willowcombe House before they could go to London by tomorrow. 

Sir Seamus mentioned that there will be a guest coming hither for the next week as he had written a letter to a fellow family member, perhaps I was hoping for the relative to be a renowned dramatist Mr Gilbert O’Vile for their similarity of names unless they have nothing in relation.

Wednesday, 28 June—The Theatre

I must admit that I had never gone to a theatre till today for a young lad of his nearly gentleman age; yet Elinor and her father went hither several times as they rented one of the boxes that faced the stage. We arrived during the middle of the second act of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar; yet I did not understand Elinor's unbearable gaily chuckle upon the actor who played Julius Caesar that irked me suspiciously. Perhaps she saw his performance as terrific; but they mentioned her uncle whom I never met; yet perhaps he shall be visiting Edgemont by tomorrow morning as a guest.

We waited for the play to end before I met the fellow tragedian who acted as Julius Caesar backstage. He was not just a mere actor and tragedian; but he is the renowned dramatist and actor Mr Gilbert O’Vile, as the man claimed to be. My mother warned me to stay further from this man in my youth for his handsome charisma and his known reputation that allured my aunt Agnes; yet she often accused him as a perpetrator of her disappearance. Despite my mother’s warnings, my curiosity remains upon him.

A Playbill for Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" & "Morticius and Urius", 28th June 1809

Thursday, 29 June—Elinor’s Peculiar Yet Renowned Uncle

It has been a week since Sir Seamus offered me to stay hither. Elinor and I strolled on the gardens in Edgemont as I met a familiar man conversing with Sir Seamus. He was an actor and dramatist of a play I saw yesterday while acting as Julius Caesar. As a young lad, I ought to go to the theatre in Bath with Uncle Charles to see his plays; but Mother forbade me to see his plays in the theatres as she ought me to stay in Penworth with my tutor Mr Raymonds. As she forbade me to go, I was never sure of her reason till she told me about Aunt Agnes before my grandfather’s departure from his life. I have written a short poem for actor:

A stroll to the garden

Led me to a queer fellow.

A poor dramatist was in burden,

For I had to follow…

Upon seeing him, Elinor introduced me to her charming uncle. I never knew that handsome man Mr Gilbert O’Vile was a close relative of Elinor; yet my thought of him and his own surname made me assume that he is their distant relative; but I never thought of him, as both Elinor’s uncle and Sir Seamus’s younger brother. He was renowned as a writer, dramatist, actor and theatre manager; yet not much renowned as his own friends and acquaintances such as Mr Charles Dibdins and Mr John Kemble. I never saw his plays since I only read his books when I was in Eton and Trinity till, I saw his acting as Julius Caesar yesterday. He appeared to have a light olive skin that is paler than his niece Elinor’s olive skin; and he has faded jet black hair (and his eyes of similar color) with hints of grey streaks, his age appears between his age of eight-and-thirty to forty years old. The younger Mr O’Vile was charmed amongst ladies in England upon his widowhood as he recalled when his wife had met her demise after he planted a seedling as he looked at the young troublesome Oliver as he swung both of his legs. His father disciplined the young child as he sat on the red sofa between his father and his uncle. His father warned him, ‘Your legs must remain still, my dear son.’

I sat beside Elinor on a yellow sofa as we faced Sir Seamus and the younger Mr O’Vile. The younger Mr O’Vile began ignoring his own son to gain his focus upon me as he complimented calmly, ‘You were indeed quite handsome as a courtesan, my dear’st Lord Mousehole. Your face reminds me of my dear wife when we met in Venice.’

His charming compliment befogged me as he compared my appearance to a lady of easy virtue with a brief silence in the drawing room, despite his comparison of my own dreadful appearance to his own dearly departed wife.

Friday, 30 June—A Giddy Invitation

The younger Mr O’Vile left a short letter he had written a day after we breakfasted. Elinor told me he either headed to a nearby manor in the town of Barkham, or to Bloodham Hall, a manor once owned by his father late Sir Howard until her uncle returned to England with his late wife. Once I opened a short letter, I would have thought of an invitation to a ball or some news; but rather, an invitation to a dinner in Bloodham, in private! Elinor warned me not to travel to Bloodham alone since it is located further north of England, perhaps further away from places I had been into, with exception of my grandfather’s estate in Kirksborough, and Stratsberry House since the latter is located near Bloodham by South as my friend Benjamin recalled a visit in Stratsberry with the youngest Mr O’Vile and his late wife as their stagecoach arrived four hours from Bloodham.

Lord Mousehole,

You must see me in Bloodham Hall by fortnight, before or at twilight, without your relatives in company with you. You shall never tell this to your mother and anyone within society since this dinner is just between me and you. This is a private invitation to a dinner as a congratulation for befriending my niece or courting her if I were not mistaken.

Best regards, &c.