The Forster of fact, was a totally different person. He was of an
ancient Shropshire family, and had married Ann, niece of Lord Williams
of Thame, Lord Chamberlain under Philip and Mary. His three children,
represented on his memorial brass, predeceased him. He was, towards the
close of his life, Member of Parliament for the borough of Abingdon,
and chosen, upon at least one occasion, by the University of Oxford to
settle a noisy controversy. He was a personal friend of Lord Dudley,
and controller of his enormous expenditure. All Dudley's accounts
passed through Forster's hands. All payments had to be sanctioned by
him. Bundles of such accounts showing careful examination are now at
Longleat, filed, says Canon Jackson, as left by Anthony Forster. They
all bear his signature or initials, and the date 1566, six years after
Tony Foster had been starved to death in his secret chamber.
I would now mention some of the minor circumstances and persons
mentioned in the novel, respecting whom chronological errors are
noticeable.
We have seen that Varney, to whatever family he belonged, died before
the great Kenilworth festivities in honour of the Royal Visit, and
that Amy had died fifteen years before that event. Sir W. Raleigh,
who in the novel is introduced strewing his cloak before the Queen
and subsequently knighted by her with Varney at Kenilworth, was not
knighted until 1584, nine years after her visit, twenty-four years
after Amy's death; and as he was born in 1552, was actually eight years
old when that occurred.
On her journey from Cumnor Place to Kenilworth, accompanied by
Wayland Smith, Amy passes through Donnington. They overtake the Hock
Tide revellers from this village, also upon the road to Kenilworth.
Donnington Castle is also mentioned earlier in the story. To pass
through this hamlet, _en route_ for Kenilworth, would be equivalent to
travelling from say Reading to Birmingham in order to reach London.
It is probable Sir Walter intended to write Deddington, which is in
Oxfordshire, and on the direct road Amy would have had to travel, but
it is strange the error has never been corrected. The revellers really
came from Coventry, an entirely opposite route to that Lady Dudley
would have had to pursue.
I have only given a few of the most evident anachronisms which permeate
the novel, and many others might be mentioned. Many extracts from
the story might be quoted, which show the carelessness of the great
novelist as regards chronology; yet dates ought to have met with every
consideration from him: he was professedly, at any rate, an antiquary,
professionally a writer to the Signet or lawyer, where accuracy is all
in all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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