In this latest comic novel from Christopher Buckley, a hapless Englishman embarks on a dangerous mission to the New World in pursuit of two judges who helped murder a king.
London, 1664. Twenty years after the fateful events that saw an English monarch dethroned and executed, the monarchy has been restored as the "merry monarch" Charles II now sits on the throne. The men who conspired to kill his father, Charles I, are either dead or have fled England. In fact, Ezra Stiles in his "A History of Three of the Judges of King Charles I" notes that of the fifty-nine judges who signed the warrant, twenty-four were dead by 1660; twenty-seven were tried and condemned, of which nine were executed; whilst fifteen fled, their whereabouts largely unknown. Except for three - Whalley, Goff, Dixwell - who all fled to the New World and "found friendly asylum and concealment in Massachusetts and Connecticut." Revenge, however, is never far from the new King's mind.
Baltasar “Balty” St. Michel is the son of a french aristocrat, Alexandre le Marchant de St Michel, who had at one time served briefly as a gentleman carver in the household of Henrietta Maria, Charles I’s queen, and one, Dorothea, daughter of a Hampshire country gentleman. The family fell on hard times and Pepys, who by contrast was on his way up in the world, would find himself with an alarming number of poor relations on his wife Elizabeth’s side, particularly her favourite brother Balty!
At the time of our story, Balty is twenty-four; has no skills and no employment, and is receiving handouts from his brother-in-law Samuel Pepys, an officer in the king’s navy. Fed up with his sponging in-law, Pepys offers Balty a job "... the one I have in mind has a genuine talent for annoyance ..." Balty is commissioned to go to the New World to track down two of the missing missing judges (Edward Whalley and William Goff) who were responsible for the execution of the last king, Charles I.
When Balty arrives in the New World, he discovers that Boston is governed by emigrant Puritans from England, in conflict with both emerging dissident factions (the Quakers) and the displaced tribes. As the fledgling colony began to thrive, it was harder to maintain the purity imposed at the outset, and all manner of rogue and fortune hunter made his appearance.
Balty traverses colonial America in search of the missing judges, all the while assisted by a Daniel Boone type agent for the English, one Colonel Hiram Huncks, a man with not only a past but with his own secret second commission. Meanwhile, Samuel Pepys, in his role as Surveyor-General of the Victualling Office, is preparing for a war with the Dutch, which he fears England has no chance of winning - before finding himself not only in hot water but in the Tower!
Balty traverses colonial America in search of the missing judges, all the while assisted by a Daniel Boone type agent for the English, one Colonel Hiram Huncks, a man with not only a past but with his own secret second commission. Meanwhile, Samuel Pepys, in his role as Surveyor-General of the Victualling Office, is preparing for a war with the Dutch, which he fears England has no chance of winning - before finding himself not only in hot water but in the Tower!
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| 17thC Gentleman |
The real life Balty is a fitting subject for a spy - elusive, casual, Marlowesque even. Pepys seems to have done well for his brother-in-law in later life, although, from the entries in the Diary, he does not appear to have had a high opinion of him. St. Michel was Muster Master at Deal in 1674, Storekeeper at Tangier in 1681, and Naval Commissioner at Deptford in 1685 (where Marlowe met his end nearly 90 years before).
This reads at a cracking pace - the action never slackens, the humour is witty and at times slightly comediac, whilst the whole tale is interspersed with extracts from Pepys' diary to add to the authenticity of the historical backdrop.
I loved the historical notes at the end which shows this this was brilliantly researched for a fictional account of adventure and political intrigue in 17th Century England, and of the story of the Dutch and English in the New Colonies. It is about time that some of these "lesser" historical characters take centre stage.
Further Reading:
Traitor's Arms by James Long
Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer
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