Charlotte Temple (14 page)
CHAPTER XXXV
CONCLUSION
Shortly after the interment of his daughter, Mr. Temple, with his dear little charge and her nurse, set forward for England. It would be impossible to do justice to the meeting scene between him, his Lucy, and her aged father. Every heart of sensibility can easily conceive their feelings. After the first tumult of grief was subsided, Mrs. Temple gave up the chief of her time to her grand-child, and as she grew up and improved, began to almost fancy she again possessed her Charlotte.
It was about ten years after these painful events, that Mr. and Mrs. Temple, having buried their father, were obliged to come to London on particular business, and brought the little Lucy with them. They had been walking one evening, when on their return they found a poor wretch sitting on the steps of the door. She attempted to rise as they approached, but from extreme weakness was unable, and after several fruitless efforts fell back in a fit. Mr. Temple was not one of those men who stand to consider whether by assisting an object in distress they shall not inconvenience themselves, but instigated by the impulse of a noble feeling heart, immediately ordered her to be carried into the house, and proper restoratives applied.
She soon recovered; and fixing her eyes on Mrs. Temple, cried—“You know not, Madam, what you do; you know not whom you are relieving, or you would curse me in the bitterness of your heart. Come not near me, Madam, I shall contaminate you. I am the viper that stung your peace. I am the woman who turned the poor Charlotte out to perish in the street. Heaven have mercy! I see her now,” continued she looking at Lucy; “such, such was the fair bud of innocence that my vile arts blasted ere it was half blown.”
It was in vain that Mr. and Mrs. Temple intreated her to be composed and to take some refreshment. She only drank half a glass of wine; and then told them that she had been separated from her husband seven years, the chief of which she had passed in riot, dissipation, and vice, till, overtaken by poverty and sickness, she had been reduced to part with every valuable, and thought only of ending her life in a prison; when a benevolent friend paid her debts and released her; but that her illness encreasing, she had no possible means of supporting herself, and her friends were weary of relieving her. “I have fasted,” said she, “two days, and last night lay my aching head on the cold pavement: indeed it was but just that I should experience those miseries myself which I had unfeelingly inflicted on others.”
Greatly as Mr. Temple had reason to detest Mrs. Crayton, he could not behold her in this distress without some emotions of pity. He gave her shelter that night beneath his hospitable roof, and the next day got her admission into an hospital; where having lingered a few weeks, she died, a striking example that vice, however prosperous in the beginning, in the end leads only to misery and shame.
READING GROUP GUIDE
Charlotte Temple
has been called America’s first bestseller. Since its first American publication in 1794, the novel has been published in more than two hundred editions and printings, and has reached countless readers from all walks of life. How do you account for the book’s wide appeal and longevity?
The title of the earliest British and American editions of Rowson’s novel was
Charlotte. A Tale of Truth.
Critics speculate that the author’s claim of authenticity was fueled by her desire for approval from a puritanical eighteenth-century audience that distrusted fiction. Why do you suppose this would have made the story more acceptable to its readers? Would your own impression of the story change if you knew it was based on the truth?
In her Author’s Preface and throughout the novel, Susanna Rowson occasionally addresses her readers directly, much like a dramatic aside spoken by an actor. Did you find this technique appealing, or did it distract you from the story? Are there other stylistic aspects of this narrative that Mrs. Rowson may have borrowed from her rich theatrical background?
Consider the story, told early in the novel, of how Charlotte’s father saved Lucy Eldridge and her father from destitution, and how he came to marry her. Why do you suppose the author included this back history? How would you characterize the relationship between Charlotte Temple’s parents, and what makes their marriage so ideal?
Drawing on examples from
Charlotte Temple,
how would you describe the role of British and American women at the end of the eighteenth century? How much has the institution of marriage changed over the past two centuries?
“The heedless Fair, who stoops to guilty joys, / A man may pity—but he must despise,” writes Susanna Rowson (p. 55). When it comes to promiscuity, do today’s standards for men and women still differ as drastically as they do in this late-eighteenth-century novel?
Susanna Rowson and her family were British loyalists in America during the Revolutionary War. They were confined for more than two years before they were permitted to return to England in a prisoner-of-war exchange. Approximately fifteen years later, Rowson elected to relocate to the newly independent America with her husband. Are the author’s views on recent political events evident in her melodrama, or does she confine her story to a more limited sphere? Discuss.
In chapter 19, Rowson notes that “Julia Franklin was the very reverse of Charlotte Temple” (p. 64). What makes them so different?
Does the fact that Montraville’s intentions are less malicious than those of Belcour and Mademoiselle La Rue make him less guilty of Charlotte’s destruction? Is he a true villain?
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SUSANNA ROWSON
Author, actress, and educator, Susanna Haswell Rowson played an influential role in the arts and education of post-Revolutionary America. She was born in Portsmouth, England, on February 5, 1762. Her mother, Susanna Musgrave Haswell, died shortly after giving birth, and her father, William Haswell, a British naval officer, was appointed customs collector in Massachusetts. While abroad, he married Rachel Wood-ward, and in 1767 he retrieved his five-year-old daughter and brought her to live with them in Nantasket, Massachusetts.
The Revolution interrupted Rowson’s comfortable life. Her father remained a loyalist and faced increasing hostility; in 1778, the family was finally allowed to return to England, wearied and poor. Rowson’s love of books and learning had been nurtured in America, and she put those skills to use, it is believed, as a governess in the years that followed. She also tried her hand at prose and published her first novel,
Victoria,
in 1786. Dedicated to her patron, Georgiana Cavendish, duchess of Devonshire, this two-volume work established a pattern for Rowson’s didactic fiction. That year, she also married William Rowson, a merchant with musical talent who introduced her to theater performance.
Although she may have experimented with acting during this period, Rowson focused on writing in order to financially support herself and William. Her knowledge of the stage was set to poetry in
A Trip to
Parnassus; or, the Judgement of Apollo on Dramatic Authors and Performers,
which appeared in 1788. She also published
Poems on Various Subjects
and a collection of tales titled
The Inquisitor; or Invisible Rambler
in 1788. An industrious writer, Rowson produced her second novel,
Mary; or,
The Test of Honour,
the following year, published anonymously. This book instructed its readers on matters of virtue through a story about marriage, but it was poorly received by the critics.
In 1791, Rowson published two works of fiction, one of which would bring her literary attention. Mentoria; or, The Young Lady’s Friend, comprising letters from a governess to her former students, short moral tales, and an essay, expressed her developing concern for the education of women. This book was overshadowed by
Charlotte: A Tale of Truth,
a novel often described as the first American bestseller (the American edition appeared three years after the British edition).
Charlotte
(titled
Charlotte Temple
in later editions) is a moralistic treatment of the seduction of a teenaged girl; Rowson attested to this story’s authenticity in the subtitle, and she was believed by impressionable readers who sought to discover the real Charlotte.
Rebecca; or, The Fille de Chambre,
a novel that recalled Rowson’s own experiences in America, appeared in Britain in 1792 but, like
Charlotte,
found more popularity abroad.
Although Rowson’s writing began to bring her fame, she still struggled for fortune. In 1793, Rowson, her husband, and his younger sister moved to Philadelphia, where they joined the New Theater Company. During this time, Rowson achieved moderate success as an actress, and she composed songs, poems, and plays, most notably,
Slaves in Algiers;
or, A Struggle for Freedom.
She also completed a four-volume novel,
Trials of the Human Heart,
in 1795. In 1796, the Rowsons joined the Federal Street Theater in Boston; within a year, however, the theater closed and the three were forced to seek other employment.
Beginning her third career at the age of thirty-five, Rowson opened the Young Ladies’ Academy in Boston in 1797. Her school offered affluent young women the chance to study an array of subjects from arithmetic and grammar to embroidery and music. Rowson’s position as teacher and headmistress offered her the financial and social stability for which she had long struggled. In 1798, she published
Reuben
and Rachel; or, Tales of Old Times,
a novel that depicts the female experience in history.
Rowson’s school, which relocated many times in the Boston area, kept her very busy, and over the next decade, she completed a volume of poetry and a textbook. In 1811, she published
A Present for Young Ladies,
a compilation of her students’ work that promoted young women’s creativity and aptitude. Two years later, a long-awaited novel,
Sarah; or,
The Exemplary Wife,
appeared. Rowson’s role as an educator, however, had become her foremost commitment, and she continued writing textbooks until her retirement in 1822.
Rowson died on March 2, 1824. Her intelligence and ambition left its mark on the literature, theater, and pedagogy of early America. The unlikely author of America’s first bestseller also bequeathed to her readers a sequel, Charlotte’s Daughter; or, The Three Orphans (later titled
Lucy Temple
), published posthumously in 1828. Like her previous work, this popular last novel revealed her advocacy of women’s moral and intellectual edification.
2004 Modern Library Paperback Edition
Introduction copyright © 2004 by Jane Smiley
Biographical note and reading group guide copyright © 2004 by
Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. Published in the United States by Modern Library,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.
MODERN LIBRARY and the TORCHBEARER Design are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Rowson, Mrs., 1762–1824.
Charlotte Temple / Susanna Rowson; introduction by Jane Smiley.
p. cm.
1. British—New York (State)—New York—Fiction. 2. Illegitimate children—
Fiction. 3. Runaway teenagers—Fiction. 4. Teenage pregnancy—Fiction.
5. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 6. Teenage girls—Fiction. 7. Elopement—Fiction.
8. Seduction—Fiction. 9. Betrayal—Fiction. 10. Soldiers—Fiction. I. Title.
PS2736.R3C5 2004
813’.2—dc22
2003066519
Modern Library website address:
www.modernlibrary.com
eISBN: 978-0-307-43077-9
v3.0