Welcome to Early Novels
There are areas where each of us excel. In an attempt to level the playing field, I am starting off with a few novels/texts that I have found in the course of searching pre-1800 words for the OED. Some of these haven't been in print since the early 1700s. Let your imaginations run wild!
Without further ado, then, the first book is an English translation of a French translation of the Dutch work The Life and Surprising Adventures of Mirandor. I cannot, anywhere, find a suitable blurb, so I am going to reproduce the ToC, which will give you, I think, an adequate idea.
Book I.
Chapter 1. Of the adventurer's Family; the CHaracter of his Father and Mother.
Chap. 2 The adventures of two of his Mother's Galants; he finds her with another; she justifies herself, and Mirandor is severely punished.
Chap 3. The dismal End of his Uncle; his father's quarrel witha Footman of Picardy, and his Death.
Chap 4. Mirandor leaving huis Mother, arrives at Antwerp, and enters into the Service of an Inn-keeper there.
Chap. 5. He brings home a Stranger, who debauches the Innkeeper's Daughter, and the fine Course of Life that followed after.
Chap. 6. A cruel and stinking Adventure which befals his Master.
Book II.
Chap. 1. Mirandor quits his Antwerp Master. A lawyer of Brussels takes him for his Clerk. How well he lived there.
Chap. 2. The Adventure of the Bacon-Fraise, and the Ladder, both very vexatious to the Lawyer.
Chap. 3. The Description of the Lawyer's Equipage; why he would have hanged himself; the Misfortune that befel him and his Niece on a publick Festival.
Chap. 4. A Marquis takesa Fancy to Mirandor; a great Noise made about a Piece of Money which this Nobleman gave him.
Chap. 5. He enters into the Marquis's Service; the Character of the Marchioness, and the little Adventure of the Smock, &c.
Book III.
Chap. 1. Mirandor, being at Antwerp, is forced into a Bawdy-House, where he finds his first Master's Daughter.
Chap. 2. The comical adventures that befel the Marchioness with Father Andrew, and with la Fleur the Valet de CHambre, who attempts to poison Mirandor.
Chap 3. The Marchioness dies. La Fleur attempts to poison Mirandor, and is turned wawy.
Chap. 4. Mirandor applieshimself to Reading; his Opinion of some French and Dutch Poets; his Rencounter with the Lawyer.
That should give you an idea. Now, the excerpt, from not very far in:
Then 'twas. but alas! too late, that I repented of my Folly in running my Fingers between the Bark and the Tree, and I found to my cost what Influence a Woman's crocodile Tears have over the mind of a credulous Man, if shed at a proper Time.
I had such extreme tenderness for my poor Back-side, that I long turned a deaf ear, before I acquiesced with the Orders of my dear Papa; but finding him resolute, I fell at his Feet, embraced his Knees, and begged him with Tears in my Eyes to have Pity on me, and be assured that I had not imposed upon him in the least. Hereupon my Mother, being enraged at such a Delay of the Chastisement, and finding her Husband too weak to force down my breeches, seized me by the Collar, laid me upon the Table, and soon found the way to turn up my Posteriors to the open Air. MY father had then field Room, and exercised his Arm so freely, more like a Hangman than like a parent, that he soon made my Backside in a piteous Condition.
Poll Have fun! Deadline Thursday, September 3, at 5PM London time.
Without further ado, then, the first book is an English translation of a French translation of the Dutch work The Life and Surprising Adventures of Mirandor. I cannot, anywhere, find a suitable blurb, so I am going to reproduce the ToC, which will give you, I think, an adequate idea.
Book I.
Chapter 1. Of the adventurer's Family; the CHaracter of his Father and Mother.
Chap. 2 The adventures of two of his Mother's Galants; he finds her with another; she justifies herself, and Mirandor is severely punished.
Chap 3. The dismal End of his Uncle; his father's quarrel witha Footman of Picardy, and his Death.
Chap 4. Mirandor leaving huis Mother, arrives at Antwerp, and enters into the Service of an Inn-keeper there.
Chap. 5. He brings home a Stranger, who debauches the Innkeeper's Daughter, and the fine Course of Life that followed after.
Chap. 6. A cruel and stinking Adventure which befals his Master.
Book II.
Chap. 1. Mirandor quits his Antwerp Master. A lawyer of Brussels takes him for his Clerk. How well he lived there.
Chap. 2. The Adventure of the Bacon-Fraise, and the Ladder, both very vexatious to the Lawyer.
Chap. 3. The Description of the Lawyer's Equipage; why he would have hanged himself; the Misfortune that befel him and his Niece on a publick Festival.
Chap. 4. A Marquis takesa Fancy to Mirandor; a great Noise made about a Piece of Money which this Nobleman gave him.
Chap. 5. He enters into the Marquis's Service; the Character of the Marchioness, and the little Adventure of the Smock, &c.
Book III.
Chap. 1. Mirandor, being at Antwerp, is forced into a Bawdy-House, where he finds his first Master's Daughter.
Chap. 2. The comical adventures that befel the Marchioness with Father Andrew, and with la Fleur the Valet de CHambre, who attempts to poison Mirandor.
Chap 3. The Marchioness dies. La Fleur attempts to poison Mirandor, and is turned wawy.
Chap. 4. Mirandor applieshimself to Reading; his Opinion of some French and Dutch Poets; his Rencounter with the Lawyer.
That should give you an idea. Now, the excerpt, from not very far in:
Then 'twas. but alas! too late, that I repented of my Folly in running my Fingers between the Bark and the Tree, and I found to my cost what Influence a Woman's crocodile Tears have over the mind of a credulous Man, if shed at a proper Time.
I had such extreme tenderness for my poor Back-side, that I long turned a deaf ear, before I acquiesced with the Orders of my dear Papa; but finding him resolute, I fell at his Feet, embraced his Knees, and begged him with Tears in my Eyes to have Pity on me, and be assured that I had not imposed upon him in the least. Hereupon my Mother, being enraged at such a Delay of the Chastisement, and finding her Husband too weak to force down my breeches, seized me by the Collar, laid me upon the Table, and soon found the way to turn up my Posteriors to the open Air. MY father had then field Room, and exercised his Arm so freely, more like a Hangman than like a parent, that he soon made my Backside in a piteous Condition.
Poll Have fun! Deadline Thursday, September 3, at 5PM London time.