Description:
"Death's but a Path that must be trod, / If Man wou'd ever pass to God" - Thomas Parnell
Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, by eighteenth century Dublin-born clergyman Thomas Leland, is a fast-paced historical romance of medieval menace and high excitement. Set in the early years of the thirteenth century, it features a blend of real and created characters in a mêlée of intrigue, corruption, lust, and revenge. In part a metaphor for the tug-of-war between the sexes, Longsword is the definitive precursor to the Gothic novel; both in trappings and in style, it provides vital elements of prototype for Walpole's The Castle of Otranto and Lewis's The Monk. Through Longsword, Leland emerges as a forerunner of fellow Dublin clergyman Charles Robert Maturin, author of Melmoth the Wanderer. This 250th anniversary edition is edited and introduced by Albert Power.
Brief description: Thomas Leland (1722-1785) was born in Dublin. Ordained to ministry in the Church of Ireland, his works include History of Philip, King of Macedon (1758), History of Ireland (1773), and a posthumous collection of sermons (1788). His only work of fiction, Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, was published in 1762. It was adapted for stage in 1765 as The Countess of Salisbury by fellow Dubliner Hall Hartson. The play remained popular into the early nineteenth century.
Review Quotes:
"In [Montague] Summers's opinion [Longsword] is the first Gothic Historical novel and I am prepared to take his word for it. This puts Leland, a church of Ireland Minister, in the company of Le Fanu, Maturin and Bram Stoker as one of the great Irish heroes of the genre." - Reggie Oliver, Wormwood
"An old style, page turning ripping yarn . . . It aches to be made into a swashbuckling movie. There's plenty of intrigue and enough in the way of sword fights. The villains are properly dastardly and menacing and their comeuppance is suitably gratifying." - You're Reading...
"Swan River Press's Longsword represents an important step forward in a necessary literary renegotiation process. Combined with new and emerging scholarship, this new edition, it is hoped, will see Leland's novel re-invested with the literary significance it has long been denied." - Eighteenth-Century Ireland