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The Pottleton Legacy: A Story of Town and Country Life
Excerpt from The Pottleton Legacy: A Story of Town and Country Life
About fifty miles from town, taking a somewhat westerly direction, there is a little Village, which has generally been considered so very unimportant a place, that it has not found its way into any gazetteer; nor, indeed, can the most micro scopic eye discover its name in the county map. It has even been accounted too out-of-the-way a Spot to be published as the abode of any patient marvellously cured by a patent medi cine. In fact, until very lately, nobody was known who had ever been there, except the candidates for the shire, on their canvassing expeditions preceding a contested election; the carrier, who met the mail on the high road, at the finger post, some three miles away, and was also the postman; or the literary missionary, who left works in numbers at the farm-houses, whereof the gentle excitement was well sus tained, by sewing up the most startling illustrations with the heavier reading, Opposite remote parts of the story; which was an admirable notion, and very promotive of continued curiosity.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
About fifty miles from town, taking a somewhat westerly direction, there is a little Village, which has generally been considered so very unimportant a place, that it has not found its way into any gazetteer; nor, indeed, can the most micro scopic eye discover its name in the county map. It has even been accounted too out-of-the-way a Spot to be published as the abode of any patient marvellously cured by a patent medi cine. In fact, until very lately, nobody was known who had ever been there, except the candidates for the shire, on their canvassing expeditions preceding a contested election; the carrier, who met the mail on the high road, at the finger post, some three miles away, and was also the postman; or the literary missionary, who left works in numbers at the farm-houses, whereof the gentle excitement was well sus tained, by sewing up the most startling illustrations with the heavier reading, Opposite remote parts of the story; which was an admirable notion, and very promotive of continued curiosity.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
520 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1849
About the author
Albert Smith
370 books1 followerAlbert Richard Smith was born in Chertsey, Surrey, on 24 May 1816, the son of a surgeon.
He studied medicine in London and in Paris, and his first literary effort was an account of his life in Paris, which appeared in 'The Mirror' and he gradually abandoned his medical studies in favour of becoming a writer. Having said that, he was originally predominantly a journalist and was one of the early contributors to 'Punch'.
He was also a regular contributor to Richard Bentley's 'Miscellany', in whose pages his first and arguably his best book, the novel 'The Adventures of Mr Ledbury', appeared in 1842. His other novels were 'The Fortunes of the Scattergood Family' (1845), 'The Marchioness of Brinvilliers: The Poisoner of the Seventeenth Century' (1846), 'The Struggles and Adventures of Christopher Tadpole' (1848), and 'The Pottleton Legacy: A Story of Town and Country' (1849). In addition he wrote a novella 'The Adventures of Jack Holiday, with Something about His Sister' (1844) and a number of comic shorter works in a series of so-called natural histories. The first of these was The Natural History of The Gent' (1847).
In 1842 his first play, 'Blanche Heriot, or The Chertsey Curfew', based on a legend from his home town, was produced at the Surrey Theatre and he went on to adapt for the same theatre Charles Dickens' 'The Cricket on the Hearth' (1845) and 'The Battle of Life' (1846).
In 1849 he went on a tour to Constantinople and the Near East. On his return he published his book 'A Month at Constantinople', and shortly afterwards he appeared at Willis's Rooms in a public entertainment about his travels called 'The Overland Mail'. This proved so popular that after he ascended Mont Blanc in August 1851 he published a book about his adventures, 'The Story of Mont Blanc' (1852), he decided to produce an entertainment about the ascent. He hired the Egyptian Hall and produced an entertainment called 'Mont Blanc', which ran for many performances and became the most popular entertainment of its kind ever known, running for more than 2000 performances over six years. And in May 1854 he gave a performance before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Osborne House.
His 'Mont Blanc' entertainment helped to popularize mountain climbing in mid-Victorian Britain and John Ruskin described him as 'the first cockney to ascend Mont Blanc' and he was one of the founder members of the Alpine Club in 1857.
In July 1858 he travelled to Hong Kong. On his return he published his book 'To China and Back' (1859), and in December 1858 he commenced at the Egyptian Hall a third entertainment, called "Mont Blanc to China", which was also extremely popular.
In 1859 he married Mary Lucy Keeley (c1830–1870), who had been an actress and was the elder daughter of the comedian Robert Keeley and his wife the distinguished actress Mary Anne Keeley.
He died from bronchitis on 23 May 1860 in Fulham, London, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery.
During his career he received great help from his brother, Arthur W.W. Smith (1825–1861), who had also been educated in medicine and who managed the entertainments at the Egyptian Hall from 1852 to 1860 and who was also Charles Dickens' reading manager for his first series of readings. He was engaged to play a similar role for a second series, but he died before the tour began.
Gerry Wolstenholme
October 2020
He studied medicine in London and in Paris, and his first literary effort was an account of his life in Paris, which appeared in 'The Mirror' and he gradually abandoned his medical studies in favour of becoming a writer. Having said that, he was originally predominantly a journalist and was one of the early contributors to 'Punch'.
He was also a regular contributor to Richard Bentley's 'Miscellany', in whose pages his first and arguably his best book, the novel 'The Adventures of Mr Ledbury', appeared in 1842. His other novels were 'The Fortunes of the Scattergood Family' (1845), 'The Marchioness of Brinvilliers: The Poisoner of the Seventeenth Century' (1846), 'The Struggles and Adventures of Christopher Tadpole' (1848), and 'The Pottleton Legacy: A Story of Town and Country' (1849). In addition he wrote a novella 'The Adventures of Jack Holiday, with Something about His Sister' (1844) and a number of comic shorter works in a series of so-called natural histories. The first of these was The Natural History of The Gent' (1847).
In 1842 his first play, 'Blanche Heriot, or The Chertsey Curfew', based on a legend from his home town, was produced at the Surrey Theatre and he went on to adapt for the same theatre Charles Dickens' 'The Cricket on the Hearth' (1845) and 'The Battle of Life' (1846).
In 1849 he went on a tour to Constantinople and the Near East. On his return he published his book 'A Month at Constantinople', and shortly afterwards he appeared at Willis's Rooms in a public entertainment about his travels called 'The Overland Mail'. This proved so popular that after he ascended Mont Blanc in August 1851 he published a book about his adventures, 'The Story of Mont Blanc' (1852), he decided to produce an entertainment about the ascent. He hired the Egyptian Hall and produced an entertainment called 'Mont Blanc', which ran for many performances and became the most popular entertainment of its kind ever known, running for more than 2000 performances over six years. And in May 1854 he gave a performance before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Osborne House.
His 'Mont Blanc' entertainment helped to popularize mountain climbing in mid-Victorian Britain and John Ruskin described him as 'the first cockney to ascend Mont Blanc' and he was one of the founder members of the Alpine Club in 1857.
In July 1858 he travelled to Hong Kong. On his return he published his book 'To China and Back' (1859), and in December 1858 he commenced at the Egyptian Hall a third entertainment, called "Mont Blanc to China", which was also extremely popular.
In 1859 he married Mary Lucy Keeley (c1830–1870), who had been an actress and was the elder daughter of the comedian Robert Keeley and his wife the distinguished actress Mary Anne Keeley.
He died from bronchitis on 23 May 1860 in Fulham, London, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery.
During his career he received great help from his brother, Arthur W.W. Smith (1825–1861), who had also been educated in medicine and who managed the entertainments at the Egyptian Hall from 1852 to 1860 and who was also Charles Dickens' reading manager for his first series of readings. He was engaged to play a similar role for a second series, but he died before the tour began.
Gerry Wolstenholme
October 2020
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