Exit Lady Masham

by Louis Auchincloss

Young Abigail Hill, an impoverished cousin of Sarah Churchill who becomes a maid to Queen Anne, is called upon to prevent a bloody war between the Duke of Marlborough and Louis XIV

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

169 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Louis Stanton Auchincloss was an American novelist, historian, and essayist.

Among Auchincloss's best-known books are the multi-generational sagas The House of Five Talents, Portrait in Brownstone, and East Side Story. Other well-known novels include The Rector of Justin, the tale of a renowned headmaster of a school like Groton trying to deal with changing times, and The Embezzler, a look at white-collar crime. Auchincloss is known for his closely observed portraits of old New York and New England society.

Reviews

[dianne b. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore historical novels, especially when they’re about a fairly ignored time. Let’s set the stage: Western Europe is fighting over the War of the Spanish Succession. The Habsburgs have inbred themselves so thoroughly that the Final Result is the drooling severely intellectually diminished, clumsy Spanish ruler Charles II, aka El Hechizado (the Bewitched). He was incapable of normal speech due to his Ever-So-Regal Habsburg jaw, sterile, and curiously affectionate with his father’s disinterred corpse. But I digress - this war is about his death without an heir. The closest successor was Philip of Anjou - a grandson of Louis XIV. No sirree! squealed England, that much land / power / money one baby step away from Louis The Sun King was anathema to Europe’s balance of power.

So, war due to inbreeding...and we’re off. Meanwhile in jolly old England, Queen Anne has followed her likewise infertile sister Mary to the throne in 1702, and looks to be the end of the House of Stuart. Inordinate power is held by The Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill and his glamorous, extravagant wife Sarah. John is kicking a great deal of French ass on the continent, Sarah is running Queen Anne’s household (and purse) and building the vast and glorious home, Blenheim in lovely Buckinghamshire. She has also saved a poor cousin from her lot as a washerwoman, and brought her in to be a maid in the royal household. The poor cousin (Lady Masham) becomes Queen Anne’s absolute favorite, perhaps because she, unlike everyone around them, has no political agenda. Sarah is seriously not happy about this friendship, seeing her own closeness and control diminished by it.

Anne is distressed by the war - at one point confiding that she is basically not heartless enough to be a monarch, probably due to her mother’s status as a commoner. The Queen seems more concerned about the dead on the battlefield than the Glorious Victories that the Duke is winning, and would like to end the slaughter.

This is a well told story with a major cameo by Jonathan Swift, a keen look at the brutality of Court Life, and a new (for me) angle on Anne, a queen who loved her people enough to draw an ending. She accepted “...that Europe could be saved only by something that had never happened before in recorded history: the withdrawal by the victor from the battle.”

[Vishy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Pat Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know of John and Sarah Churchill, the Marlboroughs, although perhaps you know them primarily as the forbears of Sir Winston Churchill. You may even be aware of the stormy relationship between the Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart line to reign in England. But have you heard of the Queen's chamber-woman, Abigail Hill?

Or maybe you know her better as Lady Masham, the reputed lesbian lover of the Queen.

Auchincloss wrote this novel, the first-person look at this tempestuous triangle, from the point of view of Abigail Hill, later Lady Masham. Abigail was a first cousin (cousin-german, in the parlance of the era) of Sarah Jennings Churchill. She was one of four children from a bankrupt family, and was working as a laundress when Sarah took her up to be nanny to the Churchill children.

At the time, Sarah was the intimate favorite of Princess Anne, the heir to William and Mary. Auchincloss uses Abigail's position to voice the complexities of succession in England at the time, and to foreshadow the future troubles between Sarah and Abigail. Although Abigail constantly refers to herself as "a red-nosed, brown-faced laundress," Sarah becomes jealous of her ability to talk with the Earl, John Churchill. To remove her from the house, but still take advantage of her abilities, Sarah recommends Abigail to Queen Anne as bedchamberwoman.

In a less exalted milieu I should have been considered a chambermaid, but royalty sheds dignity over the most menial tasks.

Once there, history tells us that Abigail supplanted Lady Churchill as the favorite. (Although the fact that Sarah was made Mistress of the Robes after Anne's coronation argues that she continued to be a favorite for years after the introduction of Abigail Hill.)

In the perfervid political climate of the Palace, Abigail falls into the pacifist camp of another cousin, Lord Harvey and his coterie of literary folk. She marries one of his friends, and works with Harvey and Irish activist and anti-Papist Jonathan Swift. They want Abigail to encourage the Queen to withdraw her support for the War of Spanish Succession, and for her Captain-General, the Duke of Marlborough. The first step in that campaign is the removal of Sarah from her post at court.

In Lady Masham's world, the equivalent of blogging is one's propensity to correspond. Writers collected letters (especially from the famous), and published them with their own letters, editing as they desired. Queen Anne's fear that Sarah will publish correspondence between them, edited to indicate the Queen's attraction for Sarah was "distasteful" (subtly helped along by Lady Masham), finally tips the balance.

This is a short novel, and a very charming tale of nasty political infighting and influence. That it is dedicated to Barbara Tuchman is not surprising; that it is reminiscent of much in politics today, surprisingly—is.

[Adelais · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ще один варіант того, як посварилися королева Анна і герцогиня Мальборо, розказаний від імені Ебіґейл Мешем. Це такі собі мемуари Ебіґейл, які вона пише вже на засланні у маєтку і розповідає про свою службу спершу у герцогині, потім в королеви, не забуваючи про політичні інтриги і своє складне особисте життя.
Дивне враження залишилося. Герцогиня і королева дуже гарно протиставлені одна одній, перша у своїй непоступливості, а друга у непоступливій лагідності. Добре видно, що спокійних людей, наділених спадковою монархічною владою, теж краще не доводити за отаких історичних обставин, гм. Палацовими покоями бігають кілька лордів-інтриганів, не таких яскравих, але все одно гарно змальованих, а от Свіфт прямо диявол-громовержець, чарам якого неможливо опиратися.
Власне, в цьому моя претензія і є — сама Ебіґейл вийшла якась невизначена, як варена морква. Вона тільки й робить, що виправдовується, а через те непереконлива ані в нав’язаній ролі політичної інтриганки, а ні в якості слабкої билинки, що тільки й прагне тихого життя. Якоїсь би більшої виразності головній героїні, і роман з просто цікавого став би чудовим.

[Walford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is much better than I remembered. I read it when it came out in 1983 and thought it was rather ho-hum, but my older eyes see so much more depth and wisdom. I have not seen 'The Favourite' yet so cannot say how closely it follows the film version. I know the voice of Lady Masham is completely different, as imagined by Auchincloss, from the Emma Stone portrayal (I have seen previews), and she is very endearing here. Very good period, wonderfully delineated characters. Wish Auchincloss had written others like this.

[Darlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

We are privy to the intrigues in the English Court of Queen Anne (early 1700's) through the memoirs of her bedchamberwoman Abigail Hill, later Lady Masham, whose loyal obeisance is eventually muddied because of a roving ear for intellectuals and their agendas. The history overwhelmed the fiction for me.

[Lil Bringuier · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst. I enjoyed it but I found some parts very boring. I think this deserves more of a 3.5 instead of a 3.

[Frank Marzano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read... The Stuart era in British history had many more interesting stories than I realized.

[Drasko Kovrlija · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional little book. Superbly written.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Story

Written as the secret memoirs of Abigail Masham, this book- after sketching in her family background and childhood- concentrates on the brief period of Lady Masham's life when she was bedchamber woman to and close confidante of Queen Anne.

The Good

The story has considerable intrigue: Lady Masham supplanted her cousin, the powerful Sarah Churchill, both in the Queen's affections and in the various court positions she held. This earned her the enmity of both Sarah and her husband, the Duke of Marlborough. At the same time it made her attractive to the Marlborough's political enemies, the Tory party. Auchincloss very deftly portrays this intrigue, managing to be neither pedantic nor heavy-handed. I especially liked his skill in compressing time: where some writers might give a dull, blow-by-blow account of every irrelevant detail that had happened over a number of years, Auchincloss describes them in a relatively few pages without leaving out anything important. He is also one of the rare authors to portray Queen Anne in a sympathetic and even flattering light, rather than as the dim-witted oaf she is often dismissed as.



The Bad

The book can sometimes come across more as superficial history than a novel. For those who don't know this period of English history, this is not a bad fictionalized introduction. But while Auchincloss sketches excellent, three dimensional portraits of most of the characters - Queen Anne, Lord and Lady Masham, the Marlboroughs- he doesn't do the same for others, namely Oxford and Bolingbroke. There are times when I wished he would get inside people's heads more.



Historical accuracy:

I spotted one mistake: Abigail was 37, not 27, when she married. Other than that, the day-to-day life is well but sparsely described. 9/10

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by this author. It was an interesting historical novel, but not my normal type of book. It took me a while to get into it, and I enjoyed learning about Queen Anne and her time. But I didn't like the ending and it felt sort of unfinished.

[Sharon Connell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like the story at all.

[Elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read this book, but I do remember enjoying it.