His Last Fire (13 page)

And what if I'm not dead? What if they think I'm dead but I'm still alive?

‘Take this down, Mr Bearcroft. There is to be no funeral until four weeks after my death.'

‘But Lady Gatcombe . . . ‘

‘No! Don't interrupt. So as not to become offensive, my body is to be washed each day in spirits. Mitchell can do that. Unless she's dead herself of course.

‘Only then may my body be removed from the house. And in two coffins, the outer one of oak. These two will be encased in two more, the outer one of marble and placed in the Gatcombe vault.'

I shall not be disturbed. No sounds will penetrate the marble. No cavorting, moans, squeals will reach my ears. No remarks, titters, gasps at the sight of me. Nor shall I see eyebrows rise, mouths frown, nostrils flare; nothing ridiculous, mocking, no cruelty.

If corpses sing I'll charm myself with songs. No one will hear me. There'll be no applause.

N
OTES

H
IS
L
AST
F
IRE

Cape St Vincent
:
Admirals Jervis and Nelson defeated the Spanish off Cape St Vincent in 1797

Opera hous
e
: This was the King's Theatre, Haymarket.

T
HE
P
LAY
'S THE
T
HING

London
Corresponding
Society
: Consisted largely of artisans, small
traders, clerks and labourers
wanting reform of parliament and elections and manhood suffrage. Corresponded with similar societies throughout the country of which there were about 80. Very active in the 1790s, finally suppressed in 1799.

Catapotium
: Purging pill, to be swallowed without chewing.

Fizz-gi
g
: Gadding, idle gossip.

Cold-bath-fields
: House of Correction, Clerkenwell, built 1794.

F
LASK
B
ETWEEN
THE
L
IPS

Brighthelmstone
: Brighton

Memoirs
:
Memoirs of the Late Mrs Robinson Written by Herself
. This was Mary ‘Perdita' Robinson, actress, writer, notorious beauty.

R
EVO
LUTIONARY

Copeme
n
: Receivers of stolen goods.

Light-horsemen
: Renegade mates of ships and revenue officers.

Scuffle-hunter
s
: Thieves of goods from quaysides.

Tom Paine
: His
Rights of Man vol. I
, price 3/-, sold 50,000 copies in 1791. By 1793, after
vol. II
had been published in 1792, 200,000 copies had been sold. Paine fled to France, was prosecuted in his absence, and
Rights of Man
banned as seditious libel.

S
HELL
:
T
HE
P
EDLAR
'S
T
ALE

Gordon Riots
: In June 1780 the delivery of an Anti-Catholic petition to Parliament by the Protestant Association, led by Lord George Gordon, drew huge crowds which turned riotous. Enormous destruction over several days ravaged London; the army was called in; 285 rioters were killed.

Coram'
s
: Foundling hospital built mid-century in Lamb's Conduit Fields.

S
HELL
:
T
HE
S
AILOR
'S
T
ALE

Victory
: Admiral Duncan defeated the Dutch at Camperdown, October 1797.

Quota-men
: Those who took money to join the navy. Usually prisoners.

Mutiny
: From April-June, 1797, the fleet mutinied at Nore and Spithead.

L
ASCIA
C
H'IO
P
IANGA

A Two-decker Firing
a Morning Gun
: Oil painting by Lieutenant Thomas
Yates, 1790.

Burin
: Engraving tool that cuts directly into metal plate, producing a line which tapers to a point.

Lascia ch'io Pianga
: Aria from Handel's
Rinaldo
(first performed King's Theatre, 1711).

F
ORGIVEN

Foxite
: Follower of Charles James Fox, reformist politician, ‘champion of the People'. Foxite colours, buff and blue, were copied from George Washington's troops.

Thelwall
: John Thelwall, Jacobin, friend of Coleridge. His public lectures drew huge numbers.

S
HRIVEN

D'Oyley and Mant
: The Authorized Version prepared and arranged by The Revd. George D'Oyley BD and The Revd. Richard Mant DD, 1817.

F
ROM
THE
L
IFE

Star-wheel
: Four large spokes in wheel formation to turn rollers of printing press.

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are due to the editors of
The London Magazine
for publishing ‘His Last Fire' and an earlier version of ‘The Play's the Thing';
Penpusher
for an earlier version of ‘Flask Between the Lips';
New Welsh Review
for ‘Forgiven' and
Ambit
for ‘Eels' and ‘Mad'.

A
UTHOR
B
IO

Alix Nathan was born in London and educated there and at York University where she read English and Music. She now lives in the Welsh Marches where she owns some ancient woodland. She has published many short stories and her novel
The Flight of Sarah Battle
will come out with Parthian in 2015. She has recently completed another novel,
Into the Depths
.

T
HE
F
LIGHT OF
S
ARAH
B
ATTLE

Born in her father's coffee house in Exchange Alley, London, Sarah Battle is brought up in an alcohol and smoke-thick atmosphere. Witnessing and suffering from the destruction of the Gordon Riots in 1780, she longs to escape her surroundings into a better life.

Her first attempt is via marriage to a man who's not what she thinks
he is. Her second sees her in the brave new democratic world of late 1790s Philadelphia where she experiences deep love, warm friendship. On her final journey, exhilarating, dangerous, Sarah's vision of both past and future reveals the direction of a new life.

The Flight of Sarah Battle
is set in the turbulent final decade of the
18th century in a London of rioters and revolutionaries hoping for a French invasion, and Philadelphia, bursting with new building and hope, with a democracy not quite fully fledged and shadowed by the terrible threat of yellow fever.

To follow in March 2015...

C
OPYRIGHT
I
NFORMATION

Parthian

The Old Surgery

Napier Street

Cardigan

SA43 1ED

www.parthianbooks.com

This ebook edition first published by Parthian in 2014

© Alix Nathan

All Rights Reserved

Epub ISBN 978-1-908946-88-1

Mobi ISBN 978-1-909844-15-5

The publisher acknowledges the financial support of the Welsh Books Council.

Edited by Claire Houguez

Cover design by theundercard.co.uk

The right of Alix Nathan to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.