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  By Talia Felix

  Apr 21, 2011
  Originally published as The Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender, John Davidson's book seems to have been better known for the Aubrey Beardsley frontspiece than for the actual contents of the story, even when it was first published. However, the literary reviews of the time were generally quite positive (at least amongst those who weren't too offended or scandalized by the whipping scenes -- or Beardsley's drawing thereof.) The actual premise of the story, that someone follows Evolution instead of religion, and is thereby led into a series of wacky mini-adventures, could easily have been written today. Davidson was primarily a poet, and a poet-like imagination is evidently at work in the story. Lord Brumm's interest in puns, Mrs. Scamler's tendency to accidentally "speak" in poems, reflect this. The actual plot is relatively thin. The gentlemen, Earl Lavender and Lord Brumm, are respectively fleeing from their wife and fiancée. Earl Lavender also thinks that he is the... More > fittest of all men, and that he must find for himself the fittest of all women to mate with. (It seems, though is never explicitly said, that the newlywed Mr. Emblem -- now calling himself Earl Lavender -- had undergone what we'd nowadays refer to as a "nervous breakdown" immediately after his wedding, which has led to his flight, his mission and his new religion.) The abandoned Mrs. Scamler and Mrs. Emblem have followed the fellows to London and are in pursuit; but the men don't seem to be aware that they're being followed, and so proceed leisurely about the town, meeting assorted weirdos who are attracted to Earl Lavender, if not his message of Evolution. The real meat of the story is actually in the side-stories -- Mrs. Scamler's recollections of trying to learn French and trying to win herself a husband, the crazy foreign waiter who wants to kill Lavender and Brumm after they cause him to lose his job, the Scotsman who is found being attacked by a giant "ourang-outang" in the woods. One nineteenth century review compared Earl Lavender to "The New Arabian Nights" which seems fair. I personally incline to compare it to Tom Robbins or the later Delacorta books. It's definitely not your typical Victorian literature. I recommend this book, and deduct the one star from my rating only because I found the ending a bit rushed and unsatisfactory (though THAT, I'm afraid, is common with Victorian literature.) There were points in this story where I was laughing out loud reading it, and I hope others will find it similarly enjoyable.< Less
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