Ernest Maltravers Book VI
Ernest Maltravers returns to London wealth, reputation, and rising fame as an author, but his old acquaintance Lumley Ferrers has returned poorer and more calculating, resolved to convert charm and "conduct" into fortune. Ferrers reconnects with his uncle, Mr. Templeton, a rich, cold, self-satisfied man who has remarried a beautiful but silent, melancholy young widow with a small daughter; Templeton confides to Lumley his secret ambition to secure a barony, and Lumley, seeing an opening, offers to work through his kinsman Lord Saxingham, a cabinet minister, positioning himself as indispensable to his uncle's hopes while privately mocking Templeton's piety and vanity. In the Templeton household Lumley notices his aunt's hidden sorrow and her secret devotion to a work of poems that turns out to be by Maltravers, information he files away as useful, and he observes Templeton's controlling, faintly jealous attitude toward his wife's feelings. At a fashionable gathering, Lord Saxingham's daughter, Lady Florence Lascelles, celebrated as the wealthiest and most brilliant heiress in England, is shown scorning the wooden, if genuinely worthy, Duke who seeks her hand, and instead indulging the vain Italian poet Castruccio Cesarini, who dreams of winning her rank and wealth through her professed love of genius. Lumley approaches Florence himself and, sensing a spirit akin to his own, tries to win her sympathy with talk of ambition, but she meets it with intellectual restlessness rather than admiration, revealing she secretly longs for an ideal figure to love rather than any of her actual suitors. Lord Saxingham, meanwhile, urges Lumley to press Templeton's peerage scheme only insofar as it might someday benefit their family connection. Maltravers, despite his outward success, is shown privately worn down by overwork and ill health; a physician warns him that continued literary labor endangers his life, provoking an anguished nighttime meditation on ambition, glory, and mortality. Amid his letters he receives an extraordinary anonymous note from a woman who says she has never met him but reveres his mind through his writings, urging him to abandon mere authorship for a life of action worthy of his powers, and declaring a purely idealized devotion to him. Partly influenced by his doctor's advice and by Cleveland's encouragement, and partly by this mysterious correspondent's exhortations, Maltravers decides to enter public life and secures a seat in Parliament through a close borough, to the surprise of Ferrers, who views politics cynically as merely "the most respectable way of living on the public." At a party given by Lord Latimer, Maltravers is introduced to Florence Lascelles and each is visibly startled and self-conscious in the other's presence, though their conversation itself is stilted; Florence privately confesses to Ferrers her intense curiosity about what Maltravers thinks of her, while Maltravers, observing her wit and pride, tells Cleveland and Ferrers that he admires her beauty but could never love her, claiming (falsely, per Ferrers's account to Florence) that he is already attached to a Frenchwoman — a fabrication Ferrers introduces to steer Florence's feelings for his own undisclosed purposes. The book closes with Ferrers maneuvering between his uncle's peerage ambitions, Lord Saxingham's family calculations, and his growing, self-interested involvement in the entangled feelings between Florence and Maltravers, while the identity of Maltravers's anonymous admirer remains undisclosed to him.
By Edward Bulwer-lytton · First published 1837 · Genre: Romance, Adventure, Drama · 6 chapters · 16,268 words
First lines
Perchance you say that gold's the arch-exceller, And to be rich is sweet? -- EURIP. /Ion./, line 641.
'Tis not to be endured, To yield our trodden path and turn aside, Giving our place to knaves. -- /Ibid./, line 648
What this Textopian page supports
Ernest Maltravers Book VI is listed on Textopian as a novel by Edward Bulwer-lytton, dated 1837 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novel
- Author: Edward Bulwer-lytton
- Date: 1837 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Romance, Adventure, Drama, Philosophical, Historical
- Length: 16,268 words
- Structure: 6 chapters, 364 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Ernest Maltravers Book VI by Edward Bulwer-lytton
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Similar titles
- Ernest Maltravers Book Iv by Edward Bulwer Lytton
- Ernest Maltravers Book Ii by Edward Bulwer Lytton
- Ernest Maltravers Book Iii by Edward Bulwer Lytton
- Ernest Maltravers Book I by Edward Bulwer Lytton
- Ernest Maltravers Book V by Edward Bulwer Lytton
- The Disowned Book V by Edward Bulwer Lytton
Genres
- Romance — The narrative primarily revolves around the romantic relationships and personal development of the protagonist.
- Adventure — The protagonist embarks on various journeys and experiences, encountering challenges and adventures.
- Drama — The narrative is characterized by emotional and dramatic events that impact the characters' lives.
- Philosophical — The narrative explores philosophical themes and questions about life, morality, and the human condition.
Tags
Victorian Era · Gothic Fiction · Romance · Mystery · Suspense · Thriller · Classic Literature · 19th Century · British Literature · English Novel · Serialized Fiction · Family Drama