Lucy Temple

Lucy Temple follows the life of Lucy Blakeney, the daughter of Charlotte Temple, whose story of seduction and abandonment is told in the companion novel Charlotte Temple. Set in England in the 1790s, the novel traces the fates of three orphaned young women under the guardianship of a country rector near Southampton.

The novel opens with 15-year-old Lucy tending the lame leg of Sergeant Blandford, an old soldier, at his cottage. Mrs. Cavendish, the sister-in-law of Lucy's guardian, scolds her for demeaning herself by associating with the poor, but the Reverend Mr. Matthews, Lucy's guardian and the local rector, defends her. Lucy recalls her late grandfather, who taught her that true consequence comes from being useful to others.

Lucy's mother died giving birth to her, and she was raised by her maternal grandparents. Captain Blakeney, her godfather, left her over 20,000 pounds on the condition that she and any future husband adopt the Blakeney name; failure would forfeit the principal, leaving Lucy with only the accumulated interest. After both grandparents died, she inherited additional money, making her a considerable heiress. Mr. Matthews, a clergyman of deep integrity, serves as her guardian along with Sir Robert Ainslie, a London banker.

Two other orphans share the household. Lady Mary Lumly, nearly 17, was raised by an indulgent mother who filled her with romantic fantasies and a prejudice favoring noble blood. She is pretty but vain and quick to take offense. Aura Melville, the daughter of a poor clergyman who died in her embrace when she was 10, was taken in by Mr. Matthews, who told his wife that "Providence has sent us a daughter" (10). By 19, Aura is graceful, modest, and well-informed.

Mr. Matthews teaches Lady Mary about charity through a long parish walk, visiting families who endure poverty with gratitude and resignation. At the hovel where Lady Mary had found a destitute family with her friend Miss Brenton, they discover Lucy and Aura have already arranged provisions, bedding, and a nurse for less than two pounds. Mr. Matthews explains that targeted charity produces lasting benefit, while large sums given indiscriminately paralyze industry.

In the summer of 1794, when Lucy is 20, the family relocates to Brighton. Edward Ainslie, Sir Robert's son, introduces his friend Lieutenant Franklin, the eldest son of a wealthy colonel of artillery. A misunderstanding develops: Lucy's modest dress and habit of purchasing fine things for Aura lead everyone to assume Aura is the heiress and Lucy the dependent orphan. Franklin, charmed by Lucy, resolves to scrutinize her character before offering his hand.

At a Brighton library, an ailing military veteran faints. When Lucy offers her smelling salts, the veteran sees her face and recoils, exclaiming that the vision haunts him. Franklin arrives, assists his parents into their carriage, and they leave Brighton abruptly. At a military ball, Franklin's attentions to Lucy become pointed. Meanwhile, Lady Mary becomes infatuated with Sir Stephen Haynes, a baronet, a hereditary title below the peerage. Mr. Matthews discovers Sir Stephen has dissipated his inheritance and warns Lady Mary, but she refuses to listen.

After the family returns to Hampshire, Lady Mary turns 21, takes possession of her fortune, and elopes to Gretna Green, a Scottish border village known for clandestine marriages, with Sir Stephen and Miss Brenton. She leaves a letter explaining she has given Sir Stephen her entire fortune. Within days, he reveals his contempt, takes the women to a remote cottage belonging to his associate Richard Craftly, and vanishes, leaving a note announcing his departure for France and denying Lady Mary any claim to the Haynes name. Miss Brenton had misled Sir Stephen about the size of Lady Mary's fortune to facilitate the match. Craftly suppresses Lady Mary's letters on Sir Stephen's orders. She falls into fever but is nursed to health by Craftly's mother and sister.

Meanwhile, Mr. Matthews secures Lucy's promise not to enter any engagement before her 21st birthday, when she will read an unfinished letter her dying grandfather left with the pen still in his hand. Franklin visits Hampshire and declares his feelings, but when he learns Lucy is actually a wealthy heiress who would forfeit her fortune unless he adopts the Blakeney name, he hesitates out of integrity and departs without a formal engagement.

On her 21st birthday, Lucy hosts a festival for the parish poor. Mr. Matthews distributes 100 pounds among them, and Lucy and Aura present garments they have prepared. That evening, Lucy reads her grandfather's letter, which assures her she may forfeit the Blakeney principal rather than reject a man she loves. Its most urgent directive charges her never to marry anyone of a particular family name, but the letter breaks off at an unfinished capital that could be N, M, or A.

Mr. Matthews sends a copy to Franklin, noting none of the suspect names resembles "F." Franklin returns, and wedding preparations begin. Then an urgent summons draws Franklin to London, where his father lies dying. Franklin shows him a miniature portrait of Lucy's mother that he had taken from Lucy. The colonel recognizes the initials C. T. on the reverse and cries out that the woman Franklin would marry is his own daughter. He directs his son to his private desk and dies.

The desk contains a manuscript revealing that Colonel Franklin's original name was Montraville. He changed it partly to escape the name under which he seduced Charlotte Temple, Lucy's mother. The manuscript takes full blame for Charlotte's elopement, proves her faithfulness, and offers this posthumous testimony as his only reparation. Lucy and Franklin are half-siblings. Franklin transfers to a regiment bound for India, asks Edward to deliver the news with only the words "God bless her" (81), and leaves England.

Edward tells Lucy that Franklin is lost to her. She collapses into a violent fever. When she recovers, Mr. Matthews reveals the full truth. Lucy receives the disclosure with unexpected composure, consoled that Franklin yielded to a terrible necessity rather than abandoning her by choice. She founds a seminary for female children near the rectory and devotes herself to charitable work.

Edward inherits an estate in Cumberland, where he discovers Lady Mary at a remote cottage, feverish and delirious. After weeks of care, her reason returns. She recounts how she found intercepted letters revealing the conspiracy against her, escaped during a local fair, and read that Sir Stephen had been killed in a duel in Paris, a shock that shattered her mental stability. Edward and Aura, who have declared their mutual feelings, marry in a village celebration. Lady Mary finds a permanent home with Mr. Matthews.

Years later, the surviving characters reunite. Edward reads a letter from Mrs. Franklin, Lieutenant Franklin's mother, in America reporting that her son transferred to a regiment in Spain and distinguished himself in the Peninsular War. Wounded while leading his men, he was bayoneted as he lay helpless. When the Duke of Wellington offered to punish the French soldier, Franklin refused: "I am not able to designate him; and if I could do it with certainty, be assured, sir, that I never would" (105). He died shortly after.

Lucy lives out her remaining years in serene composure, devoted to benevolence and sustained by religious faith. Those who witnessed her mother's ruin acknowledge, in the daughter's life, the power that can bring "out of the most bitter and blighting disappointments, the richest fruits of virtue and happiness" (106).