ABSTRACT
The story of John de Lancaster is neither long nor complicated. The principal character and real hero of the novel is Robert de Lancaster, an ancient Welch Esquire, whose character is derived from that of Mr. Tristam Shandy, senior, chequered with the hundred attributes of Cornelius Scriblerus, father of the renowned Martinus. He is a great reader of all learned works as convey neither instruction nor information, and in perusing the ancient historians, whether of the classical or Gothic periods, 'holds each stranger tale devoutly true'. He credits a tradition, which affirms that his ancestor taught King Bladud to fly; and another concerning an island in Ireland where the natives are immortal. While Mrs. Philip De Lancaster was quietly dying at Kray Castle, her husband was suddenly seized with the fancy of setting out to take lodgings for her at Montpellier.
