Marmion Savage’s first novel, The Falcon Family; or, Young Ireland, satirized parasitic socialites, traditionalists within the Church of England, and the Young Ireland Party, a group of extremists who campaigned for Ireland’s independence. Published anonymously, the novel proved popular, although its heavy-handed, relentless, and sometimes strained humor worked against that popularity in later generations.

Savage focuses on the English Falcon family of the novel’s title for its plot framework. That family includes Mr. Peregrine Falcon, nicknamed “Red Rover” for his red nose and mobile lifestyle; his wife, Mrs. Falcon, nicknamed “The Gypsy” for transient ways equal to those of her husband; their three daughters, one of whom adds to the novel’s romantic-interest subplot; and a son. The Falcons have a reputation for moving into the homes of acquaintances under the ruse of a temporary visit and commandeering, long-term, all resources. They so traumatize their reluctant “hosts” that members of high society tremble when they hear the family’s name.

Savage satirizes the Falcons’ victims as much as he does the Falcons themselves. Too embarrassed to shirk their perceived social duty by turning away a family they all clearly detest and recognize as opportunists, the entire upper echelon of Marylebone allows itself to be held hostage by the hard and fast rules of hospitality. Specifically, “the Puddicomes, of Wimpole-street quaked; the Jenkinsens of Portland Place were fluttered; a family of Duckworths retreated to Norwood; and the Bompases, of Bryanston-square, were divided between burning their house and starting upon a continental tour” when they heard that the Falcon family was on the move.

The Freemans agree to let them move in, but abandon their house to the unwanted guests, despite the fact that they describe Mrs. Falcon as having “peculiarities,” including “vagrant habits, and the loose morality: she’s Egyptian all over; a handsome strolling beggar,” because, as Mrs. Freeman points out, the Falcons are “such friends of the Bompases.” Mr. Falcon was “living proof that a man may be shallow, without being indebted to Cambridge, or under the slightest obligation to Oxford.” These two caricatures provide much of the novel’s comedy.

As Savage maps the Falcon family’s strategy for survival, he transports them to Ireland, where Falcon takes one of dozens of various positions he has held, becoming “Secretary to the Irish Branch Society for the Conversion of the Polish Jews.” Savage also traces the activities of additional characters, including the Irish students Mr. Tigernach Mac Morris and Mr. Dominick Moore, who agree that in Ireland “your poets are politicians and your politicians poets.” They decide that when classes dismiss, they will briefly suspend their poet lifestyle and join the Young Ireland Club, Savage’s send-up of the Young Ireland Party, simply as a hobby. They are joined by Virus Verdaunt, the Brehon; Myrald O’Harper, the Bard; Shane Mac Ever-boy; and his brother Vincent, all of whom attend meetings at the Hall of Clamour.

Savage makes fun of every aspect of the political group, including their yellow-shirted uniforms. In one memorable scene, Shane pulls out an enormous stretch of saffron-colored material, a shirt that Vincent mistakes as a curtain. The conversation includes mention of a statute by Henry VIII prohibiting the use of saffron dye, and of the English poet Edmund Spenser’s criticism in his essay State of Ireland of the “glybbe, the mantle, and the saffron shirt.” In further satire of Ireland itself, when Falcon questions why it is called the Green Isle, one native replies that he yearns for “less babbling of green fields” and “more tilling of them.”

Jibes against the ritualization of the church include one scene in which two pages of detail describe the ornate fixtures in one chapel. It holds a special reliquary box that contains a tooth of St. Munchin, with altars tended by lovely young virgins. As the plot evolves, a romance develops between Emily Falcon and Tigernach Mac Morris, with class expectations causing conflict. All conflict resolves, however, when Tigernach is recognized as possessing sufficient funds and social standing to meet Mrs. Falcon’s demands for her daughter. The book concludes with “the Norman falcon” swooping “up the Celtic eaglet” or, as Moore sums up, “This is the Norman invasion all over again—a new chapter for Thierry.”

Some critics view Savage’s gentle satire as an expression of his affection for both England and Ireland, with the young people’s marriage symbolizing essential political arbitration. He believed moderation was the key to solving the England/Ireland problems of the 1840s.

Bibliography
Paralee, Norman. Marmion Wilme Savage: Dublin’s Victorian Satirist. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 2000.

Categories: British Literature, Irish Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis

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