The Tale of Robert Tomson

He was delated to the Inquisition,* was condemned to do three years’ penance, and was sent back as a prisoner to Seville. On his release, he took the post of cashier in the office of an English merchant, and then chanced to meet a lady who had sailed from Mexico with her father who died on the voyage. Finding her unprotected, and the possessor of some £25,000, he chivalrously married her, and recounts the fact “to show the goodness of God to all them that trust Him”.

In this story, we have all the characteristics of the modern Englishman — an adventurous spirit, practical sagacity, a resolve to succeed, a willingness to seek his fortune in any way, courage to face dangers, cheerfulness under disaster, perseverance in the sphere which he has chosen. Moreover we find him, even in those early days, personally acceptable in the land where he goes, valued for his capacity and probity, treated with kindness and consideration, exciting no animosity, and intermarrying with the folk amongst whom he lives. Yet, all the while, he remains every inch an Englishman, does not change his ideas or modify his opinions, cannot hold his tongue when he is challenged, but is ready to put everybody right. Finally, because of these very qualities, he inspires such confidence in his general uprightness that a defenceless girl feels secure under his protection and commits herself and her possessions to his care.*

* ‘Delated’ means ‘denounced’: an informer in the Roman Empire was called a delator. The Inquisition was a programme conducted by several Roman Catholic states with the blessing of the Pope, designed to root out heretics and other undesirables, and consolidate centralised power. The Spanish Inquisition began in 1478 under King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile, and lasted until 1834.

* For another pen-portrait of the English national character, see The Englishman by Spanish-American writer George Santayana, written during the Great War.

Précis
Tomson was deported back to Seville to serve a three-year sentence. Soon after his release, he married a wealthy heiress who had just lost her father at sea. Historian Mandell Creighton reflected that the typically English traits of dogged resilience and outspoken courage that had nearly ruined Robert also led a woman to entrust him with her life and fortune.
Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

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