Pertinent Prose Fictions
From 1714 to 1725, Barker wrote a series of novels, beginning in 1714 with Exilius; or, The Banished Roman and ending in 1725 with The Lining of the Patch Work Screen. In 1714, the death of Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, spurred a deluge of pro-Stuart writings expressing anxieties toward the succession of the Hanoverian George I and the change of ministry. Among other pro-Stuart writings, Barker’s Exilius (1715) was published by Edmund Curll, who saw its market potential during this period of political upheaval. An old fashioned heroic romance, Exilius applauded the loyalty and moral integrity held by Stuart supporters, whose determination and steadfast adherence to the Jacobite Ideals permitted them to triumph over adverse circumstances.
Barker’s subsequent novels, however, were less optimistic. The new Hanoverian regime resolved to crush all Jacobite and Catholic oppositions, many members of which having been executed, imprisoned, or forced into exile. Shortly after the hanging of the Jacobite conspirator Christopher Layer and the exile of Bishop Francis Atterbury in 1723, Barker published the novel A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies, which develops themes of frustration and failed attempts to achieve spiritual integrity, in response to the bleak events of recent history.
The sequel, The Lining of the Patch Work Screen (1726), explores a Jacobite’s dilemma in pacifying the rival demands of the new Hanoverian regime and his/her spiritual inclination.
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