Mistress Masham's Repose

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Mistress Masham's Repose (1946) is a novel by T. H. White that describes the adventures of a girl who discovers a group of Lilliputians, a race of tiny people from Jonathan Swift's satirical classic Gulliver's Travels. The story is set in Northamptonshire, England, during or just after the Second World War, but it has a strong flavour of the 18th century, both the fictional land of Lilliput and the actual world of Swift, Gibbon, and Pope.

[edit] Characters

Maria - A ten year old orphan living under the watchful eye of her governess Miss Brown.

Miss Brown - Tall, fat, strict woman, only interested in making Maria's life as awful as possible and keeping Maria's inheritance and any money for herself.

The Vicar - Mr. Hater; as greedy as Miss Brown.

The Cook - Friendly woman who spends most of her time cooking for the household and caring for Maria, whom she loves. In the ruined Palace of Malplaquet, she has to cycle most of the way from the kitchen to the habitable parts.

Captain - The Cook's fat collie dog.

The Professor - Gentle caricature of the poor but learned, absent-minded professor; he is fond of Maria, and capable of summoning great resolution and courage in order to defend her. Miss Brown does her best to keep him away from Maria.

[edit] Settings

Malplaquet - The dilapidated palace in which Maria lives was partially based on Stowe School at which the author taught, but the name and many of the characteristics of the grounds and building are taken from Blenheim Palace, the residence of the Dukes of Marlborough. The name is an historical in-joke; it depends upon knowing that Blenheim was the first of the the first duke's great battles, and Malplaquet was his fourth and last.

The Repose - A tiny forgotten island in the middle of the lake on the grounds of Malplaquet, which is occupied by descendants of the Lilliputians, brought to England two centuries earlier. It provides the perfect setting for their timid and secretive civilisation, as it is only accessible by boat and protected by a wall of brambles, carefully cultivated by the island's occupants. Many of the monuments on the grounds of Malplaquet recall notable figures of the early 18th century; Mistress Masham's Repose commemorates Abigail Masham, a close confidante of Queen Anne, who however has no other significance to the story.