The Flashman Papers 10 - Flashman & the angel of the lord

Author:George Macdonald Fraser
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-04-20T23:00:00+00:00

APPENDIX I: Flashman and John Brown

Flashman's was not an affectionate nature. That he loved (or at least was enthralled by) his wife, Elspeth, is evident from his memoirs, and now and then his regard for other ladies goes some way beyond the merely physical usually, one suspects, when he is writing in a mood of brandy-assisted nostalgia. But outside his family - he plainly doted on his great-grandchildren, and felt for his natural son, Frank Standing Bear, a paternal affection which lasted for several days - he seldom finds much to like in people. He betrays an occasional fellow-feeling, at a safe distance, for such rascals as Rudi von Starnberg, and has a half-amiable tolerance of acquaintances whom he has no cause to detest, like his old chief, Colin Campbell, and his Afghan blood-brother, Ilderim Khan. But that, as a rule, is his limit.

Yet he seems to have had a kind of protective affection for John Brown. Underneath the sneers and curses there is a hint of indulgence, an inclination to defend the old nuisance and even to give him a Tuscan cheer, which is not characteristic of Flashman. We may be sure it springs from no kindly or charitable impulse, or the least sympathy with Brown's aims; he found the man and his mission ridiculous, and writes of them with contempt. At the same time, he remembers Brown as "a bloody hard man to dislike", which is a rare tribute. Of course, it may have been a gratifying novelty to Flashman to come across a strong and fearsome autocrat who treated him with some deference and respect; a strong man, moreover, whom he could manipulate, and in whom he detected an appealing streak of humbug. And however lofty his disdain of Brown, there is no doubt that he took a perverse pride in their association: "I was one of John Brown's pet lambs, after all." This is pure Flashman. Throughout his memoirs, he revels in reflected glory, the more so when it is ingloriously undeserved, and when it comes to "dining out", Harper's Ferry plainly ranks with Balaclava and Little Big Horn and Cawnpore. One detects a condescending gratitude to Brown and his ragged commandos for adding another leaf to the Flashman laurels, and a complacent satisfaction that he helped them along the road to immortality.

Whether he liked Brown or not, he has done him justice. The figure who stalks his narrative is the man of the biographies and contemporary accounts, even to his quoted speech, thoughts, manner, appearance, and the small details of everyday. From their first meeting at Concord to the last glimpse of the weary, serene old prisoner lying in the pay-master's office, Flashman's story tallies convincingly with recorded fact, and differs no more from the standard authorities than they do from each other. His record of Brown's travels in the North may be verified in Villard, as may his account of life at the Kennedy Farm, of which Mrs Annie Brown Adams, Brown's daughter, who acted as look-out for the conspirators, has left a lively record.

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