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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #52734.
The Scourge of God is a historical romance set against the turbulent backdrop of Louis XIV’s France, weaving together themes of inheritance, religious persecution, and court intrigue. The novel opens in the lavish yet somber chambers of the dying Princesse de Rochebazon, whose final moments are filled with whispered counsel, political maneuvering, and a desperate plea to divert a vast inheritance away from an English Protestant heir toward the Catholic cause. Through richly detailed description of the princess’s surroundings, tapestries, gilt pilasters, and the solemn presence of a monk, the narrative immediately immerses the reader in the opulent yet fraught world of French aristocracy, hinting at the broader conflict between the crown’s absolutist ambitions and the plight of Huguenot dissenters.
Burton’s prose reflects the late‑Victorian penchant for elaborate, melodramatic storytelling, echoing the style of Stevenson, Rider Haggard, and Stanley Weyman. The language is ornate, with long, flowing sentences and a strong emphasis on dialogue and interior monologue, while the chapter headings, often rendered in French, reinforce the period’s fascination with exoticism and historical detail. Readers who enjoy dense, atmospheric historical fiction, especially those drawn to the interplay of personal drama and the larger religious wars of early‑18th‑century France, will find this work a compelling, if demanding, immersion into a world of royal splendor and moral conflict.
The opening · free to read
BY J. BLOUNDELLE-BURTON.
Each, 12mo, cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.
The Clash of Arms.
In this stirring romance of the seventeenth century the reader shares the adventures of an English officer who serves under Turenne in his German campaigns. The author has written an engrossing story of love and war.
Denounced.
"The author of 'Denounced' is second to none in the romantic recounting of the tales of earlier days. A story of the critical times of the vagrant and ambitious Charles I, it is so replete with incident and realistic happenings that one seems translated to the very scenes and days of that troublous era in English history. The interest throughout is of that absorbing and magnetic kind that holds one's attention closely from the first chapter to the last."--_Boston Courier_.
"We do not hesitate to declare that Mr. Bloundelle-Burton's new romance will be very hard to beat in its own particular line. . . . Mr. Burton's creative skill is of the kind which must fascinate those who revel in the narratives of Stevenson, Rider Haggard, and Stanley Weyman. Even the author of 'A Gentleman of France' has not surpassed the writer of 'In the Day of Adversity' in the moving interest of his tale."--_St. James's Gazette_.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
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