Lost Laughter

Author’s NoteThe Fleet Prison, which stood near the Fleet Market in London was where debtors were taken and forced to stay until they were either bailed out or their debts were paid by their friends and relatives. Tobias Smollet, who was afterwards imprisoned for libel, wrote a book explaining how deplorably the prisoners were treated. Everything depended, as in other prisons, on having enough money to bribe the jailors with and to be able to purchase what they required from the innumerable hawkers, tradesmen and shops in the vicinity. There was, however, a worse hazard in the prisons even than being without money. This was the ‘jail fever’ that swept through all the prisons at this time due to insanitary conditions and bad water. Being taken to the Fleet Prison meant that one not only lost one’s freedom but very often one’s life. This is the first novel I have written in which the hero has been a Viscount. This title dates from the beginning of the tenth century and is descended from the Office of Deputy or Lieutenant (Vice-Comes) of a Count. Henry VI, crowned King of England and France, created John Lord Beaumont in 1440 ‘Viscount Beaumont in England and Vicomte Beaumont in France’. The title received precedence above all Barons, but it did not become popular until the seventeenth century. The eldest son of a Marquis or an Earl is often given the honorary title of Viscount, but in this case he is not entitled to sit in the House of Lords.