title: The Hidden Springs
author: Wynn-Jones, Aplyn
description: Not quite history - but more than 'a tale of the Forty-five' - this explores the perennial questions: How could Charles Stuart land with just seven companions and persuade the Highlands to rise? Why did the Scots turn back at Derby, with the road to London open before them? And. . . if they had not returned? James Oglethorpe is little-known, but he was a more pleasant companion than Drake or Nelson and led a life no less active and diverse. How many exhilarating figures have we not quite forgotten, but not widely remembered? Our story is set in the reigns of Queen Anne and the early Georges. We face the beauty and squalor, the cruelty and kindness, the tragedy and the fun. It was the age of 'Gin Lane' and of Gainsborough's ladies; the slave trade and Wren's churches; Blenheim and Fontenoy. . . but a time of discovery and invention too. It was corrupt, cruel and smelly. But worse than our day? Is slavery for greed worse than genocide for reasoned policy? At least a poor redcoat could lie among flowers with a skylark singing overhead, there were butterflies and horses and children playing in the street. If life was shorter, there was all the more reason to live it with zest and grace. There's true love in the tale too - not sewn on to make a story, but woven in the fabric.