An important contribution to the canon of Canadian literature

FULL REVIEW

Scenes in Paris; Confidence men; Paris during the restoration; Swindlers
Frascati's; or Scenes in Paris appeared in London in 1830 after John Richardson, Canada's first novelist, had published his popular selling novel, Écarté; or the Salons of Paris in 1829. The novels deal with the English community in Restoration Paris in the 1820s, but are very different in design and treatment of character. Frascati's, named after the gaming-house, Frascati, is a satirically funny novel as it follows the adventures of two naive rich Irishman duped by a group of confidence tricksters in Paris. The con-man Major Nimbleton is a superbly realized character and should have become a major figure in literature. The perceptive but vain Rambleton Morris, who tells the story in the form of his journal, is a masterpiece of self-delusion. An underlying love story features the niece of one of the Irishmen and a young Englishman, who is a victim of his best friend who has fallen in with the sharpers in a sinister way.

The philosophical air and worldly satire of the novel are owing to Richardson's co-author, Justin Brenan from Dublin, Ireland, whom Richardson knew in Paris. Brenan studied philosophy and ancient languages as well as issuing many editions of a manual on English composition. The novel is not only a good read about the gambling vice that is endemic among Canadians today but an important contribution to the canon of Canadian literature. John Richardson lived in the Paris of the Restoration period, which he describes so well, from 1820 to 1827. Born in Upper Canada and experienced on the battlefields of the 1812 War as a boy, he led a life of danger and excitement, which David Beasley has described in his biography, The Canadian Don Quixote; the life and works of Major John Richardson, Canada's first novelist. Dr. Beasley has written the introduction to this brilliant and little-known novel..