The Battle of the Strong

The Battle Of The Strong (A
Romance Of Two Kingdoms),
entire

The Project Gutenberg EBook The Battle Of The Strong, Entire, by
Parker #63 in our series by Gilbert Parker
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Title: The Battle Of The Strong [A Romance of Two Kingdoms],
Complete.
Author: Gilbert Parker
Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6236] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on October 10,

2002]
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BATTLE OF
THE STRONG, PARKER ***

This eBook was produced by David Widger

THE BATTLE OF THE STRONG, Complete
[A ROMANCE OF TWO KINGDOMS]
By Gilbert Parker

CONTENTS:
THE INVASION
ELEVEN YEARS AFTER
IN FRANCE--NEAR FIVE MONTHS AFTER
IN JERSEY FIVE YEARS LATER
DURING ONE YEAR LATER
IN JERSEY--A YEAR LATER

INTRODUCTION
This book is a protest and a deliverance. For seven years I had written
continuously of Canada, though some short stories of South Sea life,
and the novel Mrs. Falchion, had, during that time, issued from my pen.
It looked as though I should be writing of the Far North all my life.
Editors had begun to take that view; but from the start it had never been
my view. Even when writing Pierre and His People I was determined
that I should not be cabined, cribbed, and confined in one field; that I
should not, as some other men have done, wind in upon myself, until at
last each succeeding book would be but a variation of some previous

book, and I should end by imitating myself, become the sacrifice to the
god of the pin-hole.
I was warned not to break away from Canada; but all my life I had been
warned, and all my life I had followed my own convictions. I would
rather not have written another word than be corralled, bitted, saddled,
and ridden by that heartless broncho-buster, the public, which wants a
man who has once pleased it, to do the same thing under the fret of
whip and spur for ever. When I went to the Island of Jersey, in 1897, it
was to shake myself free of what might become a mere obsession. I
determined that, as wide as my experiences had been in life, so would
my writing be, whether it pleased the public or not. I was determined to
fulfil myself; and in doing so to take no instructions except those of my
own conscience, impulse, and conviction. Even then I saw fields of
work which would occupy my mind, and such skill as I had, for many a
year to come. I saw the Channel Islands, Egypt, South Africa, and India.
In all these fields save India, I have given my Pegasus its bridle-rein,
and, so far, I have no reason to feel that my convictions were false. I
write of Canada still, but I have written of the Channel Islands, I have
written of Egypt, I have written of England and South Africa, and my
public--that is, those who read my books--have accepted me in all these
fields without demur. I believe I have justified myself in not accepting
imprisonment in the field where I first essayed to turn my observation
of life to account.
I went to Jersey, therefore, with my teeth set, in a way; yet happily and
confidently. I had been dealing with French Canada for some years, and
a step from Quebec, which was French, to Jersey, which was Norman
French, was but short. It was a question of atmosphere solely.
Whatever may be thought of The 'Battle of the Strong' I have not yet
met a Jerseyman who denies to it the atmosphere of the place. It could
hardly have lacked it, for there were twenty people, deeply intelligent,
immensely interested in my design, and they were of Jersey families
which had been there for centuries. They helped