The Courts of Idleness

The Courts of Idleness is a 1920 collection of comic short stories by the English author Dornford Yates (Cecil William Mercer), his second book. Half of the tales feature his 'Berry' characters.

The Courts of Idleness
1942 Ward Lock reprint
AuthorDornford Yates
SeriesBerry books
GenreShort stories
PublisherWard Lock & Co[1]
Publication date
1920[1]
Media typePrint
Pages320[1]
Preceded byThe Brother of Daphne 
Followed byBerry and Co. 

Plot

The book includes two main collections of short stories: “Book I: How Some Passed Out of The Courts for Ever” which consists mainly of pre-war frivolities, and “Book II: How Others Left the Courts Only to return” which relates post-war tales. Dividing the groups is a single-story “Interlude”.

The first story of Book I has the characters in London, after which they proceed to the island of Rih (a thinly-disguised Madeira).[2] The final story concludes with the sudden end of the male characters, now serving in the Great War, who hear a sound which some interpret as a ship's siren and others as the sound of a heavy gun. A moment later, all are killed in the crater of a great shell.

The Interlude features a unique set of characters, initially in Scotland on the opening day of the Great War, and subsequently on the Western Front.

The stories of Book II return to the entirely different 'Berry' set of characters from The Brother of Daphne collection, with the addition of Adèle Feste, an American. The first two stories of this Book immediately follow those of the earlier collection. Next come three stories set at the end of the war in which the Berry & Co. characters meet in Egypt and, joined by Adèle, travel home via Rome. The volume closes with a final story, "Nemesis”, in which Berry and Boy are back in London.

Background

The stories of Book I were published monthly in The Windsor Magazine in 1914 and 1915, with the final story (which concludes during the War on the Macedonian front, where Mercer himself served) being published in June 1919.[3]

The first two stories of Book II were published in the Windsor in August and September 1914, the remaining four not appearing until 1919. The latter are partly set in Egypt, where Mercer had also served. The final story, "Nemesis", was originally intended for Punch and is shorter than the normal Windsor stories. In the Windsor version the protagonist is named Jeremy, but for the book this was changed to Berry.[4]

After being released from war service and returning home, Mercer decided not to return to his pre-war work at the bar, but to concentrate on writing.[5]

Chapters
Book I - How Some Passed Out Of The Courts For Ever
Chapter Title Windsor Date Volume Issue Pages Illustrator
I What's In A Name ? December 1914 XLI 240 149-158 G C Wilmshurst
II A Sister Ship January 1915 XLI 241 250-258 G C Wilmshurst
III To Seat Four February 1915 XLI 242 389-398 G C Wilmshurst
IV Love Thirty March 1915 XLI 243 510-518 G C Wilmshurst
V For Better Or For Worse June 1919 L 294 17-26 Norah Schlegel
Interlude
Chapter Title Windsor Date Volume Issue Pages Illustrator
And The Other Left November 1914 XL 239 661-671 Charles J Crombie
Book II - How Others Left The Courts Only To Return
Chapter Title Windsor Date Volume Issue Pages Illustrator
I A Bébé In Arms August 1914 XL 236 321-327 G C Wilmshurst
II Contempt Of Court September 1914 XL 237 429-436 G C Wilmshurst
III Beauty Repeats Itself July 1919 L 295 97-107 Norah Schlegel
IV The Desert Air August 1919 L 296 181-192 Norah Schlegel
V As Rome Does September 1919 L 297 275-284 Norah Schlegel
VI Nemesis November 1919 L 299 483-486 Howard K Elcock

Illustrations

The illustrations from The Windsor stories were not included in the book version, although one of the illustrations by Norah Schlegel (1879-1963) from "For Better Or For Worse" was used to illustrate the dustjacket of the first edition.

Dedications
  • 1921 - "To Her. Whose voice is melody, Whose grace is perfection, Whose understanding is infinite. My Lady Paramount"
  • 1942 - "To the countryside of England, the hanging forests of Austria, and the tilted, flower-starred meadows of the Pyrenees."

Critical reception

The review in the September 1920 edition of Punch was much less enthusiastic than that for the author's first collection, The Brother of Daphne:[6] "The main object of the characters in The Courts of Idleness (Ward, Lock) was to amuse themselves, and as their sprightly conversations were often punctuated by laughter I take it that they succeeded. To give Mr Dornford Yates his due he is expert in light banter; but some three hundred pages of such entertainment tend to create a sense of surfeit."[7] The reviewer ended on a more positive note, saying "Mr Yates can be strongly recommended to anyone who thinks that the British take themselves too seriously",[7] a quotation that Ward Lock used on the rear covers of many of the author's later volumes.

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References
  1. "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  2. Smithers 1982, pp. 93.
  3. Smithers 1982, pp. 82, 93.
  4. Yates, Dornford (1958). B-Berry and I Look Back. London: Ward Lock & Co. page 248.
  5. Usborne 1974, pp. 93.
  6. Smithers 1982, p. 95.
  7. "Our Booking-Office. (By Mr Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks)". Punch. 22 September 1920.

Bibliography
  • Smithers, AJ (1982). Dornford Yates. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0 340 27547 2.
  • Usborne, Richard (1974). Clubland Heroes. London: Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 0 214 20012 4.
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