the man who produced Hardy's plays, mentions that, shortly after the publication of The Dynasts, and while the first theatrical production of The Trumpet-Major was in rehearsal, in 1908, Hardy talked with veterans of Waterloo still alive and living in the neighbourhood. Unlike most Hardy novels, in which the essence of the story is fictional – though often with reference to contemporary matters (such as changes in divorce law playing a part in The Woodlanders) – the real events of 1804-5 when Dorset was preparing for the palpable threat of French invasion near Weymouth (Budmouth) permeate The Trumpet Major, a danger that only receded with victory at Trafalgar. Hardy was born in 1840, some 35 years after this period, and it's not hard to imagine him sitting, as a child, listening to first-hand accounts of life in Dorset during that time and the way in which it dominated local people's lives. The sense of these real recollections is woven into The Trumpet-Major – from Anne Garland and the old sailor watching out for the Victory in the English Channel, to the pervasive fear of press-gangs and imminent invasion, to the news freshly brought of the Battle of Trafalgar and death of Nelson, told with both intimacy and a sense of its historical momentousness. The love story at the centre of the novel plays like a complex dance, with the two brothers, John and Bob Loveday and the villainous Festus Derriman all trying to gain the hand of Anne Garland. The sense of impending peril, with the ultimate fate of the young men unknown, in a time of war, serves to make the lightness and comedy that runs through The Trumpet-Major bittersweet, but the novel is all the deeper and richer for that sense of a tragic epilogue. The Trumpet-Major and Harlequinade The feeling that the characters are playing out a complex dance is not a coincidence. The story can be read as a variation on the traditional harlequinade, which in turn came from the old Italian Commedia dell'arte. In Victorian times, the harlequinade had become a popular form of theatre, burlesque and ballet. The characters and action in The Trumpet-Major mirror closely the characters and themes of this traditional form, as shown below. Bob Loveday – Harlequin: Harlequin is the romantic male lead in the harlequinade. A servant, and in love with Columbine, in Commedia dell'arte, Harlequin was often mischievous.