Exilius or The Banish’d Roman

Exilius or The Banish’d Roman

Published just after the death of Queen Anne in 1714, Exilius can be read as a pro-Stuart response to the succession crisis that followed Anne’s death. There is some suggestion that Curll sped up the release of the work so that he could capitalize on the market potential during the political upheaval. This novel is understood to be a projection of Jacobite feeling through themes including romance, love, and heroism. Written primarily for a female audience, the male characters within the fiction are stock representations while female characters are developed virtuously and follow strict moral tenets. Jonathan Grieder states that formally the work is weak, but because it appeals to women during the early eighteenth century it can inform the reader about feminine interests during the time of its publication.