Charles Johnston and the Attribution ofThe Adventures of Anthony Varnish(1786)

William Lane, the Ramble Novel and the Genres of Romantic Irish Fiction

“…Varnish (1786), usually also attributed to Johnston, and published by Lane. 18 The tale of a young Irish servant who moves to London, Anthony Varnish foregrounds the status of Irish identity within wider geographies. Ian Campbell Ross calls the novel 'a very early emigration narrative', and Derek Hand notes its interest in the 'confusion of the Anglo-Irish in England as Irish, highlighting their difficulty in differentiating themselves, or projecting a viable collective sense of identity'.…”