The Istoriaphile’s Corner

It seems half the world loves Julian Fellowes.  A few mangy souls, like me, remember when he played Kilwillie in “Monarch of the Glen” but once he penned the screenplay to “Gosford Park” his acting days were numbered and his creation of of Downton Abbey and elevation to the House of Lords probably mean we’ll never see him in character again.  Oh well.  A wise person once wrote that authors, at their best, seem to pull back the curtain for their readers and introduce us to a world we wouldn’t otherwise know.   What Julian Fellowes reveals is the inner workings of the British class system and if you think that’s a thing of the past, you need to pick up his novel Snobs.   As of 2009 at least, the aristocracy still owns the most boring, exclusive club in town and the excluded are still trying to get in. The plot is a simple one:  Edith Lavery is one of those very pretty British girls with a weathy, untitled father and a mother with social ambitions.  She makes the acquaintance of Charles Broughton, an unmarried earl and heir to the Marquis of Uckfield.  (That’s mid-rank in British nobility, lower than a…