Under the Greenwood Tree
Under the Greenwood Tree,a novel by T. Hardy , published 1872 .
This is a gentle, humorous novel, skilfully interweaving the love story of Dick Dewy and Fancy Day with the fortunes and misfortunes of a group of villagers, many of whom are musicians and singers in Mellstock church. Dick Dewy, the son of the local ‘tranter’, or carrier, falls in love with the new schoolmistress, the pretty and capricious Fancy Day. Her other two suitors (Shiner, a rich local farmer, and Maybold, the vicar in charge of the school) are rejected, after a series of vicissitudes, and in spite of the opposition of Fancy's father, in favour of Dick. Dick and his father are among the small band of musicians who have always sung and played the music in the gallery of Mellstock church, and who find themselves ousted by the new-fangled organ. This story of the displaced musicians reflected the true story of the Hardys' own church at Stinsford, and Hardy...
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