Editing The Luck of Barry Lyndon (section)

==Plot summary==
Redmond Barry of Ballybarry, born to a genteel but ruined Irish family, fancies himself a gentleman. At the prompting of his mother, he learns what he can of courtly manners and swordplay but fails at more scholarly subjects like Latin. He is a passionate, hot-tempered young man who develops a deep love for Nora, his cousin, who is a few years older than Redmond. However, even though Nora enjoys flirting with Redmond, she is only interested in a man with money. 

Redmond becomes angered when Nora is courted by John Quin, who is not only wealthy but also a respected officer and nobleman. A dueling challenge is issued, but Nora's family sees an opportunity to drive him off and secretly load his pistol with [[tow (fibre)|tow]], a dummy load of heavy, knotted fibres.

Quin fakes his death, and Redmond is convinced by Nora's parents that he will be charged with murder. As expected, he flees to [[Dublin]] and falls in with swindlers who take advantage of his [[naivety]]. Left penniless and with creditors at his heels, Redmond enlists as a common private in a [[British Army]] infantry regiment headed for [[Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|service in Germany]] during the [[Seven Years' War]].

Once in Germany, despite a promotion to corporal, he hates the army and seeks to desert. When Lieutenant Fakenham is wounded and left for dead, Redmond seduces a rich peasant woman to get him food and shelter. Redmond pretends to suffer from insanity, and after several days absconds with the lieutenant's uniform, papers, and money. As part of his ruse, he convinces the locals that he is the real Lieutenant Fakenham, and the wounded man is the mad Corporal Barry. He then rides off for a neutral part of Germany to seek his fortune.

His bad luck continues, however, as he is quickly captured by a [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] officer. The German soon realises that Redmond is a deserter, but rather than turn him over to the British to be hanged, impresses him into the [[Prussian Army]] (for a bounty). Redmond hates Prussian service as much or more than he hated British service, but the men are carefully watched to prevent desertion. Redmond marches with [[Frederick the Great|Frederick]]'s army into the [[Battle of Kunersdorf]] and barely survives. He saves the life of Captain Potzdorff; the captain takes him in as his aide and later gets Redmond a job working for the Prussian state ministry.

After several months have passed, a stranger travelling under Austrian protection arrives in Berlin. Redmond is asked to spy on the stranger, an older man called "Chevalier de Balibari" (sc. Ballybarry). He immediately realises that this is his uncle, a notorious [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] adventurer who disappeared many years ago. The uncle uses his connections to smuggle himself and his nephew out of Prussia, and they quickly take up lives as gamblers and spendthrifts.

Eventually, the Barrys end up in a [[Rhineland]] duchy. After winning a large sum of money, enough to present himself as a rich aristocrat, Redmond schemes to marry into the family of a young German heiress. Again, fortune turns against him, and a series of circumstances undermines his complex plan. (The story of the unhappy Princess Olivia was based on a scandalous account of [[Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]] by [[Étienne-Léon de Lamothe-Langon]].) The two Barrys are subsequently forced out of Germany in disgrace.

While staying in France following his uncle's death, Redmond comes into the acquaintance of the Countess of Lyndon, an extraordinarily wealthy noblewoman married to a much older man in poor health. He has some success in seducing the lady, but her husband clings to life. Eventually, she and her husband return to England. Redmond is upset but bides his time. Upon hearing that the husband has died the following year, he makes his move on the Countess.

Through a series of adventures, Redmond eventually bullies and seduces the Countess, who marries him somewhat under duress, but also falls in love with him. After the wedding, he remodels her home, Hackton Castle, at great expense. Count Barry Lyndon (as he now calls himself) admits several times in the course of his narrative that he is incapable of managing money, despite his history of poverty and hardship. He looks after a few childhood benefactors in Ireland, including his cousin Ulick (Nora's brother, who had often stood up for him as a boy) who he personally styles into a fashionable young socialite.

As the [[American Revolutionary War]] breaks out, Barry seeks to raise his prestige, financing a regiment of men to serve in America and gaining control of the Lyndon family [[pocket borough]] so he may sit in [[British Parliament|Parliament]]. However, his good fortunes ebb again: his stepson (and his wife's heir), Lord Bullingdon, is reported dead in America; as Barry had commissioned the boy commander of his regiment, he is accused of plotting his demise. His own child, Bryan, dies in a tragic horse-riding accident at nine years of age. This, combined with Barry's profligate spending practices, leads to his ruin. With his son dead, he is now at the mercy of his wife's hostile cousins, who gain control of the Lyndon estate.

As the "memoir" ends, Barry is separated from his wife and placed in [[Fleet Prison]] as a debtor. A small stipend provided by his wife allows him to live in moderate luxury at first, and his elderly mother lodges close by to tend to him. Unfortunately for him, Lord Bullingdon was not dead – he had been captured and imprisoned but survived until the end of the war. When the Countess dies, her son is quick to disown his stepfather and cut off any further allowances. The story ends with Barry dying of complications from drinking cheap prison liquor.