Dickens and His Illustrators Part 9

Pickwick's encounter with Mrs. Bardell in the Fleet. Again, there surely never existed so enormous a sedan-chair as that from the roof of which Mr. Pickwick expostulates with Sam Weller when he attacks the executive of Ipswich, or that into which Mr. Winkle bolts in his _robe de nuit_.

In the skating scene, curiously enough, there is no indication of skates being worn by any member of the company. "Phiz" sometimes posed his figures in att.i.tudes which, if not physically impossible, are unnatural and unpicturesque; it must be admitted, however, that he usually succeeded where George Cruikshank invariably failed, that is, in delineating pretty women, of whom his skilled pencil has given us quite an extensive gallery.

A set of proofs of "Phiz's" plates sold for twenty guineas at Sotheby's in 1889. A reprint of "Pickwick," published at Launceston, Van Diemen's Land, in 1838-39, was ill.u.s.trated by means of lithographic copies (signed "Tiz") of some of the original etchings. At the same time there appeared an American edition, issued in parts by Turney, New York, with _facsimiles_ of the plates engraved on steel.

PLATE x.x.x

STUDIES FOR

THE CHEERYBLE BROTHERS

_Facsimile_ of Original Drawings by

H. K. BROWNE ("PHIZ")

_Lent by Mr. J. F. Dexter._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

It fortunately happens that, with two exceptions, the original drawings by "Phiz" for "The Pickwick Papers" have been preserved; the missing designs are "Mr. Wardle and his Friends under the Influence of 'the Salmon'" and the vignette for the t.i.tle-page, where Tony Weller is seen ducking Stiggins in the horse-trough. Photogravure reproductions of all the existing designs (some having d.i.c.kens's autograph) were published in the Victoria edition by Chapman & Hall in 1887. The majority of the drawings were executed in pencil or pen-and-ink, the effects washed in with a brush, the remainder being entirely brushwork. The following is a list of "Pickwick" designs by "Phiz" such as were merely tentative, and therefore never etched:--

MR. WINKLE'S FIRST SHOT.--_Trial sketch_, ill.u.s.trating an incident in the seventh chapter. A sketch of the same subject was made by Buss.

CHRISTMAS EVE AT MR. WARDLE'S.--_Trial sketch_, varying but slightly from the approved design.

THE GOBLIN AND THE s.e.xTON.--_First sketch_, in pencil, varying considerably from the etching. An attenuated sprite, with sugar-loaf hat and arms akimbo, is seated on the top of a flat gravestone beside Gabriel Grub, who, pausing in the act of raising a bottle to his lips, gazes with astonishment at his uncanny visitor. Behind is seen a church porch.

THE GOBLIN AND THE s.e.xTON.--_Second sketch_, similar in character, but more complete. Positions of figures reversed, and the goblin more robust. In the published etching the artist has introduced as a background a view of an ecclesiastical building, which bears some resemblance to St.

Alban's Abbey.

THE WARDEN'S ROOM.--_Trial sketch_, varying considerably from the approved design. The att.i.tudes of dancer and seated figure are different, the man in the bed adjoining Mr.

Pickwick's throws up both arms and one leg, while in either hand he holds a nightcap and beer-jug. Other figures are introduced on the right.

In comparing the drawings with the plates, important variations are sometimes apparent. In the remarkable etching, "The Election at Eatanswill," the artist has introduced fresh figures, while others are altered; in "Mr. Pickwick in the Pound," we see in the first state of the etching two donkeys and four pigs, instead of one donkey and three pigs, as in the drawing; in "Job Trotter encountering Sam in Mr.

Muzzle's Kitchen," the pretty housemaid was originally represented sitting on Sam Weller's knee; in "The Valentine," the artist's first intention was to portray Tony Weller without hat and cape; and in "Conviviality at Bob Sawyer's," a human skeleton is visible behind Mr.

Ben Allen, which was omitted in the etching.

The interest of a few of these drawings is considerably enhanced by the fact that they contain instructions and suggestions in the autograph of d.i.c.kens. The first so treated is "Mrs. Leo Hunter's Fancy-dress Dejeune," the drawing differing in many respects from the etching, chiefly in the att.i.tudes and arrangement of the figures; under it the author has written: "I think it would be better if Pickwick had hold of the Bandit's arm. If Minerva _tried_ to look a little younger (more like Mrs. Pott, who is perfect), I think it would be an additional improvement." The design was altered in accordance with the spirit of the criticism, and we find Minerva, instead of a plump and matronly personage, the very opposite in the matter of physique. It is worthy of note that in the first state of the etching the face of the Russian officer in the rear bore too close a caricature resemblance to that of Lord Brougham, the subsequent change in his appearance being due to some remonstrance against the artist's freedom. The drawing depicting Mr.

Pickwick's first interview with Serjeant Snubbin contains the following hint from the author: "I think the Serjeant should look younger, and a great deal more sly and knowing; he should be looking at Pickwick too, smiling compa.s.sionately at his innocence. The other fellows are n.o.ble.--C. D." As a matter of fact, the drawing is more successful than the etching, the Serjeant's face in the former indicating that it had been obliterated and altered to suit d.i.c.kens's idea. In the original design for the etching representing "Mr. Winkle's Situation when the Door 'Blew to,'" the artist portrayed Mr. Winkle holding the candlestick in front of him; but d.i.c.kens objected to this, and wrote at the top of the drawing: "Winkle should be holding the candlestick above his head, I think. It looks more comical, the light having gone out" The change was made, but the curious thing is, neither author nor artist remembered the fact that at the moment depicted Mr. Winkle had actually discarded the useless candlestick. Under the same drawing d.i.c.kens penned the following comment: "A _fat_ Chairman so short as our friend here, never drew breath in Bath;" "Phiz" has also written in the margin: "Shall I leave Pickwick where he is or put him under the bed-clothes? I can't carry him so high as the second floor.--H. K. B." (Mr. Pickwick's rooms are described as being in the "upper portion" of the house, but it would seem that d.i.c.kens had originally placed him on the "second floor," which suggests that the text was altered to suit the ill.u.s.tration. In reply to this query the author wrote: "I would leave him where he is decidedly.

Is the lady full dressed? She ought to be.--C. D." Mr. Pickwick was left accordingly; likewise the fat chairman, whose abnormal obesity was reproduced in the etching as it appears in the drawing. In the sketch of "Mr. Winkle Returns under Extraordinary Circ.u.mstances," the artist had not made Sam Weller and the housemaid quite as d.i.c.kens desired, whereupon the novelist appended the following queries: "Are Sam and the housemaid clearly made out; and [would it not be be]tter if he was looking on with his arm roun[d Mary?] I rayther question the accuracy of the housemaid."[21] As the sketch, in its present state, realises d.i.c.kens's ideas, we may a.s.sume that it was altered by the artist before he transferred his design to the plate; indeed, there seems to be evidence of this in the blurred appearance of the young couple in the drawing, in the margin of which "Phiz" has written the following instructions about the biting-in: "The outlines of the figures I have etched with a broad point unintentionally; bite them slightly, that they may not be too hard, especially Pickwick." The last of the drawings containing the novelist's handwriting is that ill.u.s.trating "The Ghostly pa.s.sengers in the Ghost of a Mail," this bearing the unusual signature, "Charles {his} + {mark} d.i.c.kens," by which the novelist evidently meant to express his satisfaction with the artist's treatment of the subject. In the "English Humorists" Exhibition held in London a few years since, there was a capital study by "Phiz" of Mr. Pickwick, apparently an enlarged _replica_ of the familiar figure and pose as seen in Seymour's ill.u.s.tration of him as he appeared when addressing the Club; it is a water-colour drawing on buff paper, supplemented by marginal sketches of the head and bust of Pickwick with his hat on, together with two studies of hats; upon the side of the drawing is inscribed the following memorandum: "Nankeen tights, black cloth gaiters, _white_ waistcoat, blue coat, bra.s.s b.u.t.tons, square cut in the tails."

Footnote 21: The words in brackets are unfortunately cut off the sketch.

PLATE x.x.xI

MASTER HUMPHREY AND THE DEAF GENTLEMAN

_Facsimile_ of the Original Drawing for "Master Humphrey's Clock" by

H. K. BROWNE ("PHIZ")

Beneath the Sketch is written the following, in the autograph of d.i.c.kens:--"Master Humphrey ADMIRABLE. Could his stick (with a crooked top) be near his chair? I mis...o...b.. the deaf gentleman's pipe, and wish he could have a better one."

_Lent by Mr. J. F. Dexter._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In 1847 "Phiz" prepared six new designs for "The Pickwick Papers," which were delicately engraved on wood; the series was issued independently, and simultaneously with the first cheap edition of the book. These drawings are undoubtedly superior to the etchings, being the more matured work of the artist. The following were the subjects chosen: "Mr.

Winkle's First Shot," "The Effects of Cold Punch," "Mr. Pickwick at Dodson and Fogg's," "The Kiss under the Mistletoe," "Old Weller at the Temperance Meeting," "The Leg of Mutton 'Swarry.'" "Phiz" also contributed to each of the two volumes of the Library Edition (1858-59)[22] a vignette ill.u.s.tration for the t.i.tle-page, the subjects being Mr. Pickwick and the Wellers, and Sam Weller with the Pretty Housemaid; they were engraved on steel from the original drawings in water-colours. In 1867 the artist was seized with a form of paralysis, the use of the right hand being so greatly impaired that he was unable to make the forefinger and thumb meet; this compelled him to hold the pencil or brush in a clumsy fashion, and to draw with a sort of sweeping movement of the whole arm. It was under such distressing conditions that in 1873-74 he executed a commission to ill.u.s.trate Chapman & Hall's Household Edition of "The Pickwick Papers." These fifty-seven designs are necessarily extremely poor in treatment, and painfully indicate the effect of the injury his hand had sustained; indeed, the wonder is that he could draw at all. It must be admitted, however, that much of the feebleness of the woodcuts is due to the engraver, as the original outline sketches (which were transferred to the boxwood blocks and there developed) exhibit in a wonderful degree both freedom and precision of touch. A small collection of these drawings was sold at Sotheby's in December 1887, each drawing realising the average price of seven pounds. Sets of the "Pickwick" designs in the Household Edition, coloured by F. W. Pailthorpe, have been issued as "extra" ill.u.s.trations.

Footnote 22: The early volumes in the Library Edition, issued during 1858-59, have only vignettes on the t.i.tle-pages. The later issues of this edition (1862-68) contain several ill.u.s.trations, some of these being reprints of the plates in the first edition, while others were specially designed.

[Sidenote: =The Strange Gentleman, 1837.=]

In 1836, as soon as d.i.c.kens terminated his connection with the Reporters' Gallery in the House of Commons, he was induced to take a considerable interest in the then newly-erected St. James's Theatre, and even essayed to write for his friend J. P. Harley ("as a practical joke," he afterwards explained) a comic burletta called "The Strange Gentleman," which was adapted from "The Great Winglebury Duel" in "Sketches by Boz." The little farce was published by Chapman & Hall during the following year with a frontispiece by "Phiz," the subject of the plate being suggested by the concluding scene, where the Strange Gentleman proposes marriage to Julia Dobbs; the two seated figures are vigorously drawn, and on a larger scale than those in the "Pickwick"

designs. "The Strange Gentleman" is perhaps the rarest of d.i.c.kens's writings, and the extraordinary sum of 45 was realised at Sotheby's in August 1892 for an exceptionally fine copy. It has since been beautifully reprinted in _facsimile_, with a new frontispiece etched by F. W. Pailthorpe.

[Sidenote: =Sketches of Young Gentlemen, 1838.=]

In the same year Chapman & Hall published a booklet (anonymously written by E. Caswell) ent.i.tled "Sketches of Young Ladies," by "Quiz," with six etchings by "Phiz," the author of which was erroneously believed to be Charles d.i.c.kens, whose literary style it somewhat resembled. The "Young Ladies" being referred to here in a rather ungallant fashion, d.i.c.kens essayed (as a kind of protest) a similar work, in which he pokes fun at the idiosyncrasies of youths of the sterner s.e.x. Like its predecessor, the "Sketches of Young Gentlemen" were written anonymously, and similarly contained six etched ill.u.s.trations by "Phiz."

[Sidenote: =Sketches of Young Couples, 1840.=]

In 1840 there appeared a third booklet, ent.i.tled "Sketches of Young Couples;" of this d.i.c.kens was also the unavowed author, while "Phiz"

contributed the usual six etchings. In the third of these designs (only two of which are signed) we are reminded of his presentment of the Kenwigses in "Nicholas Nickleby," the ill.u.s.trations for which story were then occupying the artist's attention. These little productions were issued in green paper covers, decorated with designs by "Phiz."

The sets of six original drawings for "Sketches of Young Ladies" and "Sketches of Young Gentlemen" realised 40 and 39 respectively at Sotheby's in 1897.

[Sidenote: =Nicholas Nickleby, 1838-39.=]

In the advertis.e.m.e.nt announcing the publication of "Nicholas Nickleby,"

it was stated that each monthly part would be "embellished with two ill.u.s.trations by 'Phiz'." This is not strictly accurate, for to the twenty parts the artist contributed but thirty-nine plates, the full complement, however, being made up with a portrait of the author (as the frontispiece), engraved by Finden from the painting by D. Maclise, A.R.A.

The most interesting of the "Nickleby" plates are undoubtedly those depicting scenes at Dotheboys Hall, that representing Squeers at the Saracen's Head containing the most familiar presentment of its amiable proprietor. Thus, as he stood mending his pen, the novelist and artist saw the living prototype, and had taken mental notes of the odd figure, who, as will presently be related, was among the several schoolmasters they interviewed.[23]

Footnote 23: Among the few drawings executed by "Phiz" for _Punch_, there is a representation of an orthodox pettifogging attorney perched upon a stool, whose portrait is that of the very Squeers. It const.i.tutes one of a series of "_Punch's_ Valentines," and was published in the second volume, 1842.

It was the novelist's intention to expose in this story the terrible abuses practised in the cheap boarding-schools of Yorkshire, and, in order that he might realise their true character, he determined to investigate for himself the real facts as to the condition of those notorious seminaries. Accordingly, at the end of January 1838, he and "Phiz" started on this memorable journey, in bitterly cold weather, and, visiting several schools in the locality, they came into direct contact with the proprietors. One of these was William Shaw, the identical schoolmaster who, some years previously, had been heavily fined for what was represented at the trial as gross maltreatment of his pupils.

According to the following entry in the novelist's private diary (under date February 2, 1838), there can be no doubt that he had this individual princ.i.p.ally in his mind when delineating the infamous Squeers:--"Mem.--Shaw, the schoolmaster we saw to-day, is the man in whose school several boys went blind some time since from gross neglect.

The case was tried, and the verdict went against him. It must have been between 1823 and 1826. Look this out in the newspapers." Mr. Lloyd, a well-known Glasgow comedian, who spent twelve months in Shaw's school at Bowes, Yorkshire, afterwards testified to the truth of the _outward_ appearance of the man as described by d.i.c.kens and portrayed by the artist in the pages of the novel, "allowing, of course, for both being greatly exaggerated. A sharp, thin, upright little man, with a slight scale covering the pupil of one of his eyes. Yes, there he stands, with his Wellington boots and short black trousers, not originally cut too short, but from a habit he had of sitting with one knee over the other, and the trousers being tight, they would get 'rucked' half-way up the boots. Then, the clean white vest, swallow-tailed black coat, white necktie, silver-mounted spectacles, close-cut iron-grey hair, high-crowned hat worn slightly at the back of his head--and there you have the man." It certainly seems remarkable that Mr. Lloyd and others who knew Shaw recollect him as a most worthy and kind-hearted gentleman, but this perhaps is explained by certain facts concerning him and his school that were published in the _Athenaeum_, February 1894, together with a commentary upon a reprint of the trial in which he was the defendant.