“What prevents me,” said Mr. Nupkins, “from detaining these men as rogues and impostors?’”
Thomas Onwhyn [signed “Sam Weller del”]
steel engraving
11.8 cm high by 12.3 cm wide (4 ½ by 4 ⅞ inches), vignetted
Charles Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Chapter XXV (December 1836), facing p. 276.
[Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Passage Illustrated: Pickwick Unmasks Captain Fitz-Marshall as Alfred Jingle at Ipswich
‘That’s for you, Job Trotter,’ said Sam; and before Mr. Trotter could offer remonstrance or reply — even before he had time to stanch the wounds inflicted by the insensible lady — Sam seized one arm and Mr. Muzzle the other, and one pulling before, and the other pushing behind, they conveyed him upstairs, and into the parlour.
It was an impressive tableau. Alfred Jingle, Esquire, alias Captain Fitz-Marshall, was standing near the door with his hat in his hand, and a smile on his face, wholly unmoved by his very unpleasant situation. Confronting him, stood Mr. Pickwick, who had evidently been inculcating some high moral lesson; for his left hand was beneath his coat tail, and his right extended in air, as was his wont when delivering himself of an impressive address. At a little distance, stood Mr. Tupman with indignant countenance, carefully held back by his two younger friends; at the farther end of the room were Mr. Nupkins, Mrs. Nupkins, and Miss Nupkins, gloomily grand and savagely vexed.
‘What prevents me,’ said Mr. Nupkins, with magisterial dignity, as Job was brought in — ‘what prevents me from detaining these men as rogues and impostors? It is a foolish mercy. What prevents me?’
‘Pride, old fellow, pride,’ replied Jingle, quite at his ease. ‘Wouldn’t do — no go — caught a captain, eh? — ha! ha! very good — husband for daughter — biter bit — make it public — not for worlds — look stupid — very!’
‘Wretch,’ said Mr. Nupkins, ‘we scorn your base insinuations.’
‘I always hated him,’ added Henrietta.
‘Oh, of course,’ said Jingle. ‘Tall young man — old lover — Sidney Porkenham — rich — fine fellow — not so rich as captain, though, eh? — turn him away — off with him — anything for captain — nothing like captain anywhere — all the girls — raving mad — eh, Job, eh?’
Here Mr. Jingle laughed very heartily; and Job, rubbing his hands with delight, uttered the first sound he had given vent to since he entered the house — a low, noiseless chuckle, which seemed to intimate that he enjoyed his laugh too much, to let any of it escape in sound.
‘Mr. Nupkins,’ said the elder lady,’ this is not a fit conversation for the servants to overhear. Let these wretches be removed.’ to the admiration of the whole population of that pretty densely populated quarter.’ [Chapter XXV, “Showing, Among a Variety of Pleasant Matters, How Majestic and Impartial Mr. Nupkins was; And How Mr. Weller Returned Mr. Job Trotter’s Shuttlecock as Heavily as It Came — with Another Matter, which will be Found in its Place,” 276]
Commentary: The Upshot of Mr. Weller attacks the executive of Ipswich (Ch. XXIV)
“What prevents me,” said Mr. Nupkins, with magisterial dignity, as Job was brought in, — “what prevents me from detaining these men as rogues and impostors? It is a foolish mercy. What prevents me?’”
“‘Pride, old fellow, pride,” replied Jingle, quite at his ease. “Wouldn’t do — no go — caught a captain, eh? — ha! ha! very good — husband for daughter — biter bit — make it public — not for worlds — look stupid — very!’” Page 276.
Pickwick requests and receives a private interview with the Ipswich magistrate, George Nupkins, after the official (who is also the town's self-important, pompous mayor) has convicted Pickwick, Tupman, and Sam Weller for causing a breach of the peace over Miss Witherspoon's accusation that the trio are about to engage in a duel with Peter Magnus. This, in turn, has led to their apprehension by the legal minions of the borough, and Sam's insurrection in the street. Since Jingle, using the pseudonym "Captain Fiz-Marshall," is Mrs. Nupkins' guest, Pickwick feels he must be discrete in unmasking the duplicitous actor. In this manner, Pickwick enables the arrogant magistrate to rid himself of his unwelcome guest without either suffering public humiliation or incurring the wrath of his haughty spouse. In appreciation, the magistrate orders his factotum, the legally-conversant Jinks, to quash the convictions.
The principals in the illustration are the gesticulating Pickwick (left) and the insolent, smug Jingle (right of centre). Nupkins, his wife, and daughter (the object of Jingle's impersonation) are seated on the couch, centre rear, and the three Pickwickians are behind their chief, right. Logically, then, Job Trotter (smirking) and Nupkins' legal minions Jinks and Muzzle are the trio to the right.
The Scurrilous Jingle and Trotter in the British Household Edition (1874)
Left: Phiz's British Household Edition woodcut reworks his original 1837 steel engraving as The kitchen door opened, and in walked Mr. Job Trotter (Ch. XXV, 1874). Right: Phiz's British Household Edition woodcut reworks his July 1837 steel engraving as Letting his hat fall on the floor, he stood perfectly fixed and immovable with astonishment (Ch. XLII, 1874). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Phiz's Scenes Involving Jingle and Trotter in the First Edition (1836-37)
- Job Trotter Encounters Sam in Mr. Muzzle's kitchen by Phiz (Ch. 25) December 1836
- Discovery of Jingle in the Fleet by Phiz (Ch. 42) July 1837
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).
_______. The Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Phiz. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 6.
Titley, Graham D. C. "Thomas Onwhyn: a Life in Illustration (1811-1886)." Pearl. University of Plymouth (2018-07-12).
Created 20 February 2024