Mr. Cruncher's Friends — fourteenth regular illustration for "A Tale of Two Cities" by John McLenan for Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities" in "Harper's Weekly" (30 July 1859)

Mr. Cruncher's Friends — serial illustration for Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities by John McLenan, Book II, Chapter 14. 17.4 cm high by 11.5 cm wide (6 ⅞ by 4 ⅝ inches), p. 485; in the T. B. Peterson volume, facing p. 102. [Jerry Cruncher, in the foreground, recognizable by his wild hair, and two resurrection associates — grave robbers — are prying open a coffin by the dead of night; McLenan establishes the setting by the church and gravestone in the background.] This thirteenth instalment appeared in Harper's Weekly on Saturday, 30 July, 1859; this text had appeared previously in the UK on Saturday, 23 July in All the Year Round]. We may relate this scene to Phiz's The Spy's Funeral (No. 1, Part 4: September 1859). See "A Discussion of the September 1859 Plates." [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Jerry and His Fellow Ressurectionists 'Go Fishing.'

It was now Young Jerry’s turn to approach the gate: which he did, holding his breath. Crouching down again in a corner there, and looking in, he made out the three fishermen creeping through some rank grass! and all the gravestones in the churchyard — it was a large churchyard that they were in — looking on like ghosts in white, while the church tower itself looked on like the ghost of a monstrous giant. They did not creep far, before they stopped and stood upright. And then they began to fish.

They fished with a spade, at first. Presently the honoured parent appeared to be adjusting some instrument like a great corkscrew. Whatever tools they worked with, they worked hard, until the awful striking of the church clock so terrified Young Jerry, that he made off, with his hair as stiff as his father’s.

But, his long-cherished desire to know more about these matters, not only stopped him in his running away, but lured him back again. They were still fishing perseveringly, when he peeped in at the gate for the second time; but, now they seemed to have got a bite. There was a screwing and complaining sound down below, and their bent figures were strained, as if by a weight. By slow degrees the weight broke away the earth upon it, and came to the surface. Young Jerry very well knew what it would be; but, when he saw it, and saw his honoured parent about to wrench it open, he was so frightened, being new to the sight, that he made off again, and never stopped until he had run a mile or more. [Book the Second, "Five Years Later," Chapter XIV, "The Honest Tradesman," 485].

Comment: A New Variation on the Resurrection Motif.

Having watched the funeral of the spy, Robert Cly, pass the portico of Tellson's Bank, Jerry Cruncher plans to desecrate the grave by breaking into the coffin and selling the corpse to an anatomist. As young Jerry watches from the shadows, Jerry and his fellow "Resurrectionists" are disappointed to discover that the coffin is empty, containing only dirt and stones. We may conclude that the funeral was likely a ruse perpetrated by the devious spy himself and his associate, John Barsad. The British government spies Cly and Barsad who falsely testified at Darnay's Old Bailey trial will now "recall themselves to life" on the other side of the Channel as "Sheep of the Paris Prisons."

Other Illustrated Editions (1859-1910)

Related Material

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Allingham, Philip V. "Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Illustrated: A Critical Reassessment of Hablot Knight Browne's Accompanying Plates." Dickens Studies. 33 (2003): 109-158.

Davis, Paul. "Tale of Two Cities, A." Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998. Pp. 373-381.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, 7 May through 3 December 1859.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, November 1859.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by John McLenan (33 illustrations). Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1859.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867. XIII.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. VIII.

_______. A Tale of Two Cities: A story of the French Revolution. Project Gutenberg e-text by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska. Release Date: September 25, 2004 [EBook #98].

_______. A Tale of Two Cities. With illustrations by John McLenan and Rowland Wheelwright. Orinda, Cal.: Sea Wolf Press, 2021.

Created 30 July 2006

Last modified 25 November 2025