"Write exactly as I speak" — Illustration for "A Tale of Two Cities," Book III, Chapter 13 ("Fifty-two"), by John McLenan in "Harper's Weekly" (19 November 1859)

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"Write exactly as I speak."

8.3 cm high by 8.5 cm wide (3 ¼ by 3 ⅜ inches)

John McLenan

Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Book III, Chapter 13 ("Fifty-two").

Carton, standing behind the seated Charles Darnay, dictates a letter in order to take him unawares and etherize him.

The twenty-ninth installment of the novel appeared in Harper's Weekly (19 November 1859): 749; it had originally appeared in the UK on Saturday, 12 November in All the Year Round. It was reproduced in the T. B. Peterson (Philadephia) volume, facing page 198.

Passage Illustrated: Carton substitutes himself for Darnay

"Do I ask you, my dear Darnay, to pass the door? When I ask that, refuse. There are pen and ink and paper on this table. Is your hand steady enough to write?"

"It was when you came in."

"Steady it again, and write what I shall dictate. Quick, friend, quick!"

Pressing his hand to his bewildered head, Darnay sat down at the table. Carton, with his right hand in his breast, stood close beside him.

"Write exactly as I speak."

"To whom do I address it?"

"To no one." Carton still had his hand in his breast.

"Do I date it?"

"No."

The prisoner looked up, at each question. Carton, standing over him with his hand in his breast, looked down.

"If you remember," said Carton, dictating, "the words that passed between us, long ago, you will readily comprehend this when you see it. You do remember them, I know. It is not in your nature to forget them." [Book the Third — "The Track of a Storm," Chapter XIII, "Fifty-two," 749]

Commentary: A difference in hair-styles is all that separates the two visually

Darnay wears his hair in a queue, tied back with a ribbon, not loose in the revolutionary fashion adopted by Carton. Dickens explicitly refers to this distinction: "It would be madness if I asked you to escape. . . take this ribbon from your hair" (Chapter XIII, "Fifty-two"). It is odd, then, that the figure standing (Carton) behind the chair apparently has a bow at the back of his head, whereas in this number's headnote vignette the despondent Darnay clearly is wearing his hair tied back.

Other Illustrated Editions (1859-1910)

Related Material

Scanned image by Philip V. Allingham; text by PVA and George P. Landow. [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.

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

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

Dickens, Charles. 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].

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

Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins. The Annotated Dickens. 2 vols. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986.

Sanders, Andrew. A Companion to "A Tale of Two Cities." The Dickens Companion Series, Vol. 4. London: Unwin Hyman, 1988.

Created 25 November 2007

Last modified 28 November 2025