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"I can't touch him!" cried the idiot, falling back, and shuddering as with a strong spasm; "He's bloody!"
Fred Barnard
1874
13.8 cm high x 9.4 cm wide (5 5⁄16 by 3 7⁄16 inches), framed
Dickens's Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, the Household Edition, VII, 16.
[Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"I know him, I know him!" cried Barnaby, clapping his hands.
"Know him?" repeated the locksmith.
"Hush!' said Barnaby, laying his fingers upon his lips. "He went out to-day a wooing. I wouldn’t for a light guinea that he should never go a wooing again, for, if he did, some eyes would grow dim that are now as bright as — see, when I talk of eyes, the stars come out! Whose eyes are they? If they are angels’ eyes, why do they look down here and see good men hurt, and only wink and sparkle all the night?"
"Now Heaven help this silly fellow," murmured the perplexed locksmith; "can he know this gentleman? His mother’s house is not far off; I had better see if she can tell me who he is. Barnaby, my man, help me to put him in the chaise, and we’ll ride home together."
"I can’t touch him!" cried the idiot falling back, and shuddering as with a strong spasm; "he’s bloody!"
"It’s in his nature, I know," muttered the locksmith, "it’s cruel to ask him, but I must have help. Barnaby — good Barnaby — dear Barnaby — if you know this gentleman, for the sake of his life and everybody’s life that loves him, help me to raise him and lay him down."
"Cover him then, wrap him close — don’t let me see it — smell it — hear the word. Don’t speak the word — don’t!"
"No, no, I’ll not. There, you see he’s covered now. Gently. Well done, well done!" [Chapter III, 15]
Above: Phiz's less dramatic description of Gabriel Varden's discovering the wounded Edward Chester: Succouring the Wounded (27 February 1841).
Dickens, Charles. Barnaby Rudge in Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Phiz and George Cattermole. 3 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1841; rpt., Bradbury and Evans, 1849.
________. Barnaby Rudge — A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. VII.
Last modified 24 December 2020