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"He melts, I think. He goes like a drop of froth. You look at him, and there he is. You look at him again, and — there he isn't."
Fred Barnard
1874
13.8 cm high x 10.6 cm wide (5 5⁄16 by 4 1⁄8 inches), framed
Dickens's Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, the Household Edition, VII, 40.
[Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
The figure he addressed made no answer, but putting his hand upon the saddle, sprung into it at a bound, turned the horse’s head towards the stable, and was gone in an instant.
"Brisk enough when he is awake," said the guest.
"Brisk enough, sir!" replied John, looking at the place where the horse had been, as if not yet understanding quite, what had become of him. "He melts, I think. He goes like a drop of froth. You look at him, and there he is. You look at him again, and — there he isn’t."
Having, in the absence of any more words, put this sudden climax to what he had faintly intended should be a long explanation of the whole life and character of his man, the oracular John Willet led the gentleman up his wide dismantled staircase into the Maypole’s best apartment. [Chapter X, 40]
Barnard makes John Willet, the publican, and Mr. Chester, the effete aristocrat, binary opposites. In fashionable travelling garn and top-boots Chester is elegant, and almost feminine in his gesture, as he gives readers a knowing look, for he is constantly on display, constantly acting. The knowing look may also suggest the secret connection between the subject of their discussion, Maypole Hugh, and Mr. Chester. The obtuse Willet, on the other hand, seems genuinely puzzled byHugh's character and demeanour.
George Cattermole's less dramatic illustration involving Mr. Chester's being shown to his room at the Maypole: The Best Apartment at The Maypole (20 March 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 17 December 2020