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And, when he got there, sat down in a chair, and fell into a silent fit of laughter
Fred Barnard
1877
13.9 cm high x 10.7 cm wide, framed.
composite wood-block engraving
Dombey and Son, p. 68
Illustration for Chapter 10, "Containing the Sequel of the Midshipman’s Disaster," Dickens's Dombey and Son, in the fifteenth volume of the Household Edition.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham
But all the way home to his own hotel, the Major incessantly said to himself, and of himself, "Sly, Sir — sly, Sir — de-vil-ish sly!" And, when he got there, sat down in a chair, and fell into a silent fit of laughter, with which he was sometimes seized, and which was always particularly awful. It held him so long on this occasion that the dark servant, who stood watching him at a distance, but dared not for his life approach, twice or thrice gave him over for lost. His whole form, but especially his face and head, dilated beyond all former experience; and presented to the dark man’s view, nothing but a heaving mass of indigo. At length he burst into a violent paroxysm of coughing, and when that was a little better burst into such ejaculations as the following:
"Would you, Ma’am, would you? Mrs Dombey, eh, Ma’am? I think not, Ma’am. Not while Joe B. can put a spoke in your wheel, Ma’am. J. B.‘s even with you now, Ma’am. He isn’t altogether bowled out, yet, Sir, isn’t Bagstock. She’s deep, Sir, deep, but Josh is deeper. Wide awake is old Joe — broad awake, and staring, Sir!" There was no doubt of this last assertion being true, and to a very fearful extent; as it continued to be during the greater part of that night, which the Major chiefly passed in similar exclamations, diversified with fits of coughing and choking that startled the whole house. [Chapter 10, "Containing the Sequel of the Midshipman’s Disaster," 66]
Again Barnard foils a caricature (Major James Bagstock, retired army officer and veteran of numerous postings throughout the far-flung Empire) and his long-suffering, continually apprehensive man-servant. The dual portrait of Major Bagstock and The Native, (also called "The dark servant"and here looks decidedly East Indian) effectively captures the essence of Dickens's description of the redoubtable Major: with his complexion like a Stilton cheese, and his eyes like a prawn’s, readers are never tempted to treat him or his opinions seriously.
Left: Phiz's June 1847 introduction of the Major's foreign-born butler, The Native: Joe B. is Sly, Sir, Devilish Sly (ch. 26). Left of centre: Furniss's portrait of the Scarlet Major: Joey B. (1910). Right of centre: Sol Eytinge, Junior's study of the colonial oppressor and his constantly fearful servant: Major Bagstock and The Native (1867). Right: W. H. C. Groome's concluding dual character study:"The poor Native suffered terribly" (1900)
Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Phiz. (Hablot K. Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1848.
_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.
_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.
"Dombey and Son — Sixty-two Illustrations by Fred Barnard." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, Being Eight Hundred and Sixty-six Drawings by Fred Barnard, Gordon Thomson, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz), J. McL. Ralston, J. Mahoney, H. French, Charles Green, E. G. Dalziel, A. B. Frost, F. A. Fraser, and Sir Luke Fildes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1907.
Created 15 December 2020