Uncaptioned Tailpiece (Wedding Procession). 2.1 cm by 7.4 cm. (¾ x 2 ⅞ inches). small-scale wood-engraving for Gissing's "An Inspiration" in The English Illustrated Magazine (December 1895), p. 275; ed. Clement Shorter. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: A Suggestion of a Wedding
"Do you suppose,” continued the other, gravely, “that I could ever have done that if it hadn't been for your dinner? Never! Never! I should have crept on through my miserable life, and died at last in the workhouse; when all the time there was a woman whose own happiness depended on a bit of courage in me. She'd never have dared to show a will of her own; James Dunning and his wife were too strong for her. Cowards, both of us — but I was the worst. And you put a man's heart into me. Your dinner — your wine — your talk! If I hadn't gone that night, I should never have gone at all — never!”
“I knew that.”
“But what I can't understand is — why did you ask me to dine with you? Why? It's like what they call the finger of Providence.”
“Yes. As I told you — it was an inspiration.” [The English Illustrated Magazine, December 1895: 275]
Scanned image, caption, and commentary 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.] Click on the image to enlarge it.
Related Material
- The Technologies of Nineteenth-Century Illustration: Woodblock Engraving, Steel Engraving, and Other Processes
- The English Illustrated Magazine
- A Select Periodical Bibliography of George Gissing's Short Fiction (1893-98)
Bibliography
Gissing, George. "An Inspiration." Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The English Illustrated Magazine. No. 147 (Dec., 1895): 268-75.
Created 24 January 2021