"There's nothin' he don't know; that's my opinion," observed Mrs. Gamp. “All the wickedness of the world is print to him." (1872). — Fred Barnard's thirty-second illustration for Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (Chapter XXVI), page 217. [Mrs. Gamp, the little barber, Poll Sweedlepipe, and the diminutive but highly precocious postboy, Mr. Bailey.] 9.4 cm x 13.8 cm, or 4 ¼ high by 5 ½ inches, framed, engraved by the Dalziels. Running head: “Woo'd and Married and A'," 217. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated
“Well, sir, considern' the Wings of Love, they are," said Mrs. Gamp.
Mr. Bailey inquired whether the Wings of Love had ever won a plate, or could be backed to do anything remarkable; and being informed that it was not a horse, but merely a poetical or figurative expression, evinced considerable disgust. Mrs. Gamp was so very much astonished by his affable manners and great ease, that she was about to propound to her landlord in a whisper the staggering inquiry, whether he was a man or a boy, when Mr. Sweedlepipe, anticipating her design, made a timely diversion.
“He knows Mrs. Chuzzlewit," said Paul aloud.
“There's nothin' he don't know; that's my opinion," observed Mrs. Gamp. “All the wickedness of the world is Print to him."
Mr. Bailey received this as a compliment, and said, adjusting his cravat, “Reether so."
“As you knows Mrs. Chuzzlewit, you knows, p'raps, what her chris'n name is?" Mrs. Gamp observed. “Charity," said Bailey. “That it ain't!" cried Mrs. Gamp. [Chapter XXVI, “An Unexpected Meeting, and a Promising Prospect," pp. 215-216. Running head: “Bailey Junior Transformed," 215]
Commentary
What has brought together in Jonas Chuzzlewit's kitchen such an odd assortment of secondary characters? Seated on the kitchen counter in coachman's livery is Mr. Bailey, Junior, formerly the boots and general factotum at Mrs. Todgers' rooming-house, London. Seated on the kitchen's only chair is Paul Sweedlepipe, barber and bird-fancier. And presiding over all is Sairey Gamp, the bibulous sick-room nurse who is delivering an admonitory gester tio reinforce her point about the translated Bailey's sagacity. The bride and groom, Jonas and Mercy, have returned to the city from Wiltshire, and no longer require the services of Mrs. Gamp to attend Old Chuffey. Bailey, now in the service of insurance magnate Tigg Montague, and his friend (and barber) have arrived to help Mrs. Gamp move to The Bull Inn, where a new patient requires her attendance day and night.
See also The Immortal Sairey! A Gallery of Dickens's Mrs. Gamp by Phiz and Others (1843-1910).
Relevant Illustrations, 1843-1910
Left: Hablot Knight Browne's version of the interview between Tigg Montague and Jonas Chuzzlewit, realizing the moment when the swindler utters the word "poison," Mr. Nadgett Breathes, as Usual, an Atmosphere of Mystery (Chapter 38, February 1844). Centre: Felix Octavius Carr Darley's companion study of Seth Pecksniff and Montague Tigg in the opening chapters, when the military-looking sharper is continually cadging loans for Chevy Slyme, And was straightway let down stairs (Frontispiece, Vol. 1, 1862). Right: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s perceptive portrait of the shabby-genteel, ex-military man and his dupe, Montague Tigg and Chevy Slyme (Chapter 7, 1867). [Click on these images to enlarge them.]
Above: Harry Furniss's realisation of the scene in Chapter 38 when the insurance magnate Tigg Montague entertains his business partner, Jonas Chuzzlewit, Jonas Chuzzlewit and Montague Tigg (1910). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1s) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Dickens, Charles. The Dickens Souvenir Book. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1871-1880. The copy of The Dickens Souvenir Book from which these pictures were scanned is in the collection of the Main Library of The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B. C.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman and Hall, 1844.
_____. Martin Chuzzlewit. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 55 vols. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. New York: Sheldon and Co., 1863. Vol. 2 of 4.
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. 2.
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated Sterling Edition. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne and Frederick Barnard. Boston: Dana Estes, n. d. [1890s]
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 7.
Steig, Michael. "From Caricature to Progress: Master Humphrey's Clock and Martin Chuzzlewit." Ch. 3, Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978. Pp. 51-85. [See e-text in Victorian Web.]
Steig, Michael. "Martin Chuzzlewit's Progress by Dickens and Phiz." Dickens Studies Annual 2 (1972): 119-149.
31 January 2008
Last modified 23 November 2024