As he sat upon a low sat beside my wife, I would peer at him for hours together from behind a tree — Chap. II, "Master Humphrey, from His Clockside in the Chimney Corner," for Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock in the Household Edition, Vol. XX, "A Confession Found in a Prison in the Time of Charles the Second" by Fred Barnard. 1872. Woodblock Engraving by Dalziels, 10.7 x 14.1 cm. Descriptive Headline: "Hunted Down" (273). 10.5 x 13.7 cm (4 ⅛ by 5 ⅜ inches), framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: The Would-be Murderer Stalks His Victim
W. H. Groome's full-page illustration for this story in the Collins Pocket Edition: "I’ll never leave this place!". (1907), showing the madman in his garden, sitting on top of the concealed grave.
Perhaps I hide the truth from myself, but I do not think that, when this began, I meditated to do him any wrong. I may have thought how serviceable his inheritance would be to us, and may have wished him dead; but I believe I had no thought of compassing his death. Neither did the idea come upon me at once, but by very slow degrees, presenting itself at first in dim shapes at a very great distance, as men may think of an earthquake or the last day; then drawing nearer and nearer, and losing something of its horror and improbability; then coming to be part and parcel — nay nearly the whole sum and substance — of my daily thoughts, and resolving itself into a question of means and safety; not of doing or abstaining from the deed.
While this was going on within me, I never could bear that the child should see me looking at him, and yet I was under a fascination which made it a kind of business with me to contemplate his slight and fragile figure and think how easily it might be done. Sometimes I would steal up-stairs and watch him as he slept; but usually I hovered in the garden near the window of the room in which he learnt his little tasks; and there, as he sat upon a low seat beside my wife, I would peer at him for hours together from behind a tree; starting, like the guilty wretch I was, at every rustling of a leaf, and still gliding back to look and start again. [Chapter II, "A Confession Found in a Prison in the Time of Charles the Second," 271; descriptive headkine: "A Murderer's Confession," 271]
Commentary: The Killer Stalks His Blameless Victim
As the demented narrator of the manuscript "A Confession Found in a Prison in the Time of Charles the Second" describes his meticulous observations of his victim in anticipation of the crime, Barnard like Furniss in the parallel Charles Dickens Library Edition lithograph The Murderer Has His Victim in his Net (1910), builds up suspense rather thAn, like Cattermole in Hunted Down (18 April 1840), telegraphs the dénouement. However, since the narrator has in all likelihood met his death in prison, we are aware from the first that the narrator will commit a serious crime, and will likely face the King's justice for it.
Relevant Illustrations from Other Editions (1872-1910)
Left: Harry Furniss's focus is on the killer, hiding in the shrubbery, rather than on his innocent victim: The Murderer Has His Victim in his Net (1910). Right: George Cattermole in the original serial version in Master Humphrey's Clock: The Murderer Has His Victim in his Net (1840).
Other Illustrated Editions of Master Humphrey's Clock
- George Cattermole's Original Serial Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (April 1840)
- W. H. C. Groome's Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (1907)
- Harry Furniss's Six Illustrations for Master Humphrey's Clock (1910)
Related Materials
- Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop (homepage)
- The Old Curiosity Shop Illustrated: A Team Effort by "The Clock Works"
Scanned image and text 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 images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
Barnard, Fred, et al. Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens; being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard, Hablot K. Browne (Phiz), J. Mahoney [and others] printed from the original woodblocks engraved for "The Household Edition." London: Chapman & Hall, 1908.
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Davis, Paul. "Master Humphrey's Clock." Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to his Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998. P. 238.
Dickens, Charles. Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). London: Chapman and Hall, 1840-41.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Reprinted Pieces, and Other Stories. With thirty illustrations by L. Fildes, E. G. Dalziel, and F. Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. XX. Pp. 253-306.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock and Pictures from Italy. Collins Pocket Editions. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow: Collins Clear-type Press, 1907. Pp. 1-168.
_______. Barnaby Rudge and Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. Charles Dickens Library Edition. Volume VI. London: Educational Book, 1910.
________. The Dickens Souvenir Book. London: Chapman & Hall, 1912.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture Book: A Record of the Dickens Illustrators. "Ch. XIV. Master Humphrey's Clock." The Charles Dickens Library. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Pp. 259-265.
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