"'But they shall not protect ye!' said the tragedian, taking an upward look at Nicholas, beginning at his boots and ending at the crown of his head, &c." Chap. XXIX — Fred Barnard's twenty-seventh illustration for "Nicholas Nickleby" (1875)

"But they shall not protect ye!" said the tragedian, taking an upward look at Nicholas, beginning at his boots and ending at the crown of his head, &c. — Chap. XXIX, p. 192, from the Household Edition of Charles Dickens's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, illustrated by Fred Barnard with fifty-nine composite woodblock engravings (1875). 10.8 cm high by 13.8 cm wide (4 ¼ by 6 ½ inches), framed. Running head: "Self-sacrifice of Mr. Lenville" (193). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Passage Illustrated: A (Pseudo) Dramatic Confrontation on the Boards

Nicholas Hints at the Probability of His Leaving the Company (December 1838).

"Slave!" returned Mr. Lenville, flourishing his right arm, and approaching Nicholas with a theatrical stride. But somehow he appeared just at that moment a little startled, as if Nicholas did not look quite so frightened as he had expected, and came all at once to an awkward halt, at which the assembled ladies burst into a shrill laugh.

"Object of my scorn and hatred!" said Mr. Lenville, "I hold ye in contempt."

Nicholas laughed in very unexpected enjoyment of this performance; and the ladies, by way of encouragement, laughed louder than before; whereat Mr Lenville assumed his bitterest smile, and expressed his opinion that they were "minions."

"But they shall not protect ye!" said the tragedian, taking an upward look at Nicholas, beginning at his boots and ending at the crown of his head, and then a downward one, beginning at the crown of his head, and ending at his boots — which two looks, as everybody knows, express defiance on the stage. "They shall not protect — boy!"

Thus speaking, Mr. Lenville folded his arms, and treated Nicholas to that expression of face with which, in melodramatic performances, he was in the habit of regarding the tyrannical kings when they said, "Away with him to the deepest dungeon beneath the castle moat;" and which, accompanied with a little jingling of fetters, had been known to produce great effects in its time. [Chapter XXIX, "Of the Proceedings of Nicholas, and certain Internal Divisions in the Company of Mr. Vincent Crummles," 192]

Commentary: The Jealous Leading Actor Challenges Nicholas

Nicholas's popularity as the Crummles' company's leading man at the Portsmouth theatre has excited the envious malice of the resident tragedian, Thomas Lenville. Accordingly the middle-aged actor's wounded vanity has prompted him to call out the young actor who has stolen his usual "reception" (three rounds of applause) before the entire company on stage. Lenville expects that Nicholas will acceded to having his nose publicly pulled, and that the story will appear in the local paper, thereby restoring Lenville's celebrity. What he has not counted on is Nicholas's manly resistance.

In Barnard's humourous group scene, the Miles Gloriosus, supported by the male members of the company (because they, too, are jealous of Nicholas's recent reception on the boards), offers defiance. The handsome Nicholas, enjoying the sympathy of the female members of the company, is unperturbed. In the other Household Edition, that which Harper and Brothers of New York issued at the same time, illustrator C. S. Reinhart has elected to show the aftermath of the onstage confrontation, when a shaken Mrs. Lenville intervenes to rescue her husband from his own folly.

The American Household Edition's Version of the Confrontation

Above: C. S. Reinhart's 1875 American Household Editioncomposite woodblock engraving of the onstage altercation between the older and younger actor: "For my sake — for mine, Lenville — forego all idle forms, unless you would like to see me a blighted corse at your feet."

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, 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.]

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. I.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 4.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 11 August 2021