"I am a most miserable and wretched outcast, nearly sixty years old, and as destitute and helpless as a child of six"
Fred Barnard
1875
13.8 x 10.7 cm (5 ⅜ by 4 ¼ inches), framed, p. 264. For Chapter 44.
Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, The Household Edition, p. 293.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"Don’t let us play upon words, Mr. Nickleby, in the name of humanity."
"Of what?" said Ralph.
"Of humanity,"replied the other, sternly. "I am hungry and in want. If the change that you must see in me after so long an absence — must see, for I, upon whom it has come by slow and hard degrees, see it and know it well—will not move you to pity, let the knowledge that bread; not the daily bread of the Lord’s Prayer, which, as it is offered up in cities like this, is understood to include half the luxuries of the world for the rich, and just as much coarse food as will support life for the poor—not that, but bread, a crust of dry hard bread, is beyond my reach today—let that have some weight with you, if nothing else has."
"If this is the usual form in which you beg, sir,"said Ralph, "you have studied your part well; but if you will take advice from one who knows something of the world and its ways, I should recommend a lower tone; a little lower tone, or you stand a fair chance of being starved in good earnest."
"As he said this, Ralph clenched his left wrist tightly with his right hand, and inclining his head a little on one side and dropping his chin upon his breast, looked at him whom he addressed with a frowning, sullen face. The very picture of a man whom nothing could move or soften.
"Yesterday was my first day in London," said the old man, glancing at his travel-stained dress and worn shoes.
"It would have been better for you, I think, if it had been your last also," replied Ralph.
"I have been seeking you these two days, where I thought you were most likely to be found," resumed the other more humbly, "and I met you here at last, when I had almost given up the hope of encountering you, Mr Nickleby."
"He seemed to wait for some reply, but Ralph giving him none, he continued:
"I am a most miserable and wretched outcast, nearly sixty years old, and as destitute and helpless as a child of six." [Chapter XLIV, "Mr. Ralph Nickleby cuts an old Acquaintance. It would also appear from the Contents hereof, that a Joke, even between Husband and Wife, may be sometimes carried too far," 289-290]
Nicholas discovers a mysterious young lady in Mr. Charles Cheeryble’s office when he enters to deliver a letter. Mr. Cheeryble tries to get the young lady, who has apparently fainted, to rise. Nicholas recognizes her from the Employment Office as the fashionably dressed young woman who had inquired about a possible governess's position. Nicholas's employers act mysteriously in their attempts to dismiss Nicholas, and Tim Linkinwater's reluctance to say anything about the young lady intensifies the mystery surrounding her unexpected appearance at the elderly bachelors' offices. Nicholas become progressively more and more curious about her. Tim tells Nicholas that the woman's servant visits the offices every night. Therefore, Nicholas enlists Noggs to follow the servant to discover where the young lady is staying. Two nights later, after watching the local pump like a "meditative ogre," Noggs provides Nicholas with information about the lady, Cecilia Bobster. This intelligence is incorrect: she is in fact madeline bray, daughter of a tyrannical invalid whose bankruptcy compels him to live within the Rules of the KIng's Bench Prison. The illustration thus serves to introduce the plot between Arthur Gride and Madeline's father, Walter.
Left: C. S. Reinhart's American Household Edition interpretation of the third meeting of Nicholas and the young lady: "I must speak to her — I will! I will not leave this house without." Right: Harry Furniss's interpretation of the fainting scene: Nicholas comes in upon an awkward scene (1910).
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Left: Phiz brings in the romantic interest for the Nicholas plot: Nicholas Recognizes the Young Lady Unknown (April 1839). Right: Fred Barnard's British Household Edition interpretation of Noggs's serving as Nicholas's detective: The Meditative Ogre.
Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition study of the novel's belatedly introduced secondary heroine: Walter Bray and Madeline (1867). Right: Fred Barnard's 1875 woodblock engraving of the Nicholas and Madeline: "I must beseech you to contemplate again the fearful curse to which you have been impelled.", in the British Household Edition, Ch. 53.
Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-nine illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. XV. 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 15 September 2021
