"Two men, seizing each other by the throat, struggled into the middle of the room." — Chapter L, Fred Barnard's forty-sixth illustration for "Nicholas Nickleby" (1875)

Two men, seizing each other by the throat, struggled into the middle of the room, for Chap. L; forty-sixth illustration for the British Household Edition, illustrated by Fred Barnard with fifty-nine composite woodblock engravings (1875). The half-page, framed illustration is 8.5 cm high by 13.8 cm wide (3 ¾ by 5 ½ inches), p. 336. Running head: "To-night's Pleasures" (335). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Passage Illustrated: The Midnight Brawl in the Gambling Tent

Phiz introduces the chapter that sees Verisopht's death with a less distinguished scene involving The Hawk: The Last Brawl between Sir Mulbery and His Pupil (July 1839).

They dined together, sumptuously. The wine flowed freely, as indeed it had done all day. Sir Mulberry drank to recompense himself for his recent abstinence; the young lord, to drown his indignation; and the remainder of the party, because the wine was of the best and they had nothing to pay. It was nearly midnight when they rushed out, wild, burning with wine, their blood boiling, and their brains on fire, to the gaming-table.

Here, they encountered another party, mad like themselves. The excitement of play, hot rooms, and glaring lights was not calculated to allay the fever of the time. In that giddy whirl of noise and confusion, the men were delirious. Who thought of money, ruin, or the morrow, in the savage intoxication of the moment? More wine was called for, glass after glass was drained, their parched and scalding mouths were cracked with thirst. Down poured the wine like oil on blazing fire. And still the riot went on. The debauchery gained its height; glasses were dashed upon the floor by hands that could not carry them to lips; oaths were shouted out by lips which could scarcely form the words to vent them in; drunken losers cursed and roared; some mounted on the tables, waving bottles above their heads and bidding defiance to the rest; some danced, some sang, some tore the cards and raved. Tumult and frenzy reigned supreme; when a noise arose that drowned all others, and two men, seizing each other by the throat, struggled into the middle of the room. [Chapter L, "Involves a serious Catastrophe," 334-335]

Commentary: Illustrations Depicting Before and After the Duel

All three major illustrations for this chapter after the initial (July 1839) serial illustration (set in the "Rooge-a-nore" gambling tent at the Hampton races) touch upon some aspect of the aftermath of the duel on the next morning between Sir Mulbrerry Hawk and his "pupil," Lord Frederic Verisopht. The cause of the deadly quarrel lies in Hawk's cavalier treatment of Kate Nickleby, and his contempt for her brother when Nicholas attempts to protect her reputation and calls Hawk out in a London hotel. The upshot was Hawk's receiving a beating, for which he has formulated plans of vengeance. This has been the cause of the duel, after a day of excessive gambling and wine consumption at the Hampton races. Verisopht has objected to Hawk's plans to exact vengeance upon Nicholas, and has struck Hawk in the heat of the moment. The seconds agree that the affair cannot be resolved by a simple apology since they concur that Verisopht would not render it and Hawk would not accept it. The pair arrange a duel at daybreak in the fields nearby.

The Barnard sequence in the British Household Edition actually depicts the adversaries at each other's throats in Two men, seizing each other by the throat, struggled into the middle of the room, so that the artist in this chapter depicts the before and After of the deadly duel between the ruthless gambler and his quondam dupe. As Dickens remarks that a dozen people are involved in the scene, Barnard has included that number of characters under the influence of alcohol. The time of day is established through the number of tapers burning. Barnard makes Verisopht and Mulberry Hawk very similar types, perhaps to underscore the irony of their turning upon one another after several years of amicable relations, but with the older, Hawk, the leader and thinker; but now Verisopht has seen Hawk as petty and vindictive, and is bent on deflecting his form,er mentor from his purpose.

Parallel Illustrations from Other Editions (1875 and 1910)

Left: Harry Furniss's 1910 lithograph of the aftermath of the duel, with violent undertones: Lord Frederick Verisopht falls in a Duel in the Charles Dickens Library Edition. Right: C. S. Reinhart's picturesque realisation of the same scene for American readers: Lay the dead man, with his stark and rigid face turned upward to the sky in the Household Edition, New York (1875).

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-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 20 September 2021