"I must beseech you to contemplate again the fearful curse to which you have been impelled."
Fred Barnard
1875
12.3 x 10.3 cm (4 ¾ by 4 inches), framed, p. 353. For Chapter 53: running head: "He Expostulates in Vain" (353).
Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, The Household Edition, p. 353.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"Leave me, sir, pray," said the young lady.
"I cannot, will not leave you thus," returned Nicholas. "I have a duty to discharge; and, either here, or in the room from which we have just now come, at whatever risk or hazard to Mr. Bray, I must beseech you to contemplate again the fearful course to which you have been impelled."
"What course is this you speak of, and impelled by whom, sir?’ demanded the young lady, with an effort to speak proudly.
"I speak of this marriage," returned Nicholas, "of this marriage, fixed for tomorrow, by one who never faltered in a bad purpose, or lent his aid to any good design; of this marriage, the history of which is known to me, better, far better, than it is to you. I know what web is wound about you. I know what men they are from whom these schemes have come. You are betrayed and sold for money; for gold, whose every coin is rusted with tears, if not red with the blood of ruined men, who have fallen desperately by their own mad hands."
"You say you have a duty to discharge," said Madeline, "and so have I. And with the help of Heaven I will perform it."
"Say rather with the help of devils," replied Nicholas, ‘with the help of men, one of them your destined husband, who are —"
"I must not hear this," cried the young lady, striving to repress a shudder, occasioned, as it seemed, even by this slight allusion to Arthur Gride. "This evil, if evil it be, has been of my own seeking. I am impelled to this course by no one, but follow it of my own free will. You see I am not constrained or forced. Report this," said Madeline, ‘to my dear friend and benefactor, and, taking with you my prayers and thanks for him and for yourself, leave me for ever!" [Chapter LIII, "Containing the further Progress of the Plot contrived by Mr. Ralph Nickleby and Mr. Arthur Gride," 352]
At this point, Madeline seems adamant about pursuing a course that will liberate her feckless, class-conscious father from his massive debts, but which will also unite her with a living cadaver who values only her physical appearance. She sacrifices herself to save her father. The elegantly furnished room in which Nicholas has the interview with Gride's intended suggests some degree of comfort, if not affluence, purchased by Madeline's exertions as an artist. She is respectably but not fashionably dressed, and, despite her luxuriant hair, seems neither especially young nor beautiful in Barnard's treatment, and Nicholas is dressed as befits a member of the middle class, but seems if anything older than his years.
Left: Phiz shows how Nicholas outwits Gride and his uncle Ralph in Nicholas Congratulates Arthur Gride on His Wedding Morning (August 1839). Centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition study of the novel's miserly villains: Ralph Nickleby and Arthur Gride (1867). Right: Fred Barnard's Household Edition illustration for the previous chapter involves Grides's selecting his wedding outfit, which he acquired at a bargain (of course!): "I'll be married in the bottle-green, cried Arthur Gride.
Above: C. S. Reinhart's 1875 woodblock engraving of Nicholas's stealing the aged miser's bride: And then, taking the beautiful burden in his arms, rushed out in Chapter 54 of the American Household Edition.
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 23 September 2021
