"Do you see <em>this</em>? This is a bottle." — Chapter LVII, Fred Barnard's fifty-third illustration for "Nicholas Nickleby" (1875)

"Do you see his? This is a bottle.", for Chap. LVII; fifty-third illustration for the British Household Edition, illustrated by Fred Barnard with fifty-nine composite woodblock engravings (1875). The framed illustration is 9.4 cm high by 13.8 cm wide (3 ¾ by 5 ⅜ inches), p. 380. Running head: "Mr. Squeers and Mrs. Sliderskew" (381). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Passage Illustrated: Ralph Nickleby breaks down

Hablot Knight Browne's depiction of the pair of rogues, about to be interrupted in their inspection of Gride's papers: Mr. Squeers and Mrs. Sliderskew Unconscious of Visitors (September 1839), Chapter 57.

"Well, my Slider," said Mr. Squeers, jocularly.

"Is that you?" inquired Peg.

"Ah! it’s me, and me’s the first person singular, nominative case, agreeing with the verb 'it’s', and governed by Squeers understood, as a acorn, a hour; but when the h is sounded, the a only is to be used, as a and, a art, a ighway," replied Mr. Squeers, quoting at random from the grammar. "At least, if it isn’t, you don’t know any better, and if it is, I’ve done it accidentally."

Delivering this reply in his accustomed tone of voice, in which of course it was inaudible to Peg, Mr. Squeers drew a stool to the fire, and placing himself over against her, and the bottle and glass on the floor between them, roared out again, very loud,

"Well, my Slider!"

"I hear you," said Peg, receiving him very graciously.

"I’ve come according to promise," roared Squeers.

"So they used to say in that part of the country I come from," observed Peg, complacently, "but I think oil’s better."

"Better than what?" roared Squeers, adding some rather strong language in an undertone.

"No," said Peg, "of course not."

"I never saw such a monster as you are!" muttered Squeers, looking as amiable as he possibly could the while; for Peg’s eye was upon him, and she was chuckling fearfully, as though in delight at having made a choice repartee, "Do you see this? This is a bottle."

"I see it," answered Peg.

"Well, and do you see this?" bawled Squeers. "This is a glass." Peg saw that too.

"See here, then," said Squeers, accompanying his remarks with appropriate action, "I fill the glass from the bottle, and I say 'Your health, Slider,' and empty it; then I rinse it genteelly with a little drop, which I’m forced to throw into the fire — hallo! we shall have the chimbley alight next — fill it again, and hand it over to you." [Chapter XLIII, "Officiates as a kind of Gentleman Usher, in bringing various People together," 379]

Commentary: Sharing a Convivial Glass

Arthur Gride's slightly demented and largely deaf housekeeper, whom Barnard characterizes as a hideous crone, has joined forces with Wackford Squeers (right) as the pair prepare to rifle through the miser's papers. Since the Yorkshire schoolmaster's is the controlling voice in the accompanying text, Barnard makes him the more dynamic of the two as he holds aloft the bottle he has brought to purchase Peg's cooperation in his project. Barnard does not include those who are quietly closing on the nefarious pair — Frank Cheeryble and Newman Noggs.

It has taken Squeers, acting as Ralph Nickleby's confidential agent to secure the stolen papers, six weeks to track Peg to her garret in Lambeth on the Thames. Barnard shows few details other than the open chest (centre). Peg intends to consult Squeers about which deeds are worth something if fenced, and which they should simply destroy to vex the miser who had passed her over for young Madeline Bray, and then had lost his young bride when her debtor father died suddenly on the wedding day. Squeers has convinced her that some of the papers can be turned into ready cash. The darkness of the figures and the enormous shadows they cast imparts an air of mystery to their proceedings.

Parallel Illustrations from Other Editions (1867-1876)

Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition study of Peg getting the papers for Squeers: Peg Sliderskew (1867). Right: Harry Furniss's Charles Dickens Library Edition study of Peg and Squeers going through the papers as Frank Cheeryble and Newman Noggs creep up upon them: Squeers and Peg play havoc with Gride's Papers (1910).

Above: C. S. Reinhart's 1875 woodblock engraving of the same scene: "Fill it again, and hand it over to you." in the American Household Edition.

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 15 September 20211