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Volume Order of Illustrations Incorrect at this Point

The volume edition at this point does not replicate the order of the illustrations for Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 9. The December 1840 illustration, the last for Volume 8, was Guy Fawkes keeping watch upon Tresham and Lord Mounteagle, and the January 1841 illustration in the magazine serial was Viviana examined by the Earl of Salisbury and the Privy Council in the Star Chamber, facing the first page of that number. In the original magazine serial, Cruikshank had intended that Guy Fawkes laying the train be the February 1841 illustration. Thus, the volume's thirteenth illustration, facing page 190, does not refer to Book Two, Chapter VI ("The Cellar") at all; rather, it refers to an incident at the very close of the February number in Bentley's: "On the following night . . . a slight tap was heard without" (Book the Second, Chapter X, page 128, in Bentley's, Vol. 9).

Passage that rightly should be attached to this illustration

On the following night, Fawkes examined the cellar, and found it in all respects as he had left it; and, apprehensive lest some difficulty might arise, he resolved to make every preparation. He, accordingly, pierced the sides of several of the barrels piled against the walls with a gimlet, and inserted in the holes small pieces of slow-burning match. Not content with this, he staved in the tops of the uppermost tier, and scattered powder among them to secure their instantaneous ignition.

This done, he took a powder-horn, with which he was provided, and kneeling down, and holding his lantern so as to throw a light upon the floor, laid a train to one of the lower barrels, and brought it within a few inches of the door, intending to fire it from that point. His arrangements completed, he arose, and muttered,

"A vessel is provided for my escape in the river, and my companions advise me to use a slow match, which will allow me to get out of harm's way. But I will see the deed done, and if the train fails, will hold a torch to the barrels myself."

At this juncture, a slight tap was heard without. [Book the Second, "The Discovery," Chapter X, "White Webs," page 128 in Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 9; pp. 227-28 in the volume edition]

Commentary

Although Ainsworth inaccurately intimates that Guy Fawkes served as the ringleader of the 5 November 1605 Gunpowder Plot, the military veteran, who had acquired an expert knowledge of explosives during his decade-long service in the Spanish campaign in the Netherlands, had indeed vowed to stand guard over the hidden explosives until the moment of ignition. The novelist correctly instructed George Cruikshank, then, to depict Fawkes by himself laying a train of gunpowder to the thirty-six kegs that the plotters have secreted under St. Stephen's Hall, where Parliament was due to meet. Appearing at the head of the monthly instalment for February 1841 in the magazine serial, the illustration prepared Bentley's readers for the bungling of the plot as Lord Monteagle betrays the clandestine operation at a crucial junction, just days before. During a special search of the undercroft beneath the House of Lords at about midnight on 4 November 1605, authorities discovered Fawkes guarding the lumber-room, where he had laid the powder-train before concealing the explosives.

Cruikshank provides yet another portrait of the radical ex-soldier in action at a highly suspenseful moment, giving Fawkes an intense look of concentration which suggests the delicacy of the operation. The illustrator depicts the munitions specialist in Whynniard's Undercroft, on the ground floor, directly beneath the first-floor of the House of Lords. The wood with which Fawkes intends to hide the kegs stands ready as, carefully surveying his handiwork by the light of a dark-lantern, he lays a thin trail of black-powder with his powder-horn away from the kegs. Cruikshank uses chiaroscuro to provide dramatic illumination for Fawkes's forehead and right hand, leaving much of the space in an atmospheric darkness. The stout Doric pillar behind Fawkes implies that upon the ex-soldier's expertise depends the success of the scheme to eliminate at a single stroke the entire Protestant administration in order to install a Catholic on the throne. The artist has included only about half the total number of barrels, and has not shown any of them staved in, as in the letterpress. Had Fawkes permitted others to stand guard over the explosives with him, the outcome might have been very different as the charge would probably have been sufficient to level most of the City of Westminster.

References

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Guy Fawkes, or The Gunpowder Treason: An Historical Romance. With 22 illustrations by George Cruikshank. London: Cunningham & Mortimer, 1841 (first edition). Rpt., London: George Routledge & Sons, n. d. [See the text and images of the novel posted in May 2013 at Project Gutenberg Australia's website: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1302021h.html .]

Vann, J. Don. "Guy Fawkes in Bentley's Miscellany, January 1840-Noevember 1841." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. P. 20.

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Last modified 22 August 2018