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Audacity of Jack Sheppard
George Cruikshank
August 1839
Etching
11.9 x 9.6 cm
"Epoch the Third, 1724. The Prison Breaker," Vol. 2, for Ch. 7, "Jack Sheppard Warns Thames Darrell," in William Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard. A Romance, but facing page 195.
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Which audacious moment is illustrated? Whereas the previous misplacement of an illustration — Jack Sheppard and Edgeworth Bess escape from Clerkenwell Prison — occurred after the "List of Illustrations" was typeset for Volume One, this error must have occurred even before that list was established. The key to the erroneous placement in the volume edition appears to be the word "audacious" in that Ainsworth applies it to both the scene in which the daring Jack confronts Wild in his own fortified house after adopting the identity of Quilt Arnold (opposite p. 195, the indicated position, according to "Illustrations to Jack Sheppard" in Volume One), and when he dares to venture to Dollis Hill to warn Thames Darrell of an impending attempt on his life by Wild and Trenchard. Clearly, by the nature of the figures depicted, the Cruikshank did not intend this to be the illustration for the incident against which it appears in the triple-decker. (The August monthly instalment, encompassing Chapters 5 through 8 in the "Third Epoch," would not have juxtaposed the picture against any passage, but would have included it at the beginning of the instalment.) The second volume of the November 1839 edition shows the illustration within Chapter 5, "The Disguise," when Jack, having escaped from the New Prison overnight, confronts Jonathan Wild. Having robbed Jonathan Wild's henchman, Quilt Arnold, on the road south to London, and, with the janizary's borrowed clothing, he has passed himself off as Arnold, and is therefore present when Wild reveals the improbable plot secret that Mrs. Sheppard is in fact Sir Rowland Trenchard's long-lost sister Constance, stolen when she was just five by a gypsy. Audaciously, Jack reveals himself in his true identity when Nab (Abraham Mendez), having announced Shepard's escape, has his account seconded by the timely arrived of the battered Quilt. The group at Wild's house in the Old Bailey is struck by the sensational revellation, which probably works better on stage than in a novel: "there was a general movement of surprise at his audacity" (195, emphasis added). However, before Wild and his confederates can seize Jack, he summons Blueskin, waiting just outside the door, and with his faithful companion's backing makes his exit, locking his opponents in. The pair then make good their escape on horseback up Giltspur-street, despite Wild's having a secret staircase by which to descend quickly to the lobby below.
In any event, the picture is not especially well captioned as Jack demonstrates audacity in most of the moments that Cruikshank chose to realise. A better or at least a less ambiguous title would have mentioned Jack's receiving a hostile reception in Owen Wood's substantial cottage at Dollis Hill, near Willesden, the site of his picking Kneebone's pocket in the parish church and then being confined in the village "Cage." Although Jack carries a hat in his hand and wears no wig like his cousin, Thames, the two have similar facial features (the artist's way of suggesting their kinship), despite Thames's heavier throat. Jack is placid and collected; Thames aggressive, clutching his rapier); and Owen Wood outraged, so that each has a distinctive posture and visage to contrast the emotions that dominate each. The young women are both overwrought, and Cruikshank has done little to distinguish the maid (left) from Winny (right), except that Miss Wood is in deep mourning costume, as the text specifies. And yet Cruikshank is alert to the possibility of realia, such as the covered birdcage, which the author includes in his description of the scene: "Then a handkerchief was thrown over the cage, to prevent the bird from singing; it was her favourite canary" (213).
The other moment in this August 1839 (eighth) instalment that demonstrates Jack's temerity involves Jack's riding to Dollis Hill to warn Thames, Owen Wood's guest, that Sir Rowland and Jonathan have vowed to take his life, and know exactly where he is. Jack's audacious or at least indecorous behaviour is his having returned to the scene of the crime accompanied by Mrs. Woods' murderer in order to save Thames. Everything in the picture supports this identification:
The occasion of all this confusion and dismay, meanwhile, remained perfectly motionless; his figure erect, and with somewhat of dignity in his demeanour. He kept his keen eyes steadily fixed on Thames, as if awaiting to be addressed.
"Your audacity passes belief,” cried the latter, as soon as his surprise would allow him utterance. “If you have contrived to break out of your confinement, villain, this is the last place where you ought to show yourself."
"And, therefore, the first I would visit,"replied Jack, boldly. "But, pardon my intrusion. I was resolvedto see you. And, fearing you might not come to me, I forced my way hither, even with certainty of discomposing your friends."
"Well, villain!"replied Thames, "I know not the motive of your visit. But, if you have come to surrender yourself to justice, it is well. You cannot depart hence."
"Cannot?"echoed Jack, a slight smile crossing his features. "But, let that pass. My motive in coming hither is to serve you, and save your life. If you choose to requite me by detaining me, you are at liberty to do so. I shall make no defence. That I am not ignorant of the reward offered for my capture this will show," he added, taking a large placard headed 'Murder' from his pocket, and throwing it on the floor. "Mydemeanour ought to convince you that I came with no hostile intention. And, to show you that I have no intention of flying, I will myself close and lock the door. There is the key. Are you now satisfied?"
"No,"interposed Wood, furiously, "I shall never be satisfied till I see you hanged on the highest gibbet at Tyburn." — "Epoch the Third, 1724. Chapter 7, "Jack Sheppard Warns Thames Darrell," p. 217-218.
Yet again the printer seems to have made an error as the illustration itself does not show Wild, Blueskin, Mendez, Trenchard, and Jack, but Jack confronting Thames Darrell (right), with a shocked Owen Wood in the centre, the terrified maid to the left margin and a distraught Winny to the right margin. None of these features corresponds to the passage near which the engraving is juxtaposed in Volume Two:
Before Wild could make any reply, the door was thrown violently open, and Abraham Mendez rushed into the room, with a face of the utmost consternation.
"He hash eshcaped!" cried the Jew.
"Who? Jack!" exclaimed Jonathan.
"Yesh," replied Abraham. "I vent to de New Prish'n, and on wishitin' his shel vid de turnkey, vot should ve find but de shains on de ground, de vinder broken, and Jack and Agevorth Besh gone."
"Damnation!" cried Jonathan, stamping his foot with uncontrollable rage. "I'd rather have given a thousand pounds than this had happened. But he might have broken out of prison, and yet not got over the wall of Clerkenwell Bridewell. Did you search the yard, fool?"
"Ve did," replied Abraham; "and found his fine goat and ruffles torn to shtrips on de shpikes near de creat cate. It vosh plain he vent dat vay."
Jonathan gave utterance to a torrent of imprecations.
While he thus vented his rage, the door again opened, and Quilt Arnold rushed into the room, bleeding, and half-dressed.
"'Sblood! what's this!" cried Jonathan, in the utmost surprise. "Quilt Arnold, is that you?"
"It is, Sir," sputtered the janizary. "I've been robbed, maltreated, and nearly murdered by Jack Sheppard."
"By Jack Sheppard!" exclaimed the thief-taker.
"Yes; and I hope you'll take ample vengeance upon him," said Quilt.
"I will, when I catch him, rely on it," rejoined Wild.
"You needn't go far to do that," returned Quilt; "there he stands."
"Ay, here I am," said Jack, throwing off his hat and wig, and marching towards the group, amongst whom there was a general movement of surprise at his audacity. "Sir Rowland, I salute you as your nephew."
"Back, villain!" said the knight, haughtily. "I disown you. The whole story of your relationship is a fabrication."
"Time will show," replied Jack with equal haughtiness. "But, however, it may turn out, I disown you."
"Well, Jack," said Jonathan, who had looked at him with surprise not unmixed with admiration, "you are a bold and clever fellow, I must allow. Were I not Jonathan Wild, I'd be Jack Sheppard. I'm almost sorry I've sworn to hang you. But, it can't be helped. I'm a slave to my word. Were I to let you go, you'd say I feared you. Besides, you've secrets which must not be disclosed. Nab and Quilt to the door! Jack, you are my prisoner." —"Epoch the Third, 1724. The Prison Breaker," Chapter 5, "The Disguise," pp. 194-196.
The error was corrected in the 1854 Routledge edition of the novel, in which the appropriate passage faces the plate.
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Jack Sheppard. A Romance. With 28 illustrations by George Cruikshank. In three volumes. London: Richard Bentley, 1839.
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Jack Sheppard. A Romance. With 28 illustrations by George Cruikshank. (in a single volume). London: Routledge, 1854.
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Jack Sheppard. Edited by Edward Jacobs and Manuela Mourao. With 31 illustrations. Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2007.
Clark, Kenneth. Chapter 10, "The Smile of Reason." Civilisation. London: BBC and John Murray, 1969, rpt. 1975. Pp. 244-267.
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bradbury and Evans; Chapman and Hall, 1846.
Forster, John. "Review." The Examiner, 1657 (3 November 1839): 691-693; rpt., William Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard, ed. Edward Jacobs and Manuela Mourao. Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2007, pp. 509-519.
Meisel, Martin. Chapter 13, "Novels in Epitome." Realizations: Narrative, Pictorial, and Theatrical Arts in Nineteenth-Century England. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989. Pp. 247-282.
Sutherland, John. "Jack Sheppard" in The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 19893. Pp. 323-324.
Vann, J. Don. "Jack Sheppard in Bentley's Miscellany, January 1839 — February 1840." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. Page 19.
Last modified 24 December 2016
