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Basement Chamber in the Salt Tower
George Cruikshank
October 1840
Wood-engraving
9.9 cm high by 9.7 cm wide, vignetted
Illustration for Book II, Ch. XXVI, of Ainsworth's The Tower of London, p. 289.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"A thousand marks that I read your excellency's thoughts!" cried a martial-looking personage, approaching them. He was attired in a coat of mail, with quilted sleeves, a velvet cassock, cuisses, and buff boots drawn up above the knee; and carried in his hand a black velvet cap, ornamented with broad bone-work lace. His arms were rapier and dagger, both of the largest size. "Is the wager accepted?" he added, taking the ambassador's arm within his own, and drawing him aside.
"My thoughts are easily guessed, Sir Thomas Wyat," replied De Noailles, "I am thinking how prosperously all goes for us."
"Right," rejoined Wyat; "out of that large assemblage three only are favourable to the imperialists. If you approve it, I will myself — though not a member of the council — answer Gardiner's speech, and tell him we will not suffer this hateful alliance to take place."
"That were unwise,” rejoined De Noailles, "do not meddle in the matter. It will only attract suspicion towards us."
"I care not if it does," replied Wyat; "we are all ready and sure of support. I will go further, if need be, and add, if the queen weds not Courtenay, a general insurrection will follow." [Chapter XXVI. — "By What Means Gardiner Extracted the Secret of the Conspiracy from Courtenay; and of the Consequences of the Disclosure," p. 291]
The Salt Tower, depicted at the head of Chapter XXVI, has nothing whatsoever to do with the subsequent action, although it has already been of considerable importance in the April instalment as the dungeon in this tower is where Nightgall has secretly imprisoned Cicely. The Salt Tower appears first in North View of the Salt Tower, and again in Masque in the Palace Garden of the Tower, Secret Staircase in the Salt Tower, Chamber in the Salt Tower, and Arched Door in the Salt Tower Communicating with Secret Staircase, as well as torture scenes probably enacted in the dungeons of the Salt Tower, significantly Elizabeth confronted with Wyat in the Torture-Chamber in Chapter 34 in the final instalment. Ainsworth's firing the public imagination probably led to the government's commissioning architect Anthony Salvin, at the behest of Prince Albert, to undertake a comprehensive restoration of the Tower's mediaeval and Tudor buildings.
Left: The wood-engraving of the Nightgall's secret hiding-place for Cicely as it looked in 1840, Secret Staircase in the Salt Tower (July 1840). Centre: Arched Door in the Salt Tower Communicating with Secret Staircase. Right: The brutal jailor callously trying to shift his victim's location in order to avoid detection, Lawrence Nightgall Dragging Cicely Down the secret stairs in the Salt Tower (July 1840). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
The prosaic view of the derelict basement in the Salt Tower serves as a complement to Ainsworth's introduction of the Sir Thomas Wyat, who vows "never [to] surrender [his country] to the domination of Spain!" (293) by countenancing the "hateful alliance" (291) between Hapsburg Spain and Tudor England. The scene is the presence-chamber in the White Tower. Hiding behind an arras, the bluff Wyat and the sly French ambassador overhear a conversation between Gardiner and Courtenay, who is prepared to identify them as co-conspirators in the recent plot. They determine to raise a rebellion in Kent and in London before Mary can marry Philip. They "mean to besiege the Tower, and secure the queen's person" (297) before Gardiner, informed by Courtenay, of their roles in the forthcoming insurrection, can move against them.However, in conference with the anti-Spanish adherents at Sion House later, after Wyat has set out for Kent, Jane refuses to participate in the rebellion until her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, insists that he intends to join the rebels with or without his wife's assistance.
The above (irrelevant) wood-engraving introduces the chapter in which we encounter one of the novel's most dynamic and attractive characters, whom W. H. Chesson in describing Cruikshank's representations of the patriotic rebel calls the handsome Wyat. In both text and illustration Wyat is a dashing military figure who in his rashness and manly vigour is suggestive of the intrepid highwayman Dick Turpin in Ainsworth's rogue novel Rookwood (1834).
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Last modified 22 October 2017