A Window Study. From English Society. Sketched by George du Maurier. Click on image to enlarge it.
The Maiden.— “Good morning, Mr. Jones! How do you like my hyacinths?”
The Curate.— “Well, they prevent me from seeing you! I should prefer Lower cynths.”
Like Post-Prandial Studies and very unlike all those cartoons featuring his many examples of Unlucky Speeches and Ill-Considered Utterances, A Window Study has a man making an intentional play on words to compliment a women, albeit with a pretty bad pun. To a modern reader accustomed to cartoons and comic strips utilizing an intentionally non-realistic style derived from caricature, du Maurier seems to have expended a great deal of energy and skill upon realistic details unrelated to the pun.
Scanned image and text by George P. Landow [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
English Society. Sketched by George du Maurier. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1897.
Created 1 July 2001
Last modified 1 May 2020