A Meeting (Vol. XVIII, facing page 385), horizontally-mounted, 10.5 cm high by 16 cm wide (4 ⅛ by 6 ¼ inches), framed; signed "MEE." in the lower-left corner. Mary Ellen Edwards' final wood-engraving for Charles Lever's The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly in the Cornhill Magazine (October 1868), Chapters LXVI-LXIX ("Sedley's Notes" through "The Last of All") in Vol. 18: pages 385 through 403 (18 pages including unpaged illustration in instalment). The wood-engraver responsible for this illustration was Joseph Swain (1820-1909), noted for his engravings of Sir John Tenniel's cartoons in Punch. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: A Useful Tool: An Assassin sentenced to the Galleys
“Wouldn't you say the fellow knew we were talking of him? See he is smiling now; if that infernal grin can be called a smile.”
“I declare, I will have him over here; now don't go, sit down like a good fellow; there's no man understands character better than yourself, and I am positively curious to see how you will read this man on a closer inspection.”
“He does not interest, he merely disgusts, me.”
Pracontal arose, drew nigh the window, and waved his napkin in sign to the man, who at once got up from his seat, and slowly, and half indolently, came over to the window. He was dressed in a sort of gray uniform of jacket and trousers, and wore a kerchief on his head for a cap, a costume which certainly in no degree contributed to lessen the unfavourable impression his face imparted, for there was in his look a mixture of furtiveness and ferocity positively appalling.
“Do you like him better now?” asked Longworth, in English.
And the fellow grinned at the words.
“You understand English, eh?” asked Pracontal.
“Ay, I know most modern languages.”
“What nation are you?”
“A Savoyard.”
“Whence do you come now?”
“From the galleys at Ischia.”
“Frank that, anyhow,” cried Longworth. “Were you under sentence there?”
“Yes, for life.”
“For what offence?”
“For a score that I committed, and twice as many that I failed in.”
“Murder, assassination?”
He nodded. [Chapter LXVIII, "A Meeting and A Parting," pp. 395-396 in serial; pp. 439-440 in volume]
Commentary: Pracontal Unmasked as a Pretender at Last?
The appearance of No. 97 (Pracontal's father, the penal convict named "Nick," or Niccolo Baldassare) at the window and the phlegmatic pose of the elegantly dressed Frenchman, as well as the accompanying dialogue, suggest that this meeting with Longworth, Pracontal's financial backer in his court case against the Bramleighs, is about to introduce the novel's recognition scene. The opening vignette for this instalment has proclaimed to the serial reader that these final chapters will constitute something of a climax and a denouement as the Bramleighs wave the reader goodbye. The appearance of Nick at window promises to elicit from the Pretender a recognition of his true circumstances. When the convict whispers his name in Pracontal's ear, the Frenchman realizes that his claim is bogus, and that he will never succeed in his plan to marry Lady Augusta. When Longworth steps out of the room, Tonino Baldassare (also known as "Anatole Pracontal," after his mother's maiden name) rises and follows the man whom he has recognized as his father.
Scanned image and text 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
Lever, Charles. The Bramleighs of Bishop’s Folly. The Cornhill Magazine 15 (June, 1867): pp. 640-664; 16 (July-December 1867): 1-666; 17 (January-June 1868): 1-663; 18 (July-October 1868): 1-403. Rpt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1872. Illustrated by M. E. Edwards; engraved by Joseph Swain.
Stevenson, Lionel. "Chapter XVI: Exile on the Adriatic, 1867-1872." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 277-296.
Created 11 September 2023