"Sim Tappertit and Stagg" by Sol Eytinge

Sim Tappertit and Stagg

Sol Eytinge

Wood engraving, approximately 10 cm high by 7.5 cm wide (framed)

Illustration for Dickens's Barnaby Rudge in the single volume Barnaby Rudge and Hard Times in the Ticknor & Fields (Boston, 1867) Diamond Edition.

In this third full-page character study for the first novel in the compact American publication, a diminutive, cocky, over-dressed quick-witted, rebellious apprentice (Simon Tappertit) contrasts the burly, uncouth rogue, Stagg. [Commentary continued below]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

After the clandestine, night meeting of the Apprentice Knights at his establishment, the blind Stagg ushers out their commander:

But the host withdrawing — probably to weep in secret — soon returned with the information that it wanted little more than an hour of day, and that all the cocks in Barbican had already begun to crow, as if their lives depended on it. At this intelligence, the 'Prentice Knights arose in haste, and marshalling into a line, filed off one by one and dispersed with all speed to their several homes, leaving their leader to pass the grating last.

"Good night, noble captain," whispered the blind man as he held it open for his passage out. "Farewell, brave general. By, by, illustrious commander. [Chapter 8, page 51]

In "Mr. Tappertit's Jealousy" (Chapter 4) and "The Secret Society of 'Prentice Knights" (Chapter 8) George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne respectively had provided Eytinge with useful models for the figure of the apprentices' commander, but Eytinge apparently rejected the images of the decrepit, bearded Stagg by Phiz (e. g., "Lighting the Noble Captain," ch. 18, and "Stagg's Demand," ch. 45), choosing instead to depict the blind rogue as a lanky giant in comparison to Sim, while remaining true to Stagg's initial description:

The proprietor of this charming retreat, and owner of the ragged head before mentioned — for he wore an old tie-wig as bare and frowzy as a stunted hearth-broom — had by this time joined them; and stood a little apart, rubbing his hands, wagging his hoary bristled chin, and smiling in silence. His eyes were closed; but had they been wide open, it would have been easy to tell, from the attentive expression of the face he turned towards them — pale and unwholesome as might be expected in one of his underground existence — and from a certain anxious raising and quivering of the lids, that he was blind. [Chapter 8, page 47]

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. Barnaby Rudge and Hard Times. Il. Sol Eytinge, Jr. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.

Last modified 31 October 2011