"Seven Dials" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s second illustration for Dickens's "Sketches by Boz"

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Seven Dials

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

10 x 7.9 cm (framed)

Dickens's Christmas Books & Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People (Diamond Edition), facing p. 267.

After the heart-warming, sentimental seasonal tales which Dickens wrote between 1843 and 1848, this volume of the Diamond Edition, commemorating Dickens's Second American Reading Tour, features seven scenes from Dickens's earliest work, "Our Parish," the twenty-five chapters from "Scenes," and twelve chapters from "Characters," the text established by Chapman and Hall in 1839.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated

The stranger who finds himself in "The Dials" for the first time, and stands Belzoni-like, at the entrance of seven obscure passages, uncertain which to take, will see enough around him to keep his curiosity and attention awake for no inconsiderable time. From the irregular square into which he has plunged, the streets and courts dart in all directions, until they are lost in the unwholesome vapour which hangs over the house-tops, and renders the dirty perspective uncertain and confined; and lounging at every corner, as if they came there to take a few gasps of such fresh air as has found its way so far, but is too much exhausted already, to be enabled to force itself into the narrow alleys around, are groups of people, whose appearance and dwellings would fill any mind but a regular Londoner's with astonishment.

On one side, a little crowd has collected round a couple of ladies, who having imbibed the contents of various "three-outs" of gin and bitters in the course of the morning, have at length differed on some point of domestic arrangement, and are on the eve of settling the quarrel satisfactorily, by an appeal to blows, greatly to the interest of other ladies who live in the same house, and tenements adjoining, and who are all partisans on one side or other.

"Vy don't you pitch into her, Sarah?"exclaims one half-dressed matron, by way of encouragement. "Vy don't you? if my 'usband had treated her with a drain last night, unbeknown to me, I'd tear her precious eyes out— a wixen!"

"What's the matter, ma'am?" inquires another old woman, who has just bustled up to the spot.

"Matter!" replies the first speaker, talking at the obnoxious combatant,"matter! Here's poor dear Mrs. Sulliwin, as has five blessed children of her own, can't go out a charing for one arternoon, but what hussies must be a comin', and 'ticing avay her oun'usband, as she's been married to twelve year come next Easter Monday, for I see the certificate ven I vas a drinkin' a cup o' tea vith her, only the werry last blessed Ven'sday as ever was sent. I'appen'd to say promiscuously, 'Mrs. Sulliwin,' says I——"

"What do you mean by hussies?"interrupts a champion of the other party, who has evinced a strong inclination throughout to get up a branch fight on her own account ("Hooroar,"ejaculates a pot-boy in parenthesis,"put the kye-bosk on her, Mary!"),"What do you mean by hussies?"reiterates the champion.

"Niver mind,"replies the opposition expressively, "niver mind; yougo home, and, ven you're quite sober, mend your stockings."

This somewhat personal allusion, not only to the lady's habits of intemperance, but also to the state of her wardrobe, rouses her utmost ire, and she accordingly complies with the urgent request of the bystanders to"pitch in,"with considerable alacrity. The scuffle became general, and terminates, in minor play-bill phraseology, with"arrival of the policemen, interior of the station-house, and impressive dénouement." — "Scenes," Chapter 5, "Seven Dials," p. 267-268.

Commentary

Eytinge's conception of London prior to his actually visiting the British metropolis must have been rather vague; certainly, in this illustration all that establishes this as an urban setting is the street-lamp, upper left. However, he had the precedent of the 1836-39 urban scenes by George Cruikshank, and in particular his illustration Seven Dials as a visual introduction to the street scenes in the second section of Sketches by Boz. Eytinge reduces the Cruikshank scene to its fundamentals, discarding the urban setting and focussing on the "hussies" about to engage in physical combat and five onlookers. Although the pot-boy is the figure to the left, Eytinge has done little to distinguish either the antagonists or their supporters. The surly male onlookers suggest the unsavoury nature of the neighbourhood.

Relevant Illustrations of "The Dials" from the British Editions, 1839 and 1876

Above: Fred Barnard's much more congenial scene of the female denizens of the Dials passengers conversing amicably in the street, Now, anybody who passed through the Dials on a hot summer's evening, and saw the different women of the house gossiping on the steps, would be apt to think that all was harmony among them, and that a more primitive set of people than the native Diallers could not be imagined.. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Above: Dudley Street, Seven Dials by French social realist Gustave Doré — a busy street scene with sets of shops which can be seen on the right. The shops are selling shoes which are lining up on the floor around the opening from under the ground. Children and their mothers are in front of them. This image was first published in Douglas Jerrold's London, a Pilgrimage (1872), on p. 158. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Bibliography

Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens: A Biography. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1990.

Bance, M. "History Notes: Seven Dials, in the Parish of St. Giles, London." Preston Pages. Accessed 24 April 2017. http://www.prestonpages.com/history_sevendials.php

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.

Cunningham, Peter. "Seven Dials." Hand-Book of London. London: J. Murray, 1850. Pp. 445.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1999.

Dickens, Charles. "Seven Dials," Chapter 5 in "Scenes," Sketches by Boz. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Chapman and Hall, 1839; rpt., 1890. Pp. 51-54.

Dickens, Charles. "Scenes," Chapter 5, "Seven Dials." Christmas Books and Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875 [rpt. of 1867 Ticknor & Fields edition]. Pp. 267-269.

Dickens, Charles. "Seven Dials," Chapter 5 in "Scenes," Sketches by Boz. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1876. Pp. 32-34.

Dickens, Charles. "Seven Dials," Chapter 5 in "Scenes," Sketches by Boz. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. 1. Pp. 65-69.

Dickens, Charles, and Fred Barnard. The Dickens Souvenir Book. London: Chapman & Hall, 1912.

Hawksley, Lucinda Dickens. Chapter 3, "Sketches by Boz." Dickens Bicentenary 1812-2012: Charles Dickens. San Rafael, California: Insight, 2011. Pp. 12-15.

"On the Geography of Seven Dials." Punch, Jan.-June, 1842, quoted by Lee Jackson in Dirty Old London. New Haven: Yale UP, 2014. Accessed 23 April 2017. http://www.victorianlondon.org/districts/sevendials.htm

Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens: A Life Defined by Writing. New Haven and London: Yale U. P., 2009.

Last modified 12 May 2017