"Hawk, Verisopht, Pyke, and Pluck" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s sixth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1867)

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Hawk, Verisopht, Pyke, and Pluck

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

9.9 x 7.5 cm (framed)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby (Diamond Edition), facing IV, 133.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Miss Nickleby introduced to her uncle's friends

Seven or eight gentlemen were standing round the fire when they went in, and, as they were talking very loud, were not aware of their entrance until Mr. Ralph Nickleby, touching one on the coat-sleeve, said in a harsh emphatic voice, as if to attract general attention —

"Lord Frederick Verisopht, my niece, Miss Nickleby."

The group dispersed, as if in great surprise, and the gentleman addressed, turning round, exhibited a suit of clothes of the most superlative cut, a pair of whiskers of similar quality, a moustache, a head of hair, and a young face.

"Eh!" said the gentleman. "What — the — deyvle!"

With which broken ejaculations, he fixed his glass in his eye, and stared at Miss Nickleby in great surprise.

"My niece, my lord," said Ralph.

"Then my ears did not deceive me, and it’s not wa-a-x work,’ said his lordship. "How de do? I’m very happy." And then his lordship turned to another superlative gentleman, something older, something stouter, something redder in the face, and something longer upon town, and said in a loud whisper that the girl was "deyvlish pitty."

"Introduce me, Nickleby," said this second gentleman, who was lounging with his back to the fire, and both elbows on the chimneypiece.

"Sir Mulberry Hawk," said Ralph. [Chapter XIX, "Descriptive of a Dinner at Mr. Ralph Nickleby’s, and of the Manner in which the Company entertained themselves, before Dinner, at Dinner, and after Dinner," 133]

Commentary: Dissolute, Young Aristocrats

Ralph takes advantage of Nicholas's absence in Yorkshire to introduce his young niece to the group of aristocratic libertines with whom he does business. Eytinge certainly provides copiously whiskered, well-dressed young men that fit their roles. Their de facto leader, Sir Mulberry Hawk, lets slip his polished veneer with Kate as he makes lecherous advances on her. In a novel full of despicable characters, Hawk is perhaps the worst specimen of entitled cad. His protege, Lord Verisopht, takes his cues from Hawk. Hawk continues to force himself upon Kate solely to humiliate her after she has rejected him. After Nicholas beats him, Hawk swears to be avenged, but Lord Verisopht frustrates this design. When Hawk kills Verisopht in a duel, he is forced to flee to France to escape justice. He lives luxuriously abroad in luxury until his cash runs out of money, and is compelled to return to England, where he dies in a debtors' prison. Despite his dashing appearance and initial wealth, Lord Frederick Verisopht, Hawk's friend and dupe, owes both Ralph and Hawk great amounts of money. When he becomes infatuated with Kate, Hawk manipulates him into discovering her whereabouts. After Nicholas confronts the pair in a London coffeehouse, Lord Frederick feels so ashamed at his behaviour towards Nicholas that he threatens to retaliate upon Hawk if his former mentor pursues vengeance against Nicholas and Kate. This quarrel leads to a duel in which Hawk kills Lord Frederick. The other pair, not distinctly shown in the Eytinge drawing, are the hangers-on Pluck and Pyke, who seem to be almost clones of one another. Cunning and amoral, they prove extremely useful as Hawk's willing tools and accomplices.

Other Editions' Versions of the Aristocratic Quartet

Left: Phiz introduces Kate and readers to Ralph Nickleby's dissolute associates: Miss Nickleby Introduced toher Uncle's Friends (september 1838). Right: Phiz's encore for the libertines: Affectionate Behaviour of Messrs. Pyke and Pluck (December 1838).

Left: C. S. Reinhart's 1875 American Household Editioncomposite woodblock engraving of Sir Mulberry Hawk's unwanted advances: "Unhand me, Sir, this instant!" cried Kate. Right: Harry Furniss's 1910 lithograph representing the same scene, Sir Mulberry Hawk insults Kate Nickleby, in the Charles Dickens Library Edition.

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.

_______. Nicholas Nickleby.Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. IV.

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Ed. Andrew Lang. Illustrated by 'Phiz' (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. 2 vols.

_______. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 9.

Hammerton, J. A. "Chapter 12: Nicholas Nickleby." The Dickens Picture-Book. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. 18 vols. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Vol. 17, 147-170.

Kitton, Frederic George. Dickens andHis Illustrators: Cruikshank, Seymour, Buss, "Phiz," Cattermole, Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise, Tenniel, Frank Stone, Landseer, Palmer,Topham, Marcus Stone, and Luke Fildes. Amsterdam: S. Emmering,1972. Re-print of the London 1899 edition.

Lester Valerie Browne. Chapter 8., "Travels with Boz." Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004. 58-69.

Loomis, Rick. First American Editions of Charles Dickens: The Callinescu Collection, Part 1. Yarmouth, ME: Sumner & Stillman, 2010.

Schlicke, Paul, ed. The Oxford Reader'sCompanion to Dickens. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1999.

Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. 14-50.

Vann, J. Don. "Nicholas Nickleby." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: The Modern Language Association, 1985. 63.

Winter, William. "Charles Dickens" and "Sol Eytinge." Old Friends: Being Literary Recollections of Other Days. New York: Moffat, Yard, & Co., 1909. Pp. 181-202, 317-319.

Last modified 19 April 2021