Initial letter T: Kearney, delighted, as the rider removed his hat and turned round to salute him by Sir Luke Fildes; engraver, Swain. Tenth initial-letter vignette for Charles Lever's Lord Kilgobbin, from the July 1871 number of the Cornhill Magazine, p. 1 in Vol. XXIV. 7.5 cm by 5.0 cm (3 by 2 inches), framed. Part 10, Chapter XXXVIII, "O'Shea's Barn." The wood-engraver responsible for this thumbnail 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; mouse over links.]
Right: The title-page for Volume XXIV of the Cornhill Magazine (July-December, 1871).
Passage in Ch. 39, "An Early Gallop," on which this vignette is based
To have heard him amongst his labourers that morning, it was plain to see that they were not in the category of machinery. On one pretext or another, however, they had slunk away one by one, so that at last he found himself storming alone in a stubble-field, with no other companion than one of Kate’s terriers. The sharp barking of this dog aroused him in the midst of his imprecations, and looking over the dry-stone wall that inclosed the field, he saw a horseman coming along at a sharp canter, and taking the fences as they came like a man in a hunting-field. He rode well, and was mounted upon a strong wiry hackney — a cross-bred horse, and of little money value, but one of those active cats of horseflesh that a knowing hand can appreciate. Now, little as Kearney liked the liberty of a man riding over his ditches and his turnips when out of hunting season, his old love of good horsemanship made him watch the rider with interest and even pleasure. "May I never!" muttered he to himself, "if he’s not coming at this wall." And as the inclosure in question was built of large jagged stones, without mortar, and fully four feet in height, the upper course being formed of a sort of coping in which the stones stood edgewise, the attempt did look somewhat rash. Not taking the wall where it was slightly breached, and where some loose stones had fallen, the rider rode boldly at one of the highest portions, but where the ground was good on either side.
"He knows what he’s at!" muttered Kearney, as the horse came bounding over and alighted in perfect safety in the field.
"Well done! whoever you are," cried Kearney, delighted, as the rider removed his hat and turned round to salute him.
"And don’t you know me, sir?" asked he.
"Faith, I do not," replied Kearney; "but somehow I think I know the chestnut. To be sure I do. There’s the old mark on her knee, how ever she found the man who could throw her down. Isn’t she Miss O’Shea’s Kattoo?"
"That she is, sir, and I’m her nephew." [Cornhill, Vol. XXIV, 32]
Commentary: Introducing Austrian Lieutenant Gorman O'Sea, on Leave
Having introduced a topical local figure, the Fenian "centre-head" in Chapters XXVI, Lever now brings Gorman O'Shea, Miss Betty's handsome nephew, on stage. And, since he is a member of the aristocracy and an Austrian lancer, Lever introduces him not merely on horseback, but preparing to jump a four-foot stone fence.
O'Shea mollifies Matthew Kearney for having been several weeks at O'Shea's Barn without riding the twelve miles to Kilgobbin. In particular, Kearney finds useful Gorman's mentioning that the constabulary under the former steward, Gill, will be searching the castle for any trace of the Fenian head-centre, the escaped convict Daniel Donogan. In inviting Gorman to stay for breakfast, he cautions the handsome, beautifully attired youth against mentioning Donogan in particular, or Irish politics in general. This vignette, then, introduces O'Shea as the newcomer among the Kearneys in the full-page engraving for this July 1871 instalment, He knelt down on one knee before her. (facing p. 1 in Vol. XXIV of The Cornhill Magazine), the other outsider (in evening dress and sporting a goatee) being Cecil Walpole, the private secretary of Lord Danesbury, the Viceroy.
Scanned images 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 person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. The Cornhill Magazine. With 18 full-page illustrations and 18 initial-letter vignettes by S. Luke Fildes. Volumes XXII-XXV. October 1870-March 1872.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin: A Tale of Ireland in Our Own Time. With 18 Illustrations by Sir Luke Fildes, R. A. London: Smith, Elder, 1872, 3 vols; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. Illustrated by Sir Luke Fildes. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vols. I-III. London: Smith, Elder, 1872, Rpt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1873, in a single volume. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 19 August 2010.
Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter XVI, "Exile on the Adriatic, 1867-1872." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell and Russell, 1939; rpt. 1969. Pp. 277-296.
Sutherland, John A. "Lord Kilgobbin." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 382.
Created 7 June 2023 Updated 26 June 2023