Initial letter L: Maude . . . pushed them away to rest her arm on the table, while she sat gazing on the picture by Sir Luke Fildes; engraver, Swain. Sixteenth initial-letter vignette for Charles Lever's Lord Kilgobbin, from the January 1872 number of the Cornhill Magazine, p. 98 in Vol. XXV. 7.5 cm by 5.0 cm (3 by 2 inches), framed. Part 16, Chapter LXV, "'In Town'." 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 XXV of the Cornhill Magazine (January-June, 1872).
This initial vignette is based on the opening passage in Ch. 65, "In Town"
Scraps of poetry, copies of verses, changed and blotted couplets, were scrawled on loose sheets of paper on the desk; but Maude minded none of these, as she pushed them away to rest her arm on the table, while she sat gazing on the picture.
The face had so completely absorbed her attention — so, to say, fascinated her — that when the servant had found the volume he was in search of, and presented it to her, she merely said, "Take it to my lord," and sat still, with her head resting on her hands, and her eyes fixed on the portrait. "There may be some resemblance, there may be, at least, what might remind people of 'the Laura' — so was it called; but who will pretend that she carried her head with that swing of lofty pride, or that her look could rival the blended majesty and womanhood we see here! I do not — I cannot believe it!"
"What is it, Maude, that you will not or cannot believe?" said a low voice, and she saw Walpole standing beside her. [Cornhill, Vol. XXV, 102; pp. 363-364 in volume]
Commentary: Walpole decodes Atlee's telegram, and Maude discerns Walpole's interest in Nina
In searching Walpole's rooms in their London residence for the cypher-book necessary to decode Atlee's telegram about Count "Spiridionides" Kostalergi, Maude discovers Walpole's interest in "the Titian girl," Nina, whose likeness she recognizes. This romantic interest Maude discerns when Walpole, returning from dinner out, praises her as "a model of grace and symmetry" (364). She is careful to betray neither anger nor indignation as she keeps her composure, and returns to her uncle in the parlour.
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 10 June 2023 Updated 5 July 2023