"Just look at the crowd that is watching us already" by Sir Luke Fildes; engraver, Swain. Fifteenth illustration for Charles Lever's Lord Kilgobbin, 10.3 cm high by 15.8 cm wide (4 by 6 ¼ inches), framed, full-page wood-engraving for Chapter LVI, "Before the Door," facing p. 317. Reprinted from the Cornhill Magazine, Part 13 (November 1871), Vol. XXIV, facing p. 513. [Click on the illustration to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: The Country People Stare at the Political Opponents
Right: The initial page for the fourteenth instalment in Volume XXIV of the Cornhill Magazine (November, 1871), 513.
"Mr. Flood wants to see your honour when you're dressed," said the waiter, interrupting his soliloquy.
"Where is he?"
"Walking up and down, sir, forenent the door."
"Will ye say I'm coming down? I'm just finishing a letter to the Lord-Lieutenant," said Kilgobbin, with a sly look to the man, who returned the glance with its rival, and then left the room.
"Will you not come in and sit down?" said Kearney, as he cordially shook Flood's hand.
"I have only five minutes to stay, and with your leave, Mr. Kearney, we’ll pass it here"; and taking the other’s arm, he proceeded to walk up and down before the door of the inn.
"You know Ireland well — few men better, I am told — and you have no need, therefore, to be told how the rumoured dislikes of party, the reported jealousies and rancours of this set to that, influence the world here. It will be a fine thing, therefore, to show these people here that the Liberal, Mr. Kearney, and that bigoted old Tory, Tom Flood, were to be seen walking together, and in close confab. It will show them, at all events, that neither of us wants to make party capital out of this scrimmage, and that he who wants to affront one of us, cannot, on that ground, at least, count upon the other. Just look at the crowd that is watching us already! There's a fellow neglecting the sale of his pig to stare at us, and that young woman has stopped gartering her stocking for the last two minutes in sheer curiosity about us." [Chapter LVI, "Before the Door," pp. 316-317]
Commentary: Magistrate Tom Flood agrees to Matthew Kearney's Plan for Gorman O'Shea
"Gorman is certainly in a bad way, and Dr. Rogan says it will be some days before he could pronounce him out of danger.
"Can he be removed? Can we take him back with us to Kilgobbin?"
"That is utterly out of the question; he cannot be stirred, and requires the most absolute rest and quiet. Besides that, there is another difficulty — I don’t know if they would permit us to take him away."
"What! do you mean, refuse our bail?"
"They have got affidavits to show old Gill’s life’s in danger; he is in high fever to-day, and raving furiously, and if he should die, McEvoy declares that they’ll be able to send bills for manslaughter, at least, before the grand-jury." [315]
Thus, the opening of this chapter does not bode well for Gorman's release. However, Matthew Kearney demonstrates strategic thinking, offering to intervene with the dispensary physician, Tom Price, to reverse his opinion on Gill's condition, and have the regular physician, Dr. Rogan, swear that the prisoner must be released at once into a more appropriate situation for recuperation. Effecting these measures, Lord Kilgobbin will remove Gorman in his carriage before the affidavits against him for attempted murder and battery can be filed. We also learn that those who assaulted Gorman were not O'Shea's tenants at all, according to Dick: "the blackguards that beat him were not her own people at all, but villains from another barony that old Gill brought over to work on short wages. Mind that you say that, or we’ll have more law, and more trouble — notices to quit, and the devil knows what" (315). Then, in a startling display of unanimity, the old Tory magistrate and the Whig aristocrat agree to bail Gorman O'Shea as quickly as possible so that he can recuperate from concussion at Kilgobbin Castle, under Kitty's care. This series of conversations in "Before the Door" sets up the circumstances that render intelligible the frontispiece of the volume edition, She suffered her hand to remain (originally from the February 1872 serial instalment).
Scanned images and commentary 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. Illustrated 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 9 May 2005 Last modified 2 July 2023