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Mr. F's Aunt
Harry Furniss
1910
14 x 7.2 cm, vignetted
Dickens's Little Dorrit, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, Chapter 14, "In Which Martin Bids Adieu to the Lady of His Love; and Honours an Obscure Book Two, "Riches"; Chapter 9, "Appearance and Disappearance," facing XII, 544.
[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"None of your eyes at me," said Mr F.'s Aunt, shivering with hostility. "Take that."
"That" was the crust of the piece of toast. Clennam accepted the boon with a look of gratitude, and held it in his hand under the pressure of a little embarrassment, which was not relieved when Mr. F.'s Aunt, elevating her voice into a cry of considerable power, exclaimed, "He has a proud stomach, this chap! He's too proud a chap to eat it!" and, coming out of her chair, shook her venerable fist so very close to his nose as to tickle the surface. But for the timely return of Flora, to find him in this difficult situation, further consequences might have ensued. Flora, without the least discomposure or surprise, but congratulating the old lady in an approving manner on being "very lively to-night," handed her back to her chair.
"He has a proud stomach, this chap," said Mr F.'s relation, on being reseated. "Give him a meal of chaff!"
"Oh! I don't think he would like that, aunt," returned Flora.
"Give him a meal of chaff, I tell you," said Mr. F.'s Aunt, glaring round Flora on her enemy. "It’s the only thing for a proud stomach. Let him eat up every morsel. Drat him, give him a meal of chaff!" [Book Two, "Riches"; Chapter 9, "Appearance and Disappearance," 557]
This situation in the Patriarchal madhouse is utterly baffling for the reader who merely "drops into" the pages of text involved, even though in his "List of Special Plates" (vii) Furniss has given the location of the illustration as "facing 544" — in fact, the illustration pertains to 557 in the following chapter, so that the reader must construe the illustration proleptically, then revert to it when he or she arrives at the passage realised since the angry blathering of Mr. F.'s Aunt like her image only makes sense in the context of the chapter, in which Arthur Clennam follows Miss Wade and Tattycoram to the "Patriarchal mansion" of Mr. Casby, Flora Finching's father. As is typical of Furniss's studies, the figure of Mr. F's Aunt stands against no backdrop, but reveals herself psychologically by her facial expression, posture, clothing, and some sort of talisman or representative possession — in this instance, a partially consumed piece of toast, which represents her mastery over Flora and her attempt to subjugate or extirpate Arthur as a rival for Flora's attention.
In the third frontispiece for the four-volume set in the 1863 Sheldon and Company Household Edition, John Gilbert's introduction of yet another pallid Dickens hero, Clenham, by juxtaposition and contrast effectively reveals Flora's Aunt by marriage as a singularly odd and barely comprehensible character, complete with oversized hat and large linen napkin. Although neither the 1863 frontispiece "He's too proud a chap to eat it. . ." (see below) nor Furniss's character study makes the situation at this point completely clear by itself, Mr. F.'s Aunt is about to thrust a piece of toast into Clennam's hand and demand that he consume it. However, the reader has already encountered the scene in the text, and Furniss shows her holding a crust of toast to establish the context, even if he does not depict Clennam or the background. Therefore, the reader is likely to recognize that Mr. F's Aunt is demanding that Clennam finish the crust for her, just as Flora would, were she present.
Mid-nineteenth-century American illustrator Sol Eytinge, Jr., depicted Flora as vacuous and Mr. F's Aunt as senile, but pliable in the 1867 Diamond Edition dual character study Flora and Mr. F's Aunt — a character study that, like the frontispiece by Gilbert, is based on Phiz's steel-engraving for Part 13 (December 1856) illustration Rigour of Mr. F's Aunt, to which J. A. Hammerton in The Dickens Picture-Book has appended the caption "Flora found him in this difficult situation" (419). The caption is superfluous, especially if one encounters the illustration in the original monthly part or volume, because Phiz establishes a clear context for the scene: tea-time at Casby's "patriarchal" mansion.
The social realist James Mahoney in the Household Edition's fifty-eight illustrations for the novel does not include this scene, realising instead Clennam's shadowing Miss Wade and Tattycoram in the wood-engraving for this chapter, He stopped at the corner, seeming to look back expectantly up the street as if he had made an appointment with some one to meet him there; but he kept a careful eye on the three. When they came together, the man took off his hat, and made Miss Wade a bow — Book 2, cha ix. Furniss reflects little sympathy for the querulous, old woman in his illustration for the twelfth volume of The Charles Dickens Library Edition, Mr. F's Aunt, described as mildly ridiculous in Book One, Chapter 13:
There was a fourth and most original figure in the Patriarchal tent, who also appeared before dinner. This was an amazing little old woman, with a face like a staring wooden doll too cheap for expression, and a stiff yellow wig perched unevenly on the top of her head, as if the child who owned the doll had driven a tack through it anywhere, so that it only got fastened on. Another remarkable thing in this little old woman was, that the same child seemed to have damaged her face in two or three places with some blunt instrument in the nature of a spoon; her countenance, and particularly the tip of her nose, presenting the phenomena of several dints, generally answering to the bowl of that article. A further remarkable thing in this little old woman was, that she had no name but Mr F.'s Aunt. [162]
Awkward, surly, and even demented as Mr. F's Aunt may appear in this study by Harry Furniss, his characterisation of her is consistent with the approach taken by Hablot Knight Browne in the original serial, and preferable to that of Sol Eytinge, Jr., in the Diamond Edition since this demented senior is hardly catatonic. Moreover, Furniss provides more detail about her dress, characterizes her by her expression, and conveys something more of her imperious nature and self-importance.
Above: The original Phiz engraving which influenced later illustrators, Rigour of Mr. F's Aunt (Part 13: December 1856).
Left: Eytinge's unflattering Flora and Mr. F's Aunt. Right: Gilbert's characterisation of Mr. F's Aunt as aggressive and slightly mad, despite her thoroughly respectable dress, "He's too proud a chap to eat it . . .".
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Created 18 November 2015
Last modified 15 January 2020