"Squeers and Peg play havoc with Gride's Papers" — Furniss's twenty-sixth illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1910)

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Squeers and Peg play havoc with Gride's Papers

Harry Furniss

1910

5 ⅜ by 3 ⅝ inches (13.5 cm high x 5 cm wide), vignetted

Newman Noggs raised the bellows, but Frank Cheeryble, by a rapid motion of his arm checked him in his purpose. "Here you are," said Squeers to Peg. "Bonds — take care of them. Warrant of attorney — take care of that. Two cognovits — take care of them. Lease and release — burn that." — p. 772

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing IV, 768.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Squeers and Sliderskew raid Gride's Stash of Papers

Of the stealthy comers, Frank Cheeryble was one, and Newman Noggs the other. Newman had caught up, by the rusty nozzle, an old pair of bellows, which were just undergoing a flourish in the air preparatory to a descent upon the head of Mr. Squeers, when Frank, with an earnest gesture, stayed his arm, and, taking another step in advance, came so close behind the schoolmaster that, by leaning slightly forward, he could plainly distinguish the writing which he held up to his eye.

Mr. Squeers, not being remarkably erudite, appeared to be considerably puzzled by this first prize, which was in an engrossing hand, and not very legible except to a practised eye. Having tried it by reading from left to right, and from right to left, and finding it equally clear both ways, he turned it upside down with no better success.

"Ha, ha, ha!" chuckled Peg, who, on her knees before the fire, was feeding it with fragments of the box, and grinning in most devilish exultation. "What’s that writing about, eh?"

"Nothing particular," replied Squeers, tossing it towards her. "It’s only an old lease, as well as I can make out. Throw it in the fire."

Mrs. Sliderskew complied, and inquired what the next one was.

"This," said Squeers, "is a bundle of overdue acceptances and renewed bills of six or eight young gentlemen, but they’re all MPs, so it’s of no use to anybody. Throw it in the fire!" Peg did as she was bidden, and waited for the next.

"This," said Squeers, "seems to be some deed of sale of the right of presentation to the rectory of Purechurch, in the valley of Cashup. Take care of that, Slider, literally for God’s sake. It’ll fetch its price at the Auction Mart."

"What’s the next?" inquired Peg.

"Why, this," said Squeers, "seems, from the two letters that’s with it, to be a bond from a curate down in the country, to pay half a year’s wages of forty pound for borrowing twenty. Take care of that, for if he don’t pay it, his bishop will very soon be down upon him. We know what the camel and the needle’s eye means; no man as can’t live upon his income, whatever it is, must expect to go to heaven at any price. It’s very odd; I don’t see anything like it yet."

"What’s the matter?’ said Peg.

"Nothing," replied Squeers, "only I’m looking for —"

Newman raised the bellows again. Once more, Frank, by a rapid motion of his arm, unaccompanied by any noise, checked him in his purpose.

"Here you are," said Squeers, "bonds — take care of them. Warrant of attorney — take care of that. Two cognovits — take care of them. Lease and release — burn that. Ah! “Madeline Bray — come of age or marry — the said Madeline” — here, burn that."

Eagerly throwing towards the old woman a parchment that he caught up for the purpose, Squeers, as she turned her head, thrust into the breast of his large coat, the deed in which these words had caught his eye, and burst into a shout of triumph. [Chapter LVII, "How Ralph Nickleby’s Auxiliary went about his Work, and how he prospered with it," 772]

Commentary: The Situation

Acting upon Ralph Nickleby's instructions to secure the Bray papers stolen from Gride's cache some days earlier, Wackford Squeers has sought out Peg Sliderskew in her garret. Having proposed himself not merely as a friend but an advisor about how to dispose of the stolen papers, Squeers adroitly maneuvers the deaf old servant to show him what she has taken from Gride, particularly the contents of the deal box that Gride so dearly lamented when he and Nickleby discovered the theft. But just as it seems Nickleby's agent is about to secure custody of the will of Madeline Bray's grandfather (a will that assures her a twelve-thousand-pound inheritance), Noggs and Frank Cheeryble intervene, knocking Squeers unconscious and absconding with the papers that will make Madeline's husband (whom we expect will be Nicholas) a very wealthy man indeed. And without that will Ralph Nickleby will have irretrievably lost the ten thousand pounds that he paid out to clear Walter Bray's debts the day before his sudden demise.Parallel Illustrations from Other Editions (1839-1876)

Left: Phiz shows Frank Cheeryble and Newman Noggs about the interrupt Squeers's going through Gride's papers: Mr. Squeers and Mrs. Sliderskew Unconscious of Visitors (September 1839). Right: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition study of Peg getting the papers for Squeers: Peg Sliderskew (1867).

Left: C. S. Reinhart's 1875 woodblock engraving of the same scene: "Fill it again, and hand it over to you." in the American Household EditionRight: Fred Barnard brings Squeers and Sliderskew over a bottle rather than the papers in the same scene: "Do you see his? This is a bottle." (1875).

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

Bibliography

Barnard, J. "Fred" (illustrator). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-eight illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. I.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. With 39 illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). London: Chapman & Hall, 1839.

__________. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. IV.

__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Created 15 September 2021