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Will seized a woman by the wrist
W. H. C. Groome
1907
12.1 x 7.9 cm, (4 ¾ by 3 ⅛ inches), framed
Lithograph
Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock, facing page 96.
[Click on the image to enlarge it, and mouse over the text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
‘Look!’ shrieked a voice. ‘Great Heaven, it has fallen down, and stands erect as if it lived!’
The speaker was close behind him; the voice was almost at his ear. Will threw off his cloak, drew his sword, and darting swiftly round, seized a woman by the wrist, who, recoiling from him with a dreadful shriek, fell struggling upon her knees. Another woman, clad, like her whom he had grasped, in mourning garments, stood rooted to the spot on which they were, gazing upon his face with wild and glaring eyes that quite appalled him.
‘Say,’ cried Will, when they had confronted each other thus for some time, ‘what are ye?’ [Chapter Two of "Mr. Pickwick's Tale," 90]
Although Mr. Pickwick, the nominal narrator of the tale, has the waggish hero, Will Marks, express considerable skepticism about witchcraft, Groome's lithograph shows that the stalwart protagonist is a man of action who takes no chances under potentially dangerous circumstances. Will solves the mystery of the strange noises coming from the vicinity of the Kingston-upon-Thames gibbet when he discovers the grieving widow of the hanged criminal and the her sister-in-law at the foot of the gibbet. The reader, if at all familiar with the original Cattermole and Phiz illustrations for this third tale in Master Humphrey's Clock, may be surprised to see that Groome has depicted Will as a serious and fashionably-dressed Jacobean gentleman instead of a romantic, carefree yokel from Windsor who has accepted the invitation of the Kingston messenger as something of a lark.
The medium of the lithograph is highly effective in establishing the atmospheric setting, a stormy night at the gibbet outside of town. Although neither of the mourning women apparently poses a threat to Will, he takes no chances as he draws his rapier and menaces the hanged criminal's sister in this period tale of mystery, suspense, and romance set in two country-towns and, subsequently, the metropolis.
Left: Phiz's Will Marks takes up his position for the night (Ch. 1). Right: Fred Barnard in the Household Edition realizes a key moment at the gibbet: At last they made a halt at the opening of a lonely, desolate space, and, pointing to a black object at some distance, asked Will if he saw that, yonder (1872).
Left: George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne offer three significant illustrations for "Mr. Pickwick's Tale" in Master Humphrey's Clock (1840). Centre: Harry Furniss's focus is on the teller of the tale rather than on the story itself in Mr. Pickwick Examining the Clock (1910).Right: Cattermole's Will Marks reading the News concerning Witches (Ch. 1). Centre, Right: Cattermole's Will Marks arrives at the Church (Chapter 2).
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Davis, Paul. "Master Humphrey's Clock." Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to his Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998, 238.
Dickens, Charles. Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by George Cattermole and Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). London: Chapman and Hall, 4 April 1840 - 6 February 41.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Reprinted Pieces, and Other Stories. With thirty illustrations by L. Fildes, E. G. Dalziel, and F. Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. XX. Pp. 253-306.
_______. Master Humphrey's Clock and Pictures from Italy. With eight illustrations by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1907. Vol. XLIX. Pp. 1-168.
_______. Barnaby Rudge and Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. Charles Dickens Library Edition. Volume VI. London: Educational Book, 1910.
Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture Book: A Record of the Dickens Illustrators. Ch. XIV. "Master Humphrey's Clock." The Charles Dickens Library. London: Educational Book Co., 1910. Pp. 259-265.
Created 31 August 2022