Captain Wragge reading “Fifty Pounds Reward” [as a caption] — the headnote vignette for Wilkie Collins’s No Name, first published in Harper’s Weekly [Vol. VI. — No. 283] Number 12, “The Second Scene. Skeldergate, York.” Chapter I, page 349 (the 31 May 1862 instalment): 11.5 cm high by 5.6 cm wide, or 4 ½ inches high by 2 ¼ inches wide, framed, text on p. 349 (volume edition, p. 78); with the regular illustration, He tucked his umbrella under his arm, and jocosely spelled his name for her further enlightenment in the volume edition, p. 81. Wood-engraving 11.5 cm high by 11.5 cm wide, or 4 ½ inches square, framed. No. 12, “The Second Scene. Skeldergate, York.” Chapter I, page 349.
Passage Illustrated in the Vignette: Captain Wragge Re-introduced
The unfortunate traveler wrapped up his parcel as he best might, and made his way off the platform, after addressing an inquiry to the first official victim of the day’s passenger-traffic, who was sufficiently in possession of his senses to listen to it. Leaving the station for the river-side, which was close at hand, the stranger entered the ferryboat at the North Street Postern. The captain, who had carefully dogged his steps thus far, entered the boat also; and employed the short interval of transit to the opposite bank in a perusal of the handbill which he had kept for his own private enlightenment. With his back carefully turned on the traveler, Captain Wragge now possessed his mind of the following lines:
“Left her home, in London, early on the morning of September 23d, 1846, A YOUNG LADY. Age — eighteen. Dress — deep mourning. Personal appearance — hair of a very light brown; eyebrows and eyelashes darker; eyes light gray; complexion strikingly pale; lower part of her face large and full; tall upright figure; walks with remarkable grace and ease; speaks with openness and resolution; has the manners and habits of a refined, cultivated lady. Personal marks — two little moles, close together, on the left side of the neck. Mark on the under-clothing —‘Magdalen Vanstone.’ Is supposed to have joined, or attempted to join, under an assumed name, a theatrical company now performing at York. Had, when she left London, one black box, and no other luggage. Whoever will give such information as will restore her to her friends shall receive the above Reward. Apply at the office of Mr. Harkness, solicitor, Coney Street, York. Or to Messrs. Wyatt, Pendril, and Gwilt, Serle Street, Lincoln’s Inn, London.” [“The Second Scene. Skeldergate, York.” Chapter I, page 349 in serial, pp. 78-79 in volume]
Passage Illustrated in the Main Plate: Magdalen Meets The Charming Captain Wragge
“I think I have the honor of addressing the younger Miss Vanstone?” he began. “Deeply gratified, I am sure — for more reasons than one.”
She looked at him with a cold surprise. No recollection of the day when he had followed her sister and herself on their way home with Miss Garth rose in her memory, while he now confronted her, with his altered manner and his altered dress.
“You are mistaken,” she said, quietly. “You are a perfect stranger to me.”
“Pardon me,” replied the captain; “I am a species of relation. I had the pleasure of seeing you in the spring of the present year. I presented myself on that memorable occasion to an honored preceptress in your late father’s family. Permit me, under equally agreeable circumstances, to present myself to you. My name is Wragge.”
By this time he had recovered complete possession of his own impudence; his party-colored eyes twinkled cheerfully, and he accompanied his modest announcement of himself with a dancing-master’s bow.
Magdalen frowned, and drew back a step. The captain was not a man to be daunted by a cold reception. He tucked his umbrella under his arm and jocosely spelled his name for her further enlightenment. “W, R, A, double G, E — Wragge,” said the captain, ticking off the letters persuasively on his fingers. [“The Second Scene. Skeldergate, York.” Chapter I, page 349 in serial, p. 80 in volume]
Commentary: The Comical Confidence Man encounters the Would-be Actress in York
We have, of course, already met the affable rogue and flimflam man Captain Wragge earlier in the novel, in the first serial instalment, when Miss Garth encounters him at the gates of Combe-Raven in Captain Wragge. Post-Office, Bristol (15 March 1862). Recently Magdalen has run away from home (as evidenced by Collins's use of a newspaper clipping, a variant of his testamentary technique) to seek redress and restore her inheritance. Now Collins reintroduces him, first in the headnote vignette in which Wragge reads Pendril’s “wanted poster,” and then more fully in the main plate. “The Second Scene — Skeldergate, York” now establishes his identity, disposition, and motivations, all of which are suited to the caricatural style which Mclenan has adopted for this comical confidence man.
Wragge is instantly recognizable by his crepe hatband, suit of brown mourning, dingy white collar and cravat, and atrophied gray shooting-jacket, although each feature is altered for the worse, thanks largely to his recent losses in the British Railway Mania of 1846. As a consequence of the bursting of the speculative bubble, the Wragges have lost heavily, and are living far from the prosperous agricultural south, in the ancient city of York. One certainly wonders what has brought Magdalen there, although Collins explains that the railway junction offers suitable hunting grounds for the swindling Wragge. He follows Pendril’s agent to the home of the theatrical manager, Huxtable, and overhears the servant tell the traveller that her master and a young lady who has called (presumably, Magdalen) will both be returning later that evening. He determines to go looking for her at “The Walk on the Walls.”
Her surprise at being accosted immediately suggests that she has failed to recognise the distinctive figure from three months earlier. The reader naturally adopts her perspective, even though up to this point Wragge has been the focal character. The artist has captured her look of surprise as well as the Captain’s ingratiating manner, despite the fact that the background details give us no clue as to the setting. He now seizes her complete attention when he reveals that he already knows her destination is Huxtable’s home, as he genially spells ut the theatrical agent’s name — and shows her the flyer that Pendril is circulating in which he sets forth a generous sum for her recovery.
Related Material
- Frontispiece to Wilkie Collins’s No Name (1864) by John Everett Millais
- Victorian Paratextuality: Pictorial Frontispieces and Pictorial Title-Pages
- Wilkie Collins's No Name (1862): Charles Dickens, Sheridan's The Rivals, and the Lost Franklin Expedition
- "The Law of Abduction": Marriage and Divorce in Victorian Sensation and Mission Novels
- Gordon Thomson's A Poser from Fun (5 April 1862)
- Kate Egan's Playthings to Men: Women, Power, and Money in Gaskell and Trollope
- Philip V. Allingham, The Victorian Sensation Novel, 1860-1880 — "preaching to the nerves instead of the judgment"
Image scans and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the 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
Blain, Virginia. “Introduction” and “Explanatory Notes” to Wilkie Collins's No Name. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
