Bringing Him in

Marcus Stone

Wood engraving by Dalziel

14 cm high x 9.5 cm wide

Dickens's Our Mutual Friend, Book Two ("Birds of a Feather"), Chapter Four, "Cupid Prompted" [This part of the novel originally appeared in periodical form in Part 7, November 1864.]

Reverting to the plot involving the banker Podsnap, his discontented daughter, Georgiana, and the "confidence couple," the Lammles, Dickens begins "Cupid Prompted" with another series of society dinners. Very quickly, however, the scene shifts to the handsomely furnished Sackville Street, Piccadilly, townhouse of Sophronia and Alfred Lammle.

[Continued below]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL.]

Passage illustrated:

So, Georgiana repairing to her friend, Mr. Podsnap went out to dinner, and to dinner, and yet to dinner, arm in arm with Mrs. Podsnap; settling his obstinate head in his cravat and shirt-collar, much as if her were performing on the Pandean pipes in his own honour, the triumphal march, See the conquering Podsnap comes, Sound the trumpets, beat the drums! [221]

Stone distinguishes this dinner party from the one which the Lammles throw for Fascination Fledgeby and Georgiana Podsnap by the presence of her parents at the dinner table. The Podsnaps are readily identifiable, even though they have their backs toward the viewer, by virtue of their distinctive hairstyles, repeated from the central couple in "Podsnappery". The opulent interior, with its Corinthian column and central gassolier, is utterly convincing, and as indicative of the wealth and taste of the diners as the suspended tropical fruits and dignified butler. The title implies the Lammles' trying to "reel in" the awkward Flegeby, a young man of independent means whom Alfred Lammle regards as a mark; the title contrasts the "reeling in" activities of Gaffer Hexam and Rogue Riderhood on the river in Part 5.

References

Dickens, Charles. Our Mutual Friend. Illustrated by Marcus Stone. Volume 14 of the Authentic Edition. London: Chapman and Hall; New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 1901.

Last modified 9 February 2011