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Inexplicable conduct of Mr. Bumble when Mrs. Corney left the room
Frederick W. Pailthorpe
1885
4 ½ by 3 inches (11.4 cm by 7.6 cm), vignetted
Dickens's Oliver Twist
[Click on image to enlarge it. See below for passage illustrated, commentary and comparisons with other illustrators' work; mouse over the text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Mr. Bumble had re-counted the teaspoons, re-weighed the sugar-tongs, made a closer inspection of the milk-pot, and ascertained to a nicety the exact condition of the furniture, down to the very horse-hair seats of the chairs; and had repeated each process full half a dozen times; before he began to think that it was time for Mrs. Corney to return. Thinking begets thinking; as there were no sounds of Mrs. Corney’s approach, it occured to Mr. Bumble that it would be an innocent and virtuous way of spending the time, if he were further to allay his curiousity by a cursory glance at the interior of Mrs. Corney’s chest of drawers.
Having listened at the keyhole, to assure himself that nobody was approaching the chamber, Mr. Bumble, beginning at the bottom, proceeded to make himself acquainted with the contents of the three long drawers: which, being filled with various garments of good fashion and texture, carefully preserved between two layers of old newspapers, speckled with dried lavender: seemed to yield him exceeding satisfaction. Arriving, in course of time, at the right-hand corner drawer (in which was the key), and beholding therein a small padlocked box, which, being shaken, gave forth a pleasant sound, as of the chinking of coin, Mr. Bumble returned with a stately walk to the fireplace; and, resuming his old attitude, said, with a grave and determined air, “I’ll do it!” He followed up this remarkable declaration, by shaking his head in a waggish manner for ten minutes, as though he were remonstrating with himself for being such a pleasant dog; and then, he took a view of his legs in profile, with much seeming pleasure and interest. [Chapter XXVII, "Atones for the Unpoliteness of a Former Chapter; Which Deserted a Lady, Most Unceremoniously," pp. 146-147 in the 1846 edition]
Dickens loves to pillory hypocrites, especially petty functionaries such as the parish beadle, Mr. Bumble. The materialistic Bumble, having taken tea with the affable and comfortably circumstanced widow, Mrs. Corney, has had more than ample opportunity to assess her material wealth, particularly the bag of coins that he has discovered in searching the room in her absence. And under the Victorian property laws in force at the time, all Bumble has to do to acquire total control of Mrs. Corney's assets, including the furnishings and china, is to make her Mrs. Bumble. Here, congratulating himself on making a strategic marriage proposal, Bumble does a jig in the midst of the fine furniture and thinking of that stock of coins that is about to become his. And Pailthorpe takes as much delight in drawing Bumble's celebratory dance as Dickens does in describing it. Since she has accepted his amatory advances, Bumble feels certain that she willaccept his proposal: after all, isn't he a good catch?
A number of other Dickens illustrators have provided their take on Bumble's character, and most of them have enjoyed describing Bumble's courtship of Mrs. Corney. Charles Pears' tea-time scene, for example, captures exactly the smug, complacent, self-satisfied expression on Bumble's face. In several ways, however, Pailthorpe's interpretation offers another facet to his contemptible character, and the jig constitutes a kind of visual soliloquy as Bumble expresses his unalloyed delight in his plans for marriage, comfort, and wealth. He does not, as Mahoney and Pears have done, convey a sense of the couple, enjoying their tea and each other's company, as real people rather than as Cruikshankian caricatures. But Pailthorpe entertains the reader with a snapshot of the hypocrite with his mask down, so to speak. He shows us the childlike elation that Bumble can never express in company when his plans seem to be coming to pass. Pailthorpe depicts the dancing beadle without a trace of that all too Victorian failing, sentimentality. This smugness, for example, dominates Mahoney's otherwise realistic treatment. Pailthorpe shows the purely comic aspect of Bumble's egotism as he underscores Dickens's characterization of the beadle as a compound of egotism, veniality, and cupidity.
Left: George Cruikshank's Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Corney taking tea. Centre: Sol Eytinge, Junior's Mrs. Corney and Mr. Bumble. Right: Kyd's extra illustration (1889) Mr. Bumble.
Left: Kyd's Player's cigarette card no. 3, Mr. Bumble (1910). Centre: Harry Furniss's Mr. Bumble and Mrs. Corney from the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910). Right: Charles Pears' convivial study of Mr. Bumble's taking tea with Mrs. Corney — and taking in the contents of the room: Mr.Bumble and Mrs. Corney (1912).
Above: James Mahoney's 1871 wood-engraving of the fatuous beadle consoling the tearful matron of the workhouse, "Don't sigh, Mrs. Corney."
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Cohen, Jane Rabb. "George Cruikshank." Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980. Pp. 15-38.
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr. Character Sketches from Dickens. Philadelphia: Porter and Coates, 1888.
Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1838; Chapman and Hall, 1846.
_______. The Letters of Charles Dickens. Ed. Graham Storey, Kathleen Tillotson, and Angus Eassone. The Pilgrim Edition. Oxford: Clarendon, 1965. Vol. 1 (1820-1839).
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 55 vols. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. New York: Sheldon and Co., 1865.
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867. Vol. XI.
_______. The Adventures of Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 22 vols. Illustrated by James Mahoney. London: Chapman and Hall, 1871. Vol. I.
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. III.
_______. Oliver Twist. Works of Charles Dickens. The Waverley Edition of the Works of Charles Dickens. Illustrated by Charles Pears. London: Waverley, 1912.
Grego, Joseph (intro). Cruikshank's Water Colours. [27 Oliver Twist illustrations, including the wrapper and the 13-vignette title-page produced for F. W. Cosens; 20 plates for William Harrison Ainsworth's The Miser's Daughter: A Tale of the Year 1774; 20 plates plus the proofcover the work for W. H. Maxwell's History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798 and Emmetts Insurrection in 1803]. London: A & C Black, 1903. OT = pp. 1-106]. Book in the Rare Book Collection of the University of Toronto.
Pailthorpe, Frederic W. (Illustrator). Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. London: Robson & Kerslake, 1886. Set No. 118 (coloured) of 200 sets of proof impressions.
Created 9 February 2015 Last modified 6 December 2021