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The Student
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
steel engraving
12.4 cm by 9.7 cm (4 ⅞ by 3 ¾ inches), vignetted
August 1845
Charles Lever's The O'Donoghue; A Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago, Chapter XXVII, "The Pleasures of the Capital," facing p. 234.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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When Kate O'Donoghue entered the room, Herbert was seated before a table, on which his head was leaning, with his hands pressed against his face. At his feet lay his cap, and the books he carried with him from the Hall. Unconscious of her presence, lost to every thing, save his overwhelming affliction, the sobs came with a convulsive shudder that shook his frame, and made the very table rattle, while at intervals there broke from him a faint moan of heart-rending sorrow.
“My dear brother,” said Kate, placing her arm around his neck. The boy started and looked up, and prepared as she was to see the traces of suffering there, she started at the ravages long days and nights of study and deep grief had left behind them: his eyes were sunk, and surrounded by dark circles, that made them seem quite buried beneath his brows; his forehead traversed by a net-work of blue veins, had that transparent thinness mental labour impresses, and his lips were thin and colourless; while on each cheek a burning spot of red looked like the mark of hectic. He made no answer; but the tears ran fast from his eyes, and his mouth quivered as he tried to say something.
She sat down beside him on the same chair, and bending her head, till the silken curls touched his very cheek, she spoke to him — not in words of encouragement or good cheer, for such her own instinct told her were inapplicable, but in the soft accents of affection, neither undervaluing the source of his grief, nor yet suffering him to be carried away by his own sense of his calamity. [Chapter XXVIII, "The Pleasures of the Capital," 234]
Herbert O'Donoghue, by nature studious and a lover of books, has been accepted as a student at Lever's Alma Mater, Trinity College, Dublin. But, unfamiliar with the life of the capital or attending regular classes, Herbert does not have the immediate success he anticipated when he came up to town with Frederick Travers some six weeks earlier. His Trinity experiences in 1798 undoubtedly draw on Lever's own, in 1823-28.
The chapter's title, "The Pleasures of the Capital," accordingly seems ironic, given Herbert's distress, which we suspect is associated with his first formal examination. Frederick and Sybella Travers and Kate had planned to waylay him as he left the examination hall at 4:00 P. M., and the prize student was announced. The Travers planned to take him out to dinner to celebrate. However, when they do not see him a the door of the Examination Hall, they try his rooms at the old square near the library. There they find him sobbing, but determine to cheer him up. However, Kate feels he needs sympathy, not guests, so Frederick and his sister retire to the court to await her return.
Herbrert then confesses to Kate that he nearly won the Latin competition, but lost because he misinterpreted a line from Terrence. He is chagrined at having disappointed his uncle by fail=ing in his first trial. This situation Phiz has effectively realised in the postures and juxtapositions of the characters as noted by Lever, ably supported by details invented by the illustrator: the furnishings, the many books strewn on the floor and chair, and the classical bust.
Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.
Lever, Charles. The O'Donoghue; A Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago. With 26 engravings by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. Dublin: William Curry, Jun., 1845.
Lever, Charles. The O'Donoghue; A Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. In One Vol. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: May 11, 2010.
Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter VIII, "Heretic Among Tories, 1844-1845." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 128-145.
Sutherland, John A. "Lever, Charles." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 372-374.
Created 4 January 2024