"Tom Dill at His Studies," "Phiz," tenth illustration for Charles Lever's "Barrington" (June 1862)

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Tom Dill at His Studies

Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)

steel engraving

10.5 cm high by 9.5 cm wide (4 ⅛ by 3 ⅝ inches), vignetted

June 1862

Tenth serial illustration for Charles Lever's Barrington (Chapter XVII, “A Shock”), facing p. 143.

[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use the image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned it, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Commentary: A Woman Become a Physician?

Tom shows no retentive abilities for his medical studies, while his sister seems to know the texts by heart after months of trying to help Tom prepare for his forthcoming licensing test by the Court of Examiners. The pipe in the mouth of the skull and the fishing gear reveal Tom's true interests, while the notes scattered on the floor reveal his lack of concern for book-learning. From the open window, Fred Conyers watches as Polly Dill reveals her frustration (although this is not evident on the face of Phiz's character):

"You are too bad — too stupid! cried she, angrily. "I cannot believe that anything short of a purpose, a determination to be ignorant, could make a person so unteachable. If we have gone over this once, we have done so fifty times. It haunts me in my sleep from very iteration."

"I wish it would haunt me a little when I'm awake," said he, sulkily. [143]

Phiz's and Lever's emphasizing a woman's suitability for the practice of medicine in 1862 anticipated the temporary licensing of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson on 28 September 1865, whom the Society of Apothecaries disqualified, but who requalified as a physician at the Sorbonne in 1870 and co-founded the London School of Medicine for Wonen in 1874.

Related Material

Bibliography

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Lever, Charles. Barrington; Tales of the Trains. Illustrated by 'Phiz'. Twelve monthly parts. London: Chapman and Hall, 1863.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978.

Sutherland, John A. "Barrington." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 48-49.

Created 9 August 2002

Last updated 16 September 2026