Morning Calls by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne), facing page 403. (December 1855). Steel-engraving. 9.5 cm high by 16 cm wide (3 ⅝ by 6 ⅜inches), vignetted, full-page illustration for The Martins of Cro' Martin, Chapter XXXIX, "How Rogues Agree!" [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Mary Martin's Charitable Visit Described
“I mean that she has done more mischief to the property than five-and-forty years' good management will ever repair, Now don't be angry, Simmy; keep your temper, and draw your chair back again to the table. I'm not going to say one word against her intentions; but when I see the waste of thousands of pounds on useless improvements, elegant roads that lead nowhere, bridges that nobody will ever pass, and harbours without boats, not to say the habits of dependence the people have got by finding everything done for them. I tell you again, ten years more of Miss Mary's rule will finish the estate.”
“I don't believe a word of it!” blurted out Simmy, boldly. “I saw her yesterday coming out of a cabin, where she passed above an hour, nursing typhus fever and cholera. The cloak she took off the door — for she left it there to dry — was still soaked with rain; her wet hair hung down her shoulders, and as she stood bridling her own pony, — for there was not a living soul to help her —”
“She'd have made an elegant picture,” broke in Scanlan, with a laugh. “But that's exactly the fault of us in Ireland, — we are all picturesque; I wish we were prosperous! But come, Simmy, finish your wine; it's not worth disputing about. If all I hear about matters be true, there will be very little left of Cro' Martin when the debts are paid.” [Chapter XXXIX, "How Rogues Agree!" 406]
Commentary: Events since the July Revolution
The Martins, accompanied by Jack Massingbred, wounded at the barricades, and Captain Harry Martin, have escaped from France and are now recovering from the events of July 27-29 at Spa in Belgium. an aristocratic retreat well-known to diplomat Charles Lever. Meanwhile, the financier Herman Merl, whom Harry had despatched to Galway just prior to the Paris outbreak, arrives at the coastal resort of Kilkieran to assess the state of the Martins' holdings. Merl and Scanlan rendezvous at the former Osprey's Nest, now a public house and inn called "The Corragh." Under the effects of the wine, a cheap cigar, and his journey down from Dublin, Merl finds it necessary to take a nap, leaving Maurice Scanlan to finish the bottle. When the Martins' painter, Simmy Crow arrives, he and Scanlan compare notes on Mary's recent — and very costly — improvements. At this point, Lever only hints at one of the greatest challenges that rural Ireland is about to face: twin epidemics of typhus and cholera.
Geographical and Socio-political Associations with Ireland's Poor
- The Landscape of Ireland
- The Geography of Ireland
- Ireland in The Illustrated London News
- Victorian Ireland
- The Land War in Ireland
- The Irish Famine: 1845-49
- “Do something for a poor crathur [with] five starving childher” — Irish poverty in Trollope's Castle Richmond
- Food and Famine in Victorian Literature
Typhus and Cholera Outbreaks in 19th century Ireland
- Cholera
- Cholera
- Health and Hygiene in the Nineteenth Century
- Bacteriology, c. 1810-c.1917: Chronology of a Victorian Medical Advance
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 in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Lever, Charles. The Martins of Cro' Martin. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. London: Chapman & Hall, 1856, rpt. 1872.
Lever, Charles. The Martins of Cro' Martin. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Introduction by Andrew Lang. Lorrequer Edition. Vols. XII and XIII. In two volumes. Boston: Little, Brown, 1907.
Created 6 October 2022