Poor Margaret by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne), facing page 425. (January 1856). Steel-engraving. 9.3 cm high by 13.3 cm wide (3 ¾ by 5 ¼inches), vignetted, full-page illustration for The Martins of Cro' Martin, Chapter XLII, "A Night of Storm." [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Mary Martin discovers Margaret dead in her hovel
Descending at last from this elevated plateau, she again entered a deep cleft between the mountain, the road littered with fallen earth and branches of trees, so as almost to defy a passage. After traversing upwards of a mile of this wearisome way, she arrived at the door of a small cabin, the first trace of habitation since she had quitted the village. It was a mere hovel, abutting against a rock, and in its dreary solitude seemed the last refuge of direst poverty.
She bent down from her saddle to look in at the window; but, except some faint embers on the hearth, all was dark within. She then knocked with her whip against the door, and called “Morris” two or three times; but no reply was given. Springing from her horse, Mary fastened the bridle to the hasp of the door-post, and entered. The heavy breathing of one in deep sleep at once caught her attention, and, approaching the fireplace, she lighted a piece of pine-wood to examine about her. On a low settle in one corner lay the figure of a young woman, whose pale, pinched features contrasted strongly with the bright ribbons of her cap floating loosely at either side. Mary tottered as she drew nigher; a terrible sense of fear was over her, — a terror of she knew not what. She held the flickering flame closer, and saw that she was dead! Poor Margaret, she had been one of Mary's chief favorites; the very cap that now decked her cold forehead was Mary's wedding-gift to her. But a few days before, her little child had been carried to the churchyard; and it was said that the mother never held up her head after. Sick almost to fainting, Mary Martin sank into a chair, and then saw, for the first time, the figure of a man, who, half kneeling, lay with his head on the foot of the bed, fast asleep! Weariness, utter exhaustion, were marked in his pale-worn features, while his attitude bespoke complete prostration. His hand still clasped a little rosary.
It seemed but the other day that she had wished them “joy” upon their wedding, and they had gone home to their little cabin in hopefulness and high-hearted spirit, and there she lay now a cold corpse, and he, bereaved and childless. What a deal of sad philosophy do these words reveal! What dark contrasts do we bring up when we say, “It was but the other day.” It was but “the other day,” and Cro' Martin was the home of one whose thriving tenantry reflected back all his efforts for their welfare, when movement and occupation bespoke a condition of activity and cheerful industry; when, even in their poverty, the people bore bravely up, and the cases of suffering but sufficed to call out traits of benevolence and kind feeling. It was but “the other day,” and Mary herself rode out amidst the people, like some beloved sovereign in the middle of her subjects; happy faces beamed brighter when she came, and even misery half forgot itself in her presence. But “the other day” and the flag waved proudly from the great tower, to show that Cro' Martin was the residence of its owner, and Mary the life and soul of all that household! [Chapter XLII, "A Night of Storm," pp. 425-426]
Commentary: The Cholera Epidemic in Ireland's Poorest Counties (1832 onwards)
The Asiatic Cholera, probably originating in India, was a disease new to Europe, rampant on the continent before ravaging Ireland. It arrived in Russia via Afghanistan in 1827, in Paris from Poland in April 1832 before crossing the seas to Great Britain. Thus, Lever's placing the epidemic just after the Paris revolution of July 1830 is inaccurate. Young physicians such as Dr. Charles Neilson and Dr. Charles Lever attempted to alleviate the suffering of rural cottiers during the Irish cholera epidemic of the 1830s. People were often too terrified — or too ill — to leave their homes, and the cholera forced a general lockdown in places such as Sligo, Dublin, and County Mayo in 1832. Some died within just a few hours of manifesting cholera symptoms: stomach cramps, diarrhoea, convulsions, and hallucinations. Lever based these "cholera chapters" in the novel directly on his own experiences at Portstewart in 1832, just the year after he had qualified as a physician at Trinity College, Dublin.
In this illustration, Mary has already ridden past the former Osprey's Nest (now The Corragh, where Merl is staying) to the fishing village of Kilkieran to attend old fisherman, Mat Landry, since the local doctor has his work cut out for him fighting the cholera epidemic. Perhaps because it is regarded as a disease of the poor, Mary takes no thought for her own welfare when she ministers to the cottiers. Her charitable visit to the fisherman's cottage on the shore is not the last of her long day. As he enjoys a luxurious dinner at the inn, Merl hears Mary's horse galloping up the beach as she makes for Margaret Morris's cottage in the mountains. And there she finds one of her favourites dead, another victim of the widespread contagion that is depopulating rural Ireland.
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
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
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 5 October 2022