The Major Stops the Way by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne), August 1848. Steel-engraving. 9.3 cm high by 13.5 cm wide (3 ⅝ by 5 ⅜ inches), framed, full-page dark plate for Roland Cashel, Chapter XV, "At the Gaming Table," facing p. 148. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Roland enters other scenes of High Life
The gallant —th Light Dragoons were a “fast regiment,” and the inventors of that new locomotive on the road to ruin called a “mess breakfast,” — a meal where champagne flows with a profusion rarely seen at dinner, and by which men begin the day in a frame of mind that would not be very decorous even when concluding it. Cashel, being an honoured guest, drank wine with every one, not to speak of participating in various little bibatory trios and quartets, so that when the entertainment drew to a close he was very far from that self-possession and command which, with all his high spirits, seldom deserted him.
A tremendous fall of rain, that showed no prospect of ceasing, had just set in, so that the party agreed to repair to the major's rooms, and make a pool at écarté. After some talking about play in general, and some quizzing about not being able to bet a sum such as Cashel would care to play for, the game began.
Notwithstanding the apologies, the play was high, so much so, that Cashel, never a very shrewd observer, could not help remarking that several of the players could not conceal the anxiety the game inspired.
Roland himself joined less from inclination than fellowship, and far better pleased to be at liberty to chat with some of the others than to be seated at the table, he arose each time he lost, well content to pay for freedom by his gold. His natural indifference, added to a perfect carelessness about money, induced him to accept any bet that was offered, and these were freely proposed, since, in play parlance, “the run was against him;” so that, ere the trumpet-call announced the time to dress for the mess, he had lost heavily.
“You have no idea how much you have lost?” said Linton, in a low voice, and with a gravity of manner almost reproachful.
“Not the slightest,” said Cashel, laughing.
“I can tell you, then, for I have totted it up. This morning's work has cost you seven thousand some hundred pounds.”
“Indeed!” said Cashel, a flush rather of shame than displeasure mantling on his features. “I'll give it up in future.”
“No, no! not till you've had your revenge,” whispered Linton. “We'll stay for the mess, and have at them again. The night is terrific, and no possibility of leaving.”
The mess followed, and although play was to succeed it, the party drank freely, and sat long over their wine; even Linton himself seemed to linger at the table, and leave it with regret.
As for Cashel, for the first time in his life he wished to play. No desire for money-getting, no mean passion for gain, suggested the wish, it was simply a piqued vanity at being beaten; a sense of indignity that his inferiority should seem to be implied, even in so trifling a matter, urged him on, and he was one of the first to vote for a return to écarté.
Except Linton, there was not probably one who could be called a good player in the party — but luck, which has more than the mastery over skill, supplied the place of knowledge, and Cashel was the only heavy loser of the whole assembly. Stung by continued failure, too, he betted madly and foolishly, so that as the day was breaking, and the stir in the Barrack yard announced the approaching parade, his losses reached more than double what they had been in the morning.
“I say, lads!” said the Major, as they all arose from the table, “one word before you go.” So saying, he turned the key in the door, and stood with his back against it. “Before any one leaves the room, each must promise on his honour not to mention a syllable of this night's business. We all know that we have been playing far higher stakes than ever we've been in the habit of. The report, if it get abroad, would ruin the regiment.” [Chapter XV, "At the Gaming Table," pp. 146-148]
Commentary: A Suitable Visual Complement to the Debauched Night of Gaming
The Hussar Baronet paid marked attention to Cashel, and invited him to the mess for the day following. Lord Charles overheard the invitation, and said, "I'll join the party." [107]
At the conclusion of the Great Kennyfeck Dinner in Merrion Square, an officer of the Hussars (probably the 15th Light Dragoons) invites Cashel to visit him at the light cavalry officers' mess. To his great misfortune, Cashel has taken up the baronet's offer to join this fast set, and over the next few weeks spends some time there in company with his Mephistopheles, Tom Linton. On this occasion, he has just given up residing with the Kennyfecks, and at Linton's promoting has taken over a Dublin estate. Thus, he finds himself in the Major's rooms, drinking and losing at écarté far too freely for his own good. In this scene, Lever clarifies Roland's shock at where this new-found lifestyle of the rich and famous is leading him by focussing on just a few of the principals: Cashel, his new confidant (the profligate Linton), an anxious young officer of the Hussars (Phiz's invention), and the Major of the "gallant —th Light Dragoons." Phiz complements the text by using darker uniforms for the four characters in the foreground: Tom Linton (standing behind Roland's chair), Roland (face turned away, so that we cannot judge the youth's response to the news of his mammoth losses), the stunned young officer, abruptly rising from the gaming table, and the portly Major, giving a gesture of command as he blocks the doorway (right). The remaining ten figures, on the far side of the mess table, Phiz sketches in lightly, throwing the eye well forward and focussing on Linton's stunning communication (down centre). Immediately after this moment realised, Roland asks his new chum "Tom" how he can prevent the Kennyfecks from learning of his losses, and how he can cover them without drawing on his London accounts.
Since Lever was born in Amiens Street, Dublin, the son of an English architect and builder, the novelist knew the Irish capital well. The gathering in the Officers' Mess here probably reflects some of his drinking and gambling escapades when he was a student at Trinity College, Dublin (1823-28). In particular, Lever mined his college experiences for these chapters of Roland Cashel and Frank Webber's misadventures in Charles O'Malley (1841). Phiz's dark plate technique here emphasizes the boozy, smokey bachelor atmosphere of the officer's suite.
Bibliography
Lever, Charles. Roland Cashel. With 39 illustrations and engraved title-vignette by Phiz. London: Chapman & Hall, 1850.
Lever, Charles. Roland Cashel. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vols. I and II. In two volumes. Boston: Little, Brown, 1907. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 19 August 2010.
Steig, Michael. Chapter VII, "Phiz the Illustrator: An Overview and a Summing Up." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 299-316.
Created 21 December 2022