"The Hand and the Cloak" for "Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life"; originally "The Unexpected disappearance of Old Parr" (December 1844)— Phiz's fourth serial illustration for William Harrison Ainsworth's "Revelations of London" in "Ainsworth's Magazine

The Hand and the Cloak; originally, The Unexpected disappearance of Old Parr

Phiz

December 1844

12.6 cm high by 10 cm wide (5 by 4 inches), framed

Facing page 379 in serial, facing p. 64 in volume for William Harrison Ainsworth's Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life (London: Chapman and Hall, 1850, rpt. 1865)

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Scanned image & text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: The Deputy of "Ginger" is snatched up by demonic forces

The dwarf was about to unclasp the book committed to his charge, when a hand was suddenly thrust through the banisters of the upper part of the staircase, which, as has been already stated, was divided from the lower by the door. A piece of heavy black drapery next descended like a cloud, concealing all behind it except the hand, with which the dwarf was suddenly seized by the nape of the neck, lifted up in the air, and, notwithstanding his shrieks and struggles, carried clean off.

Great confusion attended his disappearance. The dogs set up a prodigious barking, and flew to the rescue — one of the largest of them passing over the body of the drowsy waiter, who had sought his customary couch upon the coals, and rousing him from his slumbers; while the Tinker, uttering a fierce imprecation, upset his chair in his haste to catch hold of the dwarf's legs; but the latter was already out of reach, and the next moment had vanished entirely.

"My eyes! here's a pretty go!" cried Ginger, who, with his back to the fire, had witnessed the occurrence in open-mouthed astonishment. "Vy, curse it! if the wenerable ain't a-taken the pocket-book with him! It's my opinion the devil has flown avay with the old feller. His time wos nearer at 'and than he expected."

"Devil or not, I'll have him back agin, or at all events the pocket-book!" cried the Tinker. And, dashing up the stairs, he caught hold of the railing above, and swinging himself up by a powerful effort, passed through an opening, occasioned by the removal of one of the banisters. ["Book the First — Ebba," Chapter III. "The Hand and the Cloak," pp. 63-64 in volume]

Commentary: Old Parr Snatched up by a Devil

In the thieves' den where Ginger keeps his purloined dogs, the Devil (or so we assume) absconds with the "old fella" ("Flapdragon," formerly Dr. Lamb's laboratory assistant and factotum) and the pocketbook record of the proof of Auriol Darcy's identity and advanced age — and of the many men whom he has murdered over the centuries. Determined to recover the pocket-book, if not Flapdragon, the Tinker attempts to snatch him back from the clasp of the evil spirit as Ginger ("The Dog-fancier") and the Sandman watch helplessly. Phiz has also scrupulously utilized Lever's detailed description of the den:

Opposite the table at which the party were seated, it has been said, was a staircase — old and crazy, and but imperfectly protected by a broken hand-rail. Midway up it stood a door equally dilapidated, but secured by a chain and lock, of which Old Parr, as deputy-chamberlain, kept the key. Beyond this point the staircase branched off on the right, and a row of stout wooden banisters, ranged like the feet of so many cattle, was visible from beneath. Ultimately, the staircase reached a small gallery, if such a name can be applied to a narrow passage communicating with the bedrooms, the doors of which, as a matter of needful precaution, were locked outside; and as the windows were grated, no one could leave his chamber without the knowledge of the landlord or his representative. No lights were allowed in the bedrooms, nor in the passage adjoining them. [54-55]

As Lever suggests, Phiz has described the dwarf or "Old Parr" as "a grotesque-looking little personage, whose shoulders barely reached to a level with the top of the table." Ginger notes a single sheet of paper that Old Parr had dropped as the Devil flew off with him:

"The wenerable's gone, to be sure; and the only thing he has left behind him, barrin' his topcoat, is this here bit o' paper vich dropped out o' the pocket-book as he wos a-takin' flight, and vich I picked from the floor. It may be o' some use to us. But come, let's go down-stairs. There's no good in stayin' here any longer." (66)

Phiz effectively conveys the consternation of the underworld figures, leaving the form of the Devil up to the reader's imagination, for all he shows of the evil spirit is his black hand, as he chooses to focus instead upon the child-like dwarf, who is suspended in mid-air, dangling above the heads of his criminal confederates at the bottom of the stairs. At the beginning of the chapter, Lever explains the nature and origin of the strange costume that Ginger's deputy is wearing. The novelist also explains in the dialogue between the Venerable and his associates how he, too, has become "immortal" by imbibing the remains of Dr. Lamb's elixir in the alchemist's alembic: "On examining it I found [the receiver] contained a small quantity of a bright transparent liquid, which, poured forth in a glass, emitted precisely the same odour as the [empty] phial" (61). This he quaffed, suffering some excruciating but short-lived side effects, and has lived ever since in financial distress.

Commentary: Old Parr’s Theatrical Costume Explained

In the third chapter, “The Hand and the Cloak,” Phiz effectively captures the scene in Ginger’s headquarters as the mysterious hand sweeps Old Parr off the ground in order to purloin Auriol’s stolen pocketbook. “Having recently served as double [understudy] to a famous demon-dwarf at the Surrey Theatre, he had become possessed of a cast-off pair of tawny tights, elastic shirt of the same material and complexion, to the arms which little green bat-like wings were attached” (53-54). However, for a streamlined torso Phiz has left out Flapdragon’s wearing a great-coat and a seal-skin cap, both of which we are to assume have fallen off as he was swept to the upper balcony. A cap lies on the floor, bottom right, and a jacket (possibly to suggest Flapdragon's greatcoat) to the bottom left, on the stairs, in the plate.

Related Material

Bibliography

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life. London: Chpaman and Hall, 1850; George Routledge and Sons, 1865.

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Revelations of London.. Ainsworth's Magazine. Vol. VII (October — December 1844).

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

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

Sutherland, John A. "Auriol." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 33.

Vann, J. Don. "Auriol; Or, The Elixir of Life in Ainsworth's Magazine, October 1844 — May 1845." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. Pp. 24-25.

5 October 2026