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Mr. Pinch and Ruth Unconscious of a Visitor
Phiz
March 1844
Steel-engraving
11.9 cm high by 9.9 cm wide, vignetted
Twenty-ninth monthly illustration for Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, facing p. 452 (1844 ed.) in Ch. XXXIX; descriptive headline in the 1867 & 1897 editions: "John Calls."
[Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over text for links.]
Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham.
"That a pudding!" said Tom.
"It will be, you stupid fellow, when it's covered in," returned his sister. Tom still pretending to look incredulous, she gave him a tap on the head with the rolling-pin, and still laughing merrily, had returned to the composition of the top crust, when she started and turned very red. Tom started, too, for following her eyes, he saw John Westlock in the room.
"Why, my goodness, John! How did you come in?"
"I beg pardon," said John —" your sister's pardon especially — but I met an old lady at the street door, who requested me to enter here; and as you didn't hear me knock, and the door was open, I made bold to do so. I hardly know," said John, with a smile, "why any of us should be disconcerted at my having accidentally intruded upon such an agreeable domestic occupation, so very agreeably and skillfully pursued; but I must confess that I am. Tom, will you kindly come to my relief?" [Chapter XXXIX, "Containing some further Particulars of the Domestic Economy of the Pinches; with Strange News from The City, Narrowly Concerning Tom," pp. 452-53]
The reader has not seen the handsome John Westlock since his abrupt departure from Pecksniff's in the second chapter, when the devious architect's meanness and duplicity so disgusted him that he felt compelled to leave. In London, meanwhile, he has apparently met with some financial success, as Phiz intimates by his fashionable clothing and self-confident air. Phiz and Dickens re-introduce Westlock into the action at this point for a variety of reasons, including his connection with Lewsome and setting up his marriage proposal to Ruth. Other characters connected to the Pinches through their lodgings are fellow renter Sairey Gamp and their mysterious landlord, Mr. Nadgett, who is also the confidential detective of Tigg's insurance firm.
In the illustration Phiz also effectively introduces the character of Tom's sister, who has lately been the governess in the family of a wealthy but callous brass-founder. Those odious, ill-mannered noveau riche borgeoisie have constantly belittled and humiliated her. Having left Pecksniff's, Tom comes to Ruth's rescue, and together they set up housekeeping, which includes preparing meals cooperatively. The kitchen scene involving the joint preparation of the pudding has been a source of delight for sentimental readers and illustrators. Through the delightful interchange between brother and sister, Dickens and Phiz illustrate the theme of the fortunate fall as Tom and Ruth, both having quitted their positions for an uncertain future, transform adversity into paradise. Through the harmonious relationship of brother and sister the novelist and illustrator foil less successful relationships: Merry's fraught marriage with Jonas, Cherry's problematic engagement with Augustus Moddle, and Pecksniff's leering pursuit of Mary Graham.
In the illustration, we encounter once again the figure of Tom Pinch, whose moral, intellectual, and material progress constitute one of the novel's chief threads. Here, Tom writes out a curriculum vitae that John, expected later, may show to prospective employers. The many scraps of paper in the wastebasket beside Tom suggest that he has been struggling with how best to present himself for the London job-market. Phiz emphasizes the cramped quarters of the recently reunited brother and sister through the diminutive table on which food preparation vies for space with Tom's producing appropriate documents for his job-search. Books, suggestive of their intellectual and aesthetic natures, figure prominently behind the brother and sister, and Phiz offers the now-familiar symbol of a small flower in a vase (right) to imply the modest flourishing of their domestic relationship. The church and precincts in the painting above Tom's head may reflect his former avocation as a church organist in Wiltshire.
To the right, hat in hand, Westlock gently touches Tom on the back to gain his attention. Although he has already appeared in the text, this is John's first full appearance in the narrative-pictorial sequence, although Phiz had introduced him sketchily in Meekness of Mr. Pecksniff and his charming daughters, in Chapter 2 (Instalment I: January 1843) after he has quarrelled with Pecksniff. John will reappear in two subsequent illustrations that connect Tom Pinch's fortunes with those of the Chuzzlewit clan: Mysterious Installation of Mr. Pinch, in Chapter 39, and the climactic Warm Reception of Mr. Pecksniff by His Venerable Friend, in Chapter 52.
Left: Harry Furniss's derivative realisation of the pudding-making interrupted by Tom's old friend, Ruth makes a Pudding (1910). Centre: Fred Barnard's frontispiece celebrates the delightful domesticity of the Pinches: "I am going to begin, Tom. Don't you wonder why I butter the inside of the basin?" (c. 1910). Right: Harold Copping's dual portrait of Ruth and Tom in a delightful bit of Victorian nostalgia, Ruth Pinch makes a Pudding (1924). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1844.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Edited by Andrew Lang. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition: 34 volumes. London: Chapman and Hall; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897. 2 vols.
Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978.
Last modified 18 April 2019