"O'Malley following the custom of his Country" by "Phiz" — Twenty-eighth illustration for Charles Lever's "Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon" (April 1841)

O'Malley following the custom of his Country

Phiz

Dalziel

April 1841

Steel-engraving

11.6 cm high by 10.8 cm wide (4 ½ by 4 ¼ inches), vignetted, in Chapter LXXVII, "A Pleasant Predicament," facing p. 387.

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Source: Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: A Romantic Interlude as O'Malley Recuperates at Lisbon

I heard her foot upon the gravel, and the next instant upon the marble step of the door. There is something in expectation that sets the heart beating, and mine throbbed against my side. I waited, however, till she entered, before lifting my head, and then springing suddenly up, with one bound clasped her in my arms, and pressing my lips upon her roseate cheek, said, —

“Ma charmante amie!” To disengage herself from me, and to spring suddenly back was her first effort; to burst into an immoderate fit of laughing, her second; her cheek was, however, covered with a deep blush, and I already repented that my malice had gone so far.

“Pardon, mademoiselle,” said I, in affected innocence, “if I have so far forgotten myself as to assume a habit of my own country to a stranger.”

A half-angry toss of the head was her only reply, and turning towards the garden, she called to her friend.

“Come here, dearest, and instruct my ignorance upon your national customs; but first let me present to you, — I never knew his name, — the chevalier de ——, What is it?” [Chapter LXXVII, "A Pleasant Predicament," 387]

Commentary: Not as Romantic as it seems

O'Malley is recovering from his wounds in Lisbon when that he learns that his friend Power is in love with the young woman O'Malley avoided running over in the square some months earlier, Inez (La Senhora Inez da Rebiera Rua Nuova), daughter of a wealthy landowner and military contractor. The viewer may wonder whether O'Malley's being in full-dress uniform is a bit of artistic license, but he has just been before a board of medical review regarding extending his leave from the regiment, and a conversation with Sir George Dashwood, just appointed deputy adjutant-general to Portugal, and his suite. He is congratulated on every hand for his daring action at the Douro River. He now finds himself "the lion of the moment" (382) as Sir George has decided to appoint him as an aide-de-camp. Now, quite by accident, having wandered out into the country, he finds himself at Don Emanuel's estate, being pawed by Juan, Inez's stag-hound. Ushered into the drawing-room, he finds himself alone as memories of his last visit there flood in upon him. However, since Inez does not appear, he settles down at the table to write her a note to say he will call again. Thus, we come to the scene that opens Chapter LXXVII, "A Pleasant Predicament." The conversation which he overhears between the two young women out in the garden is apparently (and oddly enough) in English.

Little does O'Malley know that the young woman in the bonnet at the French-doors is Lucy Dashwood, whose voice from the garden he has heard but indistinctly, and failed to recognise. Phiz does not mar our surprise by giving away the friend's identity; since the illustration would have appeared at the head of the April number, the serial reader has had plenty of time to contemplate its implications. Phiz emphasizes an admired disorder in the drawing-room of objects associated with Inez, including her guitar and drawing-portfolio (right). O'Malley's hat, gloves, and officer's cane (left) parallel these. What an embarrassment both Lucy and Charles are about to endure, but Phiz leaves the completion of that climactic scene to the reader's imagination.

Necessary Background

Charles Lever's Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon (1840-41)

Bibliography

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

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. "Edited by Harry Lorrequer." Dublin: William Curry, Jun. London: W. S. Orr, 1841. 2 vols.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Published serially in The Dublin University Magazine from Vol. XV (March 1840) through XVIII (December 1841). Dublin: William Curry, March 1840 through December 1841. London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1842; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vol. I and II. In two volumes. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 2 September 2016.

Steig, Michael. Chapter Two: "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-50.

Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter V, "Renegade from Physic, 1839-1841." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 73-93.

Created 23 March 2023