"Mr. Free turned Spaniard" by "Phiz" — Twenty-ninth illustration for Charles Lever's "Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon" (May 1841)

Mr. Free turned Spaniard

Phiz

Dalziel

May 1841

Steel-engraving

12 cm high by 10.9 cm wide (4 ¾ by 4 ¼ inches), vignetted, in Chapter LXXX, "The Villa," facing p. 400.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Source: Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Another Comic Interlude with Mickey Free

“Yes”, thought I, as I looked for some time, “such is the very type of his nation. Surrounded by every luxury of climate, blessed with all that earth can offer of its best and fairest, and yet only using such gifts as mere sensual gratifications.” Starting with this theme, I wove a whole story for the unknown personage whom, in my wandering fancy, I began by creating a grandee of Portugal, invested with rank, honours, and riches; but who, effeminated by the habits and usages of his country, had become the mere idle voluptuary, living a life of easy and inglorious indolence. My further musings were interrupted at this moment for the individual to whom I had been so complimentary in my revery, slowly arose from his recumbent position, flung his loose mantle carelessly across his left shoulder, and pushing open the sash-door, entered my chamber. Directing his steps to a large mirror, he stood for some minutes contemplating himself with what, from his attitude, I judged to be no small satisfaction. Though his back was still towards me, and the dim twilight of the room too uncertain to see much, yet I could perceive that he was evidently admiring himself in the glass. Of this fact I had soon the most complete proof; for as I looked, he slowly raised his broad-leafed Spanish hat with an air of most imposing pretension, and bowed reverently to himself.

“Come va, vostra senoria?” said he.

The whole gesture and style of this proceeding struck me as so ridiculous, that in spite of all my efforts I could scarcely repress a laugh. He turned quickly round and approached the bed. The deep shadow of the sombrero darkened the upper part of his features, but I could distinguish a pair of fierce-looking moustaches beneath, which curled upwards towards his eyes, while a stiff point beard stuck straight from his chin. Fearing lest my rude interruption had been overheard, I was framing some polite speech in Portuguese, when he opened the dialogue by asking in that language how I did. [Chapter LXXX, "The Villa," 400]

Commentary: Awakening from a Dangerous Fever

Although the full meaning of the illustration is not evident without an examination of the accompanying text, Mickey seems to be admiring his outlandish clothing and false beard as part of his preparations for sexual conquests in Lisbon, much to O'Malley's amusement, if we may judge by the patient's delighted facial expression. The amusing scene in which O'Malley awakes at last, his fever having broken, occurs at the Villa Nuova, the opulent home of the wealthy Don Emanuel de Blancas y Silviero, whither the wounded young officer has been transported after he was discovered unconscious, his arm re-broken, in his quarters on the night of his attending Sir George Dashwood's banquet. O'Malley's comic dialogue with "Don Miguel" (Mickey Free in the character of a Portuguese grandee) caps a prolonged period of severe illness and delirium for the young officer.

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