"'You just come avay,' said Mr. Weller." — twenty-first illustration by Phiz for Dickens's "Pickwick Papers" (1874)

"You just come avay," said Mr. Weller. "Battledore and Shuttlecock's a wery good game, vhen you an't the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores." by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). British Household Edition (1874) of Dickens's Pickwick Papers, p. 137. 9.6 cm high by 12.7 cm wide (3 ¾ by 5 ⅜ inches), framed. Engraved by one of the Dalziels. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Pickwick loses his temper with Dodson and Fogg

‘You hear that, Mr. Wicks,’ said Dodson.

‘You won’t forget these expressions, Mr. Jackson?’ said Fogg.

‘Perhaps you would like to call us swindlers, sir,’ said Dodson. ‘Pray do, Sir, if you feel disposed; now pray do, Sir.’

‘I do,’ said Mr. Pickwick. ‘You are swindlers.’

‘Very good,’ said Dodson. ‘You can hear down there, I hope, Mr. Wicks?’

‘Oh, yes, Sir,’ said Wicks.

‘You had better come up a step or two higher, if you can’t,’ added Mr. Fogg. ‘Go on, Sir; do go on. You had better call us thieves, Sir; or perhaps You would like to assault one of us. Pray do it, Sir, if you would; we will not make the smallest resistance. Pray do it, Sir.’

As Fogg put himself very temptingly within the reach of Mr. Pickwick’s clenched fist, there is little doubt that that gentleman would have complied with his earnest entreaty, but for the interposition of Sam, who, hearing the dispute, emerged from the office, mounted the stairs, and seized his master by the arm.

‘You just come away,’ said Mr. Weller. ‘Battledore and shuttlecock’s a wery good game, vhen you ain’t the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores, in which case it gets too excitin’ to be pleasant.’ [Chapter XX, “Showing How Dodson and Fogg were Men of Business, and Their Clerks Men of Pleasure; And How an Affecting Interview Took Place Between Mr. Weller and His Long-Lost Parent; Showing also What Choice Spirits Assembled at the Magpie and Stump, and What a Capital Chapter the Next One Will Be,” Chapman & Hall Household Edition, p. 134; Harper & Bros. Household Edition, p. 121]

Commentary: Pickwick gives way to his Indignation

Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition realisation of the unscrupulous lawyers: Messrs. Dodson and Fogg (1867).

After the misadventure of the wheelbarrow (commemorated in the title-page vignette of the American Household Edition) and his subsequent ignominy in the village pound, Pickwick returns to London to deal with Mrs. Bardell's attorneys, Dodson and Fogg — unwisely approaching the cunning lawyers without the assistance of his own legal advisor, Mr. Perker. Pickwick's error in judgment of defaming them in front of witnesses (although his accusations are undoubtedly true) is so egregious that both Nast and Phiz felt the scene worthy of realisation, although the British Household Edition sets its scene in the attorneys' outer office (as in Phiz's original illustration of October 1836), while the American version captures Pickwick's Parthian shot as he descends the building's staircase afterwards.

In both instances, Sam Weller tries to prevent Pickwick's getting himself in further trouble, restraining his all-too-easily-angered employer. From the point of view of strict fidelity to text, Nast's treatment of the scene is superior; however, in terms of the comedy and characterisation of Pickwick and the predatory attorneys, Phiz's has much more to offer the discerning — even if Dickens would not have approved of Phiz's moving the clerks' office from the lower storey of the building and enacting the scene in the lawyers' office rather than on the stairs. In particular, Phiz effectively conveys the pride that the black-suited rogues take in their clever and unethical dealings (as we learn from their treatment of Ramsey, as narrated by one of the clerks earlier in the chapter).

Left: Onwhyn's "extra" illustration has a much angrier Pickwick: "You just come away," said Mr. Weller. "Battledore and shuttlecock’s a wery good game, vhen you ain’t the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores." (30 June 1837).

In the later Phiz illustration, Pickwick is denouncing the "disgraceful and rascally proceedings" (134) of Bardell's attorneys, while in the original engraving Pickwick and Sam are still waiting in the reception area, being scrutinized by the attorneys' clerks as objects of amusement and even derision. The precise moment realised by Phiz in 1873 is this, even if the precise piece of dialogue that serves as the caption is uttered on the stairs, as Pickwick and Sam depart (as envisaged by Nast, with the attorneys at the top of the stairs and the clerks on the landing below).

Phiz better communicates Pickwick's indignation, his fists clenched, as Sam attempts to make him see that saying nothing whatsoever to the scoundrels is in his best interests. Phiz's clerks, looking in through the door communicating to the outer office, are obviously enjoying the baiting, whereas Nast's clerks lack any expression. And, further, Sam's remonstrance is more effectively communicated by his body language and gesture of a raised hand (implying that Pickwick has said enough) in Phiz's 1874 illustration.

Other Versions of Pickwick's Confrontation with Dodson and Fogg (1836 and 1873)

Left: Phiz's original version: Mr. Pickwick and Sam in the Attorney's Office (Chapter 20, October 1836). Right: Thomas Nast's American Household Edition woodcut "Pray do it, Sir!" (1873). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Related Material

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. Formatting by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.

Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File and Checkmark Books, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. 4 vols.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 22 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 2.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. 1.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 6.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins, eds. The Annotated Dickens.2 vols. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986. Vol. I.

Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. 24-50.

Created 9 March 2012

Last updated 22 April 2024