"I need not entreat your sympathy," he said, wringing her hand. [Page 112] by Charles Stanley Reinhart (1875), in Charles Dickens's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Harper & Bros. New York Household Edition, for Chapter XX. 10.5 x 13.6 cm (4 ⅛ by 5 ⅜ inches), framed. Running head: "Renunciation of a Reprobate" (111). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Passage Illustrated: Nicholas Defends His Sister's Virtue
"I never meant, Kate," said Nicholas, tenderly, "I never meant to stay among you; think better of me than to suppose it possible. I may turn my back on this town a few hours sooner than I intended, but what of that? We shall not forget each other apart, and better days will come when we shall part no more. Be a woman, Kate," he whispered, proudly, "and do not make me one, while he looks on."
"No, no, I will not," said Kate, eagerly, "but you will not leave us. Oh! think of all the happy days we have had together, before these terrible misfortunes came upon us; of all the comfort and happiness of home, and the trials we have to bear now; of our having no protector under all the slights and wrongs that poverty so much favours, and you cannot leave us to bear them alone, without one hand to help us."
"You will be helped when I am away," replied Nicholas hurriedly. "I am no help to you, no protector; I should bring you nothing but sorrow, and want, and suffering. My own mother sees it, and her fondness and fears for you, point to the course that I should take. And so all good angels bless you, Kate, till I can carry you to some home of mine, where we may revive the happiness denied to us now, and talk of these trials as of things gone by. Do not keep me here, but let me go at once. There. Dear girl—dear girl."
The grasp which had detained him relaxed, and Kate swooned in his arms. Nicholas stooped over her for a few seconds, and placing her gently in a chair, confided her to their honest friend.
"I need not entreat your sympathy," he said, wringing her hand, "for I know your nature. You will never forget them.
He stepped up to Ralph, who remained in the same attitude which he had preserved throughout the interview, and moved not a finger. [Chapter XX, "Wherein Nicholas at length encounters his Uncle, to whom he expresses his Sentiments with much Candour. His Resolution," 111]
Commentary
Although as secondary character, Miss La Creevy, the young lady of fifty, adds much to the texture of the story, acting as a foil to Dickens's "false wits" Ralph Nickleby and Miss Knag in particular. Here in Chapter 20, the ;ast of the three chapters in the September 1838 instalment, Nicholas confronts Ralph about the lies from Fanny Squeers that the scurrilous uncle has been re-telling, even though he knows very well that the Squeers's analysis of his nephew's character is strongly biased.
Reinhart focuses upon the consoling figure of the wild-haired Nicholas, fresh from his retreat from Dotheboys' Hall in Yorkshire. Mrs. Nickleby tearfully hears her son's account even as Ralph (upper right) remains obdurate. The focal point, however, is Miss La Creevy solicitously supporting Kate Nickleby, who has recently been the object of Sir Muklberry Haw's unwanted advances. The illustrator fails to communicate Ralph's delight in impuning his nephew's character in front of his family, even though Kate remains unconvinced of the truth of Ralph's accusations against her brother. However, he has effectively realized Mrs. Nickleby's anguish sas she considers the possibility of having to go to a London Workhouse or the Magdalen Hospital (so hideously depicted in George Cruikshank's anti-alcoholism exposé The Bottle) if Nicholas cannot support her and Kate.
Other Editions' Versions of Ralph, The Nicklebys, and Miss La Creevy
Left: Phiz makes Uncle Ralph a blocking figure for the engenues, Kate and Nicholas: Mr. Ralph Nickleby's "Honest" Composure (September 1838). Right: Phiz's earlier introduction of Miss La Creevy: Kate Nickleby Sitting to Miss La Creevy (June 1838), Chapter 10.
Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s American Diamond Editioncomposite woodblock portrait of the elderly portrait-painter: Miss La Creevy (1867). Right: Harry Furniss's 1910 lithograph representing the extended Nickleby family, Mr. Ralph Nickleby makes the acquaintance of his Relations, in the Charles Dickens Library Edition.
Related material by other illustrators (1838 through 1910)
- Nicholas Nickleby (homepage)
- Phiz's 38 monthly illustrations for the novel, April 1838-October 1839.
- Cover for monthly parts
- Charles Dickens by Daniel Maclise, engraved by Finden
- "Hush!" said Nicholas, laying his hand upon his shoulder. (Vol. 1, 1861)
- The Rehearsal (Vol. 2, 1861)
- "My son, sir, little Wackford. What do you think of him, sir?" (Vol. 3, 1861)
- Newman had caught up by the nozzle an old pair of bellows . . . (Vol. 4, 1861).
- Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s 18 Illustrations for the Diamond Edition (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 59 Illustrations for the British Household Edition (1875)
- Harry Furniss's 29 illustrations for Nicholas Nickleby in the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
- Kyd's four Player's Cigarette Cards (1910).
Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, caption, and commentary by Philip V. Allingham. [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
Barnard, J. "Fred" (il.). Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby, with fifty-nine illustrations. The Works of Charles Dickens: The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1875. Volume 15. Rpt. 1890.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. With fifty-two illustrations by C. S. Reinhart. The Household Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875.
__________. "Nicholas Nickleby." Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens, being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings by Fred Barnard et al.. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.
Created 6 August 2021