"I am glad of that." — twelfth illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"I am glad of that." by W. L. Sheppard. Twelfth illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XI, "Paul's Introduction to a New Scene," p. 62. 9.3 x 13.7 cm (3 ⅝ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Paul interrogates Mrs. Pipchin

Phiz's November 1846 introduction of the dour child-minder in Paul and Mrs. Pipchin in Chapter VIII.

“Berry’s very fond of you, ain’t she?” Paul once asked Mrs Pipchin when they were sitting by the fire with the cat.

“Yes,” said Mrs Pipchin.

“Why?” asked Paul.

“Why!” returned the disconcerted old lady. “How can you ask such things, Sir! why are you fond of your sister Florence?”

“Because she’s very good,” said Paul. “There’s nobody like Florence.”

“Well!” retorted Mrs Pipchin, shortly, “and there’s nobody like me, I suppose.”

“Ain’t there really though?” asked Paul, leaning forward in his chair, and looking at her very hard.

“No,” said the old lady.

“I am glad of that,” observed Paul, rubbing his hands thoughtfully. “That’s a very good thing.” [Chapter XI, "Paul's Introduction to a New Scene," p. 62]

Commentary: Little Paul Runs Mental Circles around Mrs. Pipchin

Sol Eytinge, Junior's study of the ogress and Florence Dombey's devoted but sharp-tongued maid: Mrs. Pipchin and Susan Nipper (1867).

Sheppard might have introduced the dour child-minder somewhat earlier, but the present scene serves to underscore little Paul's sardonic wit rather than reveal her character, Sheppard puts Paul in his miniature chair at the centre of the composition, and does not even describe Mrs. Pipchin's facial expression. In previous studies of the "child-queller" and her cat such as Phiz's November 1846 serial illustration Paul and Mrs. Pipchin in Chapter VIII the elderly lady seems disconcerted by Paul's candour, and is not sure of how to make a sensible rejoinder. Although a mere child, the precocious Paul consistently runs mental rings around her.

Harold Copping's 1893 version of the sour widow verges on caricature, but accords well with Mary Angela Dickens's description of her as "a marvellously ugly old lady with a hook nose and stern cold eyes" (104), exactly as Dickens describes Paul's father, his arms crossed.

The picture does not depend upon its narrative context. Berry, Mrs. Pipchin's niece, reacts with compliance but, as one might expect, some regret when her exploitative aunt refuses permission for the local grocer to court the girl. Berry is simply too useful to Mrs. Pipchin as a household drudge. She seems to manage Berry easily enough, but cannot get the upper hand on paul, whose father's prestige and wealth render him far less "manageable" than her poor niece, Berinthia (Berry), who quietly resigns herself to middle-aged spinsterhood, and remains mindlessly devoted to her dictatorial aunt, as Paul observes. The little boy consistently observes Mrs. Pipchin closely, asks her deep questions, and makes perceptive retorts, as in this instance.

Relevant Illustrations by Leech, Barnard, and Furniss (1846, 1877, and 1910)

Left: John Leech's notorious political satire, Lord Russell as Paul Dombey (1846). Centre: Harry Furniss's impressionist revision of the November 1846 Phiz scene, Paul Puzzling Mrs. Pipchin (1910). Right: Paul sits quietyly beside his father in an evening; on this occasion he broaches the subject of money in the 1877 Household Edition: Dombey and Son (1877).

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)

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Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.

Dickens, Mary Angela, Percy Fitzgerald, Captain Edric Vredenburg, and Others. Illustrated by Harold Copping with eleven coloured lithographs. "Little Paul Dombey," the tenth chapter in Children's Stories from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1893. Pp. 101-109.

Created 24 January 2022