"Remember we with pity and forgiveness." — twentieth illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"Remember me with pity and forgiveness." by W. L. Sheppard. Twentieth illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XIX, "Walter Goes Away," p. 115. 9.3 x 13.5 cm (3 ⅝ by 5 ¼ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Carker Senior bids Walter Farewell

“Come in, Mr Carker, and make acquaintance with my good old Uncle,” urged Walter. “I have often talked to him about you, and he will be glad to tell you all he hears from me. I have not,” said Walter, noticing his hesitation, and speaking with embarrassment himself: “I have not told him anything about our last conversation, Mr. Carker; not even him, believe me.

The grey Junior pressed his hand, and tears rose in his eyes.

“If I ever make acquaintance with him, Walter,” he returned, “it will be that I may hear tidings of you. Rely on my not wronging your forbearance and consideration. It would be to wrong it, not to tell him all the truth, before I sought a word of confidence from him. But I have no friend or acquaintance except you: and even for your sake, am little likely to make any.”

“I wish,” said Walter, “you had suffered me to be your friend indeed. I always wished it, Mr. Carker, as you know; but never half so much as now, when we are going to part.”

“It is enough,” replied the other, “that you have been the friend of my own breast, and that when I have avoided you most, my heart inclined the most towards you, and was fullest of you. Walter, good-bye!”

“Good-bye, Mr Carker. Heaven be with you, Sir!” cried Walter with emotion.

“If,” said the other, retaining his hand while he spoke; “if when you come back, you miss me from my old corner, and should hear from anyone where I am lying, come and look upon my grave. Think that I might have been as honest and as happy as you! And let me think, when I know time is coming on, that some one like my former self may stand there, for a moment, and remember me with pity and forgiveness! Walter, good-bye!”

His figure crept like a shadow down the bright, sun-lighted street, so cheerful yet so solemn in the early summer morning; and slowly passed away. [Chapter XIX, "Walter Goes Away," 115]

Commentary: Walter says goodbye to all he has known

The Sheppard illustration introduces the celebrated effigy of the Little Midshipman (right), an appropriate advertising property for Sol Gillis's instrument-maker's shop. Since he was not a Londoner and had not even visited London, W. L. Sheppard was likely familiar with the the figure of the young naval officer holding a sextant through one of Phiz's original serial illustrations, the April 1847 steel-engraving The Wooden Midshipman on the Look-out (Chapter XIX). Dickens locates the shop in Leadenhall Street, and there was indeed such a wooden statue at No. 157, which the author would regularly have seen as he walked from Covent Garden and past India House, as he describes it in The Uncommercial Traveller.

Sheppard has moved the figure from the left to right, and increased its size by eliminating the area above the shop windows. The billboard which one barely notices in the Phiz original, next to the entrance to the shop and its display of navigational instruments, reads simply "Son & Heir / Barbados" in the 1873 wood-engraving, whereas in the 1847 plate Phiz's wording is quite different, and there are two such boards: "New York" on the rear board seems to be announcing a forthcoming departure; the front board says, "Sail to Calcutta," with the fine print below suggesting the name of the vessel. Sheppard has transformed the wording to reflect the latest "news" involving Walter's imminent departure for the West Indies. He achieves this inset commentary at the expense of removing the intense commercial life of Leadenhall Street: waggons, coaches, passengers, and porters.

Illustrations of scenes related to The Little Midshipman in Other Editions (1847-1900)

Left: Phiz's April 1847 illustration The Wooden Midshipman on the Look-out , in which the serial illustrator introduces the egotistical retired major and the future Mrs. Dombey, Edith Granger. Centre: W. H. C. Groome's version of the same scene: Florence kissed him on the cheek (1900). Right: Fred Barnard's sentimental depiction of Florence and Walter's uncle: Took Uncle Sol’s snuff-coloured lapels, one in each hand; kissed him on the cheek, etc. (British Household Edition, 1877).

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

Scanned image and text 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 it and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Dexter, Walter. "The Little Wooden Midshipman." Dickensian 25 (1929): 139.

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.

Created 2 February 2022