"Diogenes holding on to the leg of his pantaloons." — twenty-second illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

Diogenes holding on to the leg of his pantaloons by W. L. Sheppard. Twenty-second illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XXII, "A Trifle of Management by Mr. Carker the Manager," p. 133. 8.8 x 13.5 cm (3 ½ by 5 ¼ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Diogenes attacks the amorous Toots

Phiz's May 1847 illustration Mr. Toots becomes particular — Diogenes also.

But instead of walking upstairs, the bold Toots made an awkward plunge at Susan when the door was shut, and embracing that fair creature, kissed her on the cheek.

“Go along with you!” cried Susan, “or Ill tear your eyes out.”

“Just another!” said Mr Toots.

“Go along with you!” exclaimed Susan, giving him a push “Innocents like you, too! Who’ll begin next? Go along, Sir!” Susan was not in any serious strait, for she could hardly speak for laughing; but Diogenes, on the staircase, hearing a rustling against the wall, and a shuffling of feet, and seeing through the banisters that there was some contention going on, and foreign invasion in the house, formed a different opinion, dashed down to the rescue, and in the twinkling of an eye had Mr Toots by the leg.

Susan screamed, laughed, opened the street-door, and ran downstairs; the bold Toots tumbled staggering out into the street, with Diogenes holding on to one leg of his pantaloons, as if Burgess and Co. were his cooks, and had provided that dainty morsel for his holiday entertainment; Diogenes shaken off, rolled over and over in the dust, got up again, whirled round the giddy Toots and snapped at him: and all this turmoil Mr. Carker, reigning up his horse and sitting a little at a distance, saw to his amazement, issue from the stately house of Mr. Dombey. [Chapter XXII. "A Trifle of Management by Mr. Carker the Manager," pp. 133-134]

Commentary: Carker arrives just in time to witness Toots's Misadventure

The chapter primarily follows the activities and motivations of Dombey's devious Manager, the perpetually smiling James Carker, who enlists Rob the Biler, Polly Toodle's son, to spy on Sol Gillis after the manger has installed him as a shop assistant. Meanwhile, Mr. Toots has left Dr, Blimber's Academy and, having received a substantial inheritance, has taken up residence in London. Realising that he needs an ally if his courtship of Florence Dombey is to bear fruit, Toots decides to romance her sharp-tongued, vivacious maid, Susan Nipper. However, no sooner has he kissed Susan on the cheek than Florence's new pet, the Blimbers' dog Diogenes, attacks the hapless Toots out of the mistaken impression that the foolish youth is somehow attacking Susan. As Diogenes chases Toots out the front door, nipping at his pantaloons and making him look ridiculous to passersby, who should coming riding his thoroughbred up the street but Carker the Manager.

The illustration comically depicts Toots' plight, Diogenes' triumph, and Mr. Carker's arrival at the Dombey townhouse, complete with iron railings and Palladian facade. Whereas Dickens in the accompanying text shifts the perspective from Toots to Carker, the picture retains Toots as its focus, capitalizing on his comic predicament as the hound savages his fashionable, striped pantaloons (which heighten the impression that Toots is something of an inept clown). Adding to the amorous youth's chagrin is a tradesman who, in making his deliveries, witnesses Toots's ignominious ejection by Florence's pet.

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.

Created 1 February 2022