"That it's a sinful shame." — thirty-seventh illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"That it's a sinful shame." by W. L. Sheppard. Thirty-seventh illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XLIV, "A Separation," p. 251. Page 251's Heading: "Mr. Dombey Nipped." 10.7 x 13.6 cm (4 ⅛ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Susan Nipper castigates Dombey for parental neglect

Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s version of the Ch. 44 scene for the American Diamond Edition, which Sheppard almost certainly would have seen: Mrs. Pipchin and Susan Nipper (1867).

Mr. Dombey, in a paroxysm of rage, made another grasp at the bell-rope that was not there, and, in its absence, pulled his hair rather than nothing.

“I have seen,” said Susan Nipper, “Miss Floy strive and strive when nothing but a child so sweet and patient that the best of women might have copied from her, I’ve seen her sitting nights together half the night through to help her delicate brother with his learning, I’ve seen her helping him and watching him at other times — some well know when — I’ve seen her, with no encouragement and no help, grow up to be a lady, thank God! that is the grace and pride of every company she goes in, and I’ve always seen her cruelly neglected and keenly feeling of it — I say to some and all, I have! — and never said one word, but ordering one’s self lowly and reverently towards one’s betters, is not to be a worshipper of graven images, and I will and must speak!”

“Is there anybody there?” cried Mr Dombey, calling out. “Where are the men? where are the women? Is there no one there?”

“I left my dear young lady out of bed late last night,” said Susan, nothing checked, “and I knew why, for you was ill Sir and she didn’t know how ill and that was enough to make her wretched as I saw it did. I may not be a Peacock; but I have my eyes — and I sat up a little in my own room thinking she might be lonesome and might want me, and I saw her steal downstairs and come to this door as if it was a guilty thing to look at her own Pa, and then steal back again and go into them lonely drawing-rooms, a-crying so, that I could hardly bear to hear it. I can not bear to hear it,” said Susan Nipper, wiping her black eyes, and fixing them undauntingly on Mr. Dombey’s infuriated face. “It’s not the first time I have heard it, not by many and many a time you don’t know your own daughter, Sir, you don’t know what you’re doing, Sir, I say to some and all,” cried Susan Nipper, in a final burst, “that it’s a sinful shame!”

“Why, hoity toity!” cried the voice of Mrs Pipchin, as the black bombazeen garments of that fair Peruvian Miner swept into the room. “What’s this, indeed?” [Chapter XLIV, "A Separation," 315]

Commentary: The virtuous Cockney maid chastizes the negligent patrician merchant

Phiz's depiction of Florence's having to part with her maid after Susan Nipper has confronted the father about his lack of empathy: Florence parts from a Very Old Friend (November 1847).

The present illustration underscores one of the key moments in the Florence/Mr. Dombey plot as Susan Nipper feels sufficient moral indignation to chastize her master for his parental neglect. The reader finds the comic moment highly gratifying as a mere Cockney maid presumes to dress down her patrician employer for bad behaviour, even though doing so is likely to cost her her position, as Phiz had noted in his November 1847 serial illustration of the aftermath of this scene. What is laughable is Mr. Dombey's impotence in dealing with Susan: nobody comes to his aid, despite his repeated pleas. One gains new respect for and insight into the secondary character, and feels that Susan is correct in reprimanding Dombey for his emotional sterility. Sheppard emphasizes Dombey's inability to deal with his own and others emotions, and his extreme obtuseness in his neglect of Florence.

Sheppard suggests Dombey's mental discomfiture by his awkward posture as he twists on his well-padded divan, attempting to rise. His newspaper lies on the floor to underscore how Susan has taken him by surprise. Dombey's gaze is riveted on the commanding figure of Susan as she utters the very words in Sheppard's caption. Each figure has a sartorial social signifier: Dombey wears an expensive smoking-jacket and slippers, Susan a maid's apron and ribbons.

Pertinent Scenes from Other Illustrated Editions (1847 and 1910)

Left: Fred Barnard's British Household Edition version of the same incident: "Do you call it managing this establishment, madam," said Mr. Dombey, "to leave a person like this at liberty to come and talk to me?" (1877). Right: Harry Furniss's dramatic realisation of the situation that leads to Susan's dismissal: Susan Nipper and Mr. Dombey (1910).

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 20 February 2022