"The Bold Hogginarmo Rejected" — Thirty-ninth illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

The Bold Hogginarmo Rejected

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

8.5 cm high by 8.7 cm wide (3 ½ by 3 ¼ inches), vignetted

Thirty-ninth illustration for The Rose and The Ring, p. 372.

Descriptive headlines: "How Count Hogginarmo Woo'd Her, Surely Nothing Could be Ruder" (pp. 370-371).

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

Passage Illustrated: The Braggart Soldier Chastizes Rosalba's Lackeys

"Oh, sir!" Rosalba said, withdrawing her hand in great fright. "Your Lordship is exceedingly kind; but I am sorry to tell you that I have a prior attachment to a young gentleman by the name of — Prince Giglio — and never — never can marry any one but him."

Who can describe Hogginarmo’s wrath at this remark? Rising up from the ground, he ground his teeth so that fire flashed out of his mouth, from which at the same time issued remarks and language, so loud, violent, and imp[roper, that this pen shall never repeat them! "R-r-r-r-r-r — Rejected! Fiends and perdition! The bold Hogginarmo rejected! All the world shall hear of my rage; and you, madam, you above all shall rue it!" And kicking the two negroes before him, he rushed away, his whiskers streaming in the wind.

Her Majesty’s Privy Council was in a dreadful panic when they saw Hogginarmo issue from the royal presence in such a towering rage, making footballs of the poor negroes — a panic which the events justified. They marched off from Hogginarmo’s park very crestfallen; and in another half-hour they were met by that rapacious chieftain with a few of his followers, who cut, slashed, charged, whacked, banged, and pommelled amongst them, took the Queen prisoner, and drove the Army of Fidelity to I don’t know where. [Chapter XIII, "How Queen Rosalba Came to the Castle of the Bold Count Hogginarmo," 371]

Commentary: A Bluebeardy Marriage Proposal "R-r-r-r-r-r — Rejected!"

Thackeray's Commedia dell' Arte Braggart Soldier (Miles Gloriosus), Hogginarmo, is slightly less physically impressive here than in his introductory scene, when he proposed marriage to Princess Rosalba. Here, having vented his wrath in intemperate language: "R-r-r-r-r-r — Rejected!" (371), he kicks the princess's servants off the patio. They are still holding his plumed helmet. The upshot is that Rosalba becomes his prisoner, thereby frustrating her planned marriage with Prince Giglio. Hogginarmo departs in such a rush evidently that he leaves his helmet behind.

Bibliography

Furniss, Harry. The Rose and The Ring; or, The History of Prince Giglio and the Prince Bulbo. William Makepeace Thackeray's Christmas Books. With illustrations by the author and Harry Furniss. The Harry Furniss Centenary Edition. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911. Pp. 287-428.

Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray].The Rose and The Ring. London: Smith, Elder, 1855.

Created 3 August 2022