"The Two Wellers" by Fred Barnard — from the second series of "Character Sketches" (1884-85)

One of six chromolithographs in A Series of Character Sketches from Dickens, from the Original Drawings by Frederick Barnard, No. 2: ‘Very good power o’ suction, Sammy. You’d ha’ made an uncommon fine oyster, Sammy, if you’d been born in that station o’ life.’ — Pickwick Papers (1884-85). Colour plate: 10 ½ inches high by 7 ½ inches wide (26.3 cm by 18.6 cm), framed; photogravure: 14.6 cm high by 12.5 cm wide (5 ¾ by 5 inches), vignetted. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Passage Illustrated: A Verbal Dual Portrait of The Boots and The Coachman

Left: Kyd's version of the original boots at The White Hart Inn, Southwark: Sam Weller in Player's Cigarette Cards Characters from Dickens, No. 17 (1910).

In a small room in the vicinity of the stableyard, betimes in the morning, which was ushered in by Mr. Pickwick's adventure with the middle-aged lady in the yellow curl-papers, sat Mr. Weller, senior, preparing himself for his journey to London. He was sitting in an excellent attitude for having his portrait taken; and here it is.

It is very possible that at some earlier period of his career, Mr. Weller's profile might have presented a bold and determined outline. His face, however, had expanded under the influence of good living, and a disposition remarkable for resignation; and its bold, fleshy curves had so far extended beyond the limits originally assigned them, that unless you took a full view of his countenance in front, it was difficult to distinguish more than the extreme tip of a very rubicund nose. His chin, from the same cause, had acquired the grave and imposing form which is generally described by prefixing the word 'double' to that expressive feature; and his complexion exhibited that peculiarly mottled combination of colours which is only to be seen in gentlemen of his profession, and in underdone roast beef. Round his neck he wore a crimson travelling-shawl, which merged into his chin by such imperceptible gradations, that it was difficult to distinguish the folds of the one, from the folds of the other. Over this, he mounted a long waistcoat of a broad pink-striped pattern, and over that again, a wide-skirted green coat, ornamented with large brass buttons, whereof the two which garnished the waist, were so far apart, that no man had ever beheld them both at the same time. His hair, which was short, sleek, and black, was just visible beneath the capacious brim of a low-crowned brown hat. His legs were encased in knee-cord breeches, and painted top-boots; and a copper watch-chain, terminating in one seal, and a key of the same material, dangled loosely from his capacious waistband.

We have said that Mr. Weller was engaged in preparing for his journey to London — he was taking sustenance, in fact. On the table before him, stood a pot of ale, a cold round of beef, and a very respectable-looking loaf, to each of which he distributed his favours in turn, with the most rigid impartiality. He had just cut a mighty slice from the latter, when the footsteps of somebody entering the room, caused him to raise his head; and he beheld his son.

'Mornin', Sammy!' said the father.

The son walked up to the pot of ale, and nodding significantly to his parent, took a long draught by way of reply.

'Wery good power o' suction, Sammy,' said Mr. Weller the elder, looking into the pot, when his first-born had set it down half empty. 'You'd ha' made an uncommon fine oyster, Sammy, if you'd been born in that station o' life.'

'Yes, I des-say, I should ha' managed to pick up a respectable livin',' replied Sam applying himself to the cold beef, with considerable vigour.

'I'm wery sorry, Sammy,' said the elder Mr. Weller, shaking up the ale, by describing small circles with the pot, preparatory to drinking. 'I'm wery sorry, Sammy, to hear from your lips, as you let yourself be gammoned by that 'ere mulberry man. I always thought, up to three days ago, that the names of Veller and gammon could never come into contract, Sammy, never.'

'Always exceptin' the case of a widder, of course,' said Sam.

'Widders, Sammy,' replied Mr. Weller, slightly changing colour. 'Widders are 'ceptions to ev'ry rule. I have heerd how many ordinary women one widder's equal to in pint o' comin' over you. I think it's five-and-twenty, but I don't rightly know vether it ain't more.'

'Well; that's pretty well,' said Sam. [Chapter XXXIII, "In Which Mr. Samuel Weller Begins to Devote His Energies to the Rturn Match Between Himself and Mr. Trotter," page 157 in the British Household Edition]

This Late Versus Other Images of The Wellers, Sam and Tony (1836-1924)

Left: Kyd's version of the "old-time coachman": Tony Weller in Player's Cigarette Cards Characters from Dickens, No. 18 (1910).

The other popular images of the Wellers in other editions (as distinct from Kyd's treatment for Player's Cigarette Cards) do not come from this sequence of chapters in what was originally Instalment No. 8 (November 1836). The volume editions do not depict the plebeian father and son at this point in their travels with Pickwick. Illustrators of the novel have tended to focus on those points in the text when Dickens introduces each of the Wellers, whereas Barnard has elected to provide a complementary dual portrait.

Barnard, however, has isolated the figures whom he wishes to study, omitting the ubiquitous figure of Samuel Pickwick. He was likely aware that sales of the 1836 serial took off like a rocket when Dickens and Phiz introduced the lithe figure and lively, street-wise banter of the Cockney boots in the July (fourth monthly) number: First Appearance of Mr. Samuel Weller. In contrast, Tony, the jovial coachman with an eye for widows, did not arrive in the narrative-pictorial sequence until the March 1837 (twelfth monthly) number: The Valentine. But each in his own way in those early illustrations is a mere caricature. Responding to Dickens's description with a treatment as realistic as Darley's Tony Weller (1888) and Sam Weller (1888), Barnard rethinks the father and son, modelling them and rendering them as sympathetic individuals in the new realism of the sixties.

In fact, Barnard has made father and son foils to one another. Tony, looking somewhat surprised, stares vacantly across the mountains of food towards his slender, shrewd-faced son. And Sam seems to be appraising us, the viewers, as he raises his tankard to us, undoubtedly in acknowledgement of our aesthetic taste in purchasing the Barnard chromolithographs. Nattily dressed, Sam strikes a self-confident pose as he casually sits on the dining table in what is likely the parlour or taproom of the inn. This context Barnard establishes by the three "sporting" colour prints above the wainscotting: a coach drawn by a single, heavy horse (left); and, in contrast, a speeding curricle pulled by a thoroughbred; and finally a pugilistic jockey. Tony's vocation is announced by his conspicuous whip (right), and his generous nature by the inn's cat, strategically waiting at his feet for some morsel to drop.

Left: Harold Copping's version of the scene at the inn, with the father and son in the stableyard: Sam Weller and His Fathe (1924) for Character Sketches from Dickens. Centre: Harry Furniss has considerable expanded Tony's girth in this lithograph for Chapter Twenty in the Charles Dickens Library Edition illustration: Tony Weller (1910), an introductory plate for the character. Right: Another late plate which serves to introduce the corpulent coachman and realise his stout figure in the twentieth chapter: Tony Weller.

Phiz's Other Scenes Involving The Convivial Tony Weller (1836-37, 1874)

The Valentine (March 1837 instalment)
The Red-Nosed Man Discourseth (August 1837 instalment)
Mr. Weller and his friends drinking to Mr. Pell (November 1837 instalment)
Sam, having been formally introduced . . . . as the offspring of Mr. Weller, of the Belle Savage, was treated with marked distinction (Household Edition, Chapter XLIII)
It was a still more exciting spectacle to behold Mr. Weller . . . . . immersing Mr. Stiggins's head in a horse-trough full of water, and holding it there until he was half suffocated. (Household Edition, Chapter LII).

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Related Material

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Bibliography

Barnard, Fred. Character Sketches from Dickens. (16 photogravure illustrations). London, Paris & Melbourne: Cassell, 1885.

Barnard, Fred. Scenes and Characters from the Works of Charles Dickens. London: Chapman and Hall, 1908.

Dickens, Charles. Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Robert Seymour and Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman & Hall, 1836-37.

Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. Engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. The Diamond Edition. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1867.

Dickens, Charles. Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. II.

Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. The Household Edition. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. New York: Harper and Brothers 1873.

A Series of Character Sketches from Dickens, in Colour from the Original Drawings by Frederick Barnard Barnard. [Series 1: Mrs. Gamp, The Two Wellers, Mr. Pecksniff, Caleb Plummer and His Blind Daughter, Captain Cuttle, Bill Sikes. Series 2: Barnaby Rudge, Mr. Peggotty, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim; Mr. Pickwick, Sydney Carton, Mr. Micawber]. London: Waverley, circa 1910.

Created 9 February 2025