He caught the hand in his, and we stood in that connection, looking at each other. — Forty-second illustration by Fred Barnard for the 1872 Household Edition of David Copperfield (Chapter XLII, "Mischief," but positioned on p. 297). 10.8 by 13.7 cm (4 ¼ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. Descriptive headline: "Uriah Forgives Me!" (329). [Click on the image to enlarge it. Mouse over text for links.]
Passage Illustrated; Uriah Apprehends a Rival
"Well, Master Copperfield!" said Uriah, meekly turning to me. "The thing hasn’t took quite the turn that might have been expected, for the old Scholar — what an excellent man! — is as blind as a brickbat; but this family’s out of the cart, I think!"
I needed but the sound of his voice to be so madly enraged as I never was before, and never have been since.
"You villain," said I, "what do you mean by entrapping me into your schemes? How dare you appeal to me just now, you false rascal, as if we had been in discussion together?"
As we stood, front to front, I saw so plainly, in the stealthy exultation of his face, what I already so plainly knew; I mean that he forced his confidence upon me, expressly to make me miserable, and had set a deliberate trap for me in this very matter; that I couldn’t bear it. The whole of his lank cheek was invitingly before me, and I struck it with my open hand with that force that my fingers tingled as if I had burnt them.
He caught the hand in his, and we stood in that connexion, looking at each other. We stood so, a long time; long enough for me to see the white marks of my fingers die out of the deep red of his cheek, and leave it a deeper red.
"Copperfield," he said at length, in a breathless voice, "have you taken leave of your senses?" Chapter XLII, "Mischief," 308]
Commentary: The Other Villain, The Scheming Uriah Heep
The suave, handsome, aristocratic Steerforth proves a cad and a rake in his abuduction and abandonment of Em'ly. Uriah Heep, however, is a very different sort of villain: an ambitious, working-class toady with unpleasant, boney features and a devilish visage, communicated so effectively in this illustration that contrasts the repulsive clerk and, later, lawyer, with the handsome ingenue, David Copperfield. As his gripping David's arm suggests, Uriah intensely dislikes Aunt Bestey's heir with the posh public school education; his dislike stems in part from his apprehension that David blocks his way to marrying the boss's daughter. David has just struck the odious Heep across the face for his insinuating that both David himself and Agnes Wickfield are aware of Annie Strong's supposed infidelity. Uriah has suggested to Dr. Strong that Annie has been unfaithful to him by having an affair with Jack Maldon.
Relevant Illustrated Editions of this Novel (1863 through 1910)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1863)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1863)
- Sir John Gilbert's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1863)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 4, 1863)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 wood engravings for the Diamond Edition (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 62 Composite Woodblock Engravings for the Household Edition (1872)
- Clayton J. Clarke (Kyd): Kyd's Designs for the Player's Cigarette Cards (1889)
- Harry Furniss's Twenty-nine lithographs for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (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 the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. London & New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911 [rpt. from 1850]. 2 vols.
_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. 3.
_______. David Copperfield. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow: Collins Clear-type Press, 1907. No. 1.
The copy of the Household Edition from which this picture was scanned was the gift of George Gorniak, Editor of The Dickens Magazine, whose subject for the fifth series, beginning in January 2010, is this novel.
Created 25 August 2016 Last modified 16 August 2022