"I saw to my amazement, Peggotty burst from a hedge and climb into the cart.". 1872. Sixth illustration by Fred Barnard (engraved by the Dalziels) for the Household Edition of David Copperfield (p. 25). 9.3 x 13.8 cm (3 ¾ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. Caption: My Poor Mother Superseded. [Click on image to enlarge it. Mouse over text for links.]
Passage Illustrated: David acts as Barkis's Go-between in Proposing to Clara Peggotty
Sol EytingeJunior's description of the curmudgeonly carrier in the Diamond Edition: Peggotty and Barkis (1867).
We might have gone about half a mile, and my pocket-handkerchief was quite wet through, when the carrier stopped short. Looking out to ascertain for what, I saw, to My amazement, Peggotty burst from a hedge and climb into the cart. She took me in both her arms, and squeezed me to her stays until the pressure on my nose was extremely painful, though I never thought of that till afterwards when I found it very tender. Not a single word did Peggotty speak. Releasing one of her arms, she put it down in her pocket to the elbow, and brought out some paper bags of cakes which she crammed into my pockets, and a purse which she put into my hand, but not one word did she say. After another and a final squeeze with both arms, she got down from the cart and ran away; and, my belief is, and has always been, without a solitary button on her gown. I picked up one, of several that were rolling about, and treasured it as a keepsake for a long time.
The carrier looked at me, as if to inquire if she were coming back. I shook my head, and said I thought not. ‘Then come up,’ said the carrier to the lazy horse; who came up accordingly. [Chapter V, "I am sent away from Home," 31]
Commentary: Pursuing the Marriage Motif
Barnard continues to develop scenes that focus upon the construct of marriage, contrasting the working-class Peggotty's and Barkis's notions of "setting up housekeeping" with the disastrous middle-class liaison of the Murdstones. Whereas Clara Murdstone Née Copperfield now endures a virtual dictatorship, Clara Peggotty will find an odd but appropriate mate in the quirky regional carrier, Barkis. David in the picture points as his old nurse suddenly appears at the path through the fields and beside the highroad. On the horizon, suggesting the impending wedding, Barnard has placed a village and a church tower, but the physical setting otherwise reinforces the rustic setting in which Barkis operates, rather removed from both the middle-class Blunderstone Rookery and the upturned houseboat on the Yarmouth sands.
Although Barkis cuts a small figure in this composition, that David is comfortable sitting beside him on his heavily-laden rustic cart (not a typical carrier's van) implies that he will be an agreeable and even amiable companion on the road through life. His middle-class suit (rather than a peasant's linen smock-frock) implies that, although a member of the working class, Barkis aspires to be something more, a middle-class businessman who will leave his widow well provided for, as Phiz had shown in his somewhat comical February 1850 illustration of the death of Barkis.
Other Illustrators' Celebrated Depictions of the Saturnine Carrier (1849 to 1910)
Left: Phiz's February 1850 serial illustration depicts Barkis, hugging his pillow and his open carrier's trunk: I find Mr. Barkis "going out with the tide (Part 6, Ch. 19). Right: In Chapter X, "I Become Neglected, and am Provided for," Phiz describes the departure of the carrier as groom and his bride from the boathouse on their honeymoon: Mrs. Gummidge casts a damp on our departure (August 1849).
Left: W. H. C. Groome's frontispiece for the Collins Pocket Edition of the novel shows the carrier trying to persuade David to propose to Peggotty on his behalf: "Barkis is willin'," says you.'" (1907). Right: Harry Furniss's version of Barkis's wedding day: "Barkis is Willin'" (1910).
Related Material
- David Copperfield (homepage)
- Phiz's 40 serial illustrations for David Copperfield (May 1849 - November 1850)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1862)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1862)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
- W. H. C. Groome's 7 illustrations for the Collins Clear-type Pocket Edition, Vol. I (1907)
- Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
- Harry Furniss's 29 Illustrations for Dickens's The Personal Experience and History of David Copperfield in 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 17 August 2016 Last modified 11 July 2022