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The Blind Girl's Blessing
L. Rossi after Charles Green
1912
Lithograph
6.5 cm high x 5.3 cm wide, vignetted
Tailpiece for "Chirp the First" in Dickens's The Cricket on the Hearth, The Pears' Centenary Edition, III, 86.
[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
The Blind Girl still, upturning the blank sightless face, down which the tears were coursing fast, addressed her in these words:
"There is not, in my soul, a wish or thought that is not for your good, bright May! There is not, in my soul, a grateful recollection stronger than the deep remembrance which is stored there, of the many many times when, in the full pride of sight and beauty, you have had consideration for Blind Bertha, even when we two were children, or when Bertha was as much a child as ever blindness can be! Every blessing on your head! Light upon your happy course! Not the less, my dear May;" and she drew towards her, in a closer grasp; "not the less, my bird, because, to-day, the knowledge that you are to be His wife has wrung my heart almost to breaking! Father, May, Mary! oh forgive me that it is so, for the sake of all he has done to relieve the weariness of my dark life: and for the sake of the belief you have in me, when I call Heaven to witness that I could not wish him married to a wife more worthy of his goodness!" ["Chirp the Second," 86]
Rossi effectively communicates Caleb's epiphany by the shocked expression on his face. He realizes what the readers have detected since Tackleton's visit earlier, that Bertha is in love with her employer, or rather Caleb's version of Tackleton as a dear friend and benefactor. She therefore does not comprehend their master's true nature, as her father has explained away Tackleton's sarcasm as mere humour. The reader from the first recognizes the dour Tackleton as the cynical exploiter of his employees' labours. Bertha envies May her role as Tackleton's wife and life companion, little realizing that he has manipulated Mrs. Fielding into agreeing to the match. The homely scarf that Bertha wears in this scene, incidentally, clarfies which figure represents her in the previous pic-nic scene.
Left: Richard Doyle's whimsical rendition of the Plummers' hearthside labours of Chirp the Second (1845), which introduces these secondary characters after the opening scenes at the Peerybingles' cottage. Centre: John Leech's caricatural realisation of the toymakers in their workroom, Caleb at Work (1845). Right: Fred Barnard's realisation of Caleb and Bertha Plummer in their cottage parlour-cum-workroom, Caleb, Bertha, and Tackleton (1878).
E. A. Abbey's study of Bertha and her father at work on a dolls' house, "Halloo! Halloo! said Caleb. "I shall be vain presently!" (1876).
Each contains about thirty illustrations from original drawings by Charles Green, R. I. — Clement Shorter [1912]
Dickens, Charles. The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. Illustrated by John Leech, Daniel Maclise, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield, and Edwin Landseer. Engraved by George Dalziel, Edward Dalziel, T. Williams, J. Thompson, R. Graves, and Joseph Swain. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846 [December 1845].
_____. The Cricket on the Hearth. Illustrated by L. Rossi. London: A & F Pears, 1912.
Created 24 April 2020
Last modified 23 May 2020