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Initial Letter "O"
George Cruikshank
January 1840
wood-engraving
2.9 cm high by 2.9 cm wide, framed, p. 1.
Initial Letter "O," ornamental initial-letter wood-engraving for the first chapter of William Harrison Ainsworth's The Tower of London. A Historical Romance. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1840.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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ON the 10th of July, 1553, about two hours after noon, a loud discharge of ordnance burst from the turrets of Durham House, then the residence of the Duke of Northumberland, grand-master of the realm, and occupying the site of the modern range of buildings, known as the Adelphi; and, at the signal, which was immediately answered from every point along the river where a bombard or culverin could be planted, — from the adjoining hospital of the Savoy, — the old palace of Bridewell, recently converted by Edward VI., at the instance of Ridley, bishop of London, into a house of correction, — Baynard's Castle, the habitation of the Earl of Pembroke, — the gates of London-bridge, — and, lastly, from the batteries of the Tower, — a gallant train issued from the southern gateway of the stately mansion abovenamed, and descended the stairs leading to the water's edge, where, appointed for their reception, was drawn up a squadron of fifty superbly-gilt barges, — some decorated with banners and streamers, — some with cloth-of-gold and arras, embroidered with the devices of the civic companies, — others with innumerable silken pennons to which were attached small silver bells, "making a goodly noise and a goodly sight as they waved in the wind," — while others, reserved for the more important personages of the ceremony, were covered at the sides with shields gorgeously emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the different noblemen and honourable persons composing the privy council, amid which the cognizance of the Duke of Northumberland, — a lion rampant, or, double quevée, vert, — appeared proudly conspicuous. Each barge was escorted by a light galley, termed a foist or wafter, manageable either by oar or sail as occasion demanded, and attached to its companion by a stout silken tow-line. In these galleys, besides the rowers, whose oars were shipped, and in readiness to be dropped, at an instant's notice, into the tide, and the men-at-arms, whose tall pikes, steel caps, and polished corslets flashed in the sun-beams, sat bands of minstrels provided with sackbuts, shalms, cornets, rebecs, and other forgotten musical instruments. The conduct of the whole squadron was entrusted to six officers, whose business it was to prevent confusion, and who, in the small swift wherries appointed to their use, rowed rapidly from place to place, endeavouring by threats and commands to maintain order, and keep off the crowd of boats and craft of all sorts hurrying towards them from every quarter of the river. It was a brilliant and busy scene, and might be supposed a joyous and inspiriting one — more especially, as the object which had called together this assemblage was the conveyance of a young and lovely sovereign to her throne within the Tower. But it was not so. Young and lovely as was that sovereign, — rich, — richer, perhaps, than any of her sex, — in endowments of mind and person,—illustrious and royal in birth, — professing and supporting a faith, then newly established throughout the country, and which it was feared, and with reason, might be greatly endangered, if not wholly subverted, if another and nearer claimant of the crown, the Princess Mary, had succeeded to the inheritance; still, with all these high recommendations, — though her rights were insisted upon by the ablest and most eloquent divines from the pulpit, though her virtues, her acquirements, and her beauty were the theme of every tongue; — as she was not first in the succession, and, above all, as she had been invested with regal authority by one who, from his pride, was obnoxious to all men, — her father-in-law, the Duke of Northumberland, — the Lady Jane Dudley's accession was viewed by all ranks and all parties with mistrust and apprehension. In vain had the haughty duke brought her with a splendid cavalcade from Sion House to his own palace. No cheers greeted her arrival — no rejoicings were made by the populace, but a sullen and ominous silence prevailed amongst those who witnessed her entrance into the capital. It is true that her youth and surpassing beauty excited the greatest interest. Murmurs of irrepressible admiration arose at her appearance; but these were immediately checked on the approach of Northumberland, who, following closely behind her, eyed the concourse as if he would enforce their applauses; and it was emphatically said, that in pity of the victim of his soaring ambition, more tears were shed on that occasion, than shouts were uttered. On the 9th of July, Lady Jane Dudley — better known by her maiden title of Lady Jane Grey — had been made acquainted with her exalted, but, as she herself (with a sad presentiment of calamity) pronounced it, her fatal destiny. [Book One, Chapter I. — "Of the Manner in which Queen Jane Entered The Tower of London," pp. 1-3]
His woodcuts of various features of the Tower, as they looked in the nineteenth century, are very dull, although they are neatly dropped into the text at appropriate points and make they intended effect. — Anthony Burton, "Cruikshank as an Illustrator of fiction," p. 115.
The question, then, is, "What was Cruikshank's intention in providing so many wood-engravings of the Tower and its environs?" Probably Ainsworth's intention was at least as much antiquarian as it was literary, for his passages describing the physical setting are often accompanied by Cruikshank's architectural wood-engravings. The highly realistic illustrations of the real setting lend some of the more outlandish aspects of Ainsworth's "historical romance" a certain verisimilitude, like the sixteenth-century costumes worn by the characters in Cruikshank's forty steel-engravings.
The essential difference between the thirty-nine etchings or "plates" on the facing pages and the fifty-eight wood-engravings dropped into the text and read simultaneously with the text is inner life. The wood-engravings, which Cruikshank has mated with the text rather than separated from it, generally represent the "historical" aspect of the story asserted in the subtitle. This particular engraving, an "initial letter," suggests that we are about to read an illuminated manuscript or incunabula printed text. The design with sword, crown, coronation pillow, and the champion on horseback, armed with a spear, ironically alludes to a ceremony in which The Nine Days' Queen will never participate. In rthe whole series, Cruikshank has provided only two initial letters — and a single "initial word": "Jane."
"Ainsworth, William Harrison." http://biography.com
Ainsworth, William Harrison. The Tower of London. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Richard Bentley, 1840.
Burton, Anthony. "Cruikshank as an Illustrator of Fiction." George Cruikshank: A Revaluation. Ed. Robert L. Patten. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 1974, rev., 1992. Pp. 92-128.
Carver, Stephen. Ainsworth and Friends: Essays on 19th Century Literature & The Gothic. Accessed 11 September 2017. https://ainsworthandfriends.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/william-harrison-ainsworth-the-life-and-adventures-of-the-lancashire-novelist/
Golden, Catherine J. "Ainsworth, William Harrison (1805-1882." Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia, ed. Sally Mitchell. New York and London: Garland, 1988. Page 14.
Kelly, Patrick. "William Harrison Ainsworth." Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 21, "Victorian Novelists Before 1885," ed. Ira Bruce Nadel and William E. Fredeman. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. Pp. 3-9.
McLean, Ruari. George Cruikshank: His Life and Work as a Book Illustrator. English Masters of Black-and-White. London: Art and Technics, 1948.
Sutherland, John. "The Tower of London" in The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 19893. P. 633.
Steig, Michael. "George Cruikshank and the Grotesque: A Psychodynamic Approach." George Cruikshank: A Revaluation. Ed. Robert L. Patten. Princeton: Princeton U. P., 1974, rev., 1992. Pp. 189-212.
Vogler, Richard A. Graphic Works of George Cruikshank. Dover Pictorial Archive Series. New York: Dover, 1979.
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Vann, J. Don. "The Tower of London, thirteen parts in twelve monthly instalments, January-December 1840." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. Pp. 19-20.
Last modified 13 September 2017