"Messrs. Dodson and Fogg" by Sol Eytinge

Messrs. Dodson and Fogg

Sol Eytinge

Wood engraving, approximately 10 cm high by 7.5 cm wide (framed)

Illustration for Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in the Ticknor and Fields (Boston, 1867) Diamond Edition, facing p. 164.

In this fifth full-page dual character study for the last novel in the compact American publication, Eytinge introduces the unscrupulous legal team who have agreed to represent Mrs. Bardell in her suit for "breach of promise of marriage" against Mr. Pickwick. Although morally Pickwick feels superior to these manipulators of the law, in point of strategy he proves himself naive and gullible.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Up stairs Mr. Pickwick did step accordingly, leaving Sam Weller below. The room door of the one-pair back, bore inscribed in legible characters the imposing words, "Mr. Fogg"; and, having tapped thereat, and been desired to come in, Jackson ushered Mr. Pickwick into the presence.

"Is Mr. Dodson in?" inquired Mr. Fogg.

"Just come in, Sir," replied Jackson.

"Ask him to step here."

"Yes, sir." Exit Jackson.

"Take a seat, sir," said Fogg; "there is the paper, sir; my partner will be here directly, and we can converse about this matter, sir."

Mr. Pickwick took a seat and the paper, but, instead of reading the latter, peeped over the top of it, and took a survey of the man of business, who was an elderly, pimply-faced, vegetable-diet sort of man, in a black coat, dark mixture trousers, and small black gaiters, — a kind of being who seemed to be an essential part of the desk at which he was writing, and to have as much thought or sentiment.

After a few minutes' silence, Mr. Dodson, a plump, portly, stern-looking man, with a loud voice, appeared; and the conversation commenced.

"This is Mr. Pickwick," said Fogg.

"Ah! You are the defendant, sir, in Bardell and Pickwick?" said Dodson.

"I am, sir," replied Mr. Pickwick.

"Well, sir," said Dodson, "and what do you propose?"

"Ah!" said Fogg, thrusting his hands into his trousers' pockets, and throwing himself back in his chair, "what do you propose, Mr. Pickwick?"

"Hush, Fogg," said Dodson, "let me hear what Mr. Pickwick has to say."

"I came, gentlemen," said Mr. Pickwick, — gazing placidly on the two partners, — "I came here, gentlemen, to express the surprise with which I received your letter of the other day, and to inquire what grounds of action you can have against me."

"Grounds of —" Fogg had ejaculated this much, when he was stopped by Dodson.

"Mr. Fogg," said Dodson, "I am going to speak."

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Dodson," said Fogg. [Chapter 20, p. 164-165]

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

Phiz's original serial illustration "Mr. Pickwick and Sam in the Attorney's Office" (plate) presents Pickwick being made the butt of jokes by Dodson and Fogg's clerks in chapter 20, rather than Pickwick's conference with his adversary's attorneys. In the 1873 Household Edition illustrations, however, Phiz does attempt such a scene, but fails to render the predatory lawyers as sufficiently stern and unyielding, although at least they are slender and corpulent contrasts in "You just come avay," said Mr. Weller. "Battledore and Shuttlecock's a wery good game, vhen you an't the shuttlecock and two lawyers the battledores," etc. (page 137). The pair are obviously highly amused by Pickwick's utterances; perhaps they hope to draw him into further indiscretions by laughing at him.

Eytinge more accurately captures the essence of these lawyers by their juxtaposition, postures, and faces, and of course responds appropriately to Dickens's descriptions of their clothing. Clearly the mercenary pair have no interest whatsoever in Pickwick's protestations of innocence, but are thoroughly serious about the fifteen hundred pounds in damages ("and not a farthing less," p. 165) that they intend to abstract from Pickwick, his temper rising at their oily glibness, Pickwick begins to denounce their conduct as "disgraceful and rascally proceedings" (166), but when the attorneys call in their clerks to bear witness to the plaintiff's describing them as "swindlers," Sam must intervene (this is the scene that Phiz later elected to realise, having not attempted to depict Mrs. Bardell's attorneys in the original serial).

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Checkmark and Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Adventures of the Pickwick Club. Il. Sol Eytinge, Jr. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1869.

Dickens, Charles. "Pickwick Papers (1836-37). Il. Hablot Knight Browne. The Charles Dickens Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867.

Dickens, Charles. "Pickwick Papers (1836-37). Il. Hablot Knight Browne. The Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1873.

Dickens, Charles. "Pickwick Papers (1836-37). Il. Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. New York: Harper and Bros., 1873.

Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins, eds. The Annotated Dickens. Vol. 1. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986.

Hammerton, J. A. The Dickens Picture-Book. London: Educational Book Co., 1910.

Kitton, Frederic G. Dickens and His Illustrators. 1899. Rpt. Honolulu: U. Press of the Pacific, 2004.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978.

Last modified 7 February 2012