"Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, and Wackford" — Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s third illustration for Dickens's "Nicholas Nickleby" (1867)

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Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, and Wackford

Sol Eytinge, Jr.

1867

Wood-engraving

10 x 7.5 cm (framed)

Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby (Diamond Edition), facing IV, 49.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: The Squeers Family of Dotheboys' Hall Introduced

"My dear," said Squeers frowning. "Hem!"

"Oh! nonsense," rejoined Mrs. Squeers. "If the young man comes to be a teacher here, let him understand, at once, that we don’t want any foolery about the boys. They have the brimstone and treacle, partly because if they hadn’t something or other in the way of medicine they’d be always ailing and giving a world of trouble, and partly because it spoils their appetites and comes cheaper than breakfast and dinner. So, it does them good and us good at the same time, and that’s fair enough I’m sure."

Having given this explanation, Mrs. Squeers put her head into the closet and instituted a stricter search after the spoon, in which Mr. Squeers assisted. A few words passed between them while they were thus engaged, but as their voices were partially stifled by the cupboard, all that Nicholas could distinguish was, that Mr. Squeers said what Mrs. Squeers had said, was injudicious, and that Mrs. Squeers said what Mr. Squeers said, was "stuff." [Chapter VIII, "Of the Internal Economy of Dotheboys Hall," 49]

[Dickens does not immediately introduce "Young Wackford."] Nicholas distended his stomach with a bowl of porridge, for much the same reason which induces some savages to swallow earth — lest they should be inconveniently hungry when there is nothing to eat. Having further disposed of a slice of bread and butter, allotted to him in virtue of his office, he sat himself down, to wait for school-time.He could not but observe how silent and sad the boys all seemed to be. There was none of the noise and clamour of a schoolroom; none of its boisterous play, or hearty mirth. The children sat crouching and shivering together, and seemed to lack the spirit to move about. The only pupil who evinced the slightest tendency towards locomotion or playfulness was Master Squeers, and as his chief amusement was to tread upon the other boys’ toes in his new boots, his flow of spirits was rather disagreeable than otherwise. [51]

Illustrations of Wackford Squeers from Other Editions (1839 through 1910)

Left: Clayton J. Clarke's Player's Cigarette Card No. 44: Mr. Squeers (1910). Centre: C. S. Reinhart's American Household Edition realisation of Squeers's classroom: "This is the first class in English Spelling and Philosophy, Nickleby." (1875). Right: Harry Furniss's study of the brutal schoolmaster: Mr. Squeers (1910).

Left: Phiz's introduction of the villainous pedagogue to the narrative-pictorial sequence: The Yorkshire Schoolmaster at The Saracen's Head (April 1838), Chapter 4. Right: Fred Barnard sets the keynote for comedy in Dickens's novel in the Household Edition program (1875) with a vignette of a Neanderthal-like Squeers: "Very glad to make your acquaintance, miss, said Squeers, raising his hat an inch or two (Chapter 5).

Related material, including front matter and sketches, by other illustrators

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.

_______. Nicholas Nickleby.Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. The Diamond Edition. 16 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. IV.

_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Ed. Andrew Lang. Illustrated by 'Phiz' (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. 2 vols.

_______. Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. IV.

Last modified 16 September 2021