Initial letter I: Mr. Kearney entered by Sir Luke Fildes; engraver, Swain. Sixth initial-letter vignette for Charles Lever's Lord Kilgobbin, from the March 1871 number of the Cornhill Magazine, p. 261 in Vol. XXIII. 7.2 cm by 5 cm (3 by 2 inches), framed. Part 6, for Chapter XX, "A Domestic Discussion." The wood-engraver responsible for this thumbnail illustration was Joseph Swain (1820-1909), noted for his engravings of Sir John Tenniel's cartoons in Punch. [Click on the image to enlarge it; mouse over links.]
Right: The title-page for Volume XXIII of the Cornhill Magazine (January to June, 1871).
This sixth initial-letter vignette is based on the following passage in Ch. 21, "A Small Dinner-party"
When Miss O’Shea, arrayed in a scarlet poplin and a yellow gauze turban — the month being August — arrived in the drawing-room before dinner, she found no one there — a circumstance that chagrined her so far that she had hurried her toilet and torn one of her gloves in her haste. "When they say six for the dinner-hour, they might surely be in the drawing-room by that hour," was Miss Betty’s reflection as she turned over some of the magazines and circulating-library books which since Nina’s arrival had found their way to Kilgobbin. The contemptuous manner in which she treated Blackwood and Macmillan, and the indignant dash with which she flung Trollope’s last novel down, showed that she had not been yet corrupted by the light reading of the age. An unopened country newspaper, addressed to the Viscount Kilgobbin, had however absorbed all her attention, and she was more than half disposed to possess herself of the envelope, when Mr. Kearney entered.
His bright blue coat and white waistcoat, a profusion of shirt-frill, and a voluminous cravat proclaimed dinner-dress, and a certain pomposity of manner showed how an unusual costume had imposed on himself, and suggested an important event.
"I hope I see Miss O’Shea in good health?" said he, advancing. [Cornhill, Vol. XXIII, 266; in volume, p. 126]
Commentary: The Critical Miss Betty and Her Host for Dinner at the Castle
Luke Fildes has given us several representations of the headstrong Richard (Dick) Kearney and his father: the son appears in a total of four full-page illustrations: 2, 5, 7, and 18, and the father (Old Kearney, or "Lord Kilgobbin") makes four appearances: 3, 11, 15, and 18 in volume. The domestic discussion of Chapter Twenty which the initial-letter vignette concerns involves Matthew Kearney, uncharacteristically in evening dress, and his judgmental neighbour, the censorious Miss Betty O'Shea (otherwise, Miss Betty). This conversation follows Miss O'Shea's attempt to direct Kate, her goddaughter, during their conversation while riding to Castle Kilgobbin, to marry her nephew, Gorman. Miss Betty addresses her aristocratic neighbour merely as "Matthew" as she tartly complains about the Castle's sounding the dressing bell: "That's something new since I was here last" (126). The dinner talk veers into dangerous territory when Miss Betty cancels the engagement between her nephew, the Austrian lancer Gorman O'Shea, and Kate Kearney, and chastises Matthew for the way he has raised his son to be profligate, and his daughter's having offered violence to the mob of peasants assembled at the castle gate.
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
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. The Cornhill Magazine. With 18 full-page illustrations and 18 initial-letter vignettes by S. Luke Fildes. Volumes XXII-XXV. October 1870-March 1872.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin: A Tale of Ireland in Our Own Time. Illustrated by Sir Luke Fildes, R. A. London: Smith, Elder, 1872; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873. 3 vols.
Lever, Charles. Lord Kilgobbin. Illustrated by Sir Luke Fildes. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vols. I-III. In three volumes. London: Smith, Elder, 1872, Rpt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1873. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 19 August 2010.
Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter XVI, "Exile on the Adriatic, 1867-1872." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell and Russell, 1939; rpt. 1969. Pp. 277-296.
Sutherland, John A. "Lord Kilgobbin." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 382.
Created 7 June 2023 Updated 20 June 2023