Initial letter I: Walpole and Atlee sat at breakfast on a calm autumnal morning by Sir Luke Fildes; engraver, Swain. Seventh initial-letter vignette for Charles Lever's Lord Kilgobbin, from the April 1871 number of the Cornhill Magazine, p. 490 in Vol. XXIII. 7.5 cm by 5.1 cm (3 by 2 inches), framed. Part 7, for Chapter XXIV, "Two Friends at Breakfast." 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.]
This seventh initial-letter vignette is based on the opening passage in Ch. 24, "Two Friends at Breakfast"
It was on a terrace that commanded this view that Walpole and Atlee sat at breakfast on a calm autumnal morning; the white-sailed boats scarcely creeping over their shadows; and the whole scene, in its silence and softened effect, presenting a picture of almost rapturous tranquillity.
"With half-a-dozen days like this," said Atlee, as he smoked his cigarette, in a sort of languid grace, "one would not say O’Connell was wrong in his glowing admiration for Irish scenery. If I were to awake every day for a week to this, I suspect I should grow somewhat crazy myself about the green island."
"And dash the description with a little treason too," said the other superciliously. "I have always remarked the ingenious connection with which Irishmen bind up a love of the picturesque with a hate of the Saxon." [Cornhill, Vol. XXIII, 490]
Right: The title-page for Volume XXIII of the Cornhill Magazine (January to June, 1871).
Commentary: All Lever's Young Men
Luke Fildes has given us several representations of the headstrong young Dick Kearney: he appears in a total of four full-page plates plates (for instalments 2, 5, 7, and 18) and in four vignettes: this, and the initial-letter thumbnails for instalments 2, 4, and 8. And his "chum" and college roommate Joe Atlee appears in a total of five full-page illustrations: for instalments 2, 5, 6, 9, and 18. In the only initial-letter vignettes in which Dick and Joe appear, Fildes shows them in dialogue with each other: monthly instalments 2 (Nov., 1870), 4 (January, 1871), 7 (April, 1871), and 8 (May, 1871). Gradually, however, in both programs of illustration, Fildes makes use of the novel's other young men: Harry Lockwood, Cecil Walpole, Gorman O'Shea, Curtis, and Donogan. As Lever distinguishes the young men by dress and mannerism as well as attitude, Fildes has to distinguish them by such outward and visible signs as clothing and facial hair. His intention here as elsewhere is to direct the reader to analyze their conversation. The diminutive scale of the initial-letter vignette, a specialty of The Cornhill Magazine, does not permit Fildes to incorporate the picturesque elements of setting that Lever details. Rather, as with other vignettes in this magazine, the emphasis must be on one of two characters, with minimal representation of the background or physical context.
However, the two friends at breakfast admiring the view are not Dick Kearney and Joe Atlee, but Joe and his new "friend" (and upper-class English mentor) Cecil Walpole, the private secretary of Ireland's new Viceroy, Lord Danesbury, and fiancé of Danesbury's niece, Lady Maude Bickerstaffe. The conversation leads from a discussion of Kate's heroism in preventing the Fenians from storming the Castle to Walpole's despatching Atlee on a mission to his chief on his estates in North Wales. And if he impresses the Viceroy, Atlee may be employed on a diplomatic mission to Turkey to deal with one of Danesbury's secret agents there, for the new Viceroy has just been translated from his embassy post in Istambul by the Prime Minister.
Related Material from The Cornhill Magazine
Scanned images 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 person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Hardy, Thomas. Far from the Madding Crowd. With twelve full-page wood engravings and twelve initial-letter vignettes by Helen Paterson Allingham. The Cornhill Magazine. Volumes XXIX-XXX. January through December, 1874.
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.
_______. 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.
_______. 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 8 June 2023 Updated 22 June 2023