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Little Dorrit and Maggy find shelter in a vestry
Harry Furniss
1910
13.4 cm x 9.5 cm, vignetted
Dickens's Little Dorrit, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, Book the First, "Poverty"; Chapter 14, "Little Dorrit's Party," facing XII, 193.
[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"We have often seen each other," said Little Dorrit, recognising the sexton, or the beadle, or the verger, or whatever he was, "when I have been at church here."
"More than that, we've got your birth in our Register, you know; you're one of our curiosities."
"Indeed!" said Little Dorrit.
"To be sure. As the child of the — by-the-bye, how did you get out so early?"
"We were shut out last night, and are waiting to get in."
"You don't mean it? And there's another hour good yet! Come into the vestry. You’ll find a fire in the vestry, on account of the painters. I’m waiting for the painters, or I shouldn't be here, you may depend upon it. One of our curiosities mustn't be cold when we have it in our power to warm her up comfortable. Come along."
He was a very good old fellow, in his familiar way; and having stirred the vestry fire, he looked round the shelves of registers for a particular volume. "Here you are, you see," he said, taking it down and turning the leaves. "Here you'll find yourself, as large as life. Amy, daughter of William and Fanny Dorrit. Born, Marshalsea Prison, Parish of St George. And we tell people that you have lived there, without so much as a day's or a night's absence, ever since. Is it true?"
"Quite true, till last night."
"Lord!" But his surveying her with an admiring gaze suggested Something else to him, to wit: "I am sorry to see, though, that you are faint and tired. Stay a bit. I’ll get some cushions out of the church, and you and your friend shall lie down before the fire. Don't be afraid of not going in to join your father when the gate opens. I'll call you."
He brought in the cushions [for Little Dorrit and her friend to rest on.] [Book the First, "Poverty," Chapter 14, "Little Dorrit's Party," 183-84: the wording of picture's original caption has been emphasized]
After a night at the theatre in company with Maggy, Little Dorrit visits Arthur Clennam in his rooms overlooking Covent Garden to thank him for arranging her brother Tip's release from the Marshalsea. In consequence, the pair find themselves too late to be admitted to Maggy's lodging house, and must spend the night in the streets.
Fin-de-siécle illustrator Harry Furniss's interpretation of Amy's experience of being locked out of the Marshalsea and having to spend the night on the street after her plan for staying in Maggy's lodgings falls through. The lithograph from the Charles Dickens Library Edition, 1910, reinterprets the original serial illustration, Little Dorrit's Party (see below) in Dickens's Little Dorrit. The pen-and-ink sketch occurs facing page 193 in Chapter 15, but the passage illustrated occurs nine pages earlier, forcing the reader to return to the previous chapter and re-read its fortunate conclusion, in which the kindly sexton of St. George's admits Amy and Maggy to the vestry and fetches them cushions from the church nave. As a consequence of the extra activity after an evening at the working-class theatre where her uncle and sister work, Maggy and Little Dorrit arrive at Maggy's lodging too late to be admitted — everybody in the house is apparently sound asleep, and nobody responds when Amy knocks. This eventuality Little Dorrit had not foreseen, even though she had expected to be locked out of the Marshalsea. Now she and Maggy must make the best of a bad situation and spend the night out on the street, waiting out the five hours before the prison gates open at daybreak. After crossing London Bridge and returning, they notice lights on in the church nearby. The indulgent sexton, recalling that Amy appears in the church's birth registry, offers to let her sleep the few remaining hours of the night in the vestry.
The artist, aware that readers are likely to familiar with Phiz's interpretation of the pair being shut out of the Marshalsea — Little Dorrit's Party, does not attempt to replicate Phiz's architectural handling of the exterior night scene. Rather, Furniss reduces the interior scene which follows the night's adventures to the bare essentials: the old sexton, who is offering Maggy and Little Dorrit pillows. Furniss focuses on Amy by depicting her examining the register of births while he has merely sketched in the interior Gothic architectural elements of arch and pillaster. While Maggy in her gigantic bonnet seems somewhat stupified, staring blankly ahead of her, the alert Amy turns away to examine the register.
Left: Eytinge, Junior's dual study of the childlike adult, Maggy, and the apparent child, Amy, locked out of the Marshalsea, Little Dorrit and Maggy (1867). Right: The original Phiz illustration of Maggy and Amy locked out of the Marshalsea with the nearby St. George's Church in the background, Little Dorrit's Party (March 1856).
Above: Mahoney's British Household Edition frontispiece, scene from the previous chapter, depicting Amy Dorrit's arrival at Arthur Clennam's room, "Little Dorrit." (1873). Her stopping there after the theatre precipitates the night's crisis.
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Created 25 April 2016
Last modified 28 January 2020