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Context of the Illustration: Barnaby and Grip share a Prison Cell in Newgate

Twice or thrice he was thrown down, and so were they; but even then, he could not elude their vigilance for a moment. They were up again, and had closed about him, before he, with his wrists so tightly bound, could scramble to his feet. Fenced in, thus, he felt himself hoisted to the top of a low flight of steps, and then for a moment he caught a glimpse of the fighting in the crowd, and of a few red coats sprinkled together, here and there, struggling to rejoin their fellows. Next moment, everything was dark and gloomy, and he was standing in the prison lobby; the centre of a group of men.

A smith was speedily in attendance, who riveted upon him a set of heavy irons. Stumbling on as well as he could, beneath the unusual burden of these fetters, he was conducted to a strong stone cell, where, fastening the door with locks, and bolts, and chains, they left him, well secured; having first, unseen by him, thrust in Grip, who, with his head drooping and his deep black plumes rough and rumpled, appeared to comprehend and to partake, his master’s fallen fortunes. [Chapter LVIII, 453-54]

Commentary: A Psychological Interpretation

Whereas Phiz depicts Barnaby as beatific and seemingly resigned to his fate and he and Grip languish in Newgate Prison, Furniss suggests his discomfiture as he replays recent scenes of action in his mind: his use of the Gordon standard to fight the Guards, and his romps with Grip in the woods near the cottage of his exile. His visions of himself as young and daring contradict the aged hands and face with which Furniss has depicted him in his straw-strewn cell.

Furniss has adopted a very modern interpretation of Barnaby in prison by providing visions that suggest he is reflecting upon his past, contrasting his freedom with his present incarceration. Barnaby, heavily manacled hand and foot, seems to  be speaking to Grip. In the background, as if oprojected on the stones of his cell, we see Barnaby's mother. Barnaby with the Gordon standard, and Barnaby with Grip.

The Equivalent Scene in the Original and Household Editions (1841 and 1874)

　

Left: Phiz's original study of an almost saintly Barnaby in prison with Grip: Barnaby in Newgate (4 September 1841). Right: Fred Barnard does not show not Barnaby's resisting arrest, but the pleasant scene that precedes the concluding confrontation: Putting his staff across his knees in case of alarm or surprise, summoned Grip to dinner (1874).

Related Material including Other Illustrated Editions of Barnaby Rudge

• Charles Dickens’s Barnaby Rudge (homepage)
• Cattermole and Phiz — First illustrators: A Team Effort by "The Clock Works" (1841)
• Cattermole's Seventeen Illustrations (13 Feb.-27 Nov. 1841)
• Phiz's Original Serial Illustrations (13 Feb.-27 Nov. 1841)
• F. O. C. Darley's frontispieces and extra illustrations for the novel (1862 and 1888)
• Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
• Fred Barnard's 46 illustrations for the Household Edition (1874)
• A. H. Buckland's illustrations for The Collins' Clear-type Press Pocket Edition (1900)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Barnaby Rudge in Master Humphrey's Clock. Illustrated by Phiz and George Cattermole. 3 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1841; rpt., Bradbury and Evans, 1849.

________. Barnaby Rudge — A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. VII.

________. Barnaby Rudge. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. VI.

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Created 24 July 2020

Last modified 15 December 2020