"Peggotty attends as Witness<" — Furniss's twenty-second illustration for Dickens's "David Copperfield" (Charles Dickens Library Edition, vol. X, 1910)

[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Illustration —> Henry Furniss —> David Copperfield —> Next]

Peggotty attends as Witness

Harry Furniss

1910

13.8 x 8.8 cm (5 ½ by 3 ½ inches).

I went for Peggotty, to bring her to sign the register; she hugged me in a corner, telling me she saw my own dear mother married — Copperfield, p. 633.

Dickens's The Personal History and Experience of David Copperfield, The Charles Dickens Library Edition, facing X, 608.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

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.]

Passage Illustrated: A Moment that Phiz did not caoture

The church is calm enough, I am sure; but it might be a steam-power loom in full action, for any sedative effect it has on me. I am too far gone for that.

The rest is all a more or less incoherent dream.

A dream of their coming in with Dora; of the pew-opener arranging us, like a drill-sergeant, before the altar rails; of my wondering, even then, why pew-openers must always be the most disagreeable females procurable, and whether there is any religious dread of a disastrous infection of good-humour which renders it indispensable to set those vessels of vinegar upon the road to Heaven.

Of the clergyman and clerk appearing; of a few boatmen and some other people strolling in; of an ancient mariner behind me, strongly flavouring the church with rum; of the service beginning in a deep voice, and our all being very attentive.

Of Miss Lavinia, who acts as a semi-auxiliary bridesmaid, being the first to cry, and of her doing homage (as I take it) to the memory of Pidger, in sobs; of Miss Clarissa applying a smelling-bottle; of Agnes taking care of Dora; of my aunt endeavouring to represent herself as a model of sternness, with tears rolling down her face; of little Dora trembling very much, and making her responses in faint whispers.

Of our kneeling down together, side by side; of Dora’s trembling less and less, but always clasping Agnes by the hand; of the service being got through, quietly and gravely; of our all looking at each other in an April state of smiles and tears, when it is over; of my young wife being hysterical in the vestry, and crying for her poor papa, her dear papa.

Of her soon cheering up again, and our signing the register all round. Of my going into the gallery for Peggotty to bring her to sign it; of Peggotty’s hugging me in a corner, and telling me she saw my own dear mother married; of its being over, and our going away.

Of my walking so proudly and lovingly down the aisle with my sweet wife upon my arm, through a mist of half-seen people, pulpits, monuments, pews, fonts, organs, and church windows, in which there flutter faint airs of association with my childish church at home, so long ago. [Chapter XLIII, "Another Retrospect," 633]

Commentary: Enlarging the figures, reducing the backdrop

The backdrop, so significant in the original Phiz illustration I am Married (June 1850), is far less important in Furniss's reinterpretation of the scene, in which he foregrounds Clara Peggotty and the groom. Although Dickens is highly sentimental in his reiterated parallelisms about the involvement of Dora, the officiating clergyman, Miss Lavinia, and Miss Clarissa, Furniss shifts our attention to the intimate scene between David and his old nurse after the ceremony proper, under a Gothic arch in the gallery.

Much seems heavy, cluttered, and dark in the church's Gothic interior, although a burst of sunlight haloes David's figure. In the Phiz original, Mr. Dick gives David his arm, and Phiz creates a sense of open space suitable to David's "dream." But in the present illustration David has gone into the darkened gallery to retrieve Clara Peggotty so that she can sign the register, presumably in place of his mother as a witness. We cannot see Peggotty's expression as she touches David's face, and Furniss has made it difficult to judge David's expression.

David and Dora's Wedding and the Aftermath in the 1850 and 1872 Editions

Left: Fred Barnard's Household Edition scene of David's expressing frustration at Dora's inept housekeeping: "I wonder why you ever fell in love with me?" said Dora, beginning on another button of my coat (1872). Right: Hablot Knight Browne's original serial illustration David's wedding with a satirical thrust at complacent Anglicanism: I am Married (June 1850).

Relevant Illustrated Editions of this Novel (1849 through 1910)

Hablot Knight Browne's Forty steel engravings for the Chapman and Hall Edition (May 1849 through November 1850)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 1, 1863)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 2, 1863)
Sir John Gilbert's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 3, 1863)
O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York Sheldon & Co. edition (Vol. 4, 1863)
Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 wood engravings for the Diamond Edition (1867)
Fred Barnard's 62 Composite Woodblock Engravings for the Household Edition (1872)
Clayton J. Clarke's (Kyd's) Watercolours and Player's Cigarette Card Designs (1889)

Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.

Cordery, Gareth. "Remaking Miss Mowcher's Acquaintance." Dickens Quarterly 29, 1 (March 2012): 11-31.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield, illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. London & New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911. 2 vols.

_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.

_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. III.

_______. The Personal History and Experiences of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. X.

Hammerton, J. A., ed. The Dickens Picture-Book: A Record of the the Dickens Illustrations. London: Educational Book, 1910.

Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978.

Created 16 March 2022