"They were received by the matron" by W. H. C. Groome: fifth lithograph for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (1900)

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They were received by the matron

W. H. C. Groome

1900

12 x 8.2 cm, framed

Lithograph

Dickens's Dombey and Son (pp. 426 + 422), facing vol. 2 title-page.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: Susan Nipper arrives at Toots' home

"Upon my soul and body!" said Mr. Toots, taking his seat beside her. "I feel for you. Upon my word and honour I think you can hardly know your own feelings better than I imagine them. I can conceive nothing more dreadful than to have to leave Miss Dombey."

Susan abandoned herself to her grief now, and it really was touching to see her.

"I say," said M. Toots, "now, don’t! at least I mean now do, you know!"

"Do what, Mr, Toots!" cried Susan.

"Why, come home to my place, and have some dinner before you start," said Mr. Toots. " My cook’s a most respectable woman — one of the most motherly people I ever saw — and she’ll be delighted to make you comfortable. Her son," said Mr. Toots, as an additional recommendation, "was educated in the Bluecoat School, and blown up in a powder-mill."

Susan accepting this kind offer, Mr. Toots conducted her to his dwelling, where they were received by the Matron in question who fully justified his character of her, and by the Chicken who at first supposed, on seeing a lady in the vehicle, that Mr. Dombey had been doubled up, ably to his old recommendation, and Miss Dombey abducted. [Chapter XLIV, "A Separation," vol. 2, p. 178]

Comment

With so few illustrations to provide for the Collins Pocket Edition, why did Groome select an apparently minor incident for one of the eight lithographs? One possible explanation is that this incident has given Groome to depict Florence's devoted servant, Susan Nipper, with Paul's fatuous but good-hearted friend at Dr. Blimber's Academy, Mr. Toots. Discharged by Dombey for criticising his lack of empathy for his daughter, Susan has nowhere to go. The rough-faced, middle-aged man in the background who bears witness to Susan's arrival is a significant secondary character, Toots's boxing instructor, The Game Chicken.

Related Material

Dombey and Son (homepage)
Phiz's 40 Illustrations for Dombey and Son (1846-48)
Felix Octavius Carr Darley's Captain Cuttle . . . too his own [watch] down from the mantel-shelf for Volume 4 of Dombey and Son, Wholesale Retail & for Exportation, 1862
Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 Diamond Edition Illustrations (1867)
Fred Barnard's 61 Illustrations for Dombey and Son, 1877
Kyd's five Player's Cigarette Cards, 1910
Harry Furniss's illustrations for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
Harold Copping's Captain Cuttle's Bright Idea, 1924.

See also Groome's Frontispiece and the engraved title-page for Dombey and Son, Vol. II (1900)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

Created 23 January 2021