"When I found myself in the street, I turned round and saw Margrave still standing at the open window," by John McLenan for Bulwer-Lytton's "A Strange Story" in "Harper's Weekly" (2 November 1861)

"When I found myself in the street, I turned round and saw Margrave still standing at the open window."

John McLenan

Wood-block engraving

11.5 cm. squared (4 ½ inches)

Bulwer-Lytton's A Strange Story in Harper's Weekly 5 (2 November 1861): 702.

Image scan 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: How will the conflict between Sir Philip and Margrave be resolved?

Was it possible that Margrave was so wholly unconscious of what had passed in the museum as to include in oblivion even the remembrance of Sir Philip Derval’s presence before he had been rendered insensible, or laid asleep? Was it now only for the first time that he learned of Sir Philip’s arrival in L —, and visit to that house? Was there any intimation of menace in his words and his aspect?

I felt that the trouble of my thoughts communicated itself to my countenance and manner; and, longing for solitude and fresh air, I quitted the house. When I found myself in the street I turned round and saw Margrave still standing at the open window, but he did not appear to notice me; his eyes seemed fixed abstractedly on space. [end of Chapter XXXIII, page 702]

Commentary: After Sir Philip's interview with Margrave in the natural history room

The 2 November 1861 Harper's Weekly illustration gives us no sense of how the confidential conversation in the previous week's number transpired. In the chemically-induced trance, Fenwick seems to see through Margrave's facade, and he penetrates the shiny image of exuberant youth to see a wrinkled old man, wh possesses powers of rare imagination but a morally bankrupt intellect. In his multi-coloured vision or trance Fenwick distinguishes the power of mind, which even building creatures such as the ant and the beaver possess, from soul. Margrave opens a French window and, staring into the night predicts a storm, but seems oblivious t what Derval has just communicated to Fenwick in a trance. A mere five minutes have elapsed since events in the natural history room.

Bibliography

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by John McLenan. Harper's Weekly V, 10 August — 8 March 1862.

Bulwer Lytton, Edward (Lord Lytton). A Strange Story. The Works of Edward Bulwer Lytton, Vol. VII. New York: P. F. Collier, n. d. Pp. 7-242.

Created 21 November 2007

Last modified 10 July 2026