"My Terrible Antagonist Dropped to the Floor as a Dog Drops at the Word of his Master" — Third steel engraving by F. O. Freeman and J. N. Hyde for Bulwer-Lytton's "A Strange Story" (Boston: Gardner A. Fuller)

"My terrible antagonist dropped to the floor as a dog drops at the word of his master"

F. O. Freeman (engraver) and J. N. Hyde

1862

Steel engraving

10.1 cm by 8.5 cm (4 inches by 3 ¼ inches) vignetted, facing p. 246.

Bulwer-Lytton's A Strange Story

Boston: Gardner A. Fuller.

Scanned image and text by P. 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: Using the magic wand, Allen bests Margrave in a fight

. . . while as we grappled, reeling and rocking to and fro in our struggle, I soon observed that his attention was distracted, — that his eye was turned towards an object which he had dropped involuntarily when I first seized him. He sought to drag me towards that object, and when near it stooped to seize. It was a bright, slender, short wand of steel. I remembered when and where I had seen it, whether in my waking state or in vision; and as his hand stole down to take it from the floor, I set on the wand my strong foot. I cannot tell by what rapid process of thought and association I came to the belief that the possession of a little piece of blunted steel would decide the conflict in favor of the possessor; but the struggle now was concentred on the attainment of that seemingly idle weapon. I was becoming breathless and exhausted, while Margrave seemed every moment to gather up new force, when collecting all my strength for one final effort, I lifted him suddenly high in the air, and hurled him to the farthest end of the cramped arena to which our contest was confined. He fell, and with a force by which most men would have been stunned; but he recovered himself with a quick rebound, and, as he stood facing me, there was something grand as well as terrible in his aspect. His eyes literally flamed, as those of a tiger; his rich hair, flung back from his knitted forehead, seemed to erect itself as an angry mane; his lips, slightly parted, showed the glitter of his set teeth; his whole frame seemed larger in the tension of the muscles, and as, gradually relaxing his first defying and haughty attitude, he crouched as the panther crouches for its deadly spring, I felt as if it were a wild beast, whose rush was coming upon me, — wild beast, but still Man, the king of the animals, fashioned forth from no mixture of humbler races by the slow revolutions of time, but his royalty stamped on his form when the earth became fit for his coming.

At that moment I snatched up the wand, directed it towards him, and advancing with a fearless stride, cried, —

“Down to my feet, miserable sorcerer!”

To my own amaze, the effect was instantaneous. My terrible antagonist dropped to the floor as a dog drops at the word of his master. The muscles of his frowning countenance relaxed, the glare of his wrathful eyes grew dull and rayless; his limbs lay prostrate and unnerved, his head rested against the wall, his arms limp and drooping by his side. I approached him slowly and cautiously; he seemed cast into a profound slumber.

“You are at my mercy now!” said I. [Chapter LV, page 246]

Commentary: Dr. Allen Fenwick Confronts Margrave in a Smugglers' Retreat

McLenan did not cover the fifty-fifth chapter in his serial program for Harper's Weekly. His final illustration A white doe, that even my presence could not scare away from him, stood patiently by his side, accompanies the twentieth instalment (21 December 1861, Ch. 46-50). Thus, Gardner A. Fuller's illustrators, F. O. Freeman and J. N. Hyde, had no model from which to work as Numbers 21 through 31 as they appeared in the weekly serial (28 December 1861 through 8 March 1862) were entirely unillustrated. In realising Fenwick's using the magic wand to subdue Margrave in the abandoned inn on the seacoast the pair have chosen well. Fenwick, striking his opponent with the thin blade, is in complete control, and fashionably dressed Margrave, suffering in contortions, puts his hand to his forehead in extreme distress.

The climactic moment enables the doctor to retrieve Lilian, who has wandered away from her mother's estate in L—— [Liverpool] days earlier in a trance induced by Margrave. Apparently he intends to carry her abroad in a yacht that he has just purchased in order to have her assist him in concocting another batch of the Elixir of Life. At the curtain of this chapter in the serial, Margrave appears to be dying as he is in convulsions with foam at his lips as Fenwick hurriedly quits the abandoned inn in search of Lilian.

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 G. D. A Strange Story. Illustrated by F. O. Freeman and J. N. Hyde. Boston: Gardner A. Fuller, 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 26 July 2026