"I had practiced this explanation as I dressed in the morning." — staff artist William Newman's composite woodblock engraving for Charles Lever's A Day's Ride: A Life's Romance, first published on 27 October 1860 in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, Chapter XIII, "I Call at the British Legation." 2 ⅝ by 3 ⅜ inches (6.7 cm by 8.7 cm), framed, upper right, page 677. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Potts Practices Posing
Armed with this [the despatch bag that had fallen accidentally into my possession], and a card, I soon presented myself at the door. On the card I had written, “Mr. Pottinger presents his respectful compliments, and requests his Excellency will favor him with an audience of a few minutes for an explanation.”
I had made up my mind to state that my servant, in removing my smaller luggage from the train, had accidentally carried off this Foreign Office bag, which, though at considerable inconvenience, I had travelled much out of my way to restore in person. I had practised this explanation as I dressed in the morning, I had twice rehearsed it to an orange-tree in the garden, before which I had bowed till my back ached, and I fancied myself perfect in my part. [Chapter XIII, "I Call at the British Legation," 677; 126 in the Chapman and Hall edition]
Commentary: Delivering the Diplomatic Pouch in Hopes of a Reward
Potts has gone out of his way (his quest for the retired circus horse Blondel in Brussels) to deliver the diplomatic pouch he inadvertently appropriated in getting out of the railway carriage at Dover. Surely, reasons Potts, the local chargé d'affaires, "Sir Shalley Doubleton, H. M.'s Envoy and Minister at Hesse-Kalbbratonstadt," will reward Potts for his diligence. In the illustration, he rehearses before his mirror in the local "Schwein" (inn) as he anticipates making his entrance to the British embassy and introducing himself to the chef de mission.
Originally, Potts had thought to present himself at what the hotel waiter calls "The English Embassy," but learned that it would not be open until the next morning. Convinced that his selfless act will be generously rewarded, Potts practices his best diplomatic bow in his hotel room before heading for the embassy. Quite dissatisfied with the sound of his own name, he continues to pass himself off as the grander-sounding "Pottinger," the name he used with ludicrous effect back in Ostende.
The next morning, after inspecting the sleepy town, with its ducal palace like the governor's tower in a panopticon penitentiary, Potts finally calls at the embassy. He is pleasantly surprised, after dealing with a splenetic functionary, to encounter as the Ambassador's emissary none other than beautiful, slightly satirical Miss Herbert from the Millford station.
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 photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Brown, Jane E., and Richard Samuel West. "William Newman (1817—1870): A Victorian Cartoonist in London and New York." American Periodicals, 17, 2: "Periodical Comics and Cartoons." (Ohio State University Press, 2007), 143-183. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20770984.
Lever, Charles. A Day's Ride: A Life's Romance. Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization. Illustrated by William Newman. Vols. IV-V (13 April 1860 through 23 March 1861) in thirty-five weekly parts. Only a dozen of these weekly instalments were illustrated: p. 541 (one), 549 (two), 573, 589, 605, 621, 637, 649, 661, 678, 701, and 714.
_______. A Day's Ride; A Life's Romance. Illustrated by "Phiz" (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1863, rpt. Routledge, 1882.
_______. A Day's Ride: A Life's Romance. London: Chapman and Hall, 1873.
Lever, Charles James. A Day's Ride; A Life's Romance. http://www.gutenberg.org//files/32692/32692-h/32692-h.htm
Stevenson, Lionel. Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell & Russell, 1939, rpt. 1969.
Sutherland, John. "Charles Lever." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989. Pp. 372-374.
Created 25 June 2022