“‘Yes, I did, Mr. Lobbs — I did come after your daughter I love her, Mr. Lobbs’.” “Why, you snivelling, wry-faced little villain’, gasped old Lobbs, paralysed at the atrocious confession; what do you mean by that? Say this to my face! Damme, I’ll throttle you.” Extra illustration by Thomas Onwhyn (facing p. 177). July 31, 1837. 10.8 x 11.5 cm (4 ½ by 4 ⅞ inches), vignetted. Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, first edition, Chapter XVII, "Showing that an Attack of Rheumatism, in Some Cases, Acts as a Quickener to Inventive Genius" (September 1836): extra illustration for the interpolated tale "The Parish Clerk."
Passage Illustrated: A Suitably Romantic and Comical Interpolated Tale
At last he thought of the closet, and walked up to it. It was of no use a little man like Nathaniel Pipkin pulling the door inwards, when a great strong fellow like old Lobbs was pulling it outwards. Old Lobbs gave it one tug, and open it flew, disclosing Nathaniel Pipkin standing bolt upright inside, and shaking with apprehension from head to foot. Bless us! what an appalling look old Lobbs gave him, as he dragged him out by the collar, and held him at arm’s length.
‘“Why, what the devil do you want here?” said old Lobbs, in a fearful voice.
‘Nathaniel Pipkin could make no reply, so old Lobbs shook him backwards and forwards, for two or three minutes, by way of arranging his ideas for him.
‘“What do you want here?” roared Lobbs; “I suppose you have come after my daughter, now!”
‘Old Lobbs merely said this as a sneer: for he did not believe that mortal presumption could have carried Nathaniel Pipkin so far. What was his indignation, when that poor man replied —
‘“Yes, I did, Mr. Lobbs, I did come after your daughter. I love her, Mr. Lobbs.”
‘“Why, you snivelling, wry-faced, puny villain,” gasped old Lobbs, paralysed by the atrocious confession; “what do you mean by that? Say this to my face! Damme, I’ll throttle you!”
‘It is by no means improbable that old Lobbs would have carried his threat into execution, in the excess of his rage, if his arm had not been stayed by a very unexpected apparition: to wit, the male cousin, who, stepping out of his closet, and walking up to old Lobbs, said —
‘“I cannot allow this harmless person, Sir, who has been asked here, in some girlish frolic, to take upon himself, in a very noble manner, the fault (if fault it is) which I am guilty of, and am ready to avow. I love your daughter, sir; and I came here for the purpose of meeting her.” [Chapter XVII, “Showing that an Attack of Rheumatism, in Some Cases, Acts as a Quickener to Inventive Genius,” 177]
Commentary: Dickens Makes Pickwick an "Editor."
In “The Parish Clerk. A Tale of True Love,” edited by Pickwick himself, Nathaniel Pipkin may be a mere parish clerk, but he aspires to marry the wealthy Maria, the daughter of the local saddler, Old Lobbs. As Lobbs attempts grab Pipkin by the collar, the daughter tries to intervene, and the cousin steps out of the closet (upper left). In fact, Maria only clings to her father’s arm as he is about to assault the cousin. Thus, in representing the climax of the comic tale, Onwhyn misrepresents what is happening, for Maria Lobbs is not at all romantically inclined towards Pipkin.
The splenetic Lobbs represents a figure common to Dickens's early Sketches and Pickwick: the angry man — Dr. Slammer in the opening chapters is a prime example of the irate and unreasonable middle-aged bourgeoisie. Shortly Dickens will transform Pickwick himself into this stock figure of stage and fiction when he and Sam confront Martha Bardell's unscrupulous attorneys, Dodson and Fogg, at their London offices.
Scanned image and text 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.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).
Titley, Graham D. C. "Thomas Onwhyn: a Life in Illustration (1811-1886)." Pearl. University of Plymouth (2018-07-12).
Created 14 February 2024