"I wanted nothing that he could fetch me" — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

I wanted nothing that he could fetch me suggests that Crusoe develops a close relationship with the ship's dog. However, since the parrot rather than the dog is capable of speech (albeit, meaningless babble), Crusoe actually favours Poll, as many programs of illustration for the novel make clear. Middle of page 48, vignetted: approximately 9.3 cm high by 11.6 cm wide. Signed "Wal Paget," lower right.

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 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: Crusoe's Sole Companion

And I must not forget that we had in the ship a dog and two cats, of whose eminent history I may have occasion to say something in its place; for I carried both the cats with me; and as for the dog, he jumped out of the ship of himself, and swam on shore to me the day after I went on shore with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant to me many years; I wanted nothing that he could fetch me, nor any company that he could make up to me; I only wanted to have him talk to me, but that would not do. As I observed before, I found pens, ink, and paper, and I husbanded them to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lasted, I kept things very exact, but after that was gone I could not, for I could not make any ink by any means that I could devise. [Chapter IV, "First Weeks on the Island," page 46]

Commentary

Heretofore, Crusoe has been reacting with other people, in camaraderie and conflict. Now, Paget depicts him by himself in long series of illustrations interacting with the natural environment: sleeping in a tree within sight of the ocean, hunting birds and goats, interacting with the ship's dog, discovering barley growing on the island, sharpening tools salvaged from the wreck, catching turtles and dolphins, and broiling meat over hot coals.He has become the embodiment of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Noble Savage, but without any society but that of animals. Paget delights in these scenes, representing the multiple species and tropical foliage of theCaribbeanisland.And Paget sees the mature protagonist as a keen observer and problem-solver whose biggest struggle is not with the elements, but with the loneliness of living in a previously uninhabited tropical paradise. A key phrase on the page on which the illustration actually occurs, "beingto enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent life" (page 45), is ironic in terms of the roaring of breakers, the crying of birds, and the bleating of the island's numerous goats; however, by "silent life" Crusoe means "a life without human speech," the aspect of human existence so vital for him.

The other illustrators have made Crusoe's dog of medium size — Defoe does not specify a particular breed. Clearly Paget felt that a larger dog would be appropriate, even though larger breeds have shorter life-spans, and Crusoe confides that his dog, by no means a puppy on the voyage, "was a trusty servant to me many years" (46), presumably more than a decade. Since some illustrators show the dog present when he wears his "island suit" of goatskins and when he discovers the footprint, that dog must have lived well over fifteen years after his master's arrival on the island. Since it is essentially the same dog which we see in the following illustrations, Paget uses him for narrative-visual continuity. Unlike the Collies and nameless breeds of previous illustrators' realisations, the likely model for Paget's drawings is the a real-life English Field Spaniel, a breed in the forty to sixty pound range, with long ears and long tail, although this dog's ears suggest that he may be a Labrador-cross. Paget extends the text considerably in these plates depicting Crusoe's first weeks on the island by giving him a constant companion. Here, the dog has just retrieved a bird that Crusoe has shot near the shore depicted in the background.

Related Material

Related Scenes of Crusoe and his dog from Stothart (1790), the 1818 Children's Book, Cruikshank (1831), and Gilbert (1860s)

Left: Thomas Stothard's elegant realisation of Crusoe and his dog, Robinson Crusoe discovers the print of a man's foot (1862 (1790, copper-plate engraving). Centre: During the rainy seasons, Crusoe's constant companion in his cave is the dog: Robinson Crusoe writing in his Journal (1863-64). Right: The 1818 children's book depicts Crusoe reading the Bible in the presence of his attentive dog, Robinson Crusoe reading the Bible (wood-engraving), which features the dog as a faithful but uncomprehending companion. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Left: The 1818 children's book's depiction of Crusoe's stunning discovery, Robinson Crusoe's terror at the print of the human foot. Centre: Sir John Gilbert's frontispiece introduces readers to Crusoe's dog in the cave: Crusoe & his Parrot in Chapter X, "Tames Goats" (1860s). Right: Gilbert's Crusoe is not startled so much as shocked and surprised as he puts his hand to his brow in this full-page composite woodblock engraving, Robinson Crusoe discovers a Footprint (1860s): Chapter XI, "Finds the print of a man's foot on the sand." [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Above: George Cruikshank's comic wood-engraving of Crusoe's startled reaction as he discovers the footprint on the beach, Friday's Footprint: Crusoe discovers a human footprint on the beach.[Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Reference

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by Himself. With upwards of One Hundred and Twenty Original Illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris, and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.

Last modified 25 April 2018