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Linton's last Visit to Maritaña
Phiz
Dalziel
November 1849
Steel-engraving, dark plate, facing p. 610.
12.3 cm high by 9.3 cm wide (4 ¾ by 3 ⅝ inches), framed.
Thirty-ninth illustration for Roland Cashel, published serially by Chapman and Hall (1848-49).
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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“She is worthy to be a duchess,” said he, as he gazed at her. “A duchess! and what more? — that is the question. Ah, these women, these women! if they but knew their power! If they but knew how all the boldest strivings of our intellects are as nothing compared to what their beauty can effect! Well, well; it is better that they should not. They are tyrants, even as it is, — petty tyrants, — to all who care for them; and he who does not is their master. That is the real power, — there the stronghold; and how they fear the man who takes his stand behind it! how they crouch and tremble before him! what fascinating graces do they reserve for him, that they would not bestow upon a lover! Is it that they only love where they fear? How beautiful she looks, and how calmly sweet! — it is the sleeping tigress, notwithstanding. And now to awake her: pity, too; that wearied mind wants repose, and the future gives but little promise of it.”
He bent down over her, till he almost touched the silken masses of her long dark hair, and, in a low, soft voice, said, —
“Maritaña — Maritaña!”
“No, no, no,” said she, in the low, muttering accents of sleep, “not here, — not here!”
“And why not here, dearest?” said he, catching at the words.
A faint shudder passed over her, and she gathered her shawl more closely around her. [Chapter LXXI, "The Arrest of Linton," 610]
"At Messina they [Keane and Linton, on the run from Ireland] fell in with Rica, as the proprietor of a gaming-table which Linton continually frequented" (599), "and an intimacy sprang up which became a close friendship — if such a league can be called by such a name." Linton in fact had persuaded Rica to put his daughter on stage. She had done her father's bidding, but had been recognized by a young Spaniard at Naples, prior to Cashel's denunciatory outburst in the theatre at Venice. Humiliated and disgraced, she awoke from her delusion, and abandoned the stage. She had accompanied her father and his devious associate to Paris, where he and Linton had set up a cassino and proceeded to fleece the aristocracy and officers of high rank. As the penultimate illustration in the series suggests, Maritaña and Linton have become intimate, and her health has rapidly declined.
In the previous chapter, Cashel accidentally encountered Linton and Keane, and intervened to save Keane's life after Linton shot his associate and threw him into the Seine. With Keane's dictated confession, Cashel is able to enlist the aid of the British embassy in sending to London for an arrest warrant. Unaware of these proceedings, Linton continues to pass himself off as just another frequenter of Rica's gambling-table like his Irish associate, Sir Charles Frobisher, even though in truth he is Don Rica's secret confederate. He now urges the proprietor to bring out Maritaña to induce their latest victim, the Duc de Marsac, owner of the de Marlier estate, to bet high. Linton continues to press Rica to let him become engaged to Maritaña as he takes his place beside the Duc de Marsac at the gaming-table. With the Duc's estate in the bag, Linton leaves the gaming salon to visit Maritaña's boudoir, despite Don Rica's protests that she is not well enough to give informed consent to the betrothal. The father now plays his ace, offering his other daughter, Mary Leicester, to Linton instead. But Linton, now styling himself the Duc de Marlier after his victory over de Marsac, promises to make Maritaña a "Duchess" (608).
Phiz has made Linton almost sympathetic as, amidst the costly furniture and splendid ornaments of the apartment, with its elegant statuettes and Sévres vases, he admires her beauty, deeply moved by her wasted form. Hoping that she will rally, Linton promises to take her to the Adriatic to speed her recuperation. But his unfortunate reference to Venice suddenly revives her memory of Cashel's unmasking her there. He now plays the "Duchess" card, hoping that she will agree at last to marry him. And yet she still spurns his offer.
Lever, Charles. Roland Cashel. With 39 illustrations and engraved title-vignette by Phiz. London: Chapman & Hall, 1850.
Lever, Charles. Roland Cashel. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vols. I and II. In two volumes. Boston: Little, Brown, 1907. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 19 August 2010.
Steig, Michael. Chapter Seven: "Phiz the Illustrator: An Overview and a Summing Up." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 298-316.
Created 31 January 2023