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Sir Archy hears something to his advantage
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
steel engraving
11.5 cm by 10.3 cm (4 ½ by 4 ⅛ inches), vignetted
November 1845
Charles Lever's The O'Donoghue; A Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago, Chapter XLI, "A Discovery," facing p. 340.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Sir Archy, who felt in the scene a direct acknowledgment of his appeal to Heaven, drew closer to the window, and listened. Gradually, and like one awaking from a heavy slumber, the sick man stretched his limbs, and drew a long sigh, whose groaning accent spoke of great debility and then, starting up in his bed, shouted — “It is, it is the King's warrant — who dares to oppose it. Ride in faster, men — faster; keep together here, the west side of the mountain. There — there, yonder, near the beach. Who was that spoke of pardon? Never; if he resists, cut him down. Ride for it, men, ride;” and in his mad excitement, he arose from his bed, and gained the floor. “There — that's him yonder; he has taken to the mountains; five hundred guineas to the hand that grasps him first,” and he tottered to the window, and tearing aside the curtain, looked out.
“Worn and wasted, with beard unshaven for weeks long, and eyes glistening with the lustre of insanity, the expression of his features actually chilled the heart's blood of the old man, as he stood almost at his side, and unable to move away. For a second or two Hemsworth gazed on the other, as if some struggling effort of recognition was labouring in his brain; and then, with a mad struggle he exclaimed —
“They were too late; the Council gave but eight days. I suppressed the proclamation in the south. Eight days — after that, no pardon — in this world at least” — and a fearful grin of malice convulsed his features; then with an altered accent, and a faint smile, from which sickness tore its oft-assumed dissimulation, he said, “I did every thing to persuade him to surrender — to accept the gracious favour of the crown; but he would not — no, he would not!” — and, with another burst of laughter, he staggered back into the room, and fell helpless on the floor. Sir Archy was in no compassionate mood at the moment, and without bestowing a thought on the sufferer, he hastened down the path, and with all the speed of which he was capable, returned to Carrig-na-curra. [Chapter XLI, "A Discovery," pp. 340-341]
In this third serial illustration involving the Travers' estate agent, Phiz positions Sir Archy M'Nab exactly where he needs to be in order to overhear what Hemsworth's object is plotting against Mark O'Donoghue. The illustration serves to heighten the suspense as serial readers at the beginning of the final (November 1845) instalment must have anxiously wondered whether Sir Archy will be in time to prevent Mark's arrest for treason under a writ from the Privy Council to be executed by armed parties. Ironically, Hemsworth had learned from Kate that Mark was hiding with Terry, the Wild Boy, on Hungry Mountain, but, in his haste to inform the military, he suffered a fall from his horse. The ensuing concussion and delirium have forced him to become an invalid at The Lodge, the Travers' country mansion. Over the course of the illness both Herbert and Sir Archy have visited The Lodge for news of the patient's progress. Quite by accident, the old Scot has taken the wrong path, and has arrived at the back of The Lodge. The sash is open in the illustration as in the text, but the curtains closely drawn. At a loss as to how to proceed, Sir Archy takes a seat on a bench beneath a tree (left). The listener feels nothing but compassion for the sufferer until he hears Hemsworth's outburst about the soldiers' taking Mark prisoner at the shealing at the foot of Hungry mountain, as per the King's warrant. The "fearful grin of malice" (341) that convulses the raving man's features convinces Sir Archy that the patient means no good to the house of Donoghue, and that seeing Mark arrested and tried for treason will crown Hemsworth's vengeance against a family that has always regarded him as a "coarse plebeian" (340).
Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.
Lever, Charles. The O'Donoghue; A Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago. With 26 engravings by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. Dublin: William Curry, Jun., 1845.
Lever, Charles. The O'Donoghue; A Tale of Ireland Fifty Years Ago. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. In One Vol. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: May 11, 2010.
Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter VIII, "Heretic Among Tories, 1844-1845." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 128-145.
Sutherland, John A. "Lever, Charles." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989, rpt. 1990, 372-374.
Created 8 January 2024