Mock-Beggar Hall by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne), fifth serial illustration for William Harrison Ainsworth's Ovingdean Grange: A Tale of the South Downs, Part 4 (February 1860), Book the Fourth, "The Search by the Ironsides," Chapter II, "Mock-Beggar Hall and its Inmates." 10.2 cm high by 15.3 cm wide, wood-engraving, vignetted, facing 101. Source: Ainsworth's Works (1882), originally published in Bentley's Miscellany, and, upon its completion as a serial, in volume form by George Routledge and Sons, London (July 1860). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Zachary the Usurer and Colonel Maunsel

Though between seventy and eighty, old Zachary was as quick of intellect as ever, and keen were the glances which he cast from beneath his grey overhanging eyebrows at the colonel, on the entrance of the latter. Old Zachary wore a black velvet doublet, much frayed, and over it a loose murrey-coloured robe, which, like the doublet, had seen better days. A black silk skull-cap protected his bald head. His shrunk shanks were encased in nether-hose of lambswool, and his feet thrust into a pair of pantoufles. His features were sharp and pinched, his frame excessively thin, and his skin as yellow as the parchment of deeds lying beside him.

Silently saluting his visitor, old Zachary motioned him to a seat. Colonel Maunsel bowed gravely and somewhat haughtily, and took the chair, but uttered not a word till Skrow Antram had retired.

The usurer then looked at him with a shrewd smile.

“The old business, I presume, colonel? More money — ha! Nothing else would bring you to Mock-Beggar Hall, as fools call my dwelling. You couldn’t have come at a worse time. All going out — not a doit coming in. As I hope to be saved, I haven’t received a noble for this fortnight past!” [Book IV, Chapter II, "Mock-Beggar Hall And Its Inmate," 97-98]

Working methods

Scanned image, colour correction, sizing, caption, and commentary 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.]

Bibliography

Ainsworth, William Harrison. Ovingdean Grange: A Tale of the South Downs. (1860). Illustrated by Phiz. Ainsworth's Works. London & New York: George Routledge, 1876.

Buchanan-Brown, John. Phiz! Illustrator of Dickens' World. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978.

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Vann, J. Don. "William Harrison Ainsworth's Ovingdean Grange: A Tale of the South Downs in Bentley's Miscellany, November 1859 — July 1860." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. 30-31.

Created 23 October 2019

Last modified 28 December 2020