Mr. Merl comes to grief by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne), May 1856. Steel-engraving. 9.3 cm high by 17.3 cm wide (3 ½ by 6 ¾ inches), vignetted, full-page illustration for The Martins of Cro' Martin, Chapter LXIII, "An Honoured Guest," facing p. 591. [Click on the image to enlarge it; mouse over links.]

Passage Illustrated: Money-man Merl sustains a fall from his horse

“I'd have given fifty pounds to be in at it,” broke out Repton. Then suddenly remembering that the aspiration did not sound as very dignified, he hemmed and corrected himself, saying, “It must, indeed, have been a strange spectacle!”

“They started at Kyle's Wood, and ran them over the low grounds beside Kelly's Mills, and then doubling, brought them along the foot of Barnagheela Mountain, where, it seems, Magennis joined the chase; he was fast closing with them when his gun burst, and rather damaged his hand.”

“He fired, then?”

“Yes, he put a heavy charge of slugs into Merl's horse as he was getting through the mill-race, and the beast flung up and threw his rider into the stream. Scanlan dismounted and gathered him up, discharging his pistol at some country fellow who was rushing forward; they say the man has lost an eye. They got off, however, and, gaining the shelter of the Cro' Martin wood, they managed to escape at last, and reached this about six o'clock, their clothes in tatters, their horses lamed, and themselves lamentable objects of fatigue and exhaustion. Since that, no one but the doctor has seen Merl, and Scanlan only goes out with an escort of police.” [Chapter LXIII, "An Honoured Guest," pp. 591-592]

Commentary: The Tenants give Merl a Hearty Welcome

This illustration marks Merl's exit from the narrative, and is the culmination of Phiz's "horse" studies in the 1854-56 serial. With the exception of A Spill, the horse scenes are associated with the power elite of Galway, the Martins, and their agents, the attorneys Scanlan and Repton. As a Cockney, Merl is sadly lacking in equestrian skills, and is never particularly comfortable in the saddle. And, indeed, his vanity wounded and a little the worse for wear, Mr. Merl, the City financial man (identified by his rotundity and flash waistcoat) has just fallen off his mount, and is lying on the ground, lower right. Ever the admirer of horses in their various postures and gaits, Phiz makes Merl's horse rather than the hapless rider the focal point of the vigorous illustration. The other major figure in the composition, who has dismounted in order to assist Merl after his horse has been shot out from under him, is the local attorney, Scanlan. The whole episode is hearsay, based on what Dan Nelligan has learned from Birerley about the popular response to Merl's coming down to Cro' Martin to take charge of the estate. The mob on the other bank are Martin tenants, activated by a sense of loyalty to Miss Mary, who has come down with a serious case of typhus.

The upshot is that Merl may be inclined to accept Mr. Barry's offer of a buyout for the loan and Harry's gambling debts since trying to take possession of the Cro' Martin estate is not a simple matter of riding down from Dublin and installing his own minions. The central figure in this tenant uprising appears to be the Irish nationalist and ardent supporter of Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847), Tom Magennis. A figure resembling the rowdy Tom stands on the bank of the millrace, upper left, waving his hat aloft to encourage his followers. However, logically Tom should be the armed figure beside the hat-waver since Tom has just discharged his weapon at Merl, and unhorsed him.

The Other Phiz Illustrations Prominently Featuring Horses in This Novel

Phiz's Other Notable Horse Compositions

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.]

Bibliography

Lester, Valerie Browne Lester. Chapter 11: "'Give Me Back the Freshness of the Morning!'" Phiz! The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004. Pp. 108-127.

Lever, Charles. The Martins of Cro' Martin. With 39 illustrations by Phiz. London: Chapman & Hall, 1856, rpt. London & New York: Routledge, 1873. 2 vols.

Lever, Charles. The Martins of Cro' Martin. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Introduction by Andrew Lang. Lorrequer Edition. Vols. XII and XIII. In two volumes. Boston: Little, Brown, 1907. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 28 February 2018.


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Created 17 October 2002