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Passage Illustrated: A Chaotic Scene of the Grenadiers attacking with Bayonets Drawn

“Suddenly a man sprang up to his knees from the ground where he had been lying, and began to beat the drum with all his might. Poor fellow! his leg was smashed with a shot, but he obeyed his orders in the midst of all his suffering.

“'Forward, men, forward!' cried the Major, waving his cap above his head. 'Fix bayonets! Charge!' And on they dashed after him.

“'Halloo, comrades!' shouted the tambour; 'don't leave me behind you.' And in an instant two grenadiers stooped down and hoisted him on their shoulders, and then rushed forward through the smoke and flame. Crashing and smashing went the shot through the leading files; but on they went, leaping over the dead and dying.”

“With the tambour still?” asked Pioche.

“To be sure,” said Minette; “there he was. But listen:

“Just as they reached the breach a shot above their heads came whizzing past, and a terrible bang rang out as it went.

“'He is killed,' said one of the grenadiers, preparing to lower the body; 'I heard his cry.'

“'Not yet, comrade,' cried the tambour'; 'it is the drum-head they have carried away, that's all;' and he beat away on the wooden sides harder than ever. [Chapter LX, "A Good-by," 79 in the 1844 edition; Chapter XVI, 121, in the 1869 edition]

Commentary: The Remnants of Humanity Braving the Grapeshot of the Mamelukes in Egypt

And this is the scene from the Egyptian campaign that Minette reads to Pioche and the other veterans assembled in the great dining-hall of the Hộtel-Dieu, Paris, after Napoleon has presented her with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Ironically within the account of the battle that the French would have lost but for the courage of the tambour, the account does not even name the drummer of the Thirty-second who took the fortress guarded by twelve artillery pieces and seven hundred Mamelukes (suggested in the background). Minette breaks off her reading when Pioche catches a glimpse of Tom, listening, and every eye turns towards him: young, healthy, unimpaired, and in an officer's uniform. "An he had been an officer of the Guard," remarks one sour-faced old veteran, the account "would have told us his [the drummer's] whole birth and parentage" (122). So much for the ideals of the French Revolution! This masterful illustration fittingly serves as the frontispiece for the second volume of the edition posted in Project Gutenberg, that by Little Brown (Boston) of 1913. Significantly, the scarlet Major who orders the Grenadiers forward into the grapeshot is not within the frame.

Bibliography

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

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. Tom Burke of "Ours." Dublin: William Curry, Jun., 1844. Illustrated by H. K. Browne. London: Chapman and Hall, 1869. Serialised February 1843 through September 1844. 2 vols.

Lever, Charles. Tom Burke of "Ours." Illustrated by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. Vol. I and II. In two volumes. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 24 February 2021.

Steig, Michael. Chapter Four: "Dombey and Son: Iconography of Social and Sexual Satire." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 86-112.

Stevenson, Lionel. Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939.

_______. "The Domestic Scene." The English Novel: A Panorama. Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin and Riverside, 1960.

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Created 17 November 2023