"The Attorney's Office" — Two versions Phiz's fortieth illustration for Volume Two in Charles Lever's "Tom Burke of 'Ours'" (August 1844)

Two versions of The Attorney's Office (facing p. 228 in Vol. 2 of the 1844 edition, and p. 277 in Vol. 2 of the 1865 edition) horizontally-mounted. 1844 dimensions: 13.2 cm high by 10.3 cm wide (5 ⅛ by 4 inches). 1865 & 1869 dimensions: 13.2 cm high by 10.5 cm wide, (5 ⅛ by 4 ¼ inches), vignetted. Engraved and re-engraved steel illustrations for Charles Lever's Tom Burke of "Ours," Chapter LXXX, "An Unforeseen Evil" (August 1844) from the William Curry, Jun. second volume, 1844 edition; in Chapter XXXVI from the Chapman & Hall second volume, 1869 edition. [Click on the images to enlarge them; mouse over links.]

Passage Illustrated from Both Editions: An Office Scene with an Irish Punchline

Mr. Basset, I was told, was at court, and I was shown into the office to await his return. The gloomy little den, I knew it well, with its dirty shelves of dirtier papers, its old tin boxes, and its rickety desk, at which two meanly-dressed starveling youths were busy writing. They turned a rapid glance towards me as I entered; and as they resumed their occupation, I could hear a muttered remark upon my dress and appearance, the purport of which I did not catch.

I sat for some time patiently, expecting Basset's arrival, but as the time stole by, I grew wearied with waiting, and determined on ascertaining, if I might, from the clerks, some intelligence concerning my brother.

“Have you any business with Mr. Burke?” said the youth I addressed, while his features assumed an expression of vulgar jocularity.

“Yes,” was my brief reply.

“Wouldn't a letter do as well as a personal interview?” said the other, with an air of affected courtesy.

“Perhaps so,” I replied, too deeply engaged in my own thoughts to mind their flippant impertinence.

“Then mind you direct your letter 'Churchyard, Loughrea;' or, if you want to be particular, say, 'Family vault.'”

“Is he dead? Is George dead?”

“That's hard to say,” interposed the other; “but they've buried him, that's certain.” [Chapter LXXX, "An Unforeseen Evil," 228 in the 1844 edition; Chapter XXXVI, 277 in the 1869 edition]

Comment: The London Re-Engraving of the 1843-44 Dublin Plates

Chapman and Hall's re-engraving of the Dublin plates which Phiz completed for William Curry was necessary since the stereoscopic plates were likely worn out after the initial run for the nineteenth serial instalment and the volume edition. A secondary issue becomes evident if one studies the plates side by side, for there are obvious differences in both height and width. The page on which Curry's plates appear is 20.5 cm high by 12.5 cm wide (8 ⅛ by 5 inches), whereas the page size in the later (London) editions of 1865 and 1869 is 19.5 cm high by 12 cm wide (7 ¾ by 4 ¾ inches), necessitating a slightly smaller image for these editions. The re-engraved steel plates tend to be brighter and sharper, but occasionally one sees background details in a Curry plate that are somewhat larger than their equivalents in the Chapman and Hall illustration.

Commentary: Plot Complications attendant upon Tom's return to Ireland

Tom's apparently being involved in the attempted murder is the cause of the warrant against him. When Tom visits Dublin Castle, however, M'Dougall, the kindly stranger whom he met the day before at the hotel, offers to represent him. When Major Barton interrogates Tom, he mentions that there is a general amnesty for which Tom might apply, and that a moderate bail will be all that is expected of Tom since he in no way is an agent of the French government, and has never engaged while a French officer in a battle with British forces. Thus, Tom approaches attorney Basset's office to reestablish contact with his older brother, George, who, he is certain, will go bail for him. From the clerks in the office Tom is shocked to learn that his older brother has died of a fever "after some debauch at Oxford" (278). Tom now awaits Basset's return from court to discuss his inheritance and arrange bail. In the illustration, Tom is the figure seated in front of the office stove (off left), readily identifiable by his military trousers and cap, as the law-clerk smirks at him over his shoulder (right).

Further Information

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

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, 1865. 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.

Created 28 November 2023