Two versions of Darby in the Chair (facing p. 243 in Vol. 2 of the 1844 edition, and p. 292 in Vol. 2 of the 1869 edition) horizontally-mounted. 1844 dimensions: 13.8 cm high by 11.3 cm wide, (5 ½ by 4 ½ inches). 1869 dimensions: 18.5 cm high by 12 cm wide, (7 ¾ by 4 ¼ inches), vignetted. Engraved and re-engraved steel illustrations for Charles Lever's Tom Burke of "Ours," Chapter XLIV, "The Peril Averted" (August 1844) in the William Curry second volume, 1844 edition; in Chapter XXXVII from the Chapman & Hall second volume, 1869 edition. [Click on the images to enlarge them; mouse over links.]
Passage Illustrated from Both Editions: An Irish Comic Interlude in Court
His air and demeanor as he took his seat on the table seemed an acknowledgment of the homage rendered him: for though, as he placed his worn and ragged hat beside his feet, and stroked down his short black hair on his forehead, a careless observer might have suspected him of feeling awed and abashed by the presence in which he sat, one more conversant with his countrymen would have detected in the quiet leer of his roguish black eye, and a certain protrusion of his thick under lip, that Darby was as perfectly at his ease there as the eminent judge was who now fixed his eyes upon him. A short, but not disrespectful nod was the only notice he bestowed on me; and then concealing his joined hands within his sleeves, and drawing his legs back beneath the chair, he assumed that attitude of mock humility your least bashful Irishman is so commonly fond of.
The veteran barrister was, meanwhile, surveying the witness with the peculiar scrutiny of his caste: he looked at him through his spectacles, and then he stared at him above them: he measured him from head to foot, his eye dwelling on every little circumstance of his dress or demeanour, as though to catch some clew to his habits of thinking or acting. Never did a matador survey the brawny animal with which he was about to contend in skill or strength with more critical acumen than did the lawyer regard Darby the Blast. Nor was the object of this examination unaware of it; very far from this, indeed. He seemed pleased by the degree of attention bestowed on him, and felt all the flattery such notice conveyed; but while doing so, you could only detect his satisfaction in an occasional sidelong look of drollery, which, brief and fleeting as it was, had still a numerous body of admirers through the court, whose muttered expressions of “Divil fear ye, Darby! but ye're up to them any day;” or “Faix! 'tis himself cares little about them!” showed they had no lack of confidence in the piper. [Chapter XLIV, "The Peril Averted," 243 in the 1844 edition; Chapter XXXVII, pp. 293-294 in the 1869 edition]
Commentary: Once More Darby the Blast comes to Tom's Rescue
Accused and apprehended under judicial warrant for the attempted murder of the thoroughly unpleasant, aristocratically arrogant Major Montague Crofts, Tom now stands arraigned in a Dublin court. Much rides on the outcome, for Tom will face a lengthy prison term if found guilty, and his entire inheritance will be transferred to his antagonist, Crofts, from whom Darby the Blast had saved him. Although the family attorney, the devious Basset, has told Tom that the nationalist piper has been transported, the illustration appearing at the head of the August 1844 instalment signals to serial readers that he is very much present in Ireland, and prepared to come to Tom's defence once again. Prior to Darby's deus-ex-machina appearance, Tom, emerging from months of imprisonment, has been frustrated in his hopes that his inexperienced barrister will be able to discredit the testimony delivered. No one else from the regiment is able to corroborate his story since the regiment has been posted abroad.
The young attorney whom the bench has appointed as Tom's counsel seems barely up to the task. Indeed, Phiz has not distinguished him, giving prominence instead to the surprise witness for the defence, Darby the Blast, in the chair, centre. The attorney for the prosecution (the veteran barrister in spectacles) is shown on the left, beside Sir Montague Crofts (far left). Tom himself is only lightly sketched in (far right). Also shown, down centre, are the genial rabble who have swept into the courtroom, in support of their hero, Darby M'Keown (Darby the Blast's real name) — who has but recently returned from "Hunting kangaroos" (297) in Australia, transported as a leader of the United Irishmen. Up to this point, Tom's guilt has become a foregone conclusion; however, Darby not only corroborates Tom's version of events in the George's-street barracks, but implicates the supposed victim of the assault in the (supposed) death of and plot against his half-brother, Irish Nationalist supporter Daniel Fortescue, the sick man whose place on the ship bound for France Tom took at the last moment. Phiz has juxtaposed the principals in such a manner that Crofts is partially hidden from Tom's view by his attorney. Far less conspicuous is the middle-aged man in the gallery, watching the proceedings (behind Darby, left). At the crucial moment in his testimony, the piper points to as this same Fortescue, long thought dead. And Darby proffers Crofts' pocketbook, taken from him in the barracks, as corroborating evidence in Crofts' plot with Mulcahy, a Nationalist agitator, to discredit if not do in his legitimate half-brother. Moreover, in his role as a British sailor, Daniel Fortescue has been instrumental in smuggling Darby back from the Antipodes.
Other Serial Illustrations involving Darby the Blast
- 3. The Curse. Facing page 28 in Chapter III, "The Departure." (February 1843)
- 4. The Wondrous Effects of a Piper's Pipe of Tobacco. Facing page 31. Chapter IV, "My Wanderings." (March 1843)
- 10. Darby exchanges Compliments with a Soldier. Facing page 133 in Chapter XIX, "The Quarrel." (June 1843)
Further Information
- Phiz and Lever: A Fascination with Napoleon (1840-43; seven plates)
- Charles Lever's Fourth Novel, Tom Burke of "Ours" (February 1843 — September 1844)
- Instalment-by-instalment Synopsis of the Novel's Plot and Characters: Lever's Tom Burke of "Ours" (February 1843)
- Instalment-by-instalment Synopsis of the Novel's Plot and Characters: Lever's Tom Burke of "Ours" (March 1843)
- Synopsis of the Novel's Plot and Characters for Tom Burke's Adventures in France and Germany in Lever's Tom Burke of "Ours" (April 1843 through June 1844)
- Synopsis of the Novel's Plot and Characters for Tom Burke's Final Adventures in Ireland and France in Lever's Tom Burke of "Ours" (July through September 1844)
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 14 September 2023