Mr. Purvis procures a Chair for Kate — twenty-second illustration engraved by the Dalziels for the 1852 Chapman and Hall edition of The Daltons, or, Three Roads in Life by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). Chapter XXXIII, “The Conclusion of a 'Grand Dinner'.” (facing 280). 9 cm high by (3 ½ by 5 ⅛ inches), vignetted. This is the seventh vertically oriented plate in the two-volume novel. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: A Humorous Interlude at Lady Hester's High Society Dinner
“All well at home, I hope, eh? How she changes colour,” muttered [Purvis] to himself. “Nobody ill; nobody dead, eh?” asked he, louder. “It must be something serious, though; she's trembling like ague. Let me give you a chair, that is, if I can f-find one in this little den; they've got nothing but d-divans all round it.” And he hurried forth into the larger salon in search of a seat.
It was not without considerable trouble to himself and inconvenience to various others that he at last succeeded, and returned to the boudoir with a massive arm-chair in his hands. But what was his dismay to find that Miss Dalton had made her escape in the mean while? In vain did he seek her through the salons, which now were rapidly thinning; the distinguished guests having already departed.
A stray group lingered here and there, conversing in a low tone; and around the fires were gathered little knots of ladies muffled and cloaked, and only waiting for the carriages. It was like a stage, when the performance was over. Scarcely deigning to notice the little man, who, with palpable keenness of scrutiny, pursued his search in every quarter, they gradually moved off, leaving Purvis alone to tread the “banquet-hall deserted.” The servants, as they extinguished the lights, passed and repassed him without remark; so that, defeated and disappointed, he was obliged at last to retire, sorrowfully confessing to his own heart how little success had attended his bold enterprise. [Chapter XXXIII, "The Conclusion of a 'Grand Dinner'," 280]
Commentary: The gallant Purvis merely makes himself look ridiculous
Phiz has expended considerably effort here to individualise Lady Hester's dinner guests in a manner that renders their figures, poses, and faces varied and engaging. However, this largely male, middle-aged, and bearded group of guests is merely the backdrop for the comic scene unfolding down centre. In particular, the fashionably dressed young women (right) turn to study Scroope Purvis, Zoe Ricketts' brother, struggling to carry an enormous, padded chair from one salon to Lady Hester's reception room or "boudoir." Phiz has rejected the part of the text, however, in which Lever describes the guests as about to depart "muffled and cloaked" as Purvis struggles with the arm-chair in an act of gallantry that merely makes him look foolish.
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
Browne, John Buchanan. Phiz! Illustrator of Dickens' World. New York: Charles Scribner's, 1978.
Downey, Edmund. Charles Lever: His Life in Letters. 2 vols. london; William Blackwood, 1906.
Fitzpatrick, W. J. The Life of Charles Lever. London: Downey, 1901.
Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.
Lever, Charles. The Daltons, or, Three Roads in Life. Illustrated by "Phiz" (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1852, rpt. 1872.
Lever, Charles James. The Daltons, or, Three Roads in Life. http://www.gutenberg.org//files/32061/32061-h/32061-h.htm
Skinner, Anne Maria. Charles Lever and Ireland. University of Liverpool. PhD dissertation. May 2019.
Stevenson, Lionel. Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell & Russell, 1939, rpt. 1969.
_______. "The Domestic Scene." The English Novel: A Panorama. Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin and Riverside, 1960.
Last modified 6 May 2022