The Return to the Old Country — forty-sixth 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 LXXIII, "The Rore" (facing 654). 9.6 x 13 cm (3 ⅞ by 5 ⅛ inches) vignetted. This is the seventeenth vertically oriented plate in the two-volume novel. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated: Passengers alighting from the stagecoach in the Village Square
As Cahill gained the street, a heavy travelling-carriage, whose lumbering build bespoke a foreign origin, passed by with four posters, and, sweeping across the market-place, drew up at the chief inn of the town. The priest, in idle curiosity, mingled with the lounging crowd that immediately gathered around the strange-looking equipage, where appliances for strength and comfort seemed blended, in total disregard to all facilities for motion. A bustling courier, with all the officiousness of his craft, speedily opened the door and banged down the steps, and a very tall old man, in what appeared to be an undress military frock, descended, and then assisted a young lady to alight. This done, they both gave their arm to a young man, whose wasted form and uncertain step bespoke long and severe illness. Supporting him at either side, they assisted him up the steps into the hall, while the bystanders amused themselves in criticising the foreigners, for such their look and dress declared them.
“The ould fellow with a white beard over his lip is a Roosian or a Proosian,” cried one, who aspired to no small skill in continental nationalities.
“Faix! the daughter takes the shine out of them all,” cried another. “She's a fine crayture!”
“The brother was a handsome man before he had that sickness,” observed a third. “'Tis no use of his legs he has!”
These frank commentaries on the new arrivals were suddenly interrupted by the appearance of the old man on the steps of the hall door, where he stood gazing down the street, and totally unconscious of the notice he was attracting.
“What's that building yonder?” cried he, to the waiter at his side, and his accent, as he spoke, betrayed a foreign tongue. “The Town Hall! — ah, to be sure, I remember it now; and, if I be not much mistaken, there is —— at least there was—an old rickety stair to a great loft overhead, where a strange fellow lived, who made masks for the theatre — what's this his name was?” The bystanders listened to these reminiscences in silent astonishment, but unable to supply the missing clew to memory. “Are none of you old enough to remember Jack Ruth, the huntsman?” cried he, aloud.
“I have heard my father talk of him,” said a middle-aged man, “if it was the same that galloped down the mountain of Corrig-O'Neal and swam the river at the foot of it.”
“The very man,” broke in the stranger. “Two of the dogs, but not a man, dared to follow! I have seen some bold feats since that day, but I scarcely think I have ever witnessed a more dashing exploit. If old Jack has left any of his name and race behind him,” said he, turning to the waiter, “say that there's one here would like to see him;” and with this he re-entered the inn. [Chapter LXXIII, "The Rore," 654]
Commentary: The Daltons alight from their outlandish coach at Inistioge
The substance of this illustration is the arrival of the three Daltons in Inistioge from Austria: the old Field Marshal uncle, Kate and Frank. In the illustration, the foreign-looking carriage has excited considerable public attention as it pulls onto the marketplace near the inn and Kate alights, assisted by the party’s courier. By the time that Lieutenant Frank Dalton (in company with his sister and uncle) and the would-be detective, Doctor Grounsell, have arrived separately from the continent, the Catholic priests Michel Cahill and Eustace D’Esmonde have removed themselves five miles from the village. This was not, however, scene of Meekins’ arrest, which was in the marketplace of Graigue (depicted in the previous scene, Dark Sam, where an old farmer named Lenahan had recognized Meekins as “Black Sam,” formerly the cruel estate steward of Mr. Godfrey. Meanwhile, the priests are laying low at an inn called “The Rore,” which has given its name to Chapter 73. The three Daltons and Doctor Grounsell will all be the guests of the English banker's widow, Lady Hester Onslow, who, through Sir Stafford’s death, has inherited the nearby estate of Corrig-O’Neal, formerly belonging to the Dalton family.
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. Vol. 2. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32062/32062-h/32062-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.
Created 5 June 2022