Passage Illustrated

“What is that?” asked he, hastily, as he pointed with his pen to the object.

“A poor child was found thus, frozen to death upon the Arlberg,” said Kate; “and my sister carved that figure from a description of the event.”

“Your sister! This was done by you,” said Grounsell, slowly, as he turned his gaze from the work to the artist.

“Yes,” cried Hans, whose face beamed with delight; “is it not 'lieblich?' is it not vonderful? Dass, I say, alway; none have taste now none have de love to admire!”

Stooping down to examine it better, Grounsell was struck by the expression of the face, whereon a smile of trustfulness and hope seemed warring with the rigid lines of coming death; so that the impression conveyed was more of a victory over suffering than of a terrible fate.

“She is self-taught, sir; none even so much as assisted Ler by advice,” said Kate, proudly.

“That will be perhaps but too apparent from my efforts,” said Ellen, smiling faintly. [Chapter V, "The Patient," 40]

Commentary

Dr. Grounsell, attempting to have prescriptions filled at the apothecary shop in Baden, has been directed to help Peter Dalton, who, like his own English patient, is suffering from acute gout and is bed-ridden. The German apothecary offers to fill the prescriptions only if Grounsell agrees to alleviate Dalton's suffering as well. At the Daltons' home the English physicians greatly admire a statue on the table which depicts a poverty-stricken, starving child at the foot of the cross. The self-taught sculptor, her sister Ellen, Kate Dalton explains to the visitor, was inspired by news of an actual event in the region. In gratitude for his attending their father, the girls present The statue to the physician, somewhat distressing Hans, who clearly values it and perhaps hopes to be able to purchase it himself.

Phiz's organisation of the composition makes the situation and the identities of the four figures perfectly clear: the left is Hans, the dwarf, who is utterly devoted to the Dalton sisters; seated at the table, studying the sculpture, is Dr. Grounsell; unfortunately, Phiz has made the Dalton sisters, right, look so much alike that it is difficult to distinguish Kate the housekeeper from Ellen the artist. The other feature of the scene, the devout Catholicism of the Daltons, is suggested by the low-relief sculture of the Virgin Mary, above the sisters (right). The composition is an interesting blend of mere portraiture (the shock-haired physician), character comedy (Hans the dwarf in his over-sized topboots), and the sentimentality exemplified by the mutual devotion of the Irish sisters.

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.

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