Bibliographical Information

In the 1859 (first edition) single-volume edition the elegant Frontispiece appeared as the initial illustration, but in fact had already appeared in the final instalment, in April, illustrating a brief inset narrative in Chapter LXXV, "The Convent of St. George." This same chapter appeared as Chapter XXXIII in the second volume of the Chapman & Hall two-volume edition of 1872 (re-issued in 1901 by Little, Brown & Co., Boston).

Commentary: (frontispiece, April 1859)

This frontispiece, which depicts Charles Conway’s attorney Reggis captured by Cossacks behind Russian lines, appeared as one of the last monthly illustrations of the original serial version novel since it illustrates a passage near its end. As four Russian horsemen encircle the hapless attorney two of them prod him with their lances, and the two French cavalrymen ("two Chasseurs d'Afrique") whom Classon has bribed turn back in their saddles from the hillside above to survey the action. Phiz and Lever use this scene of bribery, betrayal, and military action set on the lines between the adversaries in the Crimean War to set the keynotes for the novel. Phiz has adroitly fused two disparate plot lines — the question of the Lackington inheritance and the events in the Crimea — which feature Jack Kellett, Sybella Kellett, and Charles Conway. Phiz treats the third plot element, the collapse of Davenport Dunn's financial empire, in the title-page vignette.

Lever presents the incident in flashback as the duplicitous "Holy Paul" tells what happened to Conway's lawyer to demonstrate what fate Terry Driscoll can expect if he attempts to cheat Classon out of his share of the spoils of the Lackington estates. Operating as the agent for his companion in travel and crime, Driscoll, Classon has betrayed Charley Conway's lawyer in order to prevent Conway from claiming the estates of Viscount Lord Lackington, although he has already successfully prosecuted his claim to the title. As the next male heir in the line, Driscoll would then be able to claim the title and English estates for himself. Classon's strategy includes stealing any of Conway's papers that support his case, but it fails when the smooth villain finds himself trapped in Conway's room at the Convent of St. George in the Crimea, and Reggis appears. This critical scene had already occurred in the penultimate instalment of the novel, "Holy Paul" in a Fix (March 1859).

Other illustrations Associated with the Crimean War

• "A Friend of Jack's" (October 1857)
• The Pony Race (October 1857)
• Catching a Colonel (September 1858)
• Charley the Smasher (February 1859)
• The Vision (March 1859)

Working methods: Phiz and Horses

• Phiz: "A Good Hand at a Horse" — A Gallery and Brief Overview of Phiz's Illustrations of Horses for Defoe, Dickens, Lever, and Ainsworth (1836-64)

References

Browne, John Buchanan. Phiz! Illustrator of Dickens' World. New York: Charles Scribner's, 1978.

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. Davenport Dunn: A Man of Our Day. Illustrated by "Phiz" (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1859.

Stevenson, Lionel. Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. New York: Russell & Russell, 1939, rpt. 1969.

Sutherland, John. "Davenport Dunn." The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford U. P., 1989. Page 172.

---

Victorian
Web

Visual
Arts

Illustra-
tion

Phiz

Davenport
Dunn

Charles
Lever

Next

Last modified 2 May 2019