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Daly and his friends
Phiz
May 1846 (fifth) instalment
Steel-engraving
12.6 cm by 11 cm (4 ⅞ by 4 ¾ inches), vignetted.
Charles Lever's The Knight of Gwynne; A Tale of the Time of the Union (May 1846), originally for Part 5, facing p. 143.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Con Heffernan's carriage was seen everywhere, and some avowed that at five o'clock he was driving with the third pair of posters he had that day employed. Bagenal Daly was also a conspicuous character "on town;" on foot and alone, he was at once recognized by the mob, who cheered him as an old but long-lost-sight-of acquaintance. The densest crowd made way for him as he came, and every mark of respect was shown him by those who set a higher price on his eccentricity and daring than even upon his patriotism; and a murmuring commentary on his character followed him as he went.
"By my conscience! it's well for them they haven't to fight for the Union, or they wouldn't like old Bagenal Daly agin them!"
"He looks as fresh and bould as ever he did," said another; "sorra a day oulder than he was twenty-eight years ago, when I seen him tried for his life at Newgate."
"Was you there, Mickey?" cried two or three in a breath.
"Faix was I, as near as I am to you. 'Twas a coal-heaver he kilt, a chap that was called Big Sam; and they say he was bribed by some of the gentlemen at Daly's Club House to come up to Bagenal Daly in the street and insult him about the beard he wears on his upper lip, and sure enough so he did, — it was Ash Wednesday mor by token, — and Sam had a smut on his face just to imitat(e) Mr. Daly's. 'We are a purty pair, ain't we?' says Sam, grinning at him, when they met on Essex Bridge. And wid that he slips his arm inside Mr. Daly's to hook wid his."
"To walk beside him, is't?" [Chapter XIX, "A Day of Excitement," 143]
The ragged street people survey Bagenal Daly admiringly, and not merely because of his fashionable attire, but for his history of braving the authorities. The artist has distinguished the political figure from the rabble by virtue of his gentlemanly, dark clothing, respectable top-hat, and general cleanliness. What has especially stirred up the plebeians' admiration is his known opposition to the Act of Union, as Phiz signals in the wall-posters: such words as "Vote," "election," and "Union" arrest the viewer's attention, even as the illustrator has taken pains to make each rowdy street-person an individual by face, clothing, and pose.
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. The Knight of Gwynne; A Tale of the Time of the Union. London: Chapman and Hall, serialised January 1846 through July 1847.
Lever, Charles. The Knight of Gwynne. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablột Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vol. I and II. In two volumes. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 28 February 2018.
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. Chapter IX, "Nomadic Patriarch, 1845-1847." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 146-164.
_______. "The Domestic Scene." The English Novel: A Panorama. Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin and Riverside, 1960.
Created 28 July 2023