"Mr. Dempsey's visit to the Corvy" — Phiz's twenty-third engraving for Charles Lever's "The Knight of Gwynne" (November 1846)

Mr. Dempsey's visit to the Corvy

Phiz

November 1846 (eleventh) instalment

Steel-engraving

12.5 cm by 11 cm (4 ⅞ by 4 ¼ inches), vignetted.

Charles Lever's The Knight of Gwynne; A Tale of the Time of the Union (November 1846), originally for Part 11, facing p. 325.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

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 photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: Bagenal Daly's Collection of Curiosities at The Corvy

“Quite a show-box, by Jove!” said he, at last, as he peered through a glass cabinet, where Chinese slippers, with models in ivory and carvings in box, were heaped promiscuously together; “upon my word, sir, you have a very remarkable collection. And who may be our friend in the boat here?” added he, turning to the grim visage of Bagenal Daly himself, who stared with a bold effrontery that would not have disgraced the original.

“The gentleman you see there,” said the Knight, “is the collector himself, and the other is his servant. They are represented in the costumes in which they made their escape from a captivity among the red men.”

“Begad!” said Dempsey, “that fellow with the tortoise painted on his forehead has a look of our old friend, Miss Daly — shouldn't wonder if he was a member of her family.”

“You have well guessed it; he is the lady's brother.”

“Ah, ah!” muttered Dempsey to himself, “always thought there was something odd about her, — never suspected Indian blood, however. How Mother Fum will stare when I tell her she's a Squaw! Didn't they show these things at the Rooms in Mary's Street? I think I saw them advertised in the papers.”

“I think you must mistake,” said the Knight; “they are the private collection of my friend.”

“And where may Woc-woc — confound his name — the 'Howling Wind,' as he is pleased to call himself, be passing his leisure hours just now?”

“He is at present in Dublin, sir; and if you desire, he shall be made aware of your polite inquiries.” [Chapter XXXIX, “A Tale of Mr. Dempsey's Grandfather,” 325]

Commentary: Darcy satisfies Paul Dempsey's Curiosity

As they leave the watering-place together, Dempsey expresses an interest in Bagenal Daly's "Armoury," reputed to be sufficient to arm a wrecking crew of twenty. At first, Darcy is nonplussed that Dempsey seems to know that he and his family are staying the Corvy, having temporarily displaced Miss Maria Daly, Bagenal's sister. Entrapped by Dempsey's invitation to dine at the boarding-house, Darcy counters with his own dinner invitation for the following day. The present scene involves the entrance of Dempsey (small, rotund, and inquisitive) and a Mr. Leonard, formerly of Colonel Darcy's unit in the Seven Years War, and the veteran of battles at Quebec City and Trois Rivieres some four decades earlier, but now merely one of the retired guests at Mrs. Fumbally's Boarding House. With little more than a dummy bearing a likeness to Bagenal Daly and the curios of Chinese slippers, ivory carvings, and medals as Lever has described the items in the Corvy's collection, Phiz has added shields, hides, spears, stuffed owls, elephant tusks, and cartoon-like idols to flesh out the "show-box." The tall, serious man of about sixty is Darcy, and the lugubrious Leonard stands by his side. Lady Eleanor and Helen are to the left of the crowded apartment that serves as a foyer to the Corvy's dining-room.

Other Images of Bagenal Daly, The Collector of Curiosities on his Travels

6. Sandy M'Grane expedites the doctor (facing p. 56) February 1846
9. Daly stirs up the Post-boy (facing p. 115) April 1846
10. Daly surveying the robber's Imp (facing p. 122) April 1846
19. Tate's tête-à-tête Interupted (facing p. 274) September 1846
20. Daly bestows a helmet on "Bully Dodd" (facing p. 286) September 1846
21. Daly visits Freney in Prison (facing p. 298) October 1846
40. "The Howling Wind" alias Bagenal Daly captures "Honest Tom" (facing p. 619) July 1847

Bibliography

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 7 August 2023