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Passage Illustrated: Bagenal Daly and his servant Sandy don aboriginal disguises

“How I escaped that bullet is more than I can guess,” said Daly, as he inspected the blanket where it was pierced by a shot; and as he spoke, he threw its wide folds over his shoulders, the better to judge of the position.

“Ye aye wore it more on this side,” said Sandy, arranging the folds with tasteful pride; “an', troth, it becomes you well. Tak the bit tomahawk in your hand, noo. Ech! but yer like yoursel once more.”

“We may have to don this gear again, and sooner than you think,” said Daly, thoughtfully.

“Nae a bit sooner than I'd like,” said Sandy. “The salvages, as they ca' them, hae neither baillies nor policemen, they hae nae cranks about lawyers and 'tornies; a grip o' a man's hair and a sharp knife is even as mickle a reason as a hempen cord and a gallows tree! Ech, it warms my bluid again to see you stridin' up and doon, — if you had but a smudge o' yellow ochre, or a bit o' red round your eyes, ye 'd look awful well.”

“What are you staring at?” said Daly, as Sandy opened a door stealthily, and gazed down the passage towards the kitchen.

“I'm thinking that as there is naebody in the house but the twa lasses, maybe your honour would try a war-cry, — ye ken ye could do it bra'ly once.”

“I may need the craft soon again,” said Daly, thoughtfully.

“Mercy upon us! here's the leddies!” cried Sandy. But before Daly could disencumber himself of his weapons and costume, Helen entered the hall. [Chapter LX, "Daly's Farewell," 402]

Commentary: Off on Another Adventure!

Bagenal Daly arrives at his sister's rooming-house at Ballintray in the previous chapter to announce that he and his servant, Sandy, are about to undertake an overseas adventure of several months' duration. In all likelihood, the recent jailbreak by Freney from Dublin's Newgate Prison is connected with this trip to discover what has become of the embezzler Tom Gleeson. The illustration of Daly and Sandy M'Grane dressed (albeit, somewhat fancifully) as North American aboriginal warriors suggests that their expedition will reflect young author Charles Lever's adventures on the American and Canadian frontiers; as Stevenson remarks, "In the Tuscarora district [near Lake Champlain] he contrived to make friends with an Indian [sic] tribe, and adapted himself so thoroughly to their way of life that the sachem formally initiated him into membership" (17). One can only imagine how Lever narrated these backwood experiences for his illustrator in preparation for this drawing!

The "leddies" to whom Sandy refers are the present occupants of The Corvy, Lady Eleanor Darcy and her daughter, Helen, whom he and his master thought were out for the day. Helen is merely curious, but Lady Eleanor seems somewhat surprised to see the disguises that Daly and Sandy have donned in the Room of Curiosities, seen in an earlier illustration, Mr. Dempsey's visit to the Corvy in Chapter XXXIX. Daly's reminiscence about his escape on the "Ottowa" (401) River from the Delaware has just explained the meaning of the boat, spears, and effigy of Daly to the left; apparently, Phiz had little notion as to how to depict a real birchbark "canoe." Inexplicably, Phiz has placed a top-hat on Daly's effigy, rendering the whole effect outlandishly comic.

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.

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Created 10 August 2023