"The Letter" — Phiz's thirtieth engraving for Charles Lever's "The Knight of Gwynne" (February 1847)

The Letter

Phiz

February 1847 (fourteenth) instalment

Steel-engraving

11.7 cm by 10.4 cm (4 ½ by 3 ¾ inches), vignetted.

Charles Lever's The Knight of Gwynne; A Tale of the Time of the Union (February 1847), originally for Part 14, facing p. 426.

[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 person who scanned it, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: A Letter addressed to Bagenal Daly's sister, but concerning Helen

Helen sat beside her bed weeping bitterly.

“How shall I bear up,” thought she, “if deprived of that confiding trust a mother's love has ever supplied, — without one to counsel or direct me?”

Half fearing to open the letter, lest all her resolves should be altered by its contents, she remained a long time balancing one difficulty against another. Wearied and undecided, she turned at last to the letter itself, as if for advice. It was a strange hand, and addressed to “Miss Daly.” With trembling fingers she unfolded the paper, and read the writer's name, — “Richard Forester.”

A flood of grateful tears burst forth as she read the words; a sense of relief from impending calamity stole over her mind, while she said, “Thank God! my father and Lionel —” She could say no more, for sobbing choked her utterance. The emotions, if violent, passed rapidly off; and as she wiped away her tears, a smile of hope lit up her features. At any other time she would have speculated long and carefully over the causes which made Forester correspond with Miss Daly, and by what right she herself should be intrusted with his letter. Now her thoughts were hurried along too rapidly for reflection. The vague dread of misfortune, so suddenly removed, suggested a sense of gratitude that thrilled through her heart like joy. In such a frame of mind she read the following lines: —

At Sea. My dear Miss Daly, — I cannot thank you enough for your letter, so full of kindness, of encouragement, and of hope. How much I stand in need of them! [Chapter LII, "A Tête-à-tête and A Letter," ]

Commentary: Helen gains a new appreciation of Captain Forester, now "volunteer" Conway

The courtship of Helen Darcy is the novel's romantic dimension, since Beecham O'Reilly (Hickman) has angled to marry her and Richard Forester has proposed to her. The disposal of her hand in marriage will be one of the chief features of Lever's dénouement. The picture serves to introduce young Forester's first-person account of his interview with his mother, who has disowned him over his attacking the Hickmans' legal counsel, O'Halloran. In the lengthy letter, the correspondent explains how Lord Netherby, Lady Eleanor Darcy's close relative, has attempted to act as peacemaker, and has taken Forester's side at an interview in Lady Wallincourt's home in Berkeley Square, London. Lady Wallingcourt's disowning her son leads to Forester's volunteering under the assumed name of Conway. Once he finds himself on the frigate Hermione, bound for the Mediterranean, he discovers that Colonel Maurice Darcy is his commanding officer. However, in inspecting the ranks, the Knight of Gwynne elects to keep Forester's true identity a secret.

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 11 August 2023