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Mr. Snawley Enlarges on Parental Instinct
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby
May 1839
steel engraving
Source: J. A. Hammerton, The Dickens Picture-Book, p. 164.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"Got him! Oh, haven't I got him! Have I got him, though?" cried Mr. Snawley, scarcely able to believe it. "Yes, here he is, flesh and blood, flesh and blood."
"Vary little flesh," said John Browdie.
Mr. Snawley was too much occupied by his parental feelings to notice this remark; and, to assure himself more completely of the restoration of his child, tucked his head under his arm again, and kept it there.
"What was it," said Snawley, "that made me take such a strong interest in him, when that worthy instructor of youth brought him to my house? What was it that made me burn all over with a wish to chastise him severely for cutting away from his best friends, his pastors and masters?"
"It was parental instinct, sir," observed Squeers.
"That's what it was, sir," rejoined Snawley; "the elevated feeling, the feeling of the ancient Romans and Grecians, and of the beasts of the field and birds of the air, with the exception of rabbits and tom-cats, which sometimes devour their offspring. My heart yearned towards him. I could have — I don't know what I couldn't have done to him in the anger of a father." [Chapter XLV, "Containing Matter of a surprising Kind," Part 14, May 1839]
The large, tall, well-made figure on the right in this scene set in the Nicklebys' cottage is the valiant, noble-hearted Yorkshireman John Browdie; Smike and Snawley are the centre, the twin focal points of the letterpress and illustration; to the far left, leaning on a chair back, is Ralph Nickleby, whose forged papers attest to Smike's being Snawley's son. The disposition of the characters in the background, the shape of the room, and the principals in the foreground all suggest the somewhat theatrical nature of the composition. THe domestic setting is the parlour of the Nicklebys' cottage; Snawley, Squeers, and Ralph have interrupted John in the midst of singing a Yorkshire lament just prior to the departure of the Browdies for the inn.
While Phiz continues to delight in the physical and character comedy of the spurious Snawley and the obtuse Squeers, Dickens develops the plot secret surrounding Smike's origins, unmasking Snawley as a compound of meanness, hypocrisy, and brutality through his own words and actions. Since he fabricates his identity as Smike's long-lost father with great conviction and much protestation, the reader feels that Ralph is getting more than his money's worth, but Snawley in the final analysis consults only his self-interest and exposes Ralph's plan when he fears that he will be charged with perjury in asserting that Smike is his son.
Left: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s portrait of John Browdie, his wife, and her friend, Fanny Squeers, is positioned in this chapter (1867, The Diamond Edition). Right: Fred Barnard's Household Edition illustration of Squeers's celebratory victory dance that punctuates the departure of Ralph's party: Mr. Squeers executes an impromptu 'Pas Seul' (1875).
Left: C. S. Reinhart's American Household Edition portrait of John, barely suppressing his glee at outsmarting Squeers: John was sitting on the bed, with the reddest face ever seen. Harry Furniss's study of John Browdie in the scene in which Snawley celebrates Smike's escape: Mr. Snawley's thankfulness on discovering Smike (1910).
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Illustrated by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne). London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.
_______. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Ed. Andrew Lang. Illustrated by 'Phiz' (Hablot Knight Browne). The Gadshill Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1897. 2 vols.
Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. 24-50.
Thomas, Deborah A. "Chapter 2: Imaginative Overindulgence." Dickens and the Short Story. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982. 7-31.
Vann, J. Don. "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, twenty parts in nineteen monthly installments, April 1838-October 1839." New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. 63.
Created 9 May 2009 Last modified 22 September 2021