Passage Illustrated: O'Malley to the Rescue!

A third sound of the trumpet cut short my reflections, and I sprang into the saddle, and hastened towards the Plaza. As I dashed along the streets, my horse, maddened with the impulse that stirred my own heart, curvetted and plunged unceasingly. As I reached the Plaza, the crowd became dense, and I was obliged to pull up. The sound of the music, the parade, the tramp of the infantry, and the neighing of the horses, were, however, too much for my mettlesome steed, and he became nearly unmanageable; he plunged fearfully, and twice reared as though he would have fallen back. As I scattered the foot passengers right and left with terror, my eye fell upon one lovely girl, who, tearing herself from her companion, rushed wildly towards an open doorway for shelter; suddenly, however, changing her intention, she came forward a few paces, and then, as if overcome by fear, stood stock-still, her hands clasped upon her bosom, her eyes upturned, her features deadly pale, while her knees seemed bending beneath her. Never did I behold a more beautiful object. Her dark hair had fallen loose upon her shoulder, and she stood the very idéal of the “Madonna Supplicating.” My glance was short as a lightning flash; for the same instant my horse swerved, and dashed forward right at the place where she was standing. One terrific cry rose from the crowd, who saw her danger. Beside her stood a muleteer who had drawn up his mule and cart close beside the footway for safety; she made one effort to reach it, but her outstretched arms alone moved, and paralyzed by terror, she sank motionless upon the pavement. There was but one course open to me now; so collecting myself for the effort, I threw my horse upon his haunches, and then, dashing the spurs into his flanks, breasted him at the mule cart. With one spring he rose, and cleared it at a bound, while the very air rang with the acclamations of the multitude, and a thousand bravos saluted me as I alighted upon the opposite side.

“Well done, O’Malley!” sang out the little adjutant, as I flew past and pulled up in the middle of the Plaza. [Chapter XXXVII, "Lisbon," pp. 209-210]

Commentary: O'Malley, feeling sorry for himself, is nearly late for muster

As Captain Power suddenly departs to address the French advance on Lisbon, he entrusts several packets to O'Malley for delivery, including the envelope from Lucy Dashwood to his romantic rival, Hammersley. Feeling the contents of the package, O'Malley detects an oval-framed miniature which suggests that Lucy is cementing her relationship with the dashing English cavalry officer. Stunned by the realisation, O'Malley is slow in getting his uniform on, and springs into the saddle of his charger only at the third trumpet. His horse panics in the presence of so many foot-passengers, and nearly tramples a young woman in the street. The upshot, O'Malley's masterfully manoeuvring his steed, makes for an action-packed illustration that clearly establishes that Lever is now advancing the main plot-line after so many narrative digressions. In the plaza to the rear, half-a-dozen dragoons take notice as Malley and his mount leap the mule cart, with the terrified driver hiding underneath the animal, and the contents of a basket (details entirely invented by Phiz) scattered on the cobblestones. The young woman in black leans away, terrified, completing the melodramatic horse opera. The upshot of the incident is that Providence has introduced O'Malley to La Senhora Inez da Rebiera Rua Nuova, the daughter of the wealthy military contractor Don Emanuel de Blancas y Silviero (who appeared in Monsoon's romantic idyll as the comatose husband of Donna Maria). Don Emanuel, grateful to O'Malley for his expert horsemanship in the Plaza, welcomes the British cornet to his daughter's garden fete at their palatial home in the Rua Nuova when O'Malley delivers Monsoon's note to that address.

Related Material

• Charles Lever's Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon (1840-41)
• Hablot Knight Browne, 1815-1882; A Brief Biography
• Cattermole and Phiz: The First illustrators of Barnaby Rudge: A Team Effort by "The Clock Works" (1841)
• Horses by "Phiz" for Charles Lever's Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon (Nov.-Dec. 1841, rpt., 1873)
• Phiz: 'A Good Hand at a Horse'" — A Gallery and Brief Overview of Phiz's Illustrations of Horses for Defoe, Dickens, Lever, and Ainsworth (1836-64)

Bibliography

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. "Edited by Harry Lorrequer." Dublin: William Curry, Jun. London: W. S. Orr, 1841. 2 vols.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Published serially in The Dublin University Magazine from Vol. XV (March 1840) through XVIII (December 1841). Dublin: William Curry, March 1840 through December 1841. London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1842; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vol. I and II. In two volumes. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 2 September 2016.

Steig, Michael. Chapter Two: "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-50.

Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter V, "Renegade from Physic, 1839-1841." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 73-93.

---

Victorian
Web

Illustra-
tion

Phiz

Charles
O'Malley

Next

Created 15 February 2023