"Mr. Weller was dispelling all the feverish remains of the previous evening's conviviality, . . . . when he was attracted by the appearance of a young fellow in mulberry-coloured livery" — seventeenth illustration by Phiz for Dickens's "Pickwick Papers" (1874)

Mr. Weller was dispelling all the feverish remains of the previous evening's conviviality, . . . . when he was attracted by the appearance of a young fellow in mulberry-coloured livery, etc. by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). (See page 107.). Chapter XVI, "Too full of Adventure to be briefly described." Wood-engraving, 4 inches high by 5 ½ inches wide (10.2 cm high by 14.3 cm wide), framed, half-page, p. 105; referencing text on page 107; descriptive headline: "Mr. Weller's Youthful Training" (p. 105). [Click on the illustration to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated

Early on the ensuing morning, Mr. Weller was dispelling all the feverish remains of the previous evening's conviviality, through the instrumentality of a halfpenny shower-bath (having induced a young gentleman attached to the stable department, by the offer of that coin, to pump over his head and face, until he was perfectly restored), when he was attracted by the appearance of a young fellow in mulberry-coloured livery, who was sitting on a bench in the yard, reading what appeared to be a hymn-book, with an air of deep abstraction, but who occasionally stole a glance at the individual under the pump, as if he took some interest in his proceedings, nevertheless. [Chapter XVI, "Too full of Adventure to be briefly described," 107]

Commentary

Sam Weller and Mr. Pickwick have arrived at the Angel in Bury St. Edmunds after a pleasant drive through the countryside. In contrast to the pastoral scenery, Sam discusses his experiences as a child, when with the poorest Londoners he lived under bridges, or night by night in cheap lodging houses. The pair are pursuing Alfred Jingle after his speedy exit from Mrs. Leo Hunter's party at Eatanswill. And here Dickens introduces readers to the immortal Wellerism "Right as a trivet." Although the fact has not yet registered with Sam (left), the young man, seated opposite, in servant's livery reading a small book (a hymn book, in fact, by which Dickens suggests his hypocrisy) is none other than Job Trotter, Alfred Jingle's aide and valet. There is no comparable scene in either the original 1836-37 Seymour/Phiz series or the Thomas Nast illustrations for the Harper and Brothers' Household Edition of The Pickwick Papers.

The Dickensian "catch phrase" through which the reader instantly identifies Trotter is "mulberry-coloured livery." Sam assumes that he will be able to delude Job by giving assumed names for himself and his master, but in fact Job has easily identified Sam as Pickwick's servant and, at Jingle's bidding, is about to send the pair on a wild goose chase. Unfortunately, the illustrator seems to have found no way of visually communicating the duplicity being practised by both, and so realises the initial moments of the meeting, when at least Sam is not quite sure of the "mulberry man's" identity. Job appears to be utterly engrossed in reading his hymn-book, although in fact he is closely observing Pickwick's servant, who has just emerged from his dousing under an archaeologically correct farmyard pump of early nineteenth century vintage.

Related Material

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

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Bibliography

Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.

Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus: Ohio State U. P., 1980.

Davis, Paul. Charles Dickens A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On File and Checkmark Books, 1998.

Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Frontispieces by Felix Octavius Carr Darley and Sir John Gilbert. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1863. 4 vols.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 22 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 2.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 5.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

_____. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. 1.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Thomas Nast. The Household Edition. 16 vols. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 4.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ('Phiz'). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874. Vol. 6.

_______. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 2.

Guiliano, Edward, and Philip Collins, eds. The Annotated Dickens.2 vols. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1986. Vol. I.

Steig, Michael. Chapter 2. "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-50.

Created 5 April 2012

Last updated 22 April 2024