"'My dear,' said Mr. Pickwick, looking over the wall" — fortieth illustration by Phiz for Dickens's "Pickwick Papers" (1874)

"My dear," said Mr. Pickwick, looking over the wall, and catching sight of Arabella on the other side. "Don't be frightened, my dear, 'tis only me." by Phiz (Hablot K. Browne) in the Household Edition (1874) of Dickens's Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Chapter XXXIX, "Mr. Samuel Weller, being intrusted with a Mission of Love, proceeds to execute it; with what Success will hereinafter appear," p. 289. Wood-engraving, 4 ¼ inches high by 5 ½ inches wide (11 cm high by 14 cm wide), framed, half-page; referencing text on p. 277; descriptive headline: "Mr. Pickwick is Low-Spirited" (p. 289). [Click on the illustration to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Pickwick and Sam assist Winkle in finding Arabella Allen

"My dear," said Mr. Pickwick, looking over the wall, and catching sight of Arabella, on the other side, "don't be frightened, my dear, it's only me."

"Oh, pray go away, Mr. Pickwick," said Arabella. "Tell them all to go away. I am so dreadfully frightened. Dear, dear Mr. Pickwick, don't stop there. You'll fall down and kill yourself, I know you will."

"Now, pray don't alarm yourself, my dear," said Mr. Pickwick soothingly. "There is not the least cause for fear, I assure you. Stand firm, Sam," said Mr. Pickwick, looking down.

"All right, sir," replied Mr. Weller. "Don't be longer than you can conweniently help, sir. You're rayther heavy."

"Only another moment, Sam,' replied Mr. Pickwick.

"I merely wished you to know, my dear, that I should not have allowed my young friend to see you in this clandestine way, if the situation in which you are placed had left him any alternative; and, lest the impropriety of this step should cause you any uneasiness, my love, it may be a satisfaction to you, to know that I am present. That's all, my dear."

"Indeed, Mr. Pickwick, I am very much obliged to you for your kindness and consideration," replied Arabella, drying her tears with her handkerchief. She would probably have said much more, had not Mr. Pickwick's head disappeared with great swiftness, in consequence of a false step on Sam's shoulder which brought him suddenly to the ground. He was up again in an instant, however, and bidding Mr. Winkle make haste and get the interview over, ran out into the lane to keep watch, with all the courage and ardour of youth. Mr. Winkle himself, inspired by the occasion, was on the wall in a moment, merely pausing to request Sam to be careful of his master. [The Household Edition, Chapter Chapter XXXIX, "Mr. Samuel Weller, being intrusted with a Mission of Love, proceeds to execute it; with what Success will hereinafter appear." [Chapman & Hall, Chapter XXXIX, "Mr. Samuel Weller, being intrusted with a Mission of Love, proceeds to execute it; with what Success will hereinafter appear," p. 277; Harper & Bros., p. 237]

Commentary: Coincidence upon Coincidence

Having been sent by Pickwick on the seemingly impossible quest for Arabella Allen's aunt's house on the outskirts of Bristol, investigating likely villas in the suburbs Sam Weller runs into Mary, formerly Mr. Nupkins's maid at Ipswich, who by coincidence knows where Arabella Allen is staying — immediately next door. A pleasant interlude involves Sam and the pretty house-maid exchanging a few kisses, a minor moment in the narrative strikingly captured by Thomas Nast in his illustration of the episode:

"Lord do adun, Mr. Weller!" by Thomas Nast. [Click on image to enlarge it.]

Incorporating salient background details, Nast has included one of the carpets that Mary had come outside to shake, the garden door into the laneway, and a large villa beyond the garden wall:

Mr. Weller was a gentleman of great gallantry in his own way, and he no sooner remarked this circumstance than he hastily rose from the large stone, and advanced towards her.

"My dear," said Sam, sliding up with an air of great respect, "you'll spile that wery pretty figure out o' all perportion if you shake them carpets by yourself. Let me help you."

The young lady, who had been coyly affecting not to know that a gentleman was so near, turned round as Sam spoke — no doubt (indeed she said so, afterwards) to decline this offer from a perfect stranger — when instead of speaking, she started back, and uttered a half-suppressed scream. Sam was scarcely less staggered, for in the countenance of the well-shaped female servant, he beheld the very features of his valentine, the pretty housemaid from Mr. Nupkins's. [Harper & Bros., 233]

Subsequently, clambering up the wall by means of the overhanging boughs of a great pear-tree (more like an oak in Phiz's illustration), Sam makes contact with Arabella, and arranges that she will be out in the garden again the following evening, after sunset. When Sam returns to The Bush at Bristol with this intelligence, Pickwick determines to accompany Winkle and Sam to serve as a sort of chaperon. This, then, is the situation that both Nast and Phiz describe in their illustrations for Chapter XXXIX's "garden assignation." However, neither includes Pickwick's dark lantern, which affords considerable comic business, especially in Dickens's satire of the amateur scientist next door.

"Don't be longer than you can conveniently help, Sir. You're rayther heavy" by Thomas Nast, again in Chapter XXXIX. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Commentary: Contrasting Styles for the Same Scene (1873, 1874)

The illustrations complement each other insofar as Phiz's represents the earlier moment, when Pickwick gets up on Sam's back, whereas in Nast's illustration Pickwick stands on Sam's shoulders to converse with Arabella. Whereas Nast's interpretation is more realistic in that all the figures are but dimly apprehended in the darkness, Phiz's more clearly reveals the postures, positions, and expressions of the three principals, the avuncular Samuel Pickwick, the romantic Nathaniel Winkle, and the enabling servant, Sam Weller. However, from the point of view of situation and character comedy, Phiz's treatment is vastly more entertaining because his figures are better modelled and individualised; in particular, Pickwick seems oblivious to Sam's exertions as he is caught up in his role as advisor to the young couple, while Sam Weller and Nathaniel Winkle are captured in awkward positions, supporting their chief. In order to show clearly the irregularities of the wall and the tree, as well as the particulars of the three men, Phiz has had to disregard the lack of available light. In contrast, Nast manages his material in a realistic manner, albeit without any humour — but at least his illustration occurs on the same page as the passage visualised, whereas the reader has to flip back a dozen pages to re-read the passage associated with the woodcut on page 289 of the Chapman and Hall Household Edition.

The farcical situation itself seems to be a reprise of the ladies' seminary escapade of Chapter XVI, which, as Collins and Guiliano note, reveals the influence of Elizabeth Simpson Inchbald's plot gambits upon Dickens, who had read her Collection of Farces (1807): "Dickens surely drew upon Mrs. Inchbald's plays and perhaps other works of popular theatre and literature for this scene" (The Annotated Dickens, I: 378).

Related Material

Other artists who illustrated this work, 1836-1910

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. Formatting by George P. Landow. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

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. 24-50.

Created 17 April 2012

Last modified 22 April 2024