“Treason! Guard! Treason!” Phiz (Hablot K. Browne). 1866. Wood engraving. Errym’s A Mystery in Scarlet. Courtesy Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Click on image to enlarge it.
Text Illustrated
He had left off fencing with the sword, but he held it straight before him, the point quivering in his nervous grasp (66).
Commentary
Once again, the sycophantic, venal royal valet Norris (far left) is folded up, minimized, and comedically subhuman. He faces the same way as his master King George II, and their faces are nearly identical. George II’s thin legs, low forehead, and general slovenliness (at least one stocking has fallen down below the knee) delegitimate him. Reinforcing the narrative’s class politics, which emphasize the disenfranchised Markham’s ability to lead and the incompetence of most of the elite characters, the assembled courtiers look like bloated monsters with elaborate hairstyles. The oval portrait (top centre) might represent Frederick, Prince of Wales (at right of the proffered abdication papers). A rebel against his own father, he is dressed counterculturally in solid black. Anachronistically, he wears his own hair, without powder.
Image scan by the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Commentary by Rebecca Nesvet, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. Formatting, color correction, and sizing by George P. Landow[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and Indiana University and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Errym, Malcolm J [James Malcolm Rymer]. A Mystery in Scarlet, leading serial of The London Miscellany. Ed. James Malcolm Rymer, 1, no. 5 (1866): 1. From the copy in the collection of the Wells Library, Indiana University, Bloomington. Courtesy Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Last modified 13 July 2019