Passage Illustrated: Diminutive, but not Dwarfs

Mr. and Mrs. Chirrup are the nice little couple in question. Mr. Chirrup has the smartness, and something of the brisk, quick manner of a small bird. Mrs. Chirrup is the prettiest of all little women, and has the prettiest little figure conceivable. She has the neatest little foot, and the softest little voice, and the pleasantest little smile, and the tidiest little curls, and the brightest little eyes, and the quietest little manner, and is, in short, altogether one of the most engaging of all little women, dead or alive. She is a condensation of all the domestic virtues, — a pocket edition of the young man’s best companion, — a little woman at a very high pressure, with an amazing quantity of goodness and usefulness in an exceedingly small space. Little as she is, Mrs. Chirrup might furnish forth matter for the moral equipment of a score of housewives, six feet high in their stockings — if, in the presence of ladies, we may be allowed the expression — and of corresponding robustness. [Chapter IX, "The Nice Little Couple," 61]

Commentary: Phiz invents a street scene to emphasize the size of the "Nice Little Couple"

Phiz has realised both the diminutive figures as charming and almost child-like. Dickens's pretty young women are often diminutive, and, like the heroines of Charles Lever, have attractive ankles. Consequently, Phiz has taken pains with all the ankles and insteps of the five characters in the frame. Ironically, the street scene does not figure at all in what the Dickensian commentator terms "a little story" (61), but which is an essay on the domestic virtues of Mrs. Chirrup, whose name certainly suggests the sprightliness of a robin. The essay focuses on the domestic Mrs. Chirrup's carving of a goose: for this brilliant and accomplished homemaker "resolving a goose into its smallest component parts is a pleasant pastime" (64) rather than a frustrating chore. And, indeed, the four-page essay (hardly a "story" since it has neither conflict nor climax) details dining with the Chirrups after taking coffee and playing a round game with them in the drawing-room. Dickens repeats "sprightly" and "little" many times in this slight piece, and Phiz emphasizes the almost miniature nature of the couple by juxtaposing them against three people of normal dimensions as they are walking home in the rain. The little couple use a suitably small umbrella whereas the gallant bachelor who tips his hat to them and the wealthy couple passing to the left have umbrellas of regular dimensions. Although the Chirrups are much slighter than the substantial middle-aged couple to the left, they are only slightly taller than the uniformed pageboy. To emphasize the middle-class respectability and delicate features and forms of "The Nice Little Couple," Phiz has invented an urban street scene that does not occur in the "little story," which remains nothing more than a "sketch."

Bibliography

Buchanan-Brown, John. Phiz! Illustrator of Dickens' World. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978.

Caswell, Edward. Sketches of Young Ladies: In Which These Interesting Members of the Animal Kingdom Are Classified, According to Their Several Instincts. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. London: Chapman and Hall, 31 December 1836.

Dickens, Charles. Sketches of Young Couples. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. London: Chapman and Hall, 1840.

Dickens, Charles. Sketches of Young Gentlemen. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. London: Chapman and Hall, 1838.

Lester, Valerie Browne Lester. Phiz! The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Slater, Michael. Charles Dickens. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009.

Bentley, Nicholas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. "Sketches of Young Couples." The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. P. 237.

Steig, Michael. Chapter Two: "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-85.

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Created 13 May 2023