"King Padella visits Rosalba in Her Dungeon" — Fortieth illustration by W. M. Thackeray for "The Rose and The Ring" (1855)

King Padella visits Rosalba in Her Dungeon

W. M. Thackeray

1855

Wood engraving, probably by William Linton

10 cm high by 7.5 cm wide (3 ⅞ by 3 inches), vignetted

Fortieth illustration for The Rose and The Ring, p. 373.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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Passage Illustrated: King Padella, dressed as Richard Coeur de Lion, visits Rosalba

So this poor Queen was laid in the straw like Margery Daw, and driven along in the dark ever so many miles to the Court, where King Padella had now arrived, having vanquished all his enemies, murdered most of them, and brought some of the richest into captivity with him for the purpose of torturing them and finding out where they had hidden their money.

Rosalba heard their shrieks and groans in the dungeon in which she was thrust; a most awful black hole, full of bats, rats, mice, toads, frogs, mosquitoes, bugs, fleas, serpents, and every kind of horror. No light was let into it, otherwise the gaolers might have seen her and fallen in love with her, as an owl that lived up in the roof of the tower did, and a cat, you know, who can see in the dark, and having set its green eyes on Rosalba, never would be got to go back to the turnkey’s wife to whom it belonged. And the toads in the dungeon came and kissed her feet, and the vipers wound round her neck and arms, and never hurt her, so charming was this poor Princess in the midst of her misfortunes.

At last, after she had been kept in this place ever so long, the door of the dungeon opened, and the terrible KING PADELLA came in. [Chapter XIII, "How Queen Rosalba Came to the Castle of the Bold Count Hogginarmo," pp. 373-374]

Commentary: Another Wooer

We have arrived at something of a cliff-hanger as Rosalba sits locked in a lightless dungeon infested with vipers, which seem to be enjoying wrapping themselves around her. No wonder that King Padella, dressed in the manner of the Crusading English king Richard the Lion-heart, looks a little worried as the snakes hiss at him. "Whatever is he doing there?" one wonders. And then the reader notices the descriptive headlines: "Poor Rosalba! Where's Your Lover? King Padella Comes a Wooing" (pp. 373-374). The cat is out of the bag, so to speak, even before Chapter XIV opens, and Rosalba has at least the possibility of deliverance.

Bibliography

Furniss, Harry. The Rose and The Ring; or, The History of Prince Giglio and the Prince Bulbo. William Makepeace Thackeray's Christmas Books. With illustrations by the author and Harry Furniss. The Harry Furniss Centenary Edition. London: Macmillan and Co., 1911. Pp. 287-428.

Titmarsh, M. A. [W. M. Thackeray].The Rose and The Ring. London: Smith, Elder, 1855.

Created 3 August 2022