Part 10 (1/2)

It is a curious fact that several Yorks.h.i.+re schoolmasters actually claimed to be the prototype of Squeers; indeed, a member of the fraternity (probably Shaw himself) declared that he remembered being waited on by two gentlemen, one of whom held him in conversation while the other took his likeness; ”and although” (says the author in his preface to the story) ”Mr. Squeers has but one eye, and he has two, and the published sketch does not resemble him (whoever he may be) in any other respect, still he and all his friends know at once for whom it is meant, because the character is _so_ like him.” I think there can be no doubt that both d.i.c.kens and ”Phiz,” when delineating Squeers, reproduced too closely the idiosyncrasies of one individual, and that the author's description, as well as the artist's presentment, bore so obvious a likeness to Shaw, that he became the scapegoat for others worse than himself, and suffered accordingly.

PLATE x.x.xII

”THE DOMBEY FAMILY”

_Facsimile_ of the First Study for the Etching by

H. K. BROWNE (”PHIZ”)

The ”Query” written beneath the Drawing is in the autograph of the Artist. It was addressed to d.i.c.kens, and reads as follows:--”_Qy._ Whether 'twere better to have him standing thus, stiff as a poker, with a kind of side glance at his daughter,--or sitting, as in the other?”

The Etching differs considerably from the Drawing.

_Lent by Mr. J. F. Dexter._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In some of the etchings may be discovered slight incongruities (as, for example, in the first plate, where Ralph Nickleby's hat is too small for his head), while in others there is a palpable touch of exaggeration. In the ill.u.s.tration, ”The Country Manager Rehea.r.s.es a Combat,” the artist has omitted to introduce the figure of the landlord who ushered into the managerial presence Nicholas and Smike, and the broad-swords should have been basket-hilted weapons. In the etching, where Nicholas instructs Smike in the art of acting, Nicholas wears the rapier on the wrong side, this oversight doubtless resulting from the non-reversal of the design upon the plate. The ”Nickleby” ill.u.s.trations are, as a whole, very successful; in many instances the expressions are capitally rendered, although it is to be regretted that the artist did but scant justice to the physical attractions of Kate Nickleby and Madeline Bray.

There were sixty-three quarto plates etched for the thirty-nine ill.u.s.trations in the story, each plate carrying two designs; some of these were etched three times, while in seven instances the quarto plate was reproduced no less than four times. In none of these duplicated plates will be found such marked variations in detail as may be noted in the _replicas_ of the ”Pickwick” designs, so that the collector need only seek for well-printed impressions.[24]

Footnote 24: The ”Nickleby” plates were copied by J. Yeager for the first American edition of the story.

All the original drawings for ”Nickleby,” with one exception, are still in existence; they were disposed of on July 16, 1880, in Robinson & Fisher's auction-rooms, when they realised in the aggregate rather more than a hundred pounds. The missing design is that depicting Nicholas in his capacity as tutor in the Kenwigs family. These drawings are executed in pencil and wash, some being especially valuable by reason of marginal notes in the autograph of the novelist. At the top of the original sketch for ”A Sudden Recognition, Unexpected on Both Sides” (kindly lent by Mr. M. H. Spielmann for reproduction), d.i.c.kens has pencilled a note to the artist, a portion of which (that within the brackets) has been cut away: ”I don't think that Smike is frightened enough [or that Squeers is] earnest enough, for my purpose,”--a criticism which was apparently not productive of much alteration in the direction indicated, unless effected in the sketch before the subject was etched.

The late Mr. F. W. Cosens, who possessed several preliminary studies of the Kenwigs children, had in his collection a note from d.i.c.kens giving minute instructions to ”Phiz” respecting the design for the plate ent.i.tled ”Great Excitement of Miss Kenwigs at the Hairdresser's Shop.”

The novelist desired his ill.u.s.trator to depict ”a hairdresser's shop at night--not a das.h.i.+ng one, but a barber's. Morleena Kenwigs on a tall chair, having her hair dressed by an under-bred attendant, with her hair parted down the middle and frizzed up into curls at the sides. Another customer, who is being shaved, has just turned his head in the direction of Miss Kenwigs, and she and Newman Noggs (who has brought her there, and has been whiling away the time with an old newspaper) recognise, with manifestations of surprise, and Morleena with emotion, Mr.

Lillivick, the collector. Mr. Lillivick's bristly beard expresses great neglect of his person, and he looks very grim and in the utmost despondency.”

The original drawing for ”Nicholas Starts for Yorks.h.i.+re” presents several important variations from the published plate, the positions of the figures being considerably altered, the most remarkable differences being that Ralph Nickleby and Squeers in the sketch are placed on the side opposite the coach and more in the background, the coachman reading the way-bill is transferred to the spot where Squeers now stands, while there is another coachman looking over his shoulder, who is omitted in the etching; the coachman with the whip (as seen in the plate) was not introduced in the sketch. For the monthly parts ”Phiz” designed a pictorial wrapper; on either side of this wood-engraving is a corpulent figure mounted on tall stilts, surmounted by an allegorical scene typifying Justice, with cornucopia, &c., and below is seen the culprit Squeers wading through a river, guided by imps carrying lanterns.

For the two volumes of the Library Edition of ”Nicholas Nickleby”

(1858-59) ”Phiz” prepared small designs, delicately tinted in water-colours, which were engraved on steel as vignettes for the t.i.tle-pages; the subjects represented are ”The Nickleby Family” and ”The Mad Gentleman and Mrs. Nickleby,” the original drawings realising 14 each at Sotheby's in 1889.

HABLoT K. BROWNE (”PHIZ”)

II

”MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK”--A Quaint Advertis.e.m.e.nt--Woodcuts instead of Etchings--”Phiz's” Contributions--Instances of his Exaggerated Grotesqueness--Mr. Frederic Harrison's Comment--A Powerful Design--Ill.u.s.trations in ”The Old Curiosity Shop” Criticised--Ruskin's Attack upon the Designs in ”Barnaby Rudge”--His Admiration of the Woodcut of ”Barnaby and Grip”--”Phiz's” Frontispieces--His Letter to d.i.c.kens--An Amusing Epistle from d.i.c.kens to his Publisher--A ”Clock Dinner”--Original Drawing of Master Humphrey and the Deaf Gentleman--Frontispiece for the First Cheap Edition of ”Barnaby Rudge”--Vignettes for the Library Edition--New Designs for ”Master Humphrey's Clock”--Portraits of Dolly Varden, Little Nell, and Barbara--Sale of Water-Colour Drawings--”MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT”--The Ill.u.s.trations Characterised--How they were Prepared--Slight Errors by ”Phiz”--The Original Drawings--Minute Instructions from d.i.c.kens to the Artist--A Humorous Rejoinder--Sale of the ”Chuzzlewit” Designs--Vignettes for the Library Edition--”DOMBEY AND SON”--The Plates Etched in Duplicate--Introduction of the Oblong Form of Ill.u.s.tration--Method of Obtaining _Chiaroscuro_--Some Anomalies in the Etchings--Working under Difficulties--d.i.c.kens's Anxiety Respecting the Designs--Studies for Mr. Dombey--A Letter of Instructions--Hints to the Artist--d.i.c.kens Disappointed--The Etching of ”Mrs.

Pipchin and Paul”--”Doctor Blimber's Young Gentlemen”--A Remarkable Oversight--Explicit Directions from d.i.c.kens to ”Phiz”--Original Drawings for ”Dombey and Son”--Slight Variations from the Etchings--”Dombey” Sketches Presented to d.i.c.kens--A Portrait of Little Paul--Pictorial Wrapper--Extra Plates--Criticism by d.i.c.kens--Portraits of Alice and Florence Dombey--Frontispiece for the First Cheap Edition--Vignettes for the Library Edition.

[Sidenote: =Master Humphrey's Clock, 1840-41.=]

Charles d.i.c.kens's next work, ent.i.tled ”Master Humphrey's Clock,” which comprises ”The Old Curiosity Shop” and ”Barnaby Rudge,” was first issued in weekly instalments, as well as the customary monthly parts, the new venture being thus announced: ”Now wound up and going, preparatory to its striking on Sat.u.r.day, the 28th March, Master Humphrey's Clock, Maker's name--'Boz.' The Figures and Hands by George Cattermole, Esq.

and 'Phiz.'” A novel feature of this undertaking was the ill.u.s.trations, which were not etched as. .h.i.therto, but engraved on wood and dropped into the text, the total number of designs being one hundred and ninety-four, including three frontispieces and twenty-four initials. Of these ”Phiz”