Part 13 (2/2)

A very few of the ”Bleak House” ill.u.s.trations are signed. In some of them the details do not entirely accord with the letterpress, a noteworthy instance of this inaccuracy being found in the etching ent.i.tled ”Miss Jellaby,” who is represented as dipping her forefinger in the egg-cup, whereas we are told that it was her ”inky middle finger.” A more important oversight in the same picture is the introduction of the infant Jellaby in the bed, who was not in the room at all, as a careful reading of the text readily discloses. In two instances, Turveydrop _pere_ is depicted without the false whiskers he customarily wore, and in the ill.u.s.tration of ”The Smallweed Family,” the son is incorrectly omitted. It is perhaps worth noting an odd mistake on the part of the artist--in the etching ent.i.tled ”Consecrated Ground” he has represented the iron gates in a manner to lead one to suppose they could not be opened; it is unfortunate, too, that, in this pathetic scene (in which, by the way, the _chiaroscuro_ is curiously forced) he partly destroys its sentiment by inappropriately introducing on the left the comical shadow of a man in the act of drinking from a tankard. With reference to one of the characters in ”Bleak House” d.i.c.kens wrote to Forster: ”Browne has done Skimpole, and helped to make him singularly unlike the great original.” The ”great original” was, of course, Leigh Hunt, a fact which the novelist himself did not so successfully disguise, and subsequently paid the penalty for his indiscretion.

”Phiz” invariably depended upon his imagination or memory for his scenes and characters; as the artist himself expressed it, he would merely go ”to have a look at a thing,” and then be able to prepare his picture without further aid. For instance, before designing the weird ill.u.s.tration of ”The Lonely Figure” in ”Bleak House,” he visited a lime-pit, in order to see what the big crus.h.i.+ng-wheels were like that he desired to introduce, and made a mental note of them without leaving the seat of his trap.

Besides the original ”working” drawings for ”Dombey and Son” and ”David Copperfield,” Her Grace the d.u.c.h.ess of St. Albans also possesses those for ”Bleak House.” They vary considerably in treatment, some being carefully rendered, while those reproduced with the mezzotint shading are very broadly and vigorously executed by means of a soft lead-pencil, the lights heightened with chinese-white. In comparing the drawings with the etchings, slight variations may here and there be noted; for example, in the design for ”Mr. Guppy's Entertainment,” Mr. Jobling was first seen wearing his hat, but this was partly obliterated and the contour of the head afterwards drawn in; in ”Visitors at the Shooting Gallery,” the figure of Mr. George is slightly different in pose, while the sword rests on his shoulder; in ”Mr. Smallweed Breaks the Pipe of Peace,” Miss Smallweed stands a short distance from her father's chair, holding his ”long clay;” in the charming design representing ”Lady Dedlock in the Wood,” we see Ada coming up _behind_ her ladys.h.i.+p, the figure of Charley (differently posed) being transferred to the other side of the picture. A more remarkable alteration, however, occurs in the design ”Mr. Chadband 'Improving' a Tough Subject.” Chadband's att.i.tude is entirely changed from that in the etching, and Jo is placed on the other side of the drawing, with his back to Guster, while a cat reposes upon an ottoman near Mrs. Snagsby. In the drawing of ”Attorney and Client,” the face of Mr. Vholes is of a type differing from the published version, and his arms rest upon the desk; also, there is no waste-paper basket, and the deed-box is nearer the table. Mr. J. F.

Dexter has another sketch for this ill.u.s.tration (presumably an earlier one), in which Richard Carstone stands with his back to the table, with his right hand pressed despondingly against his forehead. The original drawings for the sombre scenes, although more effective than the etched reproductions, are remarkably crude in treatment--a criticism which applies more especially to those depicting, ”The Lonely Figure” and ”The Night.” The etchings of these subjects are technically superior to the drawings, their quality, however, being princ.i.p.ally owing to the results obtained by means of the ruling-machine. The late Mr. James Payn once expressed the belief that it was ”Phiz's” selection of subjects such as these which made him so acceptable an ill.u.s.trator to d.i.c.kens.

In 1882, a writer in _The Academy_, who considered the ill.u.s.trations in ”Bleak House” as being practically perfect, said of them: ”Not only is the comic side, the even fussily comic, such as 'The Young Man of the Name of Guppy,' understood and rendered well, but the dignified beauty of the old country-house architecture, or the architecture of the chambers of our Inns-of-court, is conveyed in brief touches; and there is apparent everywhere that element of terrible suggestiveness which made not only the art of Hablot Browne, but the art of Charles d.i.c.kens himself, in this story of 'Bleak House,' recall the imaginative purpose of the art of Meryon. What can be more impressive in connection with the story--nay, even independently of the story--than the ill.u.s.tration of Mr. Tulkinghorn's chambers in gloom; than the ill.u.s.tration of the staircase of Dedlock's own house, with the placard of the reward for the discovery of the murderer; than that of Tom All Alone's; the dark, foul darkness of the burial-ground under scanty lamplight, and the special spot where lay the man who 'wos wery good to me--he wos!'? And then again, 'The Ghost's Walk,' and once more the burial-ground, with the woman's body--Lady Dedlock's--now close against its gate. Of course it would be possible to find fault with these things, but they have nothing of the vice of tameness--they deliver their message effectually. It is not their business to be faultless; it is their business to impress.”

The design for the monthly wrapper is emblematical of the Court of Chancery, the artist availing himself of this opportunity of indulging in humorous pencillings reflecting upon the integrity of lawyers. ”Phiz”

contributed the frontispiece to the first cheap edition, 1858, representing Mr. Jarndyce and his friends in Bell Yard. He also designed the usual vignettes for the two volumes in the Library Edition (1858-59), which were engraved on steel; in the first is delineated Lady Dedlock and Jo, and in the second we behold Lady Dedlock and Esther Summerson in the wood, the latter composition much resembling the original etching of the same incident.

[Sidenote: =Little Dorrit, 1855-57.=]

Among the ill.u.s.trations in ”Little Dorrit” there are some as feeble in execution as there are others remarkable for exceptionally vigorous treatment; and it is worthy of note that, whereas in ”Bleak House” the artist began partly to relinquish the custom of appending his familiar _nom de guerre_ to the plates, in ”Little Dorrit” not a single design bears his signature.

An examination of the ”Dorrit” etchings discloses the fact that no less than eight are toned by means of the ruling-machine, the result being even more satisfactory than usual. The first of these ”ruled” plates represents the interior of a French prison, and the effect of deep gloom, enhanced by a few bright rays of light darting through the barred window, is remarkable for its Rembrandt-like _chiaroscuro_. Pleasantly contrasting with this sombre subject there is the plate depicting ”The Ferry,” a delightfully rural view, with trees and winding river, and that ent.i.tled ”Floating Away,” where the moon, rising behind the trees, imparts a romantic aspect to the scene. The old house in the last ill.u.s.tration but one, ”Damocles,” indicates ”Phiz's” power in expressing the picturesqueness of ancient architecture, and his appreciation of the effect of light as it falls upon quaintly-carved door and window. The plate ent.i.tled ”Mr. Flintwinch has a Mild Attack of Irritability” is probably one of the most forcible etchings ever executed by ”Phiz,” and it is difficult to conceive that the same master-hand was responsible for the apparently inexperienced work to be found in an earlier ill.u.s.tration, ”Little Mother,” the execution of which is as timid and lifeless as the other is bold and expressive.

”Phiz” etched one complete set of the plates, and duplicated the tinted subjects, the variations from the originals being slight and unimportant. Of the forty ill.u.s.trations, thirty-four are on octavo plates containing single subjects, and three are quarto plates having two subjects on each.

PLATE x.x.xVII

STUDY FOR

MISS HAREDALE

_Facsimile_ of an Original Drawing by

H. K. BROWNE (”PHIZ”)

Designed for the series of extra plates for ”Barnaby Rudge.” This Drawing differs from the published Engraving.

_Lent by Her Grace the d.u.c.h.ess of St. Albans._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

A part of ”Little Dorrit” was composed in France, and on July 2, 1856, d.i.c.kens informed the artist that he was returning to Boulogne the next day, and desired him to make the ill.u.s.tration of ”The Pensioner Entertainment” ”as characteristic as ever you please, my little dear, but quiet.” This plate proved a decided success. When, early in 1857, the novelist was again in London, ”Phiz” forwarded for his inspection a sketch for the etching ent.i.tled ”An Unexpected After-dinner Speech,”

which, however, did not quite realise d.i.c.kens's idea; whereupon the artist received a letter (printed for the first time in Mr.

Thomson's Memoir) suggesting certain improvements, afterwards duly carried out. ”In the dinner scene,” he wrote, ”it is highly important that Mr. Dorrit should not be too comic. He is too comic now. He is described in the text as 'shedding tears,' and what he imperatively wants is an expression doing less violence in the reader's mind to what is going to happen to him, and much more in accordance with that serious end which is so close before him. Pray do not neglect this change.”

d.i.c.kens seems to have been much pleased with the artist's original drawings of ”Flora's Tour of Inspection” and ”Mr. Merdle a Borrower,”

which he characterised as ”very good subjects--both.” Of the latter he said: ”I can't distinctly make out the detail, but I take Sparkles to be getting the tortoise-sh.e.l.l knife from the box. Am I right?”

Only a few of the drawings for ”Little Dorrit” have been available for my inspection. Two of these, viz., ”Mr. Merdle a Borrower” and ”Under the Microscope” (now in Mr. J. F. Dexter's collection), are executed in pencil and wash, the second design not being reversed in the etching. As usual, the pictorial wrapper for the monthly parts was designed by ”Phiz.” The central picture represents Little Dorrit emerging from the gates of the Marshalsea; above is placed the despondent figure of Britannia in a bath-chair, attended by figures emblematical of the Circ.u.mlocution Office, while at the base of the design is seen a mixed a.s.semblage of people, including some of the more prominent characters in the story.

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