Part 15 (2/2)

”Will you turn your attention to a frontispiece for our first volume, to come upon the left-hand side of the book as you open it, and to face a plain printed t.i.tle? My idea is, some scene from 'The Curiosity Shop,'

in a pretty border, or scroll-work, or architectural device; it matters not what, so that it be pretty. The scene even might be a fanciful thing, partaking of the character of the story, but not reproducing any particular pa.s.sage in it, if you thought that better for the effect.

”I ask you to think of this, because, although the volume is not published until the end of September, there is no time to lose. We wish to have it engraved with great care and worked very skilfully; and this cannot be done unless we get it on the stocks soon. They will give you every opportunity of correction, alteration, revision, and all other -ations and -isions connected with the fine arts.”

In this design will be found Cattermole's only representations of Mr.

Pickwick and the two Wellers. In the following letter (dated December 21 [1840]), some hints were given as to the treatment of one of the most charming ill.u.s.trations in the series, viz., the picturesque parsonage-house which was the temporary home of Little Nell and her Grandfather. The lanthorn here referred to is not only omitted from the drawing, but we fail to find it mentioned in the text:--

”Kit, the single gentleman, and Mr. Garland go down to the place where the child is, and arrive there at night. There has been a fall of snow.

Kit, leaving them behind, runs to the old house, and, with a lanthorn in one hand and the bird in its cage in the other, stops for a moment at a little distance with a natural hesitation before he goes up to make his presence known. In a window--supposed to be that of the child's little room--a light is burning, and in that room the child (unknown, of course, to her visitors, who are full of hope) lies dead.

”If you have any difficulty about Kit, never mind about putting him in....”

The next letter contained useful suggestions for the delineation of the most pathetic scenes in ”The Old Curiosity Shop.”

(1.) The child lying dead in the little sleeping-room, which is behind the open screen. It is winter-time, so there are no flowers; but upon her breast and pillow, and about her bed, there may be strips of holly and berries, and such free green things. Window overgrown with ivy. The little boy who had that talk with her about angels may be by the bedside, if you like it so; but I think it will be quieter and more peaceful if she is quite alone. I want it to express the most beautiful repose and tranquillity, and to have something of a happy look, if death can.

(2.) The child has been buried inside the church, and the old man, who cannot be made to understand that she is dead, repairs to the grave and sits there all day long, waiting for her arrival, to begin another journey. His staff and knapsack, her little bonnet and basket, &c., lie beside him. 'She'll come to-morrow,' he says when it gets dark, and goes sorrowfully home. I think an hour-gla.s.s running out would help the notion; perhaps her little things upon his knee or in his hand.

”I am breaking my heart over this story, and cannot bear to finish it.”

PLATE XL

TWO STUDIES FOR

”THE DEATH-BED OF LITTLE NELL”

_Facsimile_ of the Original Drawings for ”The Old Curiosity Shop” by

GEORGE CATTERMOLE

_Lent by Mr. S. J. Davey and Mrs. Edward Franks._

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In the first of these two delightful drawings the artist rightly omitted the figure of the boy, and in order to emphasise the sense of repose in that humble death-chamber, he introduced a bird, which is seen perched upon the window-ledge, while the hour-gla.s.s (suggested for the second picture) seemed to him more appropriate here. Cattermole made two or three sketches of No. 1 before he quite satisfied the author, who had asked him to carry out certain alterations, these resulting in such a marked improvement that d.i.c.kens wrote: ”I cannot tell you how much obliged I am to you for altering the child, or how much I hope that my wish in that respect didn't go greatly against the grain.”[32] ”Will you do me,” he asks, in the same letter, ”a little tailpiece for the 'Curiosity' story?--only one figure if you like--giving some notion of the etherealised spirit of the child; something like those little figures in the frontispiece.” This little allegory formed the closing ill.u.s.tration.

Footnote 32: Macready, upon whom the death of Little Nell had a painful effect, was much impressed by this ill.u.s.tration, as an entry in his diary testifies: ”Found at home ... an onward number of 'Master Humphrey's Clock.' I saw one print in it of the dear dead child that gave a dead chill through my blood.

I dread to read it, but must get it over.”

”Barnaby Rudge” immediately followed ”The Old Curiosity Shop,” under the collective t.i.tle of ”Master Humphrey's Clock.” For the first chapter of this stirring romance Cattermole provided a charming ill.u.s.tration, depicting the old ”Maypole” Inn, which, however, was not intended to portray the ”delicious old inn” opposite Chigwell churchyard, referred to by d.i.c.kens in a letter to Forster at this time, it being an entirely fanciful design. When the novelist saw the drawing on wood of this subject he was delighted. ”Words cannot say how good it is,” he wrote to the artist. ”I can't bear the thought of its being cut, and should like to frame and glaze it in _statu quo_ for ever and ever.” On January 28, 1841, he queried:--

”I want to know whether you feel ravens in general and would fancy Barnaby's raven in particular? Barnaby being an idiot, my notion is to have him always in company with a pet raven, who is immeasurably more knowing than himself. To this end I have been studying my bird, and think I could make a very queer character of him. Should you like the subject when this raven makes his first appearance?”

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