concerning these plates. Writing from Lausanne on the 18th of July 1846,
he said: "The prints for illustration, and the enormous care required,
make me excessively anxious." A nervous dread of caricature on the face
of his merchant-hero had led him to indicate by a living person the type
of city gentleman he would have had the artist select. "The man for
Dombey," he explained, "if Browne could see him, the class man to a T,
is Sir A----E----, of D----'s;" and this is all he meant by his
reiterated urgent request, "I do wish he could get a glimpse of A., for
he is the very Dombey." It seems, however, that the "glimpse of A." was
impracticable, so it was resolved to send, for selection by himself,
glimpses of other letters of the alphabet--actual heads as well as
fanciful ones--and the sheetful of sketches forwarded for this purpose
contains no less than twenty-nine typical Dombey portraits, comprising
full-length and half-length presentments, as well as studies of heads in
various poses, but with the same hard characteristic expression.[26]
Against four of them "Phiz" has placed little arrows, to indicate that
(in his opinion) they best accorded with the author's conception. The
Dombey actually etched was not, after all, an absolute transcript of
these tentative ideas, but seems to be a combination of several; and it
is curious to note that, in the various representations of the proud
city merchant as seen in the plates, "Phiz" did not keep religiously to
the same type. That Dickens considered the artist's presentment as
satisfactory is proved by his remark to Forster, "I think Mr. Dombey
admirable," this doubtless referring to the illustration entitled "Mr.
Dombey and the World." In a fragment of a letter preserved by Mr. J. F.
Dexter may be read a few instructions to the artist with reference to
the delineation of Mr. Dombey and his second wife: "It is a part of his
character that he should be just the same as of yore. And in the second
subject, I should like Edith Granger to possess the reader with a more
serious notion of her having a serious part to play in the story. I
really hardly know, however, what [part] beyond an expression of utter
indifference towards Mr. Dombey...."
Footnote 26: In Mr. Andrew Lang's opinion, these sketches for
Mr. Dombey look like "a collection of criminal butlers."
In the letter to Forster already quoted, the novelist sent (for
transmission to the artist) a few hints for the earlier designs: "Great
pains will be necessary with Miss Tox. The Toodle family should not be
too much caricatured, because of Polly. I should like Browne to think of
Susan Nipper, who will not be wanted in the first number. After the
second number, they will all be nine or ten years older, but this will
not involve much change in the characters, except in the children and
Miss Nipper." After the completion of the first two plates, Dickens
seems to have been in better heart about his illustrator, for, again
writing to Forster from Lausanne, he said: "Browne seems to be getting
on well. He will have a good subject in Paul's christening. Mr. Chick is
like D., if you'll mention that when you think of it." Then, a little
later: "Browne is certainly interesting himself and taking pains." He
seems, however, to have been greatly disappointed with the designs in
the second number, viz., "The Christening Party" (which he anticipated
would be a success) and "Polly Rescues the Charitable Grinder,"
declaring them to be so "dreadfully bad" (in the sense of not keeping
strictly to the text) that they made him "curl his legs up." This
failure on the part of the artist caused him to feel unusually anxious
in regard to a special illustration on which he had set much store,
intended for the number he then had in hand. Communicating with Forster
anent this, he said: "The best subject for Browne will be at Mrs.
Pipchin's; and if he liked to do a quiet odd thing, Paul, Mrs. Pipchin,
and the Cat, by the fire, would be very good for the story. I earnestly
hope he will think it worth a little extra care." On first seeing the
etching of this subject, he was sorely displeased, and could not refrain
from thus expressing himself to Forster: "I am really _distressed_ by
the illustration of Mrs. Pipchin and Paul. It is so frightfully and
wildly wide of the mark. Good Heaven! in the commonest and most literal
construction of the text it is all wrong. She is described as an old
lady, and Paul's 'miniature arm-chair' is mentioned more than once. He
ought to be sitting in a little arm-chair down in the corner of the
fireplace, staring up at her. I can't say what pain and vexation it is
to be so utterly misrepresented. I would cheerfully have given a hundred
pounds to have kept this illustration out of the book. He never could
have got that idea of Mrs. Pipchin if he had attended to the text.
Indeed, I think he does better without the text; for then the notion is
made easy to him in short description, and he can't help taking it in."
It is certainly strange that the sketch for this subject was not
submitted to Dickens for approval before it was etched. We are told by
Forster that the author felt the disappointment more keenly because "the
conception of the grim old boarding-house keeper had taken back his
thoughts to the miseries of his own child-life, and made her, as her
prototype in verity was, a part of the terrible reality." In justice to
the artist, it must be conceded that the etching of this subject seems
to be an excellent rendering of the description of the scene as conveyed
in the letterpress.
"Phiz" sometimes complained that Dickens did not send him more than a
few printed lines as a guide to the subject to be illustrated, and,
being kept in ignorance as to the context, he found it difficult to
delineate the characters as well as the novelist might wish.
Occasionally, as we have seen, he received quite a lengthy note when at
work upon the designs, these communications sometimes being partly
literal extracts from the text and partly condensation, such as the
following:--
"Paul (a year older) has left Mrs. Pipchin's and gone to Doctor
Blimber's establishment at Brighton. The Doctor only takes ten young
gentlemen. Doctor Blimber's establishment is a good hot-house for the
young mind, with a forcing apparatus always at work. Mental green peas
are produced there at Christmas, and intellectual asparagus all the year
round. Every description of Greek and Latin vegetable is got off the
driest twigs of boys under the frostiest circumstances. Mrs. Blimber is
fond of the boys not being like boys, and of their wearing collars and
neckerchiefs. They have all blown before their time. The eldest boy in
the school--young Toots by name, with a swollen nose and an exceedingly
large head--left off blowing suddenly one day, and people _do_ say that
the Doctor rather overdid it with him, and that when he began to have
whiskers he left off having brains. All the young gentlemen have great
weights on their minds. They are haunted by verbs, noun-substantives,
roots, and syntactic passages. Some abandoned hope half through the
Latin Grammar, and others curse Virgil in the bitterness of their souls.
Classical Literature in general is an immense collection of words to
them. It's all words and grammar, and don't mean anything else.
"Subject--These young gentlemen out walking, very dismally and formally
(observe it's a very expensive school), with the lettering, _Doctor
Blimber's young gentlemen as they appeared when enjoying themselves_. I
think Doctor Blimber, a little removed from the rest, should bring up
the rear, or lead the van, with Paul, who is much the youngest of the
party. I extract the description of the Doctor. [Here follows a
quotation from the eleventh chapter.]
"Paul as last described, but a twelvemonth older. No collar or
neckerchief for him, of course. I would make the next youngest boy about
three or four years older than he."
A remarkable oversight on the part of "Phiz" with reference to this
plate is immediately observable, for while Dickens explicitly states the
number of Dr. Blimber's pupils as ten, the artist has introduced no less
than seventeen young gentlemen. Concerning the illustration, "Major
Bagstock is Delighted to have that Opportunity," there is extant an
interesting letter (dated March 10, 1847) from Dickens to "Phiz"
(printed for the first time in Mr. D. C. Thomson's Memoir of H. K.
Browne), in which the novelist is very explicit respecting his
requirements:--
"MY DEAR BROWNE-- ... The occasion of my coming home makes
me very late with my number, which I have only begun this
morning; otherwise you should have been fed sooner....The
first subject I am now going to give is very important to
the book. _I should like to see your sketch of it if
possible._
"I should premise that I want to make the Major, who is the
incarnation of selfishness and small revenge, a kind of
comic Mephistophilean power in the book; and the No. begins
with the departure of Mr. Dombey and the Major on that trip
for change of air and scene which is prepared for in the
last Number. They go to Leamington, where you and I were
once. In the Library the Major introduces Mr. Dombey to a
certain lady, whom, as I wish to foreshadow dimly, said
Dombey may come to marry in due season. She is about thirty,
not a day more--handsome, though haughty-looking--good
figure, well dressed, showy, and desirable. Quite a lady in
appearance, with something of a proud indifference about
her, suggestive of a spark of the Devil within. Was married
young. Husband dead. Goes about with an old mother, who
rouges, and who lives upon the reputation of a diamond
necklace and her family. Wants a husband. Flies at none but
high game, and couldn't marry anybody not rich. Mother
affects cordiality and heart, and is the essence of sordid
calculation. Mother usually shoved about in a Bath chair by
a page who has rather outgrown and outshoved his strength,
and who butts at it behind like a ram, while his mistress
steers herself languidly by a handle in front. Nothing the
matter with her to prevent her walking, only was once when
a Beauty sketched reclining in a Barouche, and having
outlived the Beauty and the Barouche too, still holds to the
attitude as becoming her uncommonly. Mother is in this
machine in the sketch. Daughter has a parasol.
"The Major presents them to Mr. Dombey, gloating within
himself over what may come of it, and over the discomfiture
of Miss Tox. Mr. Dombey (in deep mourning) bows solemnly.
Daughter bends. The native in attendance bearing a
camp-stool and the Major's greatcoat. Native evidently
afraid of the Major and his thick cane. If you like it
better, the scene may be in the street or in a green lane.
But a great deal will come of it; and I want the Major to
express that as much as possible in his apoplectic
Mephistophilean observation of the scene, and in his share
of it."
The design was promptly executed and submitted to Dickens,
who, in a letter to the artist dated five days later,
expressed his approval thereof: "The sketch is admirable,"
he wrote,--"the women _quite perfect_. I cannot tell you how
much I like the younger one. There are one or two points,
however, which I must ask you to alter. They are capital in
themselves, and I speak solely for the story.
"First--I grieve to write it--that native--who is so
prodigiously good as he is--must be in European costume. He
may wear earrings and look outlandish and be dark brown. In
this fashion must be of Moses, Mosesy. I don't mean Old
Testament Moses, but him of the Minories.
"Secondly, if you _can_ make the Major older, and with a
larger face--do.
"That's all. Never mind the pump-room now, unless you have
found the sketch, as we may have that another time. I shall
'propoge' to you a trip to Leamington together. We might go
one day and return the next.... Don't mind sending me the
second sketch. It is so late."[27]
Footnote 27: This letter was by chance preserved from a
bonfire made by Browne of his old letters and unfinished
drawings previous to a change of residence.
In Mr. J. F. Dexter's collection there is a pencil-sketch by "Phiz" for
this subject (evidently an earlier conception than that submitted to
Dickens), in which the incident is depicted as occurring at the seaside
(probably Brighton), while, curiously enough, the figure of Mr. Dombey
is omitted. Another interesting drawing, also owned by Mr. Dexter, is a
tentative sketch (in blue ink) for "The Dombey Family," under which the
artist has written the following query: "Whether 'twere better to have
him [Mr. Dombey] standing thus, stiff as a poker, with a kind of side
glance at his daughter--or sitting, as in the other?" In the etching we
see that Mr. Dombey is represented as seated, while Florence is
transferred to the other side of the picture.
Through the kind courtesy of Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans, I have
been enabled to examine the original "working" drawings for "Dombey and
Son," all of these, with one exception (viz. "Polly Rescues the
Charitable Grinder," which has mysteriously disappeared), being in the
possession of her Grace. The majority of the designs were not reversed
when copied upon the steels, and this accounts for some of the
incongruities already referred to. In certain cases the drawings are
sketched with blue ink and the effects lightly washed in; others are in
pencil, or pencil and brushwork combined.
PLATE XXXVI
DOLLY VARDEN
_Facsimile_ of an Original Drawing by
H. K. BROWNE ("PHIZ")
This Drawing, which was designed for the series of extra plates for
"Barnaby Rudge," has never been engraved. The published portrait of
Dolly is a reproduction of a subsequent Drawing.
_Lent by Mr. J. F. Dexter._
[Illustration]
In comparing the drawings with the plates, certain unimportant
variations are discoverable; for example, in the drawing of "Paul's
Exercises," the candlestick is placed on the table, and more to the
right, instead of being raised on a pile of books; in "Major Bagstock is
Delighted to have that Opportunity," the figure of the "Native" is
differently posed, besides being almost erased, in consequence, perhaps,
of Dickens's criticism; in "Coming Home from Church," the ringers hold
two bells in either hand. On one of the drawings Dickens has placed his
initials, while in the corner of another, "Secret Intelligence," the
artist has written the words, "Better, eh?" whence we may infer that a
previous sketch had been submitted. It seems likely that "Phiz"
made two or three trial sketches for every etching in the book, as there
are still in existence other tentative designs for some of the subjects
above referred to.
Writing to the editor of the _Daily News_ (December 30, 1882), Dr. Edgar
A. Browne, the artist's son, says: "Dickens's delight in the ['Dombey']
illustrations as a whole was, as a matter of fact, very great, and was
expressed (doubtless with some characteristic exaggeration) so forcibly,
that my father gave him the original designs, which were acknowledged in
the following letter:--
"'DEVONSHIRE TERRACE, _Thirteenth June_, 1848.
"'MY DEAR BROWNE,--A thousand thanks for the Dombey
sketches, which I shall preserve and transmit as heirlooms.
"'This afternoon, on Thursday, I shall be near the
whereabout of the boy in the flannel gown, and will pay him
an affectionate visit. But I warn you now and beforehand
(and this is final, you'll observe) that you are not agoing
to back out of the pigmental finishing said boy; for if ever
I had a boy of my own that boy is
"MINE,
"and, as the demon says at the Surrey,
"'I CLAIM MY VICTIM,'
"HA! HA! HA!!
"at which you will imagine me going down a sulphurous trap,
with the boy in my grasp--and you will please not to imagine
him merely in my grasp, but to hand him over.
"'For which this is your warrant and requirement.
"(Signed) CHARLES DICKENS.
"'Witness--WILLIAM + TOPPING,
"His groom.'"
The allusion to "the boy in the flannel gown" has reference to a
portrait of Little Paul, painted by "Phiz" as a present to Dickens.
Miss Hogarth informs me, however, that she has no recollection of this
picture, nor of the "Dombey" sketches.
"Phiz," as usual, designed the pictorial wrapper for the monthly parts,
concerning which Dickens wrote: "I think the cover very good; perhaps
with a little too much in it, but that is an ungrateful objection." The
criticism was justified, however, for the design, though ingeniously
conceived, certainly errs on the side of over-elaboration.
The success attending the sale of the extra plates for "Master
Humphrey's Clock" encouraged a repetition of this form of independent
publication, and a similar series of portraits were produced of the
principal characters in "Dombey and Son." Four capital plates,
consisting of portraits of Little Paul, Florence, Edith, and Alice, were
designed by Browne, and engraved on steel (in stipple and line) by
Edwards and Knight, under the superintendence of the artist and Robert
Young, whose joint venture it was. The engravings were published with
Dickens's sanction concurrently with the story; the original impressions
are now very scarce, but the plates still exist in good condition, and
have recently been reprinted. Dickens was much pleased with these
delightful portraits, and in a hitherto unpublished letter to the artist
(dated January 5, 1847) he thus referred to the drawings: "I think Paul
_very good indeed_--a beautiful little composition altogether. The face
of Florence strikes me as being too old, particularly about the mouth.
Edith, not so handsome as in the little drawings, and something too long
and flat in the face. The better Alice of the two, decidedly that which
is opposite Edith." There are extant as many as six pencil-sketches for
the portrait of Alice, presenting slight variations in pose and
expression, and Mr. Dexter owns an interesting study (in pencil and red
chalk) of Florence Dombey, which has never been engraved.
Almost simultaneously with the production of the above portraits, "Phiz"
designed and etched eight additional plates containing full-length
presentments of Mr. Dombey and Carker, Mrs. Skewton, Old Sol and Captain
Cuttle, Miss Tox, Mrs. Pipchin, Major Bagstock, Miss Nipper, and Polly
Toodle. This undertaking was entirely a speculation of the artist, the
plates being also issued in sets by Chapman & Hall. Dr. Browne informs
me that the original drawings were unexpectedly discovered by him,
rolled up and dirty, and were afterwards included in the Memorial
Exhibition of his father's works at the Liverpool Art Club in 1883.
The first cheap edition of "Dombey and Son," 1858, includes a
frontispiece by "Phiz," representing the flight of Carker. The artist
also contributed to each of the two volumes of the Library Edition
(1858-59) specially-designed vignettes, engraved on steel, the subjects
being Mr. Dombey and the second Mrs. Dombey, and Paul with Florence at
the seaside.
HABLÔT K. BROWNE
III
"DAVID COPPERFIELD"--The Designs prepared in
Duplicate--"Phiz's" Portrait of Mr. Micawber--Peggotty's
Hut--Trifling Errors in the Plates--Original
Drawings--Designs for "I Make myself Known to my
Aunt"--Variations in the Etchings--Frontispiece for the
First Cheap Edition--Vignettes for the Library
Edition--"BLEAK HOUSE"--Plates partly Duplicated--Some
Curious Inaccuracies--Skimpole successfully
Portrayed--"Phiz" takes Mental Notes--Original
Drawings--Alterations in the Plates--The "Bleak House"
Illustrations Criticised--Frontispiece for the First Cheap
Edition--Vignettes for the Library Edition--"LITTLE
DORRIT"--Illustrations Unsigned--"Machine-ruled Designs"--A
Letter from Dickens respecting one of the Plates--Original
Drawings--Pictorial Wrapper--"A TALE OF TWO CITIES"--A
Letter from "Phiz" to his Son--Dickens Forestalled--An
Unpublished Design--Last of Dickens's Stories Illustrated by
"Phiz"--The Artist's Conjectures as to the Cause of the
Severance--His Tender Regard for the Novelist--His
Antecedents--Apprenticeship at Finden's--Exhibits at the
Royal Academy--Inability to Draw from "the Life"--Some
Letters to Dickens--"The Pic Nic Papers"--An Early
Reminiscence of Dickens--"Phiz's" Remuneration--From
Prosperity to Adversity--Serious Illness--A Broken-down Old
Man--Paralysis--A Pathetic Grievance--Applies for a
Government Pension--Recognition by the Royal
Academy--Decline of Imagination and Power of
Invention--Death of the Artist--Mr. J. G. Fennell's
Tribute--"Phiz's" Shyness--An Extraordinary
Commission--Water-colour _Replicas_ of the Dickens
Illustrations--Vignettes for the Library Edition of
"Sketches by Boz" and "Oliver Twist"--"Phiz's"
Fellow-Apprentice, Coadjutor, and Friend--Etching the
Plates--Mezzotint Effects--Furnival's Inn--A Note from
"Phiz" to his Colleague--Mr. Robert Young's Autobiographical
Sketch.
[Sidenote: =David Copperfield, 1849-50.=]
In "David Copperfield," the most fascinating of Dickens's novels, it
cannot be said that "Phiz" quite rose to the occasion. Although some of
these plates he never excelled, the majority are marked by a certain
hardness and stiffness of treatment, and are conspicuously deficient in
that vigour and deftness of touch which characterise his previous
efforts.
As in the case of "Dombey and Son," the whole of the designs were etched
in duplicate, the _replicas_ differing but slightly from the originals.
About half of the series were executed singly on octavo steels, instead
of in couples on the usual quarto plates. In one of the designs, viz.,
"The River," the artist has again resorted to the ruling-machine for
attaining the desired effect, but the result is poor and meagre. He has
succeeded admirably in his presentment of Micawber, respecting which
Dickens wrote to Forster: "Browne has sketched an uncommonly
characteristic and capital Mr. Micawber for the next number." The most
pleasing of all these etchings, however, are those in which the boy-hero
figures, such as those depicting him with the "friendly waiter" at the
bar of the public-house, and as, with battered hat and ragged raiment,
he "makes himself known to his aunt."
It has been asserted that "Phiz" at this period sometimes grew careless,
and that Dickens did not exercise that particular surveillance over the
artist's work which he customarily bestowed upon it in the early days.
For example, the novelist thus describes Peggotty's odd residence, an
old boat drawn up on land and fashioned into a house: "There was a
delightful door cut in the side, and it was roofed in, and there were
little windows in it." He never refers to it as an _inverted_ boat,
although it is so delineated by "Phiz,"--indeed, the inference is that
the vessel stood upon its keel, for elsewhere it is mentioned as being
left "high and dry," as though it were a boat that had been washed
ashore. If such was the novelist's conception, it seems strange and
unaccountable that he should have accepted without a protest the
artist's misrepresentation of Peggotty's home. Curiously enough, there
might have been seen within recent years, on the open Denes at Yarmouth,
an inverted boat similarly converted into a cosy residence, the
existence of which apparently gives actuality to "Phiz's" drawing.
In some of the etchings may be discovered a few trivial errors; for
instance, in the plate entitled "Somebody Turns Up," Mrs. Heep is
left-handed, an oversight which (as in previous cases) is doubtless the
result of the etching being in reverse of the original design, although
"Phiz" was generally careful to remember this when preparing his
sketches. Strange to relate, in the scene depicting divine service at
Blunderstone Church, he has omitted the officiating clergy! In "My First
Fall in Life," the horses (especially the leaders) are undoubtedly
disproportionate, and the same criticism applies to the figures in the
illustration depicting the unexpected arrival of David and his friend at
Peggotty's fireside. In the etching of "The River," the scene should
have been reversed, and from this point of view (the river-side at
Millbank) the dome of St. Paul's is not visible, although it is shown in
the picture. Another curious mistake is apparent in the interesting
plate entitled "Our Housekeeping;" here David is seen struggling with a
_loin_ of mutton, whereas in the text the joint is distinctly described
as a _boiled leg_ of mutton. It is amusing to note the appropriate
character of the pictures adorning the walls of some of "Phiz's"
interiors. In the etching of "The Friendly Waiter and I" he has thus
introduced the scene illustrating the familiar fable of the Fox and the
Stork; in "Changes at Home" we have the Return of the Prodigal Son and
the Finding of Moses in the bulrushes; and in the plate delineating
Steerforth and Miss Mowcher will be noticed over the fireplace a scene
from Gulliver's adventures in Brobdingnag, an allusion to the diminutive
proportions of the remarkable dwarf who was "so volatile."