Part 11

"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._

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."

Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans possesses the complete series of "working" drawings for "David Copperfield." Like the "Dombey" designs, these highly-finished drawings are executed chiefly in pencil and the effects washed in with indian-ink, while a few are in pencil only. Of that well-known design, "I Make myself Known to my Aunt," there exist no less than three tentative sketches; the first (on which the artist has written "Or--so--so?") represents Miss Trotwood sitting "flat down on the garden-path,"--a pose which, although accurate enough according to the text, was rightly deemed inartistic, whereupon the artist prepared another design, and submitted it to Dickens. In the second picture (where "Phiz" has queried, "Or--so?"), the lady stands erect, but the pathetic appearance of David is lost, and the composition of the background proves less fortunate. In the etching "Phiz" combined the two designs,--that is, he used the first drawing, but substituted the standing figure of Miss Trotwood for the seated one. On the margin of the second design the artist (in a humorous mood) has limned an unmerciful caricature of the whole incident. The third tentative drawing for this subject, believed to be the first sketch, was sold at Sotheby's in 1887 for £6, 15s.; it is now in the collection of Mr. Thomas Wright, of Paris.

With the sketch for "The Friendly Waiter and I" the novelist was delighted. "Phiz" originally represented David as wearing a long jacket, but this not being quite in accordance with Dickens's idea, he wrote asking the artist to "put Davy in a little jacket instead of this coat, without altering him in any other respect," which was accordingly done.

In the drawing for the plate entitled "My Magnificent Order at the Public-house," the form of the two large spirit-vessels behind David are more jug-shaped than in the etching. The "little white hat," by-the-way, as here worn by David, is just such head-gear as Dickens himself disported when a boy. In the drawing of David on the box-seat of the coach, "My First Fall in Life," the western towers of Canterbury Cathedral are indicated in the distance, but these are omitted in the etching. In the scene, "Mr. Micawber Delivers some Valedictory Remarks," certain faint lines are observable near the principal figure, indicating that he was originally delineated in a different attitude. The effective sketch of "The Wanderer" portrays more of the woman's figure than is visible in the plate. In the design entitled "Our Housekeeping," the frame of a mirror or picture is introduced on the wall behind David, but this was afterwards considered superfluous; and in the drawing of "The Emigrants," Mr. Micawber grasps a telescope, which does not appear in the plate. The drawing of "Mr. Peggotty's Dream Comes True" varies considerably from the etching, for not only is David seen wearing a hat (which in the etching is placed upon the table), but the artist has included a fourth figure, that of Rosa Dartle, who, seated in the chair, leans her head upon her arms above the table. The introduction of Miss Dartle is, of course, incorrect, as she had left the room before Mr. Peggotty entered; but the error was detected, and the necessary alteration effected in the published design.

"Phiz's" pictorial wrapper for the monthly parts is replete with detail, around the title in the centre being displayed various figures apparently exemplifying the Seven Ages of Man, with Dame Fortune crowning the whole.

The first cheap edition of "David Copperfield," 1858, contained a frontispiece by "Phiz," engraved on wood by Swain, representing Little Em'ly and David as children on Yarmouth Sands; to the Library Edition (1858-59) the artist contributed two vignettes (engraved on steel), the subject in the first volume being Little Em'ly and David by the sea, and for the second, another version of the etching entitled "Mr. Peggotty's Dream Comes True."

* * * * *

[Sidenote: =Bleak House, 1852-53.=]

In the forty illustrations for "Bleak House" the artist introduced a greater variety of subjects, and resorted more frequently to the use of the ruling-machine, no less than ten being so treated with considerable success. "Phiz" etched one complete set of the plates and duplicates of the machine-ruled designs, which were repeated probably because they could not so readily withstand the wear-and-tear of the printing.

A very few of the "Bleak House" illustrations 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 entitled "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 _père_ is depicted without the false whiskers he customarily wore, and in the illustration 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 entitled "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" Dickens 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 illustration of "The Lonely Figure" in "Bleak House," he visited a lime-pit, in order to see what the big crushing-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 Duchess 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 ladyship, 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 attitude 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 illustration (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 principally 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 illustrator to Dickens.