Betsy Trotwood
Fred Barnard
1885
19 cm high by 13.7 cm wide (7 ½ inches high by 5 inches wide), vignetted
"Janet! Donkeys!" — David Copperfield.
One of six lithographs in A Series of Character Sketches from Dickens, from the Original Drawings by Frederick Barnard. . .. Series 3 (1885). [Click on illustration to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Context of the Illustration: The Elderly Aunt's Indignation at the Invasion of the Donkeys
My aunt was a tall, hard-featured lady, but by no means ill-looking. There was an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage, amply sufficient to account for the effect she had made upon a gentle creature like my mother; but her features were rather handsome than otherwise, though unbending and austere. I particularly noticed that she had a very quick, bright eye. Her hair, which was grey, was arranged in two plain divisions, under what I believe would be called a mob-cap; I mean a cap, much more common then than now, with side-pieces fastening under the chin. Her dress was of a lavender colour, and perfectly neat; but scantily made, as if she desired to be as little encumbered as possible. I remember that I thought it, in form, more like a riding-habit with the superfluous skirt cut off, than anything else. She wore at her side a gentleman’s gold watch, if I might judge from its size and make, with an appropriate chain and seals; she had some linen at her throat not unlike a shirt-collar, and things at her wrists like little shirt-wristbands. . . . .
Janet had gone away to get the bath ready, when my aunt, to my great alarm, became in one moment rigid with indignation, and had hardly voice to cry out, ‘Janet! Donkeys!’
Upon which, Janet came running up the stairs as if the house were in flames, darted out on a little piece of green in front, and warned off two saddle-donkeys, lady-ridden, that had presumed to set hoof upon it; while my aunt, rushing out of the house, seized the bridle of a third animal laden with a bestriding child, turned him, led him forth from those sacred precincts, and boxed the ears of the unlucky urchin in attendance who had dared to profane that hallowed ground.
To this hour I don’t know whether my aunt had any lawful right of way over that patch of green; but she had settled it in her own mind that she had, and it was all the same to her. The one great outrage of her life, demanding to be constantly avenged, was the passage of a donkey over that immaculate spot. [Chapter XIII, "The Sequel of My Resolution," Household Edition, pp. 87-88]
Commentary: Foregrounding One of the Novel's Most Distinctive Characters
Although Barnard in his series of composite woodblock illustrations in the third volume of Household Edition (1872) foregrounds and emphasizes Dickens's narrator as a child, an adolescent, and a young adult, in his third series of Characters from Dickens (1884-85) he looks intensely at three significant supporting characters: the avuncular Wilkins Micawber, the dastardly Uriah Heep, and the somewhat quirky but benevolent Aunt Betsy Trotwood, a middle-aged, no-nonsense woman of independent means and independent mind.
Phiz and the other illustrators of the mid-century novel usually depict Betsy Trotwood in conjunction with other characters, notably Mr. Dick and the narrator himself. Here, however, Barnard presents a portrait that focuses in a dynamic portrait on one of the chief facets of Aunt Betsy's character: indignation at the wilful violation of her boundaries. She is indeed, as Barnard intimates, strong-willed, self-reliant, eccentric, and crotchety. The narrator's shock at her vociferous outrage is all the greater because the adolescent David has merely heard of her and has never witnessed her behaviour first-hand until this very moment.
What more does Barnard want us to understand from his representation of the middle-aged woman angrily eying the intruder from her bedroom window? She has, ironically, been engaged in that most conventional of upper-middle-class feminine pastimes: knitting. She rises from her throne-like armchair and gives a gesture of command as she yells at somebody outside the frame, her maid, Janet, letting drop her ball of yarn. In her haste to point out the intruder on the long-eared donkey, the skein has attached itself to the wire plant-holder attached to her window-sill. The significance of the illustration becomes obvious once one returns to the pages of the novel to find the moment realised: this is David's first impression and earliest memory of one of the women who will shape his life and character.
A Betsy Trotwood Gallery: Relevant Illustrations from Various Editions, 1849-1912
Left: Phiz's description of the culmination of David's six-day journey on the Kent Road, Sept. 1849: I make myself known to my Aunt in Phiz's September 1849 contribution (Part 5). Centre: Phiz's My Aunt astonishes me (March, 1850: instalment 11). Right: The momentous interview (September 1849) between Aunt Betsy, Mr. Dick, and the Murdstones in Chapter XIV, "My Aunt Makes Up Her Mind About Me."
Other Studies of David at Aunt Betsey's Cottage from Other Editions (1867-1910)
Left: Harry Furniss's interpretation of the culmination of David's six-day
journey onthe Kent Road: Mr. Dick suggests treatment for
David. Centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Diamond Edition study of David's aunt and her
slightly demented companion in retirement, Miss Trotwood and Mr.
Dick (1867). Right: Fred Barnard's Household Edition study of the incident which
brings Aunt Betsy and David together dramatically:
Relevant Illustrated Editions of this Novel (1863 through 1910)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 1, 1863)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 2, 1863)
- Sir John Gilbert's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 3, 1863)
- O. C. Darley's Frontispiece in the New York edition (Vol. 4, 1863)
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 16 wood engravings for the Diamond Edition (1867)
- Fred Barnard's 62 Composite Woodblock Engravings for the Household Edition (1872)
- Clayton J. Clarke (Kyd): Betsey Trotwood, Player's Cigarette Card No. 36 (1910).
- Harry Furniss's Twenty-nine lithographs for the Charles Dickens Library Edition (1910)
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. Oxford and New York: Oxford U. P., 1988.
Cohen, Jane Rabb. Charles Dickens and His Original Illustrators. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio U. P., 1980.
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). The Centenary Edition. 2 vols. London and New York: Chapman & Hall, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911.
_______. The Personal History of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr. The Diamond Edition. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. Vol. V.
_______. David Copperfield, with 61 illustrations by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. III.
_______. The Personal History and Experiences of David Copperfield. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. London: Educational Book Company, 1910. Vol. X.
Hammerton, J. A., ed. The Dickens Picture-Book: A Record of the the Dickens Illustrations. London: Educational Book, 1910.
Steig, Michael. Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U. P., 1978.
A Series of Character Sketches from Dickens, from the Original Drawings by Frederick Barnard, Being Facsimiles of Original Drawings by Fred. Barnard. Series 3: Wilkins Micawber; Miss Betsy Trotwood; Captain Edward Cuttle; Uriah Heep; Dick Swiveller and The Marchioness; and Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1885.
Created 2 February 2025