"Rustling among last year's leaves, whose scent woke memory of the past, the placid Pecksniff strolled." (1872). — Fred Barnard's thirty-fifth illustration for Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit (Chapter XXX), page 241, in the Household Edition. [The complacent and thoroughly self-assured Seth Pecksniff unaware of the imminent financial collapse of the Anglo-Bengalee Life Assurance Company as he determines to marry Old Martin's companion, Mary, and thereby become de facto heir to a vast estate.] 10.7 cm x 13.7 cm, or 4 ¼ high by 5 ½ inches, framed, engraved by the Dalziels. Running head: “Charity Negotiates Terms of Separation," 241. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Passage Illustrated
In sober truth, there did appear to be nothing on which Mr. Pecksniff might not have ventured with Martin Chuzzlewit; for whatever Mr Pecksniff said or did was right, and whatever he advised was done. Martin had escaped so many snares from needy fortune-hunters, and had withered in the shell of his suspicion and distrust for so many years, but to become the good man’s tool and plaything. With the happiness of this conviction painted on his face, the architect went forth upon his morning walk.
The summer weather in his bosom was reflected in the breast of Nature. Through deep green vistas where the boughs arched overhead, and showed the sunlight flashing in the beautiful perspective; through dewy fern from which the startled hares leaped up, and fled at his approach; by mantled pools, and fallen trees, and down in hollow places, rustling among last year’s leaves whose scent woke memory of the past; the placid Pecksniff strolled. By meadow gates and hedges fragrant with wild roses; and by thatched-roof cottages whose inmates humbly bowed before him as a man both good and wise; the worthy Pecksniff walked in tranquil meditation. The bee passed onward, humming of the work he had to do; the idle gnats for ever going round and round in one contracting and expanding ring, yet always going on as fast as he, danced merrily before him; the colour of the long grass came and went, as if the light clouds made it timid as they floated through the distant air. The birds, so many Pecksniff consciences, sang gayly upon every branch; and Mr. Pecksniff paid his homage to the day by ruminating on his projects as he walked along. [Chapter XXX, "Proves That Changes May Be Rung in the Best-Regulated Families, and That Mr. Pecksniff was a Special Hand at a Triple-Bob-Major," 244]
Comment: The Lead Up to the Dismissal of Tom Pinch
Pecksniff's star seems to be in the ascendant. Old Martin has moved into his Wiltshire cottage, and Pecksniff plans to improve his chances of being the miser's chief beneficiary by marrying Mary Graham. Just when everything seems to be going so well, he encounters Mary in the woods. She not only rejects his advances, but threatens to tell Old Martin. Later, he overhears Tom confiding to Mary in the church about young Martin.
Relevant Images of the Self-Satisfied Pecksniff from Other Editions (1843-1924)
Left: Hablot Knight Browne's Mr. Pecksniff Discharges a Duty Which He Owes Society (February 1843). Centre: Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s Mr. Pecksniff and his Daughters (1867). Right: John Gilbert's polished Mr. Pecksniff's Courtship (1863). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Left: Clayton J. Clarke's Player's Cigarettre Card study of the humbug, Mr. Pecksniff strolled (1910). Centre: Harry Furniss's study of Pecksniff as a masher, Mr. Pecksniff Makes Love (1910). Right: Harold Copping's synthesis of all former Pecksniffs, Mr. Seth Pecksniff and Old Martin Chuzzlewit (1924). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Bentley, Nicolas, Michael Slater, and Nina Burgis. The Dickens Index. New York and Oxford: Oxford U. P., 1990.
Dickens, Charles. The Dickens Souvenir Book. Household Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1871-1880. The copy of The Dickens Souvenir Book from which these pictures were scanned is in the collection of the Main Library of The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B. C.
Dickens, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Hablot Knight Browne. London: Chapman and Hall, 1844.
_____. Martin Chuzzlewit. Works of Charles Dickens. Household Edition. 55 vols. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. New York: Sheldon and Co., 1863. Vol. 2 of 4.
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1872. Vol. 2.
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated Sterling Edition. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne and Frederick Barnard. Boston: Dana Estes, n. d. [1890s]
_____. Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. 7.
Steig, Michael. "From Caricature to Progress: Master Humphrey's Clock and Martin Chuzzlewit." Ch. 3, Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington & London: Indiana U.P., 1978. Pp. 51-85. [See e-text in Victorian Web.]
Steig, Michael. "Martin Chuzzlewit's Progress by Dickens and Phiz." Dickens Studies Annual 2 (1972): 119-149.
31 January 2008
Last modified 23 November 2024