The Royal Chase in Windsor Forest, final steel-engraving by French illustrator Tony Johannot for Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance for the fourth instalment (November 1842) in Ainsworth's Magazine. "Book the First: Anne Boleyn," Chapter VIII, "Of Tristram Lyndwood, the old Forester, and his Grand-daughter Mabel; Of the Peril in which the Lady Anne Boleyn was placed during the chase; And by whom she was rescued," facing p. 68. 9.5 cm high by 13.7 wide, framed. Here Ainsworth complicates the fraught relationship between the thirty-eight-year-old monarch and his young paramour, whose rescue by Sir Thomas Wyat excites Henry Tudor's jealousy. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
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Passage Illustrated: The Exciting Climax of the Chase
Henry, who had ill brooked the previous restraint, now grew soimpatient, that Anne begged him to set off after them, when suddenly the cry of hounds burst upon their ears, and the hart was seen issuing fromthe dell, closely followed by his pursuers.
The affrighted animal, to the king's great satisfaction, made his waydirectly towards the spot where he was stationed; but on reaching theside of the knoll, and seeing his new foes, he darted off on the right, and tried to regain the thicket below. But he was turned by another band of keepers, and again driven towards the knoll.
Scarcely had Sir Thomas Wyat reined in his steed by the side of theking, than the hart again appeared bounding up the hill. Anne Boleyn,who had turned her horse's head to obtain a better view of the hunt,alarmed by the animal's menacing appearance, tried to get out of his way. But it was too late. Hemmed in on all sides, and driven to desperation by the cries of hounds and huntsmen in front, the hart lowered his horns, and made a furious push at her.
Dreadfully alarmed, Anne drew in the rein so suddenly and sharply, thatshe almost pulled her steed back upon his haunches; and in trying toavoid the stag's attack, caught hold of Sir Thomas Wyat, who was closebeside her. In all probability she would have received some serious injury from the infuriated animal, who was just about to repeat hisassault and more successfully, when a bolt from a cross-bow, dischargedby Morgan Fenwolf, who suddenly made his appearance from behind the beech-tree, brought him to the ground.[Chapter VIII, "Of Tristram Lyndwood, the old Forester, and his Grand-daughter Mabel; Of the Peril in which the Lady Anne Boleyn was placed during the chase; And by whom she was rescued," pp. 67-68]
Commentary: Baroque Action in Windsor Forest
Johannot's ability to realise landscape and vigorous action serve to
make this his most successful contribution to the novel. Although in its complexity
the scene would have challenged even so talented an illustrator as George Cruikshank,
the most pointed criticism that one might make of Johannot's composition is that he
has failed to distinguish between the massive oak and old beech (to the left) in the
backdrop.At the end of this chapter, which constituted the November 1842 instalment in
With Baroque vivacity unequalled by his other, far more modest contributions to the novel's narrative-pictorial sequence, Johannot realizes every detail of the chaotic scene as it unfolds at the climax of the November 1842 instalment. Hounds, verders, huntsmen, and nobles are all exactly as Ainsworth has described them on the summit of the knoll, "crowned by an old oakand beech-tree, and commanding a superb view of the castle," 67). Right of centre, Wyat, one of the romance's most dynamicfigures, has just moved to protect Anne Boleyn from the royal hart, who hascollapsed in front of her white palfrey (centre) as the redoubtable huntsman, Morgan Fenwolf, has fired a crossbow bolt into the charging stag in the nick of time.King Henry, right of centre in the melee but readily distinguishable by his form and visage, in jealousy has taken umbrageat Sir Thomas Wyat's coming to Lady Anne's assistance, creating a suitable curtain at theconclusion of the fourth instalment.The reader wonders how Henry's stern displeasure and sulkiness as he rides off to Windsor will affect Anne Boleyn andAinsworth's hero, Wyat.
* J. Don Vann notes that, after serialisation, Ainsworth shifted this chapter from its original position as the November instalment by placing Chapters 6 and 7 after it in the volume edition and renumbering.
Delamotte's Complementary Wood-engraving for Chapter VIII
Above: W. Alfred Delamotte's picturesque realisation of the physical setting of the dramatic scene about to unfold in Johannote's steel-engraving; the wood-engraving is dropped into the middle of the passage on the previous page of text, Old Oak and Beech-tree in Windsor Forest, as the woodland glade would have appeared in the autumn of 1842. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance. Illustrated by George Cruikshank and Tony Johannot. With designs on wood by W. Alfred Delamotte. London: Routledge, 1880. Based on the Henry Colburn edition of 1844.
Patten, Robert L. Chapter 30, "The 'Hoc' Goes Down." George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art, vol. 2: 1835-1878. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers U. P., 1991; London: The Lutterworth Press, 1996. Pp. 153-186.
Vann, J. Don. "Windsor Castle in Ainsworth's Magazine, June 1842-June 1843." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1985. P. 23.
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Last modified 4 February 2018