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“And when Mr. Winkle had done expressing his excessive indignation. . .”
Thomas Onwhyn [unsigned]
steel engraving
14.9 cm high by 10.9 cm wide (5 ⅞ by 4 ⅜ inches), vignetted
June 30, 1837 (Third Extra instalment)
Charles Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Chapter IV (May 1836), facing page 35.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Mr. Pickwick and his three companions stationed themselves in the front of the crowd, and patiently awaited the commencement of the proceedings. The throng was increasing every moment; and the efforts they were compelled to make, to retain the position they had gained, sufficiently occupied their attention during the two hours that ensued. At one time there was a sudden pressure from behind, and then Mr. Pickwick was jerked forward for several yards, with a degree of speed and elasticity highly inconsistent with the general gravity of his demeanour; at another moment there was a request to ‘keep back’ from the front, and then the butt-end of a musket was either dropped upon Mr. Pickwick’s toe, to remind him of the demand, or thrust into his chest, to insure its being complied with. Then some facetious gentlemen on the left, after pressing sideways in a body, and squeezing Mr. Snodgrass into the very last extreme of human torture, would request to know ‘vere he vos a shovin’ to’; and when Mr. Winkle had done expressing his excessive indignation at witnessing this unprovoked assault, some person behind would knock his hat over his eyes, and beg the favour of his putting his head in his pocket. These, and other practical witticisms, coupled with the unaccountable absence of Mr. Tupman (who had suddenly disappeared, and was nowhere to be found), rendered their situation upon the whole rather more uncomfortable than pleasing or desirable. [Chapter IV, "A Field-day and a Bivouac. More New Friends. An Invitation to the Country," 35]
“And when Mr. Winkle had done expressing his excessive indignation at witnessing this unprovoked assault, some person behind would knock his hat over his eyes and beg the favour of his putting his head in his pocklet.” Page 35
This second monthly "extra" illustration, actually issued in July 1837, towards the end of the novel's serial run, complements the early Seymour illustration Mr. Pickwick in chase of his hat in the second monthly (May 1836) serial instalment, showing what preceded Pickwick's losing his hat at the military review near Chatham.
Initially, Pickwick and his companions are enjoying the field-day, but the "Humours of the Crowd" prove anything but amicable because of where Pickwick and his friends have stationed themselves. Whereas Seymour had realised the scene by showing the mixed crowd on onlookers, some on the ground and others (more affluent) in their carriages and barouches, Onwhyn puts two boys up a tree, and shows a decidedly lower-class, surly group of ill-clad men surrounding Pickwick. And Onwhyn adds a uniformed soldier armed with a bayonetted musket. Onwhyn injects drama and danger into the start of the field-day exercises that the text does not entirely support, but includes Winkle directly beside Pickwick.
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).
Titley, Graham D. C. "Thomas Onwhyn: a Life in Illustration (1811-1886)." Pearl. University of Plymouth (2018-07-12).
Created 5 February 2024