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“Mr. Winkle instead of shooting at the Pigeon and killing the Crow. . . .”
Thomas Onwhyn ["Sam Weller del" for delineavit, Latin]
steel engraving
13.6 cm high by 11.0 cm wide (5 ⅜ by 4 ⅜ inches), vignetted
May 31, 1837 (second instalment)
Charles Dickens's The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Chapter VII (June 1836), facing page 64.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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‘Missed fire,’ said Mr. Winkle, who was very pale — probably from disappointment.
‘Odd,’ said the old gentleman, taking the gun. ‘Never knew one of them miss fire before. Why, I don’t see anything of the cap.’
Bless my soul!’ said Mr. Winkle, ‘I declare I forgot the cap!’
The slight omission was rectified. Mr. Pickwick crouched again. Mr. Winkle stepped forward with an air of determination and resolution; and Mr. Tupman looked out from behind a tree. The boy shouted; four birds flew out. Mr. Winkle fired. There was a scream as of an individual — not a rook — in corporal anguish. Mr. Tupman had saved the lives of innumerable unoffending birds by receiving a portion of the charge in his left arm.
To describe the confusion that ensued would be impossible. To tell how Mr. Pickwick in the first transports of emotion called Mr. Winkle ‘Wretch!’ how Mr. Tupman lay prostrate on the ground; and how Mr. Winkle knelt horror-stricken beside him; how Mr. Tupman called distractedly upon some feminine Christian name, and then opened first one eye, and then the other, and then fell back and shut them both — all this would be as difficult to describe in detail, as it would be to depict the gradual recovering of the unfortunate individual, the binding up of his arm with pocket-handkerchiefs, and the conveying him back by slow degrees supported by the arms of his anxious friends. [Chapter VII, "Mr. Winkle instead of shooting at the Pigeon and Killing the Crow, Shot at the Crow and Wounded the Pigeon, Shot at the Crow and Wounded the Pigeon," 64]
“Mr. Winkle instead of shooting at the Pigeon and killing the Crow, shot at the Crow and wounded the Pigeon.” Page 64.
At this point Onwhyn had to adapt himself to another illustrator's style, for veteran Robert Seymour had committed suicide, and was ultimately replaced by Hablot Kninght Brown or Phiz. Here Onwhyn anticipates another group scene in Chapter VIII in which the Pickwickians, Wardle, and the family are overcome by consuming too much wine, although Snodgrass attributes the general inebriation to the "Injurious Effects of Salmon" in Mr. Wardle & his friends under the influence of the Salmon (substituted in November 1837 after Dickens replaced R. W. Buss). Significantly, Onwhyn would not have seen the Phiz scene, but, working on this plate in August 1837, would have seen both Buss's Cricket Match and Arbour Scene (June 1836). But Phiz might well have seen this earlier Onwhyn group scene. However, in his substitute plate Phiz fails to model his figures as effectively as Onwhyn, and does not individualize the rather stiff, drunken characters in the parlour. However, Onwhyn's three female servants are hardly "buxom girls," even if his kitchen backdrop with platters, great fireplace, and hanging meats is far better detailed than Phiz's parlour.
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 7 February 2024