"Disadvantages of Breakfasting over a Duelling Party" by "Phiz" — Thirty-second illustration for Charles Lever's "Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon" (June 1841)

Disadvantages of Breakfasting over a Duelling Party

Phiz

Dalziel

June 1841

Steel-engraving

11.1 cm high by 10.1 cm wide (4 ¼ by 4 inches), vignetted, in Chapter LXXXVIII, "Patrick's Day in the Peninsula," facing p. 442.

[Click on image to enlarge it.]

Source: Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned it, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: Cornet Medlicot Narrates an Entertaining Anecdote

“‘Breakfast, waiter,’ said I; ‘a beefsteak, — fresh beef, mark ye, — fresh eggs, bread, milk, and butter, all fresh. No more hard tack,’ thought I; ‘no salt butter, but a genuine land breakfast.’

“Up-stairs, No. 4, sir,’ said the waiter, as he flourished a dirty napkin, indicating the way.

“Up-stairs I went, and in due time the appetizing little meal made its appearance. Never did a minor’s eye revel over his broad acres with more complacent enjoyment than did mine skim over the mutton and the muffin, the tea-pot, the trout, and the devilled kidney, so invitingly spread out before me. ‘Yes,’ thought I, as I smacked my lips, ‘this is the reward of virtue; pickled pork is a probationary state that admirably fits us for future enjoyments.’ I arranged my napkin upon my knee, seized my knife and fork, and proceeded with most critical acumen to bisect a beefsteak. Scarcely, however, had I touched it, when, with a loud crash, the plate smashed beneath it, and the gravy ran piteously across the cloth. Before I had time to account for the phenomenon, the door opened hastily, and the waiter rushed into the room, his face beaming with smiles, while he rubbed his hands in an ecstasy of delight.

“‘It’s all over, sir,’ said he; ‘glory be to God! it’s all done.’

“‘What’s over? What’s done?’ inquired I, with impatience.

“‘Mr. M’Mahon is satisfied,’ replied he, ‘and so is the other gentleman.’

“‘Who and what the devil do you mean?’ [Chapter LXXXVIII, "Patrick's Day in the Peninsula," pp. 441-442]

Commentary: An Interpolated Tale of an Interrupted Irish Breakfast

Back with the gallant Fourteenth, O'Malley has fully recovered his youthful vigour. Now, as the St. Patrick's Day banquet thrown by Major O'Shaughnessy proceeds, the officers' table rejoices in several songs and Cornet Medlicot's reminiscence of his day in Cork at the Goat and Garters Inn. Having survived a week of storm on the voyage from Portsmouth to Lisbon, his transport has been blown off course. The young lieutenant has determined to satisfy his voracious appetite on shore. Just as steak that he has ordered for breakfast flies into the air in pieces, the waiter rushes in to announce that a duel fought below stairs has been amicably resolved, with the first adversary discharging his pistol into the air rather than at his opponent. The terrified Medlicot, scarcely on Irish soil half-an-hour, now beats a hasty retreat to his ship in the harbour.

Phiz shows Medlicot startled by something other than the waiter's news, dropping his cutlery, as bits of his steak fly into the air. The officer's foraging cap flies off his head (left) and the breadbasket, empty, lies on the floor (centre) to suggest that this is a freeze-frame action shot. The accompanying letterpress explains that the title of the humorous illustration means that the shot fired in the air in the room below has penetrated the platter, sending shards and steak flying. No wonder the terrified officer concludes that "there are some safer places to live in than the green island" (442).

Necessary Background

Charles Lever's Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon (1840-41)

Bibliography

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. "Edited by Harry Lorrequer." Dublin: William Curry, Jun. London: W. S. Orr, 1841. 2 vols.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Published serially in The Dublin University Magazine from Vol. XV (March 1840) through XVIII (December 1841). Dublin: William Curry, March 1840 through December 1841. London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1842; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vol. I and II. In two volumes. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 2 September 2016.

Steig, Michael. Chapter Two: "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-50.

Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter V, "Renegade from Physic, 1839-1841." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 73-93.

Created 25 March 2023