"The Native in a perfect state of drill." — twenty-fifth illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

The Native in a perfect state of drill. by W. L. Sheppard. Twenty-fifth illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XXVI, "Shadows of the Past and Future," p. 156. 9.4 x 13.5 cm (3 ⅝ by 5 ¼ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Major Bagstock berates the Native

Eytinge's study of the scarlet retired colonial administrator and his hapless manservant: Major Bagstock and The Native (1867).

Passage Illustrated: Major Bagstock abuses his servant

“As to alteration in her, Sir,” mused the Major on his way back; on which expedition — the afternoon being sunny and hot — he ordered the Native and the light baggage to the front, and walked in the shadow of that expatriated prince: “as to alteration, Sir, and pining, and so forth, that won’t go down with Joseph Bagstock, None of that, Sir. It won’t do here. But as to there being something of a division between ’em — or a gulf as the mother calls it — damme, Sir, that seems true enough. And it’s odd enough! Well, Sir!” panted the Major, “Edith Granger and Dombey are well matched; let ’em fight it out! Bagstock backs the winner!”

The Major, by saying these latter words aloud, in the vigour of his thoughts, caused the unhappy Native to stop, and turn round, in the belief that he was personally addressed. Exasperated to the last degree by this act of insubordination, the Major (though he was swelling with enjoyment of his own humour), at the moment of its occurrence instantly thrust his cane among the Native’s ribs, and continued to stir him up, at short intervals, all the way to the hotel.

Nor was the Major less exasperated as he dressed for dinner, during which operation the dark servant underwent the pelting of a shower of miscellaneous objects, varying in size from a boot to a hairbrush, and including everything that came within his master’s reach. For the Major plumed himself on having the Native in a perfect state of drill, and visited the least departure from strict discipline with this kind of fatigue duty. Add to this, that he maintained the Native about his person as a counter-irritant against the gout, and all other vexations, mental as well as bodily; and the Native would appear to have earned his pay — which was not large. [Chapter XXVI, "Shadows of the Past and Future, 156]

Commentary: A less than congenial domestic scene

All of Dickens's Dombey and Son illustrators have taken the posturing Major to task for his brutal conduct towards the faithful manservant from the Empire's Far Eastern colonies. But perhaps Sheppard's pictorial vilification of Joey B. also lacks some social significance because Sheppard has excised "race" as a dimension of the dynamic between Major Bagstock and the Native. A motivating factor in this odd choice may be lie in the illustrator's personal background. From 1861 to 1865 Sheppard fought on the side of the pro-slavery Confederacy, and undoubtedly espoused a somewhat paternalistic conception of slavery. After the war Sheppard published in American periodicals sentimental illustrations of Southern ante bellum Black society. In this early 1870s illustration, Sheppard does not clarify either the Native's race or geographical origin; he might, indeed, be Caucasian rather than Negro or East Indian. What is clear is that the Native makes no effort to counterattack or defend himself, but merely cringes as his abusive employer hurls various missiles at him in the Major's dressing-room. This is, incidentally, the only appearance of the Native in the Sheppard narrative-pictorial sequence, in which his pompous master appears only once more. Dickens's other major nineteenth-century illustrators, Fred Barnard and Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) found the relationship between Master and Servant a rich vein of social satire to mine judiciously.

Other Major Appearances of these characters in the 1846-48 and 1877 British Editions

Other Illustrations demonstrating the Major's abuse of his servant (1847-1910)

Left: Phiz's March 1847 serial illustration Major Bagstock is delighted to have the opportunity (Part 6, Ch. 19). Centre: The old humbug's dramatic entry in the Household Edition: "Take advice from plain old Joe, and never educate that sort of people, sir." (detail: 1877). Right: Detail of the second Household Edition illustration in which the Native and Bagstock appear: "Joe had been deceived, sir, taken in, hoodwinked, but was broad awake again, and staring" (1877).

Left: Clayton J. Clarke's Player's Cigarette Card No. 7 watercolour study: Major Bagstock (1910). Centre: W. H. C. Groome's version of the egocentric major's absing the Native: The unfortunate Native suffered terribly (1900). Right: Phiz's second study of the Major and his valet, Chapter 26: "Joe B. Is Sly, Sir, Devilish Sly" (detail: June 1847).

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)

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Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.

Created 4 February 2022