"Softly, dear Mamma! Papa is asleep." — thirty-first illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"Softly, dear Mamma! Papa is asleep." by W. L. Sheppard. Thirty-first illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter XXXV, "Contrasts," p. 207. Heading: "The Statue Melts for Florence." 9.3 x 13.7 cm (3 ⅝ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Florence consults Edith about Filial Love

Sol Eytinge, Junior, in the Diamond Edition implies that a close relationship develops between Florence and the Blimbers' dog after her brother's death: Florence Dombey (1867).

“Florence, dear,” she said, “I have been looking for you everywhere.”

As she sat down by the side of Florence, she stooped and kissed her hand. He hardly knew his wife. She was so changed. It was not merely that her smile was new to him — though that he had never seen; but hermanner, the tone of her voice, the light of her eyes, the interest, and confidence, and winning wish to please, expressed in all — this was not Edith.

“Softly, dear Mama. Papa is asleep.”

It was Edith now. She looked towards the corner where he was, and he knew that face and manner very well.

“I scarcely thought you could be here, Florence.” [Chapter XXXV, "The Happy Pair," 207]

Commentary: Florence appeals to Edith's better nature

Harry Furniss implies some sort of close relationship has developed between Edith Dombey and her stepdaughter in The Dombey Dinner Party (1910).

If by "The Pair" in the title for Chapter 35 Dickens means "Edith and Paul Dombey," the effect is calculated to be ironic. However, Dickens has employed the term "Pair" rather than "Couple," so that the effect may be more properly described as ambivalent. Throughout her mother's confinement and illness and particularly since the deaths of her mother and brother, Florence has felt lonely and neglected, despite the devoted ministrations of her maid, Susan Nipper. Now fate seems to have brought her a mature friend, companion, and confidant who will help her mature in understanding and sympathy — or not. Sheppard has made the two women, the adolescent daughter and the mature bride, look surprisingly alike; they might indeed be "sisters," as Dickens suggests in how they exit the room. Florence, however, is to the left, holding up her hand to stay the conversation. A humourous touch is Dickens's describing and Sheppard's depicting Dombey's sleeping underneath his handkerchief in his "shadowy corner at some distance, where there was an easy-chair" (206).

Fred Barnard, in the British Household Edition, focuses in these chapters on the couple's entertaining: One of the very tall young men on hire, whose organ of veneration was imperfectly developed, thrusting his tongue into his cheek, for the entertainment of the other very tall young man on hire, as the couple turned into the dining-room (1877).

The situation described has developed out of the return home of Edith and Paul Dombey from their honeymoon in Paris. Dombey found The City of Light dull rather than romantic, and is relieved to be home again. Mrs. Skewton, Edith's socialite mother, chides her son-in-law for being so gauche and unreceptive to the delights of the French capital. Dombey, however, is happy with the remodeling of the house that has progressed in his absence. The shared confidences between Edith and Florence, including her concern about the missing Walter, only begin in this room, the very room in which Little Paul died. "Edith drew her hand through [Florence's] arm, and they went out of the room like sisters" (207) as Dombey, now awake, watches them. Florence wants to be close to her father, and win his love, but fears he will continue to reject her as she is not a son. Hence, in the following drawing-room scene Florence asks Edith to show her how to love her father and to win his love. Despite her obvious sympathy for Florence's plight, Edith replies that she is not a suitable counsellor about love: "Heaven forbid that you should learn from me!" (208).

The Other Editions' Relevant Illustrations of the Dombeys' Entertaining London Society

Left: Phiz's depiction of the Dombeys' entertainments in which the friends of the husband do not associate with the friends of the wife: Mrs. Dombey at Home (September 1847). Right: Harry Furniss's version of the couple's dinner entertainments in their London mansion, The Dombey Dinner Party (1910).

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

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the 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.]

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 13 February 2022