"Snitchey and Craggs" by John Leech from Dickens's "The Battle of Life" (1846)

Snitchey and Craggs

John Leech; engraver, Edward Dalziel

1846

Wood engraving

12.2 high by 7 cm wide (4 ¾ by 2 ¾ inches), vignetted

>Full-page illustration for Dickens's The Battle of Life: "Part the Second," 60.

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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

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. . . desk. One of the fire-proof boxes, unpadlocked and opened, was upon it; a part of its contents lay strewn upon the table, and the rest was then in course of passing through the hands of Mr. Snitchey, who brought it to the candle, document by document, looked at every paper singly, as he produced it shook . . . . [60]

Passage Illustrated: Michael Warden's Sobering Interview with his Attorneys

Not alone; but, with a man of thirty, or about that time of life, negligently dressed, and somewhat haggard in the face, but well-made, well-attired, and well-looking, who sat in the armchair of state, with one hand in his breast, and the other in his dishevelled hair, pondering moodily. Messrs. Snitchey and Craggs sat opposite each other at a neighbouring desk. One of the fireproof boxes, unpadlocked and opened, was upon it; a part of its contents lay strewn upon the table, and the rest was then in course of passing through the hands of Mr. Snitchey; who brought it to the candle, document by document; looked at every paper singly, as he produced it; shook his head, and handed it to Mr. Craggs; who looked it over also, shook his head, and laid it down. Sometimes, they would stop, and shaking their heads in concert, look towards the abstracted client. And the name on the box being Michael Warden, Esquire, we may conclude from these premises that the name and the box were both his, and that the affairs of Michael Warden, Esquire, were in a bad way.

‘That’s all,’ said Mr. Snitchey, turning up the last paper. ‘Really there’s no other resource. No other resource.’

‘All lost, spent, wasted, pawned, borrowed, and sold, eh?’ said the client, looking up.

‘All,’ returned Mr. Snitchey.

‘Nothing else to be done, you say?’

‘Nothing at all.’

The client bit his nails, and pondered again.

‘And I am not even personally safe in England? You hold to that, do you?’

‘In no part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,’ replied Mr. Snitchey.

‘A mere prodigal son with no father to go back to, no swine to keep, and no husks to share with them? Eh?’ pursued the client, rocking one leg over the other, and searching the ground with his eyes. ["Part the Second," pp. 59-61]

Commentary: The Profligate Aristocrat Suitably Chastened

Although Dickens never actually describes Michael Warden's eloping with Marion Jeddler at the end of the night of the dance, in constructing this scene in the lawyers' office the author certainly lays the groundwork for such a plot gambit. After the three years at the start of "Part the Second" in which nothing much happens, Dickens introduces the romantic hero as a foil to the sober-sided Alfred Heathfield. As Robert L. Patten remarks of this dashing, handsome aristocrat, "He is a typical Romantic figure, a youth who has sowed wild oats. He has wasted his inheritance abroad and recognizes that scriptural rescues of prodigal sons will not apply to him. Some time previously he had returned to the area, been thrown by his horse, and been taken into Doctor Jeddler's house to recover from broken ribs and collar bone" (pp. 216-217). Naturally, his recuperation brings him into close contact with the Jeddler sisters, and he seems particularly interested in Marion, despite her protracted engagement to Alfred. Leech underscores his profligate nature in this illustration, and to imply that, in trying to live frugally on the Continent, he may have had a companion. Here, as Patten remarks, we see a somewhat chastened and depressed Warden, "disheveled and sad, seated before a smoking hearth. In the curling figure of a table leg, Leech takes the image down to the page's bottom margin. That leg looks a lot like a plenty's horn, discharging at its mouth only papers and a padlock" (218).

The padlocked trunk in the lower left suggests the wealth of the ancestral estate that Warden shall have to leave untouched, and yet meet all those bills beside it. The late hour (11:20 PM on the clock above the darkened fireplace) suggests that the aristocrat is running out of time to save his family's fortunes.

Related Material

Scene from The Battle of Life, at the Lyceum Theatre: Clemency (Mrs. Keeley); Britain (Mr. Keeley). The Illustrated London News. Saturday, 26 December 1846, p. 413.
The Dedication, Illustrations, and Illustrators for The Battle of Life (1846)
Robert L. Patten's Dickens, Death and Christmas, Chapter 8: "Chirping" and Pantomime, and Chapter 9: Battling for His Life
Pears' Centenary Edition of The Battle of Life (1912)
The Christmas Books of Charles Dickens
Sol Eytinge, Jr.'s single illustration for The Battle of Life (1867)
A. E. Abbey's Household Edition illustrations for The Christmas Books (1876)
Fred Barnard's Household Edition illustrations for The Christmas Books (1878)
Harry Furniss's illustrations for Dickens's The Battle of Life (1910)

Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. The Battle of Life: A Love Story. Illustrated by John Leech, Richard Doyle, Daniel Maclise, and Clarkson Stanfield. Engraved by J. Thompson, Dalziel, T. Williams, and Green. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846.

Morley, Malcolm. "The Battle of Life in the Theatre." Dickensian 48 (1 January 1952): 76.

Patten, Robert L. Chapter 9, "Battling for his Life." Dickens, Death, and Christmas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. 200-233. [Review]

Created 20 February 2001

Last updated 2 June 2024