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The Pirate-Colonel and His Captive
Sir John Gilbert
Wood engraving
20.5 cm high by 12.7 cm wide (8 by 5 inches)
Illustration for Dickens's A Holiday Romance in Our Young Folks, An Illustrated Magazine For Boys and Girls, Vol. IV (facing p. 193)
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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When the canoes arrived at the beach, the darkness of the night was illumined by the light of an immense fire. Ordering his boat’s crew (with the intrepid though illiterate William at their head) to keep close and be upon their guard, Boldheart bravely went on, arm in arm with the chief.
But how to depict the captain’s surprise when he found a ring of savages singing in chorus that barbarous translation of ‘For what we are going to receive,’ &c., which has been given above, and dancing hand in hand round the Latin-grammar master, in a hamper with his head shaved, while two savages floured him, before putting him to the fire to be cooked!
Boldheart now took counsel with his officers on the course to be adopted. In the mean time, the miserable captive never ceased begging pardon and imploring to be delivered. On the generous Boldheart’s proposal, it was at length resolved that he should not be cooked, but should be allowed to remain raw, on two conditions, namely:
1. That he should never, under any circumstances, presume to teach any boy anything any more.
2. That, if taken back to England, he should pass his life in travelling to find out boys who wanted their exercises done, and should do their exercises for those boys for nothing, and never say a word about it.
Drawing the sword from its sheath, Boldheart swore him to these conditions on its shining blade. The prisoner wept bitterly, and appeared acutely to feel the errors of his past career. [Part Three: "Romance. From The Pen of Lieu.-Col. Robin Redforth," 266]
Young readers must have found the role reversal delightful. The schoolboy, transformed into a "Pirate-Colonel," having received the cannibals' captive, stares down the terrified teacher. The initial-letter vignette had not prepared readers for this scene as it depicts an entirely different aspect of Boldheart, who becomes a miniature Captain Ahab singlehandedly towing a harpooned leviathan back to the jubilant crew of the Beauty.
Showing himself adept at depicting moments of melodrama and grotesque characters, Gilbert here gives prominence to such amusing pictorial elements as the "Jolly Roger" pirate flag, the cutlas tied to the mainmast, the keg of gunpowder at its foot, and the two surly pirates who grip the teacher firmly.
Boldheart's diminutive stature is counterbalanced by his fierce expression, his weaponry (he seems armed to the teeth, with a dagger, a pistol and a dragoon's sabre), his large epaulettes and naval officer's hat, and by the mainmast, which rises behind him. Gilbert depicts Boldheart not only as a judge, but also as a Napoleon figure, in much the manner that the French leader was caricatured by British papers during England's war with France after the Revolution. Conversely, the height of the schoolmaster (in ridiculous collar and staid overcoat) is about to be reduced by the raised hand, poised to snatch off his light-coloured 'beaver', a style of headgear in vogue from 1820 to 1860. The scene depicted, though facing page 193, does not occur until page 196 in the paragraph beginning 'Captain Bllodheart then turned to the Latin-Grammar Master, severely reproaching him . . .' (196). That the picture is related to this paragraph is made obvious by the 'Latin grammar' text on which Boldheart is treading with his upstage (right) foot. [Allingham, 40]
Allingham, Philip V. "The Original Illustrations for Dickens's A Holiday Romance by John Gilbert, Sol Eytinge, and G. G. White as these appeared in Our Young Folks, An Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. IV." Dickensian 92, 1 (Spring 1996): 31-47.
Cunnington, Phillis, and Anne Buck. Children's Costume in England 1300-1900. London: Adams and Charles Black, 1965.
Dickens, Charles. A Holiday Romance in Our Young Folks, An Illustrated Magazine For Boys and Girls, Vol. IV. Boston: Ticknor Fields, January-May, 1868. Rpt. All the Year Round, 1868.
Dickens, Charles. A Holiday Romance and Other Writings for Children. Ed. Gillian Avery. Everyman Dickens. London: J. M. Dent; Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle, 1995.
Created 19 April 2002
Last modified 29 January 2023