Illuminated Initial "I"
Charles Keene
1866
Wood-engraving
6.5 x 5.2 cm, framed
Fifteenth illustration for Douglas Jerrold's Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures (first published in 1845): "The Seventh Lecture," p. 29.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Passage Illustrated: Mrs. Caudle's flipping a pancake on Shrove Tuesday
"I know what apples are, Mr. Caudle, without your telling me. But I suppose you want something more than apples for dumplings? I suppose sugar costs something, doesn’t it? And that's how it is. That’s how one expense brings on another, and that’s how people go to ruin.
"Pancakes? What's the use of your lying muttering there about pancakes? Don't you always have 'em once a year —; every Shrove Tuesday? And what would any moderate, decent man want more?
"Pancakes, indeed! Pray, Mr. Caudle, —; no, it's no use your saying fine words to me to let you go to sleep; I sha'n't! —; pray do you know the price of eggs just now? There’s not an egg you can trust to under seven and eight a shilling; well, you've only just to reckon up how many eggs —; don't lie swearing there at the eggs in that manner, Mr. Caudle; unless you expect the bed to let you fall through. You call yourself a respectable tradesman, I suppose? Ha! I only wish people knew you as well as I do! Swearing at eggs, indeed! But I'm tired of this usage, Mr. Caudle; quite tired of it; and I don’t care how soon it's ended! ["Seventh Lecture. —; "Mr. Caudle has ventured a remonstrance on his day's dinner: cold mutton, and no pudding. Mrs. Caudle defends the cold shoulder," p. 32]
Commentary
This is not a picture of what Mrs. Caudle intends to do in order to replace the pudding that she insists would be out of season. Consequently the scene of jolly domesticity in which the children gather around their mother at the stove exists entirely in Mr. Caudle's mind. Perhaps Mrs. Caudle would make less of a fuss about the cost of the eggs necessary for puddings and pancakes if her weekly domestic allowance were greater. Her argument is that her husband hates cold mutton and wants pudding at every meal, but that he is not prepared to give her a sufficient allowance to support his lordly tastes.
Bibliography
Jerrold, Douglas. Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures, as Suffered by the late Job Caudle.Edited from the Original MSS. by Douglas Jerrold. With a frontispiece by Leech, and as motto on the title-page, "Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Fury's lap. —; Shakespeare." London: Punch Office; Bradbury and Evans, 1846.
Jerrold, Douglas. Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures . Illustrated by John Leach and Richard Doyle. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1856.
Jerrold, Douglas. Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures. Illustrated by Charles Keene. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1866.
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Last modified 12 November 2017