“I suppose, Sir,” said Mr. Pickwick, “that it is the intention of your employers to seek to criminate me, upon the evidence of my own friends.” “Very good plant,” replied Jackson, “But it won’t do.” “No harm trying, but there’s little to be got out of me.” Page 318. — in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, for Chapter XXXI, Instalment Eleven (February 1837), complementing Phiz's steel engraving The first interview with Mr. Sergeant Snubbin, 10.9 cm high by 11 cm wide (4 ⅜ by 4 ⅜ inches), vignetted. Onwhyn issued this "extra" illustration on November 30, 1837.
Passage Illustrated:
‘Now,’ said Jackson, ‘I’m afraid you’ll think me rather troublesome, but I want somebody else, if it ain’t inconvenient. I have Samuel Weller’s name here, Mr. Pickwick.’
‘Send my servant here, waiter,’ said Mr. Pickwick. The waiter retired, considerably astonished, and Mr. Pickwick motioned Jackson to a seat.
There was a painful pause, which was at length broken by the innocent defendant.
‘I suppose, Sir,’ said Mr. Pickwick, his indignation rising while he spoke — ‘I suppose, Sir, that it is the intention of your employers to seek to criminate me upon the testimony of my own friends?’
Mr. Jackson struck his forefinger several times against the left side of his nose, to intimate that he was not there to disclose the secrets of the prison house, and playfully rejoined —
‘Not knowin’, can’t say.’
‘For what other reason, Sir,’ pursued Mr. Pickwick, ‘are these subpoenas served upon them, if not for this?’ [Chapter XXXI, “Which is all about the Law, and sundry great Authorities learned therein,” 318]
Commentary: Pickwick Goes to Bob Sawyer's Bachelor Entertainment
Right: Phiz's original February 1837 version of the legal interview in the Eleventh Instalment (Chapters 30, 31, and 32).
In The first interview with Mr. Sergeant Snubbin (in the eleventh or February 1837 instalment), published nine months before Onwhyn's "unofficial" complement to the main program, Phiz had depicted Pickwick's pre-trial interview with his defence attorney in the coming action of Bardell v. Pickwick. Dickens describes the barrister as a "lantern-faced, sallow-complexioned man" with a "boiled eye," and therefore we could confidently identify him in the Onwhyn illustration if he were present. He is not because this scene occurs earlier in the chapter, when Jackson, one of Dodson and Fogg's clerks rushes from his employers' offices in Cornhill to the George and Vulture in Sun Court to serve a writ upon Pickwick, who is about to start dinner with his friends Snodgrass, Tupman, and Winkle. Onwhyn has focussed the reader's attention on the animated clerk who is thumbing his nose at Pickwick. This, then, is the scene that precipitates Mr. Perker's consulting Snubbin about the imminent trial. The cheeky clerk serves subpoenas on Sam and all three Pickwickians, who must be prepared to testify when the case comes to trial, on February 14th.
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Illustrated by Robert Seymour, Robert Buss, and Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, November 1837. With 32 additional illustrations by Thomas Onwhyn (London: E. Grattan, April-November 1837).
_______. The Pickwick Papers. Illustrated by Thomas Nast (1873) and Phiz (1874). The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1874; New York: Harpers and Brothers, 1873. Vol. 6.
Titley, Graham D. C. "Thomas Onwhyn: a Life in Illustration (1811-1886)." Pearl. University of Plymouth (2018-07-12).
Created 25 February 2024