Passage Illustrated: Winding up the Military Phase of the Novel

There the scene was certainly a curious one. Around a large table sat a party of some twenty persons, the singularity of whose appearance may be conjectured when I mention that all those who appeared to be British officers were dressed in the robes of the échevins (or aldermen) of the village; while some others, whose looks bespoke them as sturdy Flemings, sported the cocked hats and cavalry helmets of their associates. He who appeared the ruler of the feast sat with his back towards me, and wore, in addition to the dress of burgomaster, a herald’s tabard, which gave him something the air of a grotesque screen at its potations. A huge fire blazed upon the ample hearth, before which were spread several staff uniforms, whose drabbled and soaked appearance denoted the reason of the party’s change of habiliments. Every imaginable species of drinking-vessel figured upon the board, from the rich flagon of chased silver to the humble cruche we see in a Teniers picture. As well as I could hear, the language of the company seemed to be French, or, at least, such an imitation of that language as served as a species of neutral territory for both parties to meet in.

He of the tabard spoke louder than the others, and although, from the execrable endeavours he made to express himself in French, his natural voice was much altered, there was yet something in his accents which seemed perfectly familiar to me. [Chapter CXVII, "An Old Acquaintance," pp. 614-615]

Commentary: Looking for Captain O'Malley in the Illustration

Phiz depicts much fewer than the twenty midnight revellers described by Lever, perhaps in order to distinguish the youthful protagonist from the rest of the company: out of the ten figures around the table, only two are standing, and one of only four is not wearing some sort of peculiar hat; he is, moreover, the youngest and most handsome figure in the room. Whereas this (restrained) reveller is in officer's uniform, the others are all attired as civilians, and seem a good deal older. But, if we are seeing what O'Malley himself sees, the uniformed veteran under the arms on the wall may be Fred Power, who arrives in a company of dragoons shortly after O'Malley. Moreover, the illustration and the chapter's title pique the reader's curiosity about who this "old acquaintance" may be: it is, of course, that old convent-pillaging rascal Major Monsoon. Wearing a garment curiously resembling Britain's quartered arms (a Scottish lion, Irish harp, and three English leopards) and wearing something resembling a dunce's hat, Monsoon is carousing with a group of like-minded middle-aged officers in the middle of the night at the burgomaster's house in the little Flemish village of Halle.

From an interlocutor at the shutup inn in the centre of the village O'Malley, just arrived on his mule with despatches for British headquarters at Courtrai, has learned that the British force has already left for Nivelle. O'Malley now creeps onto the window sill of the fully-lit burgomaster's residence, and peeps in at the casement. Twenty officers, most dressed as if they are local aldermen, are drinking heavily. Although the leader, wearing a herald's tabbard, is turned away from him and is speaking execrable French, O'Malley recognizes the voice of the "inveterate old villain" holding court in what is apparently the municipal council chambers, if the arms on the wall and the portrait of a seventeenth-century burgomaster are any indication. If the young officer at the table is not Fred Power, who arrives after O'Malley has entered, then certainly that figure is Captain Charles O'Malley, the narrator himself.

Necessary Background

• Charles Lever's Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon (1840-41)

Bibliography

Lester, Valerie Browne. Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens. London: Chatto and Windus, 2004.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. "Edited by Harry Lorrequer." Dublin: William Curry, Jun. London: W. S. Orr, 1841. 2 vols.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Published serially in The Dublin University Magazine from Vol. XV (March 1840) through XVIII (December 1841). Dublin: William Curry, March 1840 through December 1841. London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1842; rpt., Chapman and Hall, 1873.

Lever, Charles. Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon. Illustrated by Phiz [Hablot Knight Browne]. Novels and Romances of Charles Lever. Vol. I and II. In two volumes. Project Gutenberg. Last Updated: 2 September 2016.

Steig, Michael. Chapter Two: "The Beginnings of 'Phiz': Pickwick, Nickleby, and the Emergence from Caricature." Dickens and Phiz. Bloomington: Indiana U. P., 1978. Pp. 24-50.

Stevenson, Lionel. Chapter V, "Renegade from Physic, 1839-1841." Dr. Quicksilver: The Life of Charles Lever. London: Chapman and Hall, 1939. Pp. 73-93.

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Created 6 April 2023