Passage Illustrated: A Key Ingredient to the Picaresque Novel — Farce

“Come, then, who can be so proper for all parties, at a moment like this, as our mutual friend Captain Power?”

Had a shell fallen into the cold grouse pie in the midst of us, scattering death and destruction on every side, the effect could scarcely have been more frightful than that my last words produced. Mrs. Dalrymple fell with a sough upon the floor, motionless as a corpse; Fanny threw herself, screaming, upon a sofa; Matilda went off into strong hysterics upon the hearth-rug; while the major, after giving me a look a maniac might have envied, rushed from the room in search of his pistols with a most terrific oath to shoot somebody, whether Sparks or myself, or both of us, on his return, I cannot say. Fanny’s sobs and Matilda’s cries, assisted by a drumming process by Mrs. Dal’s heels upon the floor, made a most infernal concert and effectually prevented anything like thought or reflection; and in all probability so overwhelmed was I at the sudden catastrophe I had so innocently caused, I should have waited in due patience for the major’s return, had not Sparks seized my arm, and cried out, —

“Run for it, O’Malley; cut like fun, my boy, or we’re done for.”

“Run; why? What for? Where?” said I, stupefied by the scene before me.

“Here he is!” called out Sparks, as throwing up the window, he sprang out upon the stone sill, and leaped into the street. I followed mechanically, and jumped after him, just as the major had reached the window. A ball whizzed by me, that soon determined my further movements; so, putting on all speed, I flew down the street, turned the corner, and regained the hotel breathless and without a hat, while Sparks arrived a moment later, pale as a ghost, and trembling like an aspen-leaf. [Chapter XXVII, "The Supper," pp. 148-149]

What Phizzian Fun! A Military-cum-Domestic Marital Trap Exploded

The novel of college comicalities suddenly becomes a picaresque Military novel in the second half of the narrative. Cornet Charles O'Malley of the Irish Dragoons, 14th Regiment, cements his relationship with Captain Power, and acquires a new chum, fellow-cornet Mr. Sparks. Charley "pops the question" and is "popped at" facing page 149, at the very end of Chapter XXVII, "The Supper," as he and Sparks beat a hasty retreat out of the Dalrymples' parlour window to the street below.

Phiz takes us directly to the climax of the romantic domestic farce involving the devious Major and Mrs. Dalrymple, their marriageable daughters, and their prey, the hapless Cornet Charles O'Malley, in the garrison town of Cork. Posted there for a few weeks prior to his cavalry regiment's embarkation for Portugal, the young officer of aristocratic background becomes a frequent dinner-guest at the Dalrymples. Almost too late, O'Malley's confidant, the sharp-witted Captain Power, arrives in Cork to alert the naive O'Malley to the marital designs of the family, who have become notorious for such husband-entrapping behaviour at garrison towns such as Gibraltar. With a certain degree of cunning, and a great deal of luck, the tipsy protagonist outwits the family of marital predators.

Whatever is happening in this comic sendup of a double-proposal scene gone wrong? As Colonel Dalrymple fires his pistol, O'Malley throws himself out of the window and into the street. When he arrives at his rooms immediately thereafter, Captain Power gives him the welcome news that the 14th is preparing to embark for Portugal. What Phiz shows, then, is the immediate consequence of O'Malley's suggesting that Power serve as a witness to the double engagement: Matilda Dalrymple to O'Malley — and Fanny Dalrymple to Cornet Sparks, who has made a lighting exit via the window just ahead of O'Malley. Just as the Dalrymples had thought they had the young officers neatly lined up as sons-in-law, O'Malley had exploded a landmine under their plan, for Power knows what machinations the family have already stooped to in previous postings: "Had a shell fallen into the cold grouse pie in the midst of us, . . . the effect could scarcely have been more frightful" (148). As the old servant Matthew (introduced in the last chapter) looks gingerly into the parlour, upper left, Dalrymple has hastily returned with his duelling pistols, determined to do in both conniving young officers. Meantime, Mrs. D. has succumbed to a fit of pique (right), Matilda has gone into hysterics on the hearthrug, and Fanny is reduced to a sobbing fit on the chesterfield. The departing officers in their haste have thrown aside the decorum of departing by the door, and Matilda has fallen off her chair.

If anything excited the attention of such visual humourists as as George Cruikshank and Phiz it was a lively scene in the manner of a Victorian farce involving the Victorian middle class family at its least decorous moments.

Necessary Background

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

Bibliography

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 March 2023