"We cannot always command our feeling, Captain Gills." — forty-second illustration by W. L. Sheppard for Dickens's "Dombey and Son" (American Household Edition, 1873)

"We cannot always command our feeling, Captain Gills." by W. L. Sheppard. Forty-second illustration for Dickens's Dombey and Son in the American Household Edition (1873), Chapter L, "Mr. Toots's Complaint," page 287. Page 287's Heading: "Mr. Toots Goes in Search of Miss Nipper." 9.4 x 13.6 cm (3 ⅝ by 5 ⅜ inches) framed. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

Passage Illustrated: Toots conveniently turns up at The Little Midshipman

Kyd's watercolour study of the avuncular, one-handed merchant seaman, Captain Cuttle (circa 1910).

With that Mr. Toots came out of the room, again accompanied by the Captain, who, standing at a little distance, holding his hat under his arm and arranging his scattered locks with his hook, had been a not uninterested witness of what passed. And when the door closed behind them, the light of Mr. Toots’s life was darkly clouded again.

“Captain Gills,” said that gentleman, stopping near the bottom of the stairs, and turning round, “to tell you the truth, I am not in a frame of mind at the present moment, in which I could see Lieutenant Walters with that entirely friendly feeling towards him that I should wish to harbour in my breast. We cannot always command our feelings, Captain Gills, and I should take it as a particular favour if you’d let me out at the private door.”

“Brother,” returned the Captain, “you shall shape your own course. Wotever course you take, is plain and seamanlike, I’m wery sure.” [Chapter L, "Mr. Toots's Complaint," 287]

Commentary: Another Dickensian Coincidence

Kyd's watercolour study of Paul's fatuous but kindly school-fellow, Mr. P. Toots (circa 1910).

Dickens could, of course, have sent Walter off to find Mr. Toots, who apparently knows where Susan Nipper fled after Dombey discharged her for insubordination: chastising him for neglecting Florence. Walter, articulating concerns of middle class respectability, determines that the young lady under the roof of two nautical bachelors requires some sort of duenna to preserve the appearance of virtue. After all, reasons "Lieutenant" Walter, Florence still regards him as an older brother, not a féncé. However, to save time, Dickens has Toots arrive at the shop after he has learned from Dombey's footman of Florence's sudden departure two days earlier. Toots is embarrassed, but shows himself a decent enough fellow in his friendly greeting of Walter, in whom he recognizes a romantic rival. Having had an interview with Florence upstairs, he now takes the back door out instead of having to see Walter again.

Sheppard contributes nothing new to our understanding of either character, other than emphasizing Toots's gentle feelings for Florence. However, through the illustration the American artist prepares us for Toots's romantic affiliation with the feisty maid, the dark-eyed, sharp-witted, aptly named Susan Nipper.

Related Material, including Other Illustrated Editions of Dombey and Son (1846-1910)

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Bibliography

Dickens, Charles. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. L. Sheppard. The Household Edition. 18 vols. New York: Harper & Co., 1873.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by F. O. C. Darley and John Gilbert. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 55 vols. New York: Sheldon and Company, 1862. Vols. 1-4.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Sol Eytinge, Jr., and engraved by A. V. S. Anthony. 14 vols. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1867. III.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard [62 composite wood-block engravings]. The Works of Charles Dickens. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. With illustrations by H. K. Browne. The illustrated library Edition. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, c. 1880. II.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Fred Barnard. 61 wood-engravings. The Household Edition. 22 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877. XV.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by W. H. C. Groome. London and Glasgow, 1900, rpt. 1934. 2 vols. in one.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Harry Furniss. The Charles Dickens Library Edition. 18 vols. London: Educational Book, 1910. Vol. IX.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). 8 coloured plates. London and Edinburgh: Caxton and Ballantyne, Hanson, 1910.

__________. Dombey and Son. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The Clarendon Edition, ed. Alan Horsman. Oxford: Clarendon, 1974.

Created 23 February 2022