Chapter I: Illustrators of Cheap Editions 219 (5)

"'MY DEAR BROWNE,--A thousand thanks for the Dombey
sketches, which I shall preserve and transmit as heirlooms.

"'This afternoon, on Thursday, I shall be near the
whereabout of the boy in the flannel gown, and will pay him
an affectionate visit. But I warn you now and beforehand
(and this is final, you'll observe) that you are not agoing
to back out of the pigmental finishing said boy; for if ever
I had a boy of my own that boy is

"MINE,

"and, as the demon says at the Surrey,

"'I CLAIM MY VICTIM,'
"HA! HA! HA!!

"at which you will imagine me going down a sulphurous trap,
with the boy in my grasp--and you will please not to imagine
him merely in my grasp, but to hand him over.

"'For which this is your warrant and requirement.

"(Signed) CHARLES DICKENS.

"'Witness--WILLIAM + TOPPING,

"His groom.'"

The allusion to "the boy in the flannel gown" has reference to a portrait of Little Paul, painted by "Phiz" as a present to Dickens. Miss Hogarth informs me, however, that she has no recollection of this picture, nor of the "Dombey" sketches.

"Phiz," as usual, designed the pictorial wrapper for the monthly parts, concerning which Dickens wrote: "I think the cover very good; perhaps with a little too much in it, but that is an ungrateful objection." The criticism was justified, however, for the design, though ingeniously conceived, certainly errs on the side of over-elaboration.

The success attending the sale of the extra plates for "Master Humphrey's Clock" encouraged a repetition of this form of independent publication, and a similar series of portraits were produced of the principal characters in "Dombey and Son." Four capital plates, consisting of portraits of Little Paul, Florence, Edith, and Alice, were designed by Browne, and engraved on steel (in stipple and line) by Edwards and Knight, under the superintendence of the artist and Robert Young, whose joint venture it was. The engravings were published with Dickens's sanction concurrently with the story; the original impressions are now very scarce, but the plates still exist in good condition, and have recently been reprinted. Dickens was much pleased with these delightful portraits, and in a hitherto unpublished letter to the artist (dated January 5, 1847) he thus referred to the drawings: "I think Paul _very good indeed_--a beautiful little composition altogether. The face of Florence strikes me as being too old, particularly about the mouth. Edith, not so handsome as in the little drawings, and something too long and flat in the face. The better Alice of the two, decidedly that which is opposite Edith." There are extant as many as six pencil-sketches for the portrait of Alice, presenting slight variations in pose and expression, and Mr. Dexter owns an interesting study (in pencil and red chalk) of Florence Dombey, which has never been engraved.

Almost simultaneously with the production of the above portraits, "Phiz" designed and etched eight additional plates containing full-length presentments of Mr. Dombey and Carker, Mrs. Skewton, Old Sol and Captain Cuttle, Miss Tox, Mrs. Pipchin, Major Bagstock, Miss Nipper, and Polly Toodle. This undertaking was entirely a speculation of the artist, the plates being also issued in sets by Chapman & Hall. Dr. Browne informs me that the original drawings were unexpectedly discovered by him, rolled up and dirty, and were afterwards included in the Memorial Exhibition of his father's works at the Liverpool Art Club in 1883.

The first cheap edition of "Dombey and Son," 1858, includes a frontispiece by "Phiz," representing the flight of Carker. The artist also contributed to each of the two volumes of the Library Edition (1858-59) specially-designed vignettes, engraved on steel, the subjects being Mr. Dombey and the second Mrs. Dombey, and Paul with Florence at the seaside.

HABLÔT K. BROWNE

III

"DAVID COPPERFIELD"--The Designs prepared in
Duplicate--"Phiz's" Portrait of Mr. Micawber--Peggotty's
Hut--Trifling Errors in the Plates--Original
Drawings--Designs for "I Make myself Known to my
Aunt"--Variations in the Etchings--Frontispiece for the
First Cheap Edition--Vignettes for the Library
Edition--"BLEAK HOUSE"--Plates partly Duplicated--Some
Curious Inaccuracies--Skimpole successfully
Portrayed--"Phiz" takes Mental Notes--Original
Drawings--Alterations in the Plates--The "Bleak House"
Illustrations Criticised--Frontispiece for the First Cheap
Edition--Vignettes for the Library Edition--"LITTLE
DORRIT"--Illustrations Unsigned--"Machine-ruled Designs"--A
Letter from Dickens respecting one of the Plates--Original
Drawings--Pictorial Wrapper--"A TALE OF TWO CITIES"--A
Letter from "Phiz" to his Son--Dickens Forestalled--An
Unpublished Design--Last of Dickens's Stories Illustrated by
"Phiz"--The Artist's Conjectures as to the Cause of the
Severance--His Tender Regard for the Novelist--His
Antecedents--Apprenticeship at Finden's--Exhibits at the
Royal Academy--Inability to Draw from "the Life"--Some
Letters to Dickens--"The Pic Nic Papers"--An Early
Reminiscence of Dickens--"Phiz's" Remuneration--From
Prosperity to Adversity--Serious Illness--A Broken-down Old
Man--Paralysis--A Pathetic Grievance--Applies for a
Government Pension--Recognition by the Royal
Academy--Decline of Imagination and Power of
Invention--Death of the Artist--Mr. J. G. Fennell's
Tribute--"Phiz's" Shyness--An Extraordinary
Commission--Water-colour _Replicas_ of the Dickens
Illustrations--Vignettes for the Library Edition of
"Sketches by Boz" and "Oliver Twist"--"Phiz's"
Fellow-Apprentice, Coadjutor, and Friend--Etching the
Plates--Mezzotint Effects--Furnival's Inn--A Note from
"Phiz" to his Colleague--Mr. Robert Young's Autobiographical
Sketch.

[Sidenote: =David Copperfield, 1849-50.=]

In "David Copperfield," the most fascinating of Dickens's novels, it cannot be said that "Phiz" quite rose to the occasion. Although some of these plates he never excelled, the majority are marked by a certain hardness and stiffness of treatment, and are conspicuously deficient in that vigour and deftness of touch which characterise his previous efforts.

As in the case of "Dombey and Son," the whole of the designs were etched in duplicate, the _replicas_ differing but slightly from the originals. About half of the series were executed singly on octavo steels, instead of in couples on the usual quarto plates. In one of the designs, viz., "The River," the artist has again resorted to the ruling-machine for attaining the desired effect, but the result is poor and meagre. He has succeeded admirably in his presentment of Micawber, respecting which Dickens wrote to Forster: "Browne has sketched an uncommonly characteristic and capital Mr. Micawber for the next number." The most pleasing of all these etchings, however, are those in which the boy-hero figures, such as those depicting him with the "friendly waiter" at the bar of the public-house, and as, with battered hat and ragged raiment, he "makes himself known to his aunt."

It has been asserted that "Phiz" at this period sometimes grew careless, and that Dickens did not exercise that particular surveillance over the artist's work which he customarily bestowed upon it in the early days. For example, the novelist thus describes Peggotty's odd residence, an old boat drawn up on land and fashioned into a house: "There was a delightful door cut in the side, and it was roofed in, and there were little windows in it." He never refers to it as an _inverted_ boat, although it is so delineated by "Phiz,"--indeed, the inference is that the vessel stood upon its keel, for elsewhere it is mentioned as being left "high and dry," as though it were a boat that had been washed ashore. If such was the novelist's conception, it seems strange and unaccountable that he should have accepted without a protest the artist's misrepresentation of Peggotty's home. Curiously enough, there might have been seen within recent years, on the open Denes at Yarmouth, an inverted boat similarly converted into a cosy residence, the existence of which apparently gives actuality to "Phiz's" drawing.

In some of the etchings may be discovered a few trivial errors; for instance, in the plate entitled "Somebody Turns Up," Mrs. Heep is left-handed, an oversight which (as in previous cases) is doubtless the result of the etching being in reverse of the original design, although "Phiz" was generally careful to remember this when preparing his sketches. Strange to relate, in the scene depicting divine service at Blunderstone Church, he has omitted the officiating clergy! In "My First Fall in Life," the horses (especially the leaders) are undoubtedly disproportionate, and the same criticism applies to the figures in the illustration depicting the unexpected arrival of David and his friend at Peggotty's fireside. In the etching of "The River," the scene should have been reversed, and from this point of view (the river-side at Millbank) the dome of St. Paul's is not visible, although it is shown in the picture. Another curious mistake is apparent in the interesting plate entitled "Our Housekeeping;" here David is seen struggling with a _loin_ of mutton, whereas in the text the joint is distinctly described as a _boiled leg_ of mutton. It is amusing to note the appropriate character of the pictures adorning the walls of some of "Phiz's" interiors. In the etching of "The Friendly Waiter and I" he has thus introduced the scene illustrating the familiar fable of the Fox and the Stork; in "Changes at Home" we have the Return of the Prodigal Son and the Finding of Moses in the bulrushes; and in the plate delineating Steerforth and Miss Mowcher will be noticed over the fireplace a scene from Gulliver's adventures in Brobdingnag, an allusion to the diminutive proportions of the remarkable dwarf who was "so volatile."

Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans possesses the complete series of "working" drawings for "David Copperfield." Like the "Dombey" designs, these highly-finished drawings are executed chiefly in pencil and the effects washed in with indian-ink, while a few are in pencil only. Of that well-known design, "I Make myself Known to my Aunt," there exist no less than three tentative sketches; the first (on which the artist has written "Or--so--so?") represents Miss Trotwood sitting "flat down on the garden-path,"--a pose which, although accurate enough according to the text, was rightly deemed inartistic, whereupon the artist prepared another design, and submitted it to Dickens. In the second picture (where "Phiz" has queried, "Or--so?"), the lady stands erect, but the pathetic appearance of David is lost, and the composition of the background proves less fortunate. In the etching "Phiz" combined the two designs,--that is, he used the first drawing, but substituted the standing figure of Miss Trotwood for the seated one. On the margin of the second design the artist (in a humorous mood) has limned an unmerciful caricature of the whole incident. The third tentative drawing for this subject, believed to be the first sketch, was sold at Sotheby's in 1887 for £6, 15s.; it is now in the collection of Mr. Thomas Wright, of Paris.

With the sketch for "The Friendly Waiter and I" the novelist was delighted. "Phiz" originally represented David as wearing a long jacket, but this not being quite in accordance with Dickens's idea, he wrote asking the artist to "put Davy in a little jacket instead of this coat, without altering him in any other respect," which was accordingly done.

In the drawing for the plate entitled "My Magnificent Order at the Public-house," the form of the two large spirit-vessels behind David are more jug-shaped than in the etching. The "little white hat," by-the-way, as here worn by David, is just such head-gear as Dickens himself disported when a boy. In the drawing of David on the box-seat of the coach, "My First Fall in Life," the western towers of Canterbury Cathedral are indicated in the distance, but these are omitted in the etching. In the scene, "Mr. Micawber Delivers some Valedictory Remarks," certain faint lines are observable near the principal figure, indicating that he was originally delineated in a different attitude. The effective sketch of "The Wanderer" portrays more of the woman's figure than is visible in the plate. In the design entitled "Our Housekeeping," the frame of a mirror or picture is introduced on the wall behind David, but this was afterwards considered superfluous; and in the drawing of "The Emigrants," Mr. Micawber grasps a telescope, which does not appear in the plate. The drawing of "Mr. Peggotty's Dream Comes True" varies considerably from the etching, for not only is David seen wearing a hat (which in the etching is placed upon the table), but the artist has included a fourth figure, that of Rosa Dartle, who, seated in the chair, leans her head upon her arms above the table. The introduction of Miss Dartle is, of course, incorrect, as she had left the room before Mr. Peggotty entered; but the error was detected, and the necessary alteration effected in the published design.

"Phiz's" pictorial wrapper for the monthly parts is replete with detail, around the title in the centre being displayed various figures apparently exemplifying the Seven Ages of Man, with Dame Fortune crowning the whole.

The first cheap edition of "David Copperfield," 1858, contained a frontispiece by "Phiz," engraved on wood by Swain, representing Little Em'ly and David as children on Yarmouth Sands; to the Library Edition (1858-59) the artist contributed two vignettes (engraved on steel), the subject in the first volume being Little Em'ly and David by the sea, and for the second, another version of the etching entitled "Mr. Peggotty's Dream Comes True."

* * * * *

[Sidenote: =Bleak House, 1852-53.=]

In the forty illustrations for "Bleak House" the artist introduced a greater variety of subjects, and resorted more frequently to the use of the ruling-machine, no less than ten being so treated with considerable success. "Phiz" etched one complete set of the plates and duplicates of the machine-ruled designs, which were repeated probably because they could not so readily withstand the wear-and-tear of the printing.

A very few of the "Bleak House" illustrations are signed. In some of them the details do not entirely accord with the letterpress, a noteworthy instance of this inaccuracy being found in the etching entitled "Miss Jellaby," who is represented as dipping her forefinger in the egg-cup, whereas we are told that it was her "inky middle finger." A more important oversight in the same picture is the introduction of the infant Jellaby in the bed, who was not in the room at all, as a careful reading of the text readily discloses. In two instances, Turveydrop _père_ is depicted without the false whiskers he customarily wore, and in the illustration of "The Smallweed Family," the son is incorrectly omitted. It is perhaps worth noting an odd mistake on the part of the artist--in the etching entitled "Consecrated Ground" he has represented the iron gates in a manner to lead one to suppose they could not be opened; it is unfortunate, too, that, in this pathetic scene (in which, by the way, the _chiaroscuro_ is curiously forced) he partly destroys its sentiment by inappropriately introducing on the left the comical shadow of a man in the act of drinking from a tankard. With reference to one of the characters in "Bleak House" Dickens wrote to Forster: "Browne has done Skimpole, and helped to make him singularly unlike the great original." The "great original" was, of course, Leigh Hunt, a fact which the novelist himself did not so successfully disguise, and subsequently paid the penalty for his indiscretion.

"Phiz" invariably depended upon his imagination or memory for his scenes and characters; as the artist himself expressed it, he would merely go "to have a look at a thing," and then be able to prepare his picture without further aid. For instance, before designing the weird illustration of "The Lonely Figure" in "Bleak House," he visited a lime-pit, in order to see what the big crushing-wheels were like that he desired to introduce, and made a mental note of them without leaving the seat of his trap.

Besides the original "working" drawings for "Dombey and Son" and "David Copperfield," Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans also possesses those for "Bleak House." They vary considerably in treatment, some being carefully rendered, while those reproduced with the mezzotint shading are very broadly and vigorously executed by means of a soft lead-pencil, the lights heightened with chinese-white. In comparing the drawings with the etchings, slight variations may here and there be noted; for example, in the design for "Mr. Guppy's Entertainment," Mr. Jobling was first seen wearing his hat, but this was partly obliterated and the contour of the head afterwards drawn in; in "Visitors at the Shooting Gallery," the figure of Mr. George is slightly different in pose, while the sword rests on his shoulder; in "Mr. Smallweed Breaks the Pipe of Peace," Miss Smallweed stands a short distance from her father's chair, holding his "long clay;" in the charming design representing "Lady Dedlock in the Wood," we see Ada coming up _behind_ her ladyship, the figure of Charley (differently posed) being transferred to the other side of the picture. A more remarkable alteration, however, occurs in the design "Mr. Chadband 'Improving' a Tough Subject." Chadband's attitude is entirely changed from that in the etching, and Jo is placed on the other side of the drawing, with his back to Guster, while a cat reposes upon an ottoman near Mrs. Snagsby. In the drawing of "Attorney and Client," the face of Mr. Vholes is of a type differing from the published version, and his arms rest upon the desk; also, there is no waste-paper basket, and the deed-box is nearer the table. Mr. J. F. Dexter has another sketch for this illustration (presumably an earlier one), in which Richard Carstone stands with his back to the table, with his right hand pressed despondingly against his forehead. The original drawings for the sombre scenes, although more effective than the etched reproductions, are remarkably crude in treatment--a criticism which applies more especially to those depicting, "The Lonely Figure" and "The Night." The etchings of these subjects are technically superior to the drawings, their quality, however, being principally owing to the results obtained by means of the ruling-machine. The late Mr. James Payn once expressed the belief that it was "Phiz's" selection of subjects such as these which made him so acceptable an illustrator to Dickens.

In 1882, a writer in _The Academy_, who considered the illustrations in "Bleak House" as being practically perfect, said of them: "Not only is the comic side, the even fussily comic, such as 'The Young Man of the Name of Guppy,' understood and rendered well, but the dignified beauty of the old country-house architecture, or the architecture of the chambers of our Inns-of-court, is conveyed in brief touches; and there is apparent everywhere that element of terrible suggestiveness which made not only the art of Hablôt Browne, but the art of Charles Dickens himself, in this story of 'Bleak House,' recall the imaginative purpose of the art of Méryon. What can be more impressive in connection with the story--nay, even independently of the story--than the illustration of Mr. Tulkinghorn's chambers in gloom; than the illustration of the staircase of Dedlock's own house, with the placard of the reward for the discovery of the murderer; than that of Tom All Alone's; the dark, foul darkness of the burial-ground under scanty lamplight, and the special spot where lay the man who 'wos wery good to me--he wos!'? And then again, 'The Ghost's Walk,' and once more the burial-ground, with the woman's body--Lady Dedlock's--now close against its gate. Of course it would be possible to find fault with these things, but they have nothing of the vice of tameness--they deliver their message effectually. It is not their business to be faultless; it is their business to impress."

The design for the monthly wrapper is emblematical of the Court of Chancery, the artist availing himself of this opportunity of indulging in humorous pencillings reflecting upon the integrity of lawyers. "Phiz" contributed the frontispiece to the first cheap edition, 1858, representing Mr. Jarndyce and his friends in Bell Yard. He also designed the usual vignettes for the two volumes in the Library Edition (1858-59), which were engraved on steel; in the first is delineated Lady Dedlock and Jo, and in the second we behold Lady Dedlock and Esther Summerson in the wood, the latter composition much resembling the original etching of the same incident.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: =Little Dorrit, 1855-57.=]

Among the illustrations in "Little Dorrit" there are some as feeble in execution as there are others remarkable for exceptionally vigorous treatment; and it is worthy of note that, whereas in "Bleak House" the artist began partly to relinquish the custom of appending his familiar _nom de guerre_ to the plates, in "Little Dorrit" not a single design bears his signature.

An examination of the "Dorrit" etchings discloses the fact that no less than eight are toned by means of the ruling-machine, the result being even more satisfactory than usual. The first of these "ruled" plates represents the interior of a French prison, and the effect of deep gloom, enhanced by a few bright rays of light darting through the barred window, is remarkable for its Rembrandt-like _chiaroscuro_. Pleasantly contrasting with this sombre subject there is the plate depicting "The Ferry," a delightfully rural view, with trees and winding river, and that entitled "Floating Away," where the moon, rising behind the trees, imparts a romantic aspect to the scene. The old house in the last illustration but one, "Damocles," indicates "Phiz's" power in expressing the picturesqueness of ancient architecture, and his appreciation of the effect of light as it falls upon quaintly-carved door and window. The plate entitled "Mr. Flintwinch has a Mild Attack of Irritability" is probably one of the most forcible etchings ever executed by "Phiz," and it is difficult to conceive that the same master-hand was responsible for the apparently inexperienced work to be found in an earlier illustration, "Little Mother," the execution of which is as timid and lifeless as the other is bold and expressive.

"Phiz" etched one complete set of the plates, and duplicated the tinted subjects, the variations from the originals being slight and unimportant. Of the forty illustrations, thirty-four are on octavo plates containing single subjects, and three are quarto plates having two subjects on each.

PLATE XXXVII

STUDY FOR

MISS HAREDALE

_Facsimile_ of an Original Drawing by

H. K. BROWNE ("PHIZ")

Designed for the series of extra plates for "Barnaby Rudge." This Drawing differs from the published Engraving.

_Lent by Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans._

A part of "Little Dorrit" was composed in France, and on July 2, 1856, Dickens informed the artist that he was returning to Boulogne the next day, and desired him to make the illustration of "The Pensioner Entertainment" "as characteristic as ever you please, my little dear, but quiet." This plate proved a decided success. When, early in 1857, the novelist was again in London, "Phiz" forwarded for his inspection a sketch for the etching entitled "An Unexpected After-dinner Speech," which, however, did not quite realise Dickens's idea; whereupon the artist received a letter (printed for the first time in Mr. Thomson's Memoir) suggesting certain improvements, afterwards duly carried out. "In the dinner scene," he wrote, "it is highly important that Mr. Dorrit should not be too comic. He is too comic now. He is described in the text as 'shedding tears,' and what he imperatively wants is an expression doing less violence in the reader's mind to what is going to happen to him, and much more in accordance with that serious end which is so close before him. Pray do not neglect this change."

Dickens seems to have been much pleased with the artist's original drawings of "Flora's Tour of Inspection" and "Mr. Merdle a Borrower," which he characterised as "very good subjects--both." Of the latter he said: "I can't distinctly make out the detail, but I take Sparkles to be getting the tortoise-shell knife from the box. Am I right?"

Only a few of the drawings for "Little Dorrit" have been available for my inspection. Two of these, viz., "Mr. Merdle a Borrower" and "Under the Microscope" (now in Mr. J. F. Dexter's collection), are executed in pencil and wash, the second design not being reversed in the etching. As usual, the pictorial wrapper for the monthly parts was designed by "Phiz." The central picture represents Little Dorrit emerging from the gates of the Marshalsea; above is placed the despondent figure of Britannia in a bath-chair, attended by figures emblematical of the Circumlocution Office, while at the base of the design is seen a mixed assemblage of people, including some of the more prominent characters in the story.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: =A Tale of Two Cities, 1859.=]

Although "A Tale of Two Cities" was written specially for the pages of _All the Year Round_, it appeared concurrently in the familiar monthly numbers, with illustrations by "Phiz." The artist, in writing to his son Walter, said: "A rather curious thing happened with this book. Watts Phillips, the dramatist, hit upon the very same identical plot: they had evidently both of them been to the same source in Paris for their story. Watts's play ['The Dead Heart'] came out with great success, with stunning climax, at about the time of Dickens's sixth number. The public saw that they were identically the same story, so Dickens shut up at the ninth number, instead of going on to the eighteenth as usual." Whether this explanation is correct or not, the fact remains that "A Tale of Two Cities" was brought to a conclusion in the eighth number (not the ninth, as stated by "Phiz"), being therefore less than half the usual length of Dickens's serials.

As in the case of "Little Dorrit," the artist's signature does not appear in any of the sixteen etchings contributed by "Phiz" to this novel. It has been pointed out that the French personages in the pictures are not characteristic of the period, there being but little attempt at archaeological accuracy in the costumes. Only one set of the illustrations was prepared, none being etched in duplicate; they were executed on eight quarto steels, each bearing two designs. Of the original drawings for "A Tale of Two Cities" I have seen only one (now in Mr. J. F. Dexter's collection), and this was never etched. The sketch in question, which is vigorously executed with pencil and brush, depicts the incident of the stoppage at the Fountain, and constitutes an excellent subject for illustration.

The artist's design for the monthly wrapper is composed of distinct scenes separated by dividing lines. At the top of the page is St. Paul's Cathedral as viewed from the Thames, and at the base the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame is represented, while around are displayed some of the prominent characters in the story.

"A Tale of Two Cities" is the last of the novels containing illustrations by "Phiz," for, with the completion of the final plate in that story, there came a severance of that fortuitous collaboration between novelist and artist which had been maintained during a period of twenty-three years. As there is no evidence of any actual rupture between them, it is fair to surmise that a legitimate desire on the part of Dickens for a new illustrator constituted the actual reason for that severance. "Phiz" naturally felt aggrieved at "Dickens's strangely silent manner of breaking the connection," and could only surmise the reason; for, in an undated letter to Mr. Robert Young, written presumably a short time before the publication of the succeeding story, he said: "Marcus [Stone] is no doubt to do Dickens. _I_ have been a 'good boy,' I believe. The plates in hand are all in good time, so that I do not know what's 'up,' any more than you. Dickens probably thinks a new hand would give his old puppets a fresh look, or perhaps he does not like my illustrating Trollope neck-and-neck with him--though, by Jingo, he need fear no rivalry _there_! Confound all authors and publishers, say I. There is no pleasing one or t'other. I wish I had never had anything to do with the lot."

The amicable relationship that had subsisted between the author and his principal illustrator was not strained by this event. As a matter of fact, the artist ever entertained a tender regard and admiration for the famous romancer with whom he had so long been associated, and we may readily believe what a writer in the _Frankfurt Zeitung_ tells us when he says: "Just after the death of Charles Dickens, 'Phiz' was considerably affected by the mere mention of the name of that illustrious novelist, which seemed to stir up in his breast feelings of regret at losing such a friend."

* * * * *

Hablôt Knight Browne, as designer of the plates for ten of the fourteen principal novels by "Immortal Boz," is justly termed "the illustrator of Dickens." His name and fame are similarly identified with the works of Lever and Ainsworth, while, in addition to this, his familiar signature ("Fizz, Whizz, or something of that sort," as Tom Hood used to say, when endeavouring to recall the artist's sign-manual) may be found appended to innumerable etchings and woodcuts. He was born at Kennington, London, in July 1815, being the ninth son of William Loder Browne, who is somewhat indefinitely described as "a merchant." The artist's forefathers were of French descent, the original name (according to tradition) being Le Brun, a member of which family emigrated to England after the Massacre of St Bartholomew in 1572. His ancestors lived in London in the early part of the last century and adopted the essentially English cognomen of Browne. With regard to the artist's baptismal names, it is interesting to learn that the first (Hablôt) was the patronymic of a Colonel (or Captain) who was engaged to marry a sister of "Phiz," but was killed in a charge of Napoleon's Garde Impériale at Waterloo, while the second (Knight) was received from Admiral Sir John Knight, an old friend of the family; thus, in respect of names, was the artist associated with both Army and Navy.

"Phiz" inherited a strong artistic faculty, and, when a boy, was encouraged to cultivate his wonderful talent for drawing by his brother-in-law, Mr. Elhanan Bicknell, the well-known Art patron, who took so keen an interest in his welfare that he offered to defray all expenses of a thorough art education. It was through Mr. Bicknell's generosity that the youth was apprenticed to Finden, the engraver, who, it appears, more than once complained that his _protégé_ persisted in covering with comic figures the entire margins of the plates entrusted to him, thus indicating the humorous bent of his mind. In after years he took occasional lessons in painting, but he never distinguished himself as a painter, although he occasionally exhibited at the Royal Academy and other public galleries. The only regular training he ever had was at Finden's; but the work he was required to perform there proved much too irksome and monotonous for one who, like "Phiz," possessed ideas so eminently original and fanciful. As in the case of his two famous contemporaries, Cruikshank and Leech, "Phiz" could never accustom himself to draw from the living model, which accounts, of course, for his conventional treatment of the human figure; his representations of moving crowds, as well as other scenes of life and character, being drawn either from recollection or by the aid of a few slightly-pencilled memoranda.

It is unfortunate for my present purpose that nearly all the correspondence which passed between author and artist should have been destroyed. I am enabled, however, to print one or two brief notes indicating their friendly and familiar relationship. In 1841, "Phiz" supplied some etchings to "The Pic Nic Papers," a collection of essays edited by Dickens and produced for the benefit of Mrs. Macrone, the widow of the well-known publisher, who had been left in impoverished circumstances. In reply to an inquiry on the part of the novelist respecting the illustrations, the artist wrote:--

"MY DEAR DICKENS,--I have just got one boot on, intending to
come round to you, but you have done me out of a capital
excuse to myself for idling away this fine morning. I quite
forgot to answer your note, and Mr. Macrone's book has not
been very vividly present to my memory for some time past,
for both of which offences I beg innumerable pardons. I
think by the beginning of next [week] or the middle
(_certain_) I shall have done the plates, but on the scraps
of copy that I have I can see but _one good_ subject, so if
you know of another, pray send it me. I should like
'Malcolm' again, if you can spare him.--Yours very truly,

"Very short of paper.

"HABLÔT K. BROWNE."

The following terse epistle is undated, which is characteristic of "Phiz's" letters:--

"MY DEAR DICKENS,--I am sorry I cannot have a touch at
battledore with you to-day, being already booked for this
evening, but I will give you a call to-morrow after church,
and take my chance of finding you at home.--Yours very
sincerely,

"HABLÔT K. BROWNE."

On March 15, 1847, when forwarding to the artist some written instructions respecting a "Dombey" illustration, the novelist made an interesting allusion to an early incident in his own life. "I wish you _had_ been at poor Hall's[28] funeral, and I am sure they would have been glad.... He lies in Highgate Cemetery, which is beautiful....Is it not a curious coincidence, remembering our connection afterwards, that I bought the magazine [_The Monthly Magazine_, Dec. 1833] in which the first thing I ever wrote was published ["A Dinner at Poplar Walk"] from poor Hall's hands? I have been thinking all day of that, and of that time when the Queen went into the City, and we drank claret (it was in their [Chapman & Hall's] earlier days) in the counting-house. You remember?"

Footnote 28: Partner in the firm of Chapman & Hall.

"Phiz" received fifteen guineas each for his early plates, but sometimes agreed to accept smaller fees; he estimated that it took him ten days to prepare and etch four designs. Being a bad business man, he never raised his prices, the consequence being that his income was not what it should have been for one who so long held a unique position as an illustrator of popular books. During the first ten or twelve years of his professional life he was comparatively prosperous, but when etching as a means of illustrating went out of favour, and he became somewhat indifferent concerning this method of work, his income suffered considerably. The artist did not actually experience financial difficulties, however, until he was seized with a serious illness in 1867, said to have been partly caused by his having slept in a draught at a seaside house. After five months of great suffering he again essayed to use his pencil, but it soon became obvious to his friends that his health was completely shattered, and that, in less than six months, he had become a broken-down old man. The worst trouble of all was a partial paralysis of the right arm and leg, which he persisted in calling "rheumatism," and in consequence of which his hand lost its cunning. Then it was that the demand for his work practically ceased. "I don't know where to turn or what to do," he wrote in 1879. "I have at last come to a full stop, and don't see my way just yet to get on again. My occupation seems gone, extinct; I suppose I am thought to be used up, and I have been long enough before the public. I have not had a single thing to do this year, nor for some months previous in the past year."

In 1878, at the suggestion of his friend Mr. Luke Fildes, R.A., "Phiz" applied to Government for a pension. The petition was prepared by Mr. Robert Young, but the result was unfavourable. Happily he received unexpected assistance from another quarter, in the shape of a well-deserved annuity from the Royal Academy, awarded in recognition of his distinguished services to Art. Ever hopeful of being restored to health, he began on his recovery to again use his pencil, but the crippled condition of his right hand, together with the rapid decline of his fanciful imagination and power of invention, made it impossible for him to produce anything worthy of his past reputation. At length his affliction became so pronounced that all hope of recovery was abandoned, and on the 8th of July 1882 the famous "Phiz" breathed his last, in his sixty-seventh year. He spent the end of his busy life in the quiet seclusion of Hove, and his last resting-place is on the summit of a hill on the northern side of the extra-mural cemetery at Brighton.

"Phiz's" many excellent qualities far outweighed any defects in his character. A life-long friend of the artist, Mr. John Greville Fennell, writes thus to me: "No man knew more of Hablôt Browne than I did, for though he was very reticent to most, he never, I believe, concealed anything from me. We used to wander together in the country for two or three weeks or more at a time, and a man more full of fun, when he had thrown off the 'harness,' I have not known in my large acquaintance." His naturally modest disposition eventually developed into a remarkable shyness, and this, when coupled with a dislike of publicity, was often misconstrued as pride. Even Dickens had considerable difficulty in persuading him to meet a few friends and spend a pleasant evening. When he did accept such invitations, he invariably tried to seclude himself in a corner of the room or behind a curtain. In former years he was occasionally prevailed upon to attend certain dinners given by Dickens to celebrate the completion of his stories; and the novelist sometimes succeeded in inducing him to accept invitations to join him for a brief holiday by the sea, as we learn from a communication addressed to Forster, and dated from Bonchurch during the "Copperfield" days, in which Dickens said: "Browne is coming down when he has done his month's work." Eventually, all desire for social intercourse ceased, "Phiz" preferring to lead the life of a recluse in his country home.

A short time prior to his severe illness in 1867, Hablôt Browne received an extraordinary commission from Mr. F. W. Cosens, one of his most liberal patrons, who solicited the artist to make coloured _replicas_ of the entire series of his published designs for the works of the great novelist. In a letter to me on this subject in 1882, Mr. Cosens said: "I remember to have had only two or three interviews with him, and, as a stranger, found him shy and nervous. I desired to secure any sketches he might have of the illustrations to Dickens, but understood him to say he had none, as he drew them on the blocks [plates]. He evidently did not like the drudgery of reproduction, and named such terms as he thought would deter me; but finding the honorarium was of great importance to him, the bargain was struck. The work extended over some years, and the later productions evince haste and inferiority. The work can hardly be called water-colour drawing, as it is simply sketching, slightly heightened by colour-washing." Strange to say, "Phiz" did not possess copies of Dickens's novels, so he borrowed Mr. Cosen's set, and from these he executed the tinted _replicas_. At the sale of Mr. Cosen's library at Sotheby's in 1890, this interesting collection, numbering 405 drawings, was disposed of for the aggregate sum of £671.

It should be mentioned in conclusion, that, besides the vignettes already described as having been prepared by "Phiz" for the Library Edition (1858-59), he also designed for that edition the following subjects, which were executed in water-colours and, like the rest, engraved on steel:--Mr. Trott and the "Boots," illustrating "The Great Winglebury Duel" in "Sketches by Boz;" Mr. Bumble and Oliver, for "Oliver Twist;" Scrooge and Marley, for the series of Christmas Books; and a Vineyard Scene, which appropriately decorates the title-page of "Pictures from Italy."

* * * * *

Although, as already stated, Hablôt Browne was quite capable of biting-in his own designs upon the steel plates, he had not sufficient time to devote to this part of his work. From the "Pickwick" days onward the artist was fortunate in securing the services of his fellow-apprentice in Finden's studio, Mr. Robert Young, who was afterwards his partner in many artistic ventures, and always his most intimate friend and admirer. When at Finden's, Mr. Young acquired the art of biting-in, a process which, although to some extent a mechanical one, requires a considerable amount of artistic knowledge and manipulative skill, for there is nothing to guide the etcher as to the required effect, except in some cases a rough indication on paper. It was Mr. Young's duty, after each plate was bitten-in, to go over it with a graver and join any lines which in the etching had become broken or rotten. For biting-in and finishing the two subjects on one plate he received from Chapman & Hall (with whom he had a separate account) the sum of three guineas. Browne's ruling-machine for producing the mezzotint effects was kept in his colleague's room at Furnival's Inn, where, more than half-a-century ago, he and the artist took chambers for business purposes and to be near the publishers. These quarters, which were situated in the south-west corner of the Inn, have been lately demolished, together with the chambers at No. 15, rendered famous by the fact that the earlier portion of "Pickwick" was there written.

Mr. Young acted as Browne's assistant in the manner described during the greater part of the years of "Phiz's" popularity, and his co-operation extended not only to the Dickens illustrations, but to the thousand-and-one designs that embellished the works of other writers. The following brief note (quoted from Mr. Thomson's Memoir) is a specimen of the many communications which constantly passed between the artist and his coadjutor:--

[_Circa 1845._]

"MY DEAR 'CO,'--Pray help me in an emergency. Put a bottle
of aquafortis in your pockets, wax and all other useful
adjuncts, and come to me to-morrow about one or two o'clock,
and bite in an etching for me, ferociously and
expeditiously. Can you?--will you?--oblige, Yours sincerely,

"H. K. BROWNE."

* * * * *

Mr. Robert Young, who is now in his eighty-second year, has recently favoured me with a few facts concerning himself, which are not devoid of interest in the present record. Writing from Norham-upon-Tweed, he says: "I was born in Dalkeith in 1816, educated in France, and, on leaving school, was apprenticed to Finden, the engraver, where my friendship with 'Phiz' commenced, which closed with his death. Some years ago I was presented with a clerkship in the Admiralty, and retired on a pension in 1878, which enables me to pass my last days in this humdrum village. I am, as you see, very old, have many infirmities, and cannot always remember past events."

PLATE XXXVIII

GEORGE CATTERMOLE

From an Unpublished Photograph by

LAKE PRICE _Lent by the Artist's Daughter, Mrs. Edward Franks._

GEORGE CATTERMOLE

First Acquaintance with Dickens--Declines Offer of
Knighthood--Favourite Subjects for Pictures--"MASTER
HUMPHREY'S CLOCK"--A Letter from Dickens respecting the
Illustrations--Cattermole's Designs Copied on Wood by "Phiz"
and Samuel Williams--Some Dickens Correspondence--Minute
Directions to the Artist--Design for Frontispiece--Useful
Hints and Suggestions--The "Maypole" Inn--"Grip," the
Raven--Subjects for "Barnaby Rudge"--An Unpublished Letter
from Cattermole to Dickens--Closing Chapters of the
Story--The Novelist Approves of the
Illustrations--Frontispiece for the First Cheap Edition of
"The Old Curiosity Shop"--Water-colour Drawings of "Little
Nell's Home" and "Little Nell's Grave"--Dickens's Gratitude
to Cattermole--Death of the Artist--His Vivacity and
Good-fellowship.

Born at Dickleburgh, Norfolk, in the year 1800, George Cattermole was a dozen years the senior of Charles Dickens. His acquaintance with the novelist began in 1838, and when, in the following year, he married Miss Elderton, a distant connection of the author of "Pickwick," the friendship subsisting between the two men ripened into sincere affection. George Cattermole had been elected a member of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours as early as 1833, which indicates that his reputation was already well established, and in 1839 he had achieved such distinction in Art that he received the offer of knighthood,--an honour he modestly declined. The subjects he loved to portray were scenes from mediæval history, fiction, or ballad literature, and he revelled in depicting incidents of bygone times, with their manners and customs, their architecture and costumes, in the representation of which he has been considered the chief exponent. It was this antiquarian feeling, as well as his powerful imagination and vivid fancy, which excited the admiration of John Ruskin, whose favourable criticisms of the artist's early productions proved of infinite service.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: =Master Humphrey's Clock, 1840-41.=]

George Cattermole had already enjoyed considerable experience as an illustrator of books, and had made drawings of buildings and scenery described in Scott's novels, when, in 1840, Dickens invited him to collaborate with D. Maclise, R.A., and Hablôt K. Browne ("Phiz") in designing the woodcuts for "Master Humphrey's Clock." The earliest intimation received by the artist respecting the projected publication was contained in the following letter, dated January 13, 1840:--

"MY DEAR CATTERMOLE,--I am going to propound a mightily
grave matter to you. My new periodical work appears--or I
should rather say the first number does--on Saturday, the
28th of March.... The title is 'Master Humphrey's Clock.'
Now, among other improvements, I have turned my attention to
the illustrations, meaning to have woodcuts dropped into the
text, and no separate plates. I want to know whether you
would object to make me a little sketch for a woodcut--in
indian-ink would be quite sufficient--about the size of the
enclosed scrap; the subject, an old quaint room with antique
Elizabethan furniture, and in the chimney-corner an
extraordinary old clock--the clock belonging to Master
Humphrey, in fact, and no figures. This I should drop into
the text at the head of my opening page.

"I want to know, besides--as Chapman & Hall are my partners
in the matter, there need be no delicacy about my asking or
your answering the question--what would be your charge for
such a thing, and whether (if the work answers our
expectations) you would like to repeat the joke at
intervals, and if so, on what terms? I should tell you that
I intend to ask Maclise to join me likewise, and that the
copying, the drawing on wood, and the cutting will be done
in first-rate style.... I want to talk the matter over with
you, and wish you would fix your own time and
place....--Faithfully yours

"CHARLES DICKENS."

We gather from this letter that Cattermole was then unaccustomed to drawing upon the wood block, and therefore executed his designs upon paper, to be afterwards copied upon wood by a practical hand. In the next communication, dated a few days later, it will be seen that the artist agreed to Dickens's proposals (preferring, however, to select his own subjects), and that "Phiz's" pencil was made available for copying purposes; the drawing here referred to being that of the "old quaint room" which forms the heading of the first chapter of "Master Humphrey's Clock." The novelist wrote:--

"I think the drawing most famous, and so do the publishers, to whom I sent it to-day. If Browne should suggest anything for the future which may enable him to do you justice in copying (on which point he is very anxious), I will communicate with you. It has occurred to me that perhaps you will like to see his copy on the block before it is cut, and I have therefore told Chapman & Hall to forward it to you.

"In future, I will take care that you have the number to choose your subject from. I ought to have done so, perhaps, in this case; but I was very anxious that you should do the room...."

The artistic skill of the eminent draughtsman and engraver, Samuel Williams, was at first similarly requisitioned for copying purposes, as proved by the signature appended to the illustration of Little Nell's room in the initial chapter of "The Old Curiosity Shop," the original drawing of which was undoubtedly supplied by Cattermole, who, before very long, was enabled to dispense with these professional services.

Judging from the amount of correspondence still extant, Dickens was constantly in communication with Cattermole respecting the illustrations for "Master Humphrey's Clock." In a letter dated March 9, 1840, he said:--

"I have been induced, on looking over the works of the 'Clock,' to make a slight alteration in their disposal, by virtue of which the story about 'John Podgers' will stand over for some little time, and that short tale will occupy its place which you have already by you, and which treats of the assassination of a young gentleman under circumstances of peculiar aggravation.[29] I shall be greatly obliged to you if you will turn your attention to this last morsel as the feature of No. 3, and still more if you can stretch a point with regard to time (which is of the last importance just now), and make a subject out of it, rather than find one in it. I would neither have made this alteration nor have troubled you about it, but for weighty and cogent reasons which I feel very strongly, and into the composition of which caprice or fastidiousness has no part....

Footnote 29: "Mr. Pickwick's Tale," in the first chapter.

"I cannot tell you how admirably I think Master Humphrey's room comes out, or what glowing accounts I hear of the second design you have done.[30] I had not the faintest anticipation of anything so good, taking into account the material and the despatch."

Footnote 30: See headpiece to "First Night of the Giant
Chronicles."

The text of "Master Humphrey's Clock" afforded the artist many congenial themes for his pencil. The story of Little Nell evidently fascinated him, and the various subjects selected for illustration were lovingly dealt with. An interval of several months elapsed before the following instructions were received by him respecting future designs:--

"I sent the MS. of the enclosed proof, marked 2, up to Chapman & Hall from Devonshire, mentioning a subject of an old gateway,[31] which I had put in expressly with a view to your illustrious pencil. By a mistake, however, it went to Browne instead.

Footnote 31: See illustration in "The Old Curiosity Shop,"
chap, xxvii.

PLATE XXXIX

QUILP'S WHARF

_Facsimile_ of the Original Sketch for "The Old Curiosity Shop" by

GEORGE CATTERMOLE

_Lent by Mrs. Edward Franks._

"The subject to which I wish to call your attention is in an unwritten number to follow this one, but it is a mere echo of what you will find at the conclusion of this proof marked 2. I want the cart, gaily decorated, going through the street of the old town with the wax brigand displayed to fierce advantage, and the child seated in it also dispersing bills. As many flags and inscriptions about Jarley's Wax Work fluttering from the cart as you please. You know the wax brigands, and how they contemplate small oval miniatures? That's the figure I want. I send you the scrap of MS. which contains the subject.

"Will you, when you have done this, send it with all speed to Chapman & Hall, as we are mortally pressed for time...."

For some reason, the drawing of Mrs. Jarley's cart was not executed by Cattermole; perhaps he was otherwise occupied at the moment, so that the work fell to Browne, whose initials are appended. Concerning the frontispiece the novelist offered some valuable suggestions, of which the artist readily availed himself:--

"Will you turn your attention to a frontispiece for our first volume, to come upon the left-hand side of the book as you open it, and to face a plain printed title? My idea is, some scene from 'The Curiosity Shop,' in a pretty border, or scroll-work, or architectural device; it matters not what, so that it be pretty. The scene even might be a fanciful thing, partaking of the character of the story, but not reproducing any particular passage in it, if you thought that better for the effect.

"I ask you to think of this, because, although the volume is not published until the end of September, there is no time to lose. We wish to have it engraved with great care and worked very skilfully; and this cannot be done unless we get it on the stocks soon. They will give you every opportunity of correction, alteration, revision, and all other -ations and -isions connected with the fine arts."

In this design will be found Cattermole's only representations of Mr. Pickwick and the two Wellers. In the following letter (dated December 21 [1840]), some hints were given as to the treatment of one of the most charming illustrations in the series, viz., the picturesque parsonage-house which was the temporary home of Little Nell and her Grandfather. The lanthorn here referred to is not only omitted from the drawing, but we fail to find it mentioned in the text:--

"Kit, the single gentleman, and Mr. Garland go down to the place where the child is, and arrive there at night. There has been a fall of snow. Kit, leaving them behind, runs to the old house, and, with a lanthorn in one hand and the bird in its cage in the other, stops for a moment at a little distance with a natural hesitation before he goes up to make his presence known. In a window--supposed to be that of the child's little room--a light is burning, and in that room the child (unknown, of course, to her visitors, who are full of hope) lies dead.

"If you have any difficulty about Kit, never mind about putting him in...."

The next letter contained useful suggestions for the delineation of the most pathetic scenes in "The Old Curiosity Shop."