Dickens and His Illustrators Part 3

BILL SIKES IN THE CONDEMNED CELL

_Facsimile_ of Original Sketches by

GEORGE CRUIKSHANK

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In 1872 Cruikshank issued a pamphlet ent.i.tled "The Artist and the Author, a Statement of Facts," where he positively a.s.serted that not only was he the actual originator of "Oliver Twist," but also of many of Harrison Ainsworth's weird romances; that these authors "wrote up to his suggestions and designs," just as Combe did with regard to "Dr. Syntax" and Rowlandson's previously-executed ill.u.s.trations. In another published letter, dated more than a year prior to that printed in the _Times_, the artist emphatically declared that the greater part of the second volume of "Sketches by Boz" was written from his hints and suggestions, and he significantly added, "I am preparing to publish an explanation of the reason why I did not ill.u.s.trate the _whole_ of Mr.

d.i.c.kens's writings, and this explanation will not at all redound to his credit." Indeed, so thoroughly was he imbued with this conviction, that on April 20, 1874, in responding to a vote of thanks accorded him by the Mayor of Manchester for an address on Intemperance, he reiterated his statement relative to the origin of "Oliver Twist." The Mayor having referred to the artist's designs in d.i.c.kens's novels, Cruikshank intimated that the only work of the novelist he had ill.u.s.trated was "Sketches by Boz"; his wors.h.i.+p remarked, "You forget 'Oliver Twist,'"

whereupon Cruikshank replied, "That came out of my own brain. I wanted d.i.c.kens to write me a work, but he did not do it in the way I wished. I a.s.sure you I went and made a sketch of the condemned cell many years before that work was published. I wanted a scene a few hours before strangulation, and d.i.c.kens said he did not like it, and I said he must have a Jew or a Christian in the cell. d.i.c.kens said, 'Do as you like,'

and I put f.a.gin, the Jew, into the cell. d.i.c.kens behaved in an extraordinary way to me, and I believe it had a little effect on his mind. He was a most powerful opponent to Teetotalism, and he described us as 'old hogs.'"[4]

Footnote 4: This is, doubtless, a reference to an article by d.i.c.kens ent.i.tled "Whole Hogs," which appeared in _Household Words_, August 23, 1851, protesting against the extreme views of the Temperance party.

Unfortunately for Cruikshank's claim to the origin of "Oliver Twist," he allowed more than thirty years to elapse before making it public. When questioned on this point he would say that ever since these works were published, and even when they were in progress, he had in private society, when conversing upon such matters, always explained that the original ideas and characters of these works emanated from him! Mr.

Harrison Ainsworth has recorded that d.i.c.kens was so worried by Cruikshank putting forward suggestions that he resolved to send him only printed proofs for ill.u.s.tration. In a letter to Forster (January 1838) the novelist wrote, alluding to the severity of his labours: "I have not done the 'Young Gentleman,' nor written the preface to 'Grimaldi,' nor thought of 'Oliver Twist,' or _even supplied a subject for the plate_,"

the latter intimation sufficiently indicating that d.i.c.kens was more directly concerned in the selection of suitable themes for ill.u.s.tration than Cruikshank would have us believe. The author of "Sketches by Boz"

abundantly testified in those remarkable papers that his eyes, like Cruikshank's, had penetrated the mysteries of London; indeed, we find in the "Sketches" all the material for the story of poor Oliver, where it is more artistically and dramatically treated. It is not improbable, of course, that from Cruikshank's familiarity with life in the Great City he was enabled to offer useful hints to the young writer, and even perhaps to make suggestions respecting particular characters; but this const.i.tutes a very unimportant share in the production of a literary work. To what extent the interchange between artist and author was carried can never be satisfactorily determined; but of this there can be no doubt, that Cruikshank's habit of exaggeration, combined with his eagerness in over-estimating the effect of his work, led him (as Mr.

Blanchard Jerrold remarks) "into injudicious statements or over-statements," which were sometimes provocative of much unpleasant controversy. It is, however, no exaggeration to say that the pencil of George Cruikshank was as admirable in its power of delineating character as was the mighty pen of Charles d.i.c.kens, and that in the success and popularity of "Oliver Twist" they may claim an equal share.

PLATE XIII

"f.a.gIN IN THE CONDEMNED CELL"

_Facsimile_ of a Trial Sketch by

GEORGE CRUIKSHANK

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Sidenote: =Minor Writings in "Bentley's Miscellany."=]

Certain humorous pieces written by d.i.c.kens for Richard Bentley were also ill.u.s.trated by Cruikshank. The first paper, ent.i.tled "Public Life of Mr.

Tulrumble, once Mayor of Mudfog" (published in January 1837), contains an etching of Ned[5] Twigger in the kitchen of Mudfog Hall, and the next contribution, purporting to be a "Full Report of the Second Meeting of the Mudfog a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Everything" (September, 1838) is embellished with a very ludicrous ill.u.s.tration, ent.i.tled "Automaton Police Office and Real Offenders, from the model exhibited before Section B of the Mudfog a.s.sociation." This design depicts the interior of a police-court in which all the officials are automatic--an ingenious rendering of the idea propounded by Mr. Coppernose to the President and members of the a.s.sociation. To the second paper the artist also supplied a woodcut portrait of "The Tyrant Sowster," of whom he made no less than six studies before he succeeded in producing a satisfactory presentment of Mudfog's "active and intelligent" beadle.

Footnote 5: In the original t.i.tle on the plate, Ned Twigger's Christian name is incorrectly given as Tom.

In his juvenile days d.i.c.kens wrote a farce ent.i.tled "The Lamplighter,"

which, owing to its non-acceptance by the theatrical management for whom it was composed, he converted into an amusing tale called "The Lamplighter's Story." This const.i.tuted his share in a collection of light essays and other papers gratuitously supplied by well-known authors, and issued in volume form under the t.i.tle of "The Pic Nic Papers," for the benefit of the widow of Macrone, d.i.c.kens's first publisher. The work, edited by d.i.c.kens, was launched by Henry Colborn in 1841, in three volumes, with fourteen ill.u.s.trations by Cruikshank, "Phiz," and other artists. The first volume opened with "The Lamplighter's Story," for which Cruikshank provided an etching ent.i.tled "The Philosopher's Stone," the subject represented being the unexpected explosion of Tom Grig's crucible. This was the last ill.u.s.tration executed by the artist for d.i.c.kens's writings,[6] and it may be added that some impressions of the plate were issued in proof state "before letters," but these are exceedingly rare. Although for many years afterwards they continued fast friends, it may be (as Mr. Graham Everitt conjectures) that Cruikshank found it impossible to co-operate any longer with so exacting an employer of artistic labour as Charles d.i.c.kens, who remonstrated, with some show of reason, that he was the best judge of what he required pictorially,--an argument, however, which did not suit the independent spirit of the artist. Of his genius d.i.c.kens was ever a warm admirer, and remarking upon the exclusion of so able a draughtsman from the honours of the Royal Academy, because, forsooth!

his works were not produced in certain mediums, the novelist pertinently asks: "Will no a.s.sociates be found upon its books one of these days, the labours of whose oil and brushes will have sunk into the profoundest obscurity, when many pencil-marks of Mr. Cruikshank and Mr. Leech will be still fresh in half the houses in the land?"

Footnote 6: Cruikshank designed the ill.u.s.trations for the "Memoirs of Grimaldi," 1838, but this work was merely edited by d.i.c.kens, and therefore does not come within the scope of the present volume.

It will be remembered that George Cruikshank published a version of the Fairy Tales, converting them into stories somewhat resembling Temperance tracts. d.i.c.kens was greatly incensed, and, half-playfully and half-seriously, protested against such alterations of the beautiful little romances, this re-writing them "according to Total Abstinence, Peace Society, and Bloomer principles, and expressly for their propagation;" in an article published in _Household Words_, October 1, 1853, ent.i.tled "Frauds on the Fairies," the novelist enunciates his opinions on the subject, and gives the story of Cinderella as it might be "edited" by a gentleman with a "mission." This elicited a reply from Cruikshank (in a short-lived magazine bearing his name, and launched by him in 1854), which took the form of "A Letter from Hop-o'-my-Thumb to Charles d.i.c.kens, Esq.," commencing with "Right Trusty, Well-Beloved, Much-Read, and Admired Sir," the artist contending that he was justified in altering "a common fairy-tale" when his sole object was to remove objectionable pa.s.sages, and, in their stead, to inculcate moral principles. There is no doubt, however, that d.i.c.kens's rebuke seriously affected the sale of the Fairy Library.

PLATE XIV

FIRST IDEA AND SKETCH FOR

"f.a.gIN IN THE CONDEMNED CELL"

AND VARIOUS STUDIES FOR SCENES AND CHARACTERS IN "OLIVER TWIST"

_Facsimile_ of Original Drawings by

GEORGE CRUIKSHANK

[Ill.u.s.tration]

In 1847 d.i.c.kens inst.i.tuted a series of theatrical entertainments for certain charitable objects, the distinguished artists and writers who formed the goodly company of amateur actors including George Cruikshank.

On one occasion they made a tour in the provinces, giving performances at several important towns, and on the conclusion of this "splendid strolling" d.i.c.kens wrote an amusing little _jeu d'esprit_ in the form of a history of the trip, adopting for the purpose the phraseology of Mrs.

Gamp. It was to be a new "Piljian's Projiss," with ill.u.s.trations by the artist-members; but, for some reason, it was destined never to appear in the manner intended by its projector. Forster has printed all that was ever written of the little jest, where we find a humorous description of Cruikshank in Mrs. Gamp's vernacular: "I was drove about like a brute animal and almost worritted into fits, when a gentleman with a large s.h.i.+rt-collar and a hook nose, and a eye like one of Mr. Sweedlepipe's hawks, and long locks of hair, and wiskers that I wouldn't have no lady as I was engaged to meet suddenly a turning round a corner, for any sum of money you could offer me, says, laughing, 'Halloa, Mrs. Gamp, what are _you_ up to?' I didn't know him from a man (except by his clothes); but I says faintly, 'If you're a Christian man, show me where to get a second-cladge ticket for Manjester, and have me put in a carriage, or I shall drop!' Which he kindly did, in a cheerful kind of a way, skipping about in the strangest manner as ever I see, making all kinds of actions, and looking and vinking at me from under the brim of his hat (which was a good deal turned up), to that extent, that I should have thought he meant something but for being so flurried as not to have no thoughts at all until I was put in a carriage...." When Mrs. Gamp was informed, in a whisper, that the gentleman who a.s.sisted her into the carriage was "George," she replied, "What George, sir? I don't know no George." "The great George, ma'am--the Crookshanks," was the explanation. Whereupon Mrs. Gamp continues: "If you'll believe me, Mrs.

Harris, I turns my head, and see the wery man a making picturs of me on his thumb-nail at the winder!" The artist took part in several plays under d.i.c.kens's management, but, although it is not recorded that he created great sensation as an actor, it seems evident that his impersonations met with the approval of the novelist, who was a thorough martinet in Thespian matters.

That George Cruikshank was by no means a prosperous man is perhaps explained by the fact that he never was highly remunerated for his work.

"Time was," wrote Thackeray, "when for a picture with thirty heads in it he was paid three guineas--a poor week's pittance, truly, and a dire week's labour!" The late Mr. Sala declared that for an ill.u.s.trative etching on a plate, octavo size, George never received more than twenty-five pounds, and had been paid as low as ten,--that he had often drawn "a charming little vignette on wood" for a guinea. On February 1, 1878, this remarkable designer and etcher--the most skilled book-ill.u.s.trator of his day--pa.s.sed painlessly away at his house in Hampstead Road, having attained the ripe old age of eighty-five. His remains were interred at Kensal Green, but were ultimately removed to the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, where a bust by Adams perpetuates his memory.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PLATE XV

ROBERT SEYMOUR

From an Unpublished Drawing by

TAYLOR

_Lent by Mr. Augustin Daly._

ROBERT SEYMOUR

Early Years--A Taste for High Art--Drawings on Wood for _Figaro_ and _Bell's Life in London_--Essays the Art of Etching--Designs for "Maxims and Hints for an Angler"--Proposes to Publish a Book of Humorous Sporting Subjects--A "Club of c.o.c.kney Sportsmen"--Charles Whitehead and Charles d.i.c.kens--The Inception of "THE PICKWICK PAPERS"--Seymour's Ill.u.s.trations--The Artist Succ.u.mbs to Overwork--Suicide of Seymour--d.i.c.kens's Tribute--Seymour's Last Drawing for "Pickwick"--"The Dying Clown"--His Original Designs--Seymour's Conception of Mr. Pickwick--Letter from d.i.c.kens to the Artist--"First Ideas" and Unused Sketches--A Valuable Collection--Scarcity of Seymour's "Pickwick"

Plates--Design for the Wrapper of the Monthly Parts--Mrs.

Seymour's Account of the Origin of "The Pickwick Papers"--An Absurd Claim Refuted--"THE LIBRARY OF FICTION"--Seymour's Ill.u.s.trations for "The Tuggses at Ramsgate."

Concerning the artist who was primarily engaged in the ill.u.s.tration of "Pickwick," very little has been recorded, owing perhaps to the fact that his career, which terminated so tragically and so prematurely, was brief and uneventful. The following particulars of his life and labours, culled from various sources, will, I trust, enable the reader to appreciate Robert Seymour's true position respecting his connection with Charles d.i.c.kens's immortal work.

Born "in or near London" in 1798, Robert Seymour indicated at a very early age a decided taste for drawing, whereupon his father, Henry Seymour, a Somerset gentleman, apprenticed him to a skilful pattern-draughtsman named Vaughan, of Duke Street, Smithfield.[7]